Recovering Jewishness: Modern Identities Reclaimed Contributor(s): Roden, Frederick S. (Author) |
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ISBN: 1440837740 ISBN-13: 9781440837746 Publisher: Praeger OUR PRICE: $74.25 Product Type: Hardcover - Other Formats Published: February 2016 |
Additional Information |
BISAC Categories: - Religion | Judaism - Reform |
Dewey: 305.696 |
LCCN: 2015036698 |
Physical Information: 0.9" H x 6.2" W x 9.3" (1.55 lbs) 288 pages |
Themes: - Religious Orientation - Jewish |
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
Publisher Description: Many scholars of the modern Jewish identity focus on the ways in which the past two centuries have resulted in the loss of Jewishness: through assimilation, intermarriage, conversion to other faiths, genocide (in the Holocaust), and decline in religious observance. In this work, author Frederick S. Roden presents a decidedly different perspective: that the changes in Judaism throughout the 19th and 20th centuries resulted in a malleable, welcoming, and expanded Jewish identity--one that has benefited from intermarriage and converts to Judaism. The book examines key issues in the modern definition of Jewish identity: who is and is not considered a Jew, and why; issues of Jewish authenticity; and the recent history of the debate. Attention is paid to the experiences of individuals who came to Judaism from outside the tradition: through marrying into Jewish families and/or choosing Judaism as a religion. In his consideration of the tragedy of the Holocaust, the author examines how a totalitarian regime's racial policing of Jewish identity served to awaken a connection with and reconfiguration of what that Jewish identity meant for those who retrospectively realized their Jewishness in the postwar era. |