Beyond Jewish Identity (Paperback)

Paperback. Jewish identity is such a complex ideaneither simply a religious, nor cultural, nor ethnic identity, but all of those things combined (and more). This important volume rejects narrow definitions and resists the way that identity has been oversimplified and flattened in Jewish communal contexts. Along the way, it offers new paths for other communities struggling with concepts of identity to follow as well. Felicia Herman, Executive Director, Natan FundThere is something deeply problematic about the ways that Jews, particularly in America, talk about Jewish identity as a desired outcome of Jewish education. For many, the idea that the purpose of Jewish education is to strengthen Jewish identity is so obvious that it hardly seems worth disputingand the only important question is which kinds of Jewish education do that work more effectively or more efficiently. But what does it mean to strengthen Jewish identity? Why do Jewish educators, policy-makers and philanthropists talk that way? What do they assume, about Jewish education or about Jewish identity, when they use formulations like strengthen Jewish identity? And what are the costs of doing so?This volume, the first collection to examine critically the relationship between Jewish education and Jewishidentity, makes two important interventions. First, it offers a critical assessment of the relationship between education and identity, arguing that the reification of identity has hampered much educational creativity in the pursuit of this goal, and that the nearly ubiquitous employment of the term obscures significant questions about what Jewish education is and ought to be. Second, this volume offers thoughtful responses that are not merely synonymous replacements for identity, suggesting new possibilities for how to think about the purposes and desired outcomes of Jewish education, potentially contributing to any number of new conversations about the relationship between Jewish education and Jewish life. Examines the relationship between Jewish education and Jewish identity. The book offers responses that are not merely synonymous replacements for ""identity"". With a selection of more critical essays, the quthors begin to expand, rather than replace, the array of ideas that the term ""identity"" is so often used to represent. Shipping may be from our Sydney, NSW warehouse or from our UK or US warehouse, depending on stock availability.…