Boundaries of Jewish Identity

The subject of Jewish identity is one of the most vexed and contested issues of modern religious and ethnic group history. This interdisciplinary collection draws on work in law, anthropology, history, sociology, literature, and popular culture to consider contemporary and historical responses to the question "Who and what is Jewish?"These essays are focused especially on the issues of who creates the definitions, and how, and in what social and political contexts. The ten leading authorities writing here also look at the forces, ranging from new genetic and reproductive technologies to increasingly multicultural societies, that push against established boundaries. The authors examine how Jews have imagined themselves and how definitions of Jewishness have been established, enforced, challenged, and transformed. Does being a Jew require religious belief, practice, and formal institutional affiliation? Is there a biological or physical aspect of Jewish identity? What is the status of the convert to another religion? How do definitions play out in different geographic and historical settings? What makes "Boundaries of Jewish Identity" distinctive is its attention to the various Jewish "epistemologies" or ways of knowing who counts as a Jew. These essays reveal that possible answers reflect the different social, intellectual, and political locations of those who are asking.

This book speaks to readers concerned with Jewish life and culture and to audiences interested in religious, cultural, and ethnic studies. It provides an excellent opportunity to examine how Jews fit into an increasingly diverse America and an increasingly complicated global society.

Susan A. Glenn is Howard and Frances Keller Endowed Professor of History and a member of the Jewish Studies Program at the University of Washington. Naomi B. Sokoloff is professor of Near Eastern languages and civilizations and professor of comparative literature at the University of Washington, where she has also served as the Samuel and Althea Stroum Endowed Chair in Jewish Studies. Other contributors are Gad Barzilai, Lila Corwin Berman, Laada Bilaniuk, Jonathan Freedman, Calvin Goldscheider, Susan Martha Kahn, Erica Lehrer, and Shulamit S. Magnus.

"Jewish identity presents a particular challenge for students of culture because the Jews are at once a profoundly variable group--both religious and secular, national and cosmopolitan, ethnically diverse--and also highly unified by historical and textual associations. "Boundaries of Jewish Identity" is a provocative and stimulating book on a much talked about but surprisingly underanalyzed subject." -David Biale, University of California, Davis

Susan A. Glenn is Howard and Frances Keller Endowed Professor of History and a member of the Jewish Studies Program at the University of Washington. Naomi B. Sokoloff is professor of Near Eastern languages and civilizations and professor of comparative literature at the University of Washington, where she has also served as the Samuel and Althea Stroum Endowed Chair in Jewish Studies. Other contributors are Gad Barzilai, Lila Corwin Berman, Laada Bilaniuk, Jonathan Freedman, Calvin Goldscheider, Susan Martha Kahn, Erica Lehrer, and Shulamit S. Magnus.