World Jewry today is concentrated in the US and Israel, and while distinctive Judaic approaches and practices have evolved in each society, parallels also exist. This volume offers studies of substantive and creative aspects of Jewish belonging. While research in Israel on Judaism has stressed orthodox or "extreme" versions of religiosity, linked to institutional life and politics, moderate and less systematized expressions of Jewish belonging are overlooked. This volume explores the fluid and dynamic nature of identity building among Jews and the many issues that cut across different Jewish groupings. An important contribution to scholarship on contemporary Jewry, it reveals the often unrecognized dynamism in new forms of Jewish identification and affiliation in Israel and in the Diaspora.

World Jewry today is concentrated in the US and Israel, and while distinctive Judaic approaches and practices have evolved in each society, parallels also exist. This volume offers studies of substantive and creative aspects of Jewish belonging. While research in Israel on Judaism has stressed orthodox or “extreme” versions of religiosity, linked to institutional life and politics, moderate and less systematized expressions of Jewish belonging are overlooked. This volume explores the fluid and dynamic nature of identity building among Jews and the many issues that cut across different Jewish groupings. An important contribution to scholarship on contemporary Jewry, it reveals the often unrecognized dynamism in new forms of Jewish identification and affiliation in Israel and in the Diaspora.

Preface

Introduction: Dynamic Jewish Identities - Insights from a Comparative View
Harvey E. Goldberg

Section I: The Fluid Nature of Jewish Belonging

Chapter 1. Religion, Ethnic Identity, and the Sense of Belonging
Stanley Brandes

Chapter 2. Conceptual and Pragmatic Aspects of Binarism: Examples from Israeli Society.
Harvey E. Goldberg

Chapter 3. From Security to Insecurity: British Jewish Communal Leadership in the Context of Multiculturalism
Keith Kahn-Harris and Ben Gidley

Chapter 4. The Jewish Question Again: From Collective Identity to Social Vitality
Philip Wexler

Response to Section I: Rethinking Categories and Challenging Futures.
Marcy Brink-Danan

Section II: Diverse Attempts at Constructing Jewish Sub-Cultures in Israel and the United States

Chapter 5. Fundamentalist or Romantic Nationalist? Israeli Modern Orthodoxy
Shlomo Fischer

Chapter 6. Jewish Identity, Gender and Religion: Masorti Women and the Feminist Challenge to Traditional Jewish Identity
Yaacov Yadgar

Chapter 7. “Israeli-Jews” vs. “Jewish-Israelis” and the Ritual Connection to Diaspora Jewry
Ezra Kopelowitz and Lior Rosenberg

Chapter 8. Engaging the Next Generation of American Jews: Distinguishing the In-married, Intermarried, and Non-married
Steven M. Cohen

Response to Section II. Dynamic Belongings of Younger Jews and the Transformation of the Jewish Self
Rachel Werczberger

Section III. Diverse Ways of Connecting to the Jewish People

Chapter 9. Constructing Jewish Belonging through Mass Tourism: Self-Narration in Israel Experience Programs
Shaul Kelner

Chapter 10. A Jewish and Democratic State? How American Jews Discuss Israel’s Identity Dilemma
Theodore Sasson

Chapter 11. In Search of Roots and Routes: The Making and Remaking of the Diasporic Jewish Identity
Elan Ezrachi

Response to Section III. Hummus, Challah, and Gefilte Fish: Israel in Diaspora Jewish Culture
Sarah Bunin Benor

Afterward: “I’m a Gentile!” Border Dramas and Jewish Continuity
Jack Kugelmass

Bibliography
Notes on Contributors