Who should count as Jewish in America? What should be the relationship of American Jews to Israel? Can the American Jewish community collectively sustain and pass on to the next generation a sufficient sense of Jewish identity?
The situation of American Jews today is deeply paradoxical. Jews have achieved unprecedented integration, influence, and esteem in virtually every facet of American life. But this extraordinarily diverse community now also faces four critical and often divisive challenges: rampant intermarriage, weak religious observance, diminished cohesion in the face of waning anti-Semitism, and deeply conflicting views about Israel.
Can the American Jewish community collectively sustain and pass on to the next generation a sufficient sense of Jewish identity in light of these challenges? Who should count as Jewish in America? What should be the relationship of American Jews to Israel?
In this thoughtful and perceptive book, Robert H. Mnookin argues that the answers of the past no longer serve American Jews today. The book boldly promotes a radically inclusive American-Jewish community—one where being Jewish can depend on personal choice and public self-identification, not simply birth or formal religious conversion. Instead of preventing intermarriage or ostracizing those critical of Israel, he envisions a community that embraces diversity and debate, and in so doing, preserves and strengthens the Jewish identity into the next generation and beyond.
Tabla de materias
Introduction
The Puzzling Nature of Jewish Identity
The Matrilineal Principle
Must a Jew Practice Judaism?
The Puzzle of “Jewish Blood”
Peoplehood
Who Is a Jew in Israel?
Who Is a Jew in America? A Twenty-First-Century Standard
Can We Survive Acceptance?
The Challenge of Israel
The Challenge of Intermarriage
Raising a Jewish Child
Conclusion
Acknowledgments
Notes
Index
Sobre el autor
Robert H. Mnookin is the Samuel Williston Professor of Law at Harvard Law School and the Director of the Harvard Negotiation Research Project. For twenty years he has served as chair of Harvard’s Program on Negotiation and as a board officer of Harvard’s Hillel Foundation. Before joining the Harvard faculty, Professor Mnookin was the Adelbert H. Sweet Professor of Law at Stanford Law School and the Director of the Stanford Center on Conflict and Negotiation. At Stanford, he chaired the Jewish Community Federation and served as president of the Stanford Hillel Foundation. Between 1994 and 2003, he served on the International Board of the New Israel Fund as its Secretary and Treasurer. A leading scholar in the field of conflict resolution, Professor Mnookin is the author of nine books, including Kissinger the Negotiator: Lessons from Dealmaking at the Highest Level (with J. Sebenlus and R. N. Burns). This is the most personal among them. He lives in Cambridge, Massacusetts.Más ebooks del mismo autor / Editor
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