Dynamic Belonging

Most of the essays in this volume were presented at a conference convened at the end of a research seminar held in 2004 at the Advanced Institute of The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Eleven contributions are arranged in sections on the fluid nature of Jewish belonging, diverse attempts at constructing Jewish sub-cultures in Israel and the US, and diverse ways of connecting to the Jewish people. A sampling of specific topics: British Jewish communal leadership in the context of multiculturalism, Israeli modern orthodoxy (fundamentalists or romantic nationalists?), engaging the next generation of American Jews, Israel in diaspora Jewish culture. The three editors are affiliated as follows: Harvey E. Goldberg (emeritus, sociology and anthropology, The Hebrew U. of Jerusalem); Steven M. Cohen (Jewish social policy, Hebrew Union College); and Ezra Kopelowitz (sociologist specializing in Israel-diaspora relations and CEO of Research Success Technologies Ltd). Annotation c2012 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Harvey E. Goldberg is Emeritus professor and Sarah Allen Shaine Chair in Sociology and Anthropology at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He has been a Visiting Lecturer at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Science Sociale and a Fellow at the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies. His books include Jewish Life in Muslim Libya: Rivals and Relatives (1990) and Jewish Passages: Cycles of Jewish Life(2003). He also has edited Sephardi and Middle Eastern Jewries (1996), The Life of Judaism (2001) and co-authored The Israel Experience: Studies in Youth Travel and Jewish Identity (2002) with Samuel Heilman and Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett.

Steven M. Cohen is Research Professor of Jewish Social Policy at Hebrew Union College and Director of the Berman Jewish Policy Archive at NYU Wagner. He has served as Professor at The Melton Centre for Jewish Education at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem and at Queens College, CUNY. He has written or edited a dozen books and hundreds of scholarly articles on such issues as Jewish community, Jewish identity, and Jewish education. His books include, American Modernity and Jewish Identity (1983); American Assimilation or Jewish Revival (1988); with Arnold Eisen, The Jew Within: Self, Family and Community in America (2000); with Charles Liebman, Two Worlds of Judaism: The Israeli and American Experiences (1990); with others, Sacred Strategies: Transforming Synagogues from Functional to Visionary (2010); and with Samuel Heilman, Cosmopolitans and Parochials: Modern Orthodox Jews in America (1989).

Ezra Kopelowitz is a sociologist specializing in Israel–Diaspora relations and issues of Jewish identity, education, and religion in Israel and the United States. Ezra is CEO of Research Success Technologies Ltd. (http://www.researchsuccess.com), and a founding member of the Center for Jewish Peoplehood Education. His recent publications include Cultural Education-Cultural Sustainability: Minority, Diaspora, Indigenous and Ethno-Religious Groups in Multicultural Societies (2007. co-editor) and Jewish Peoplehood: Change and Challenge (2007. co-editor). From 2000-2003, Kopelowitz served as Director of Research Activities for the Department of Jewish Education of the Jewish Agency for Israel, and in 2004 he was a Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies at The Hebrew University.