Recovering Jewishness: Modern Identities Reclaimed (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9781440837746)

Judaism and Jewish life reflect a diversity of identity after the past two centuries of modernization. This work examines how the early reformers of the 19th century and their legacy into the 20th century created a livable, liberal Jewish identity that allowed a reinvention of what it meant to be Jewish--a process that continues today.

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.

Author: Frederick Roden
ISBN-10: 1440837740
ISBN-13: 9781440837746
Publisher: Praeger
Language: English
Published: 02/22/2016
Pages: 288
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.55lbs
Size: 9.30h x 6.20w x 0.90d

Review Citation(s):
Choice 10/01/2016