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Who should count as Jewish in America? What should be the relationship of American Jews to Israel? Can the American Jewish community collectively sustain and pass on to the next generation a sufficient sense of Jewish identity?
The situation of American Jews today is deeply paradoxical. Jews have achieved unprecedented integration, influence, and esteem in virtually every facet of American life. But this extraordinarily diverse community now also faces four critical and often divisive challenges: rampant intermarriage, weak religious observance, diminished cohesion in the face of waning anti-Semitism, and deeply conflicting views about Israel.
Can the American Jewish community collectively sustain and pass on to the next generation a sufficient sense of Jewish identity in light of these challenges? Who should count as Jewish in America? What should be the relationship of American Jews to Israel?
In this thoughtful and perceptive book, Robert H. Mnookin argues that the answers of the past no longer serve American Jews today. The book boldly promotes a radically inclusive American-Jewish community—one where being Jewish can depend on personal choice and public self-identification, not simply birth or formal religious conversion. Instead of preventing intermarriage or ostracizing those critical of Israel, he envisions a community that embraces diversity and debate, and in so doing, preserves and strengthens the Jewish identity into the next generation and beyond.
“A revolutionary (some would say heretical) revision.” —New York Times Book Review
“In a remarkable book at once deeply personal and deeply learned, one of America’s
leading intellectuals invites us to a fascinating conversation about what it means to be
Jewish. This book deals with issues that have preoccupied me personally for many years,
and after almost every chapter I wanted to pick up the phone and continue the
conversation Mnookin started.” —Robert D. Putnam, professor of public policy,
Harvard, and author of American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us
“A master course in negotiating the most important questions a person—or a people—can
confront. Mnookin’s focus on the contemporary challenges of Jewish identity illuminates
the larger issue of what it is to be self-critically human in a world for which few feel
sufficiently prepared, much less at home. The Jewish American Paradox is an important
book for Jews, Americans, and everyone who hopes for a better future.”
—James Carroll, author of Constantine’s Sword and The Cloister
“Mnookin presents a terrific case that Judaism should be a welcoming umbrella. My
whole Jewish education was based on what you cannot do, what you cannot eat, when
you cannot drive, play ball, etc. In an optimistic, almost nondoctrinal evangelical spirit, this
book focuses on what you can do.” —Harold Holzer, director of Roosevelt House
Public Policy Center at Hunter College and Historian
“The Jewish American Paradox is a powerful combination of meditation on faith and rigorous legal analysis of the dilemmas facing American Jews. The author invites the reader to join his journey, and to learn surprising insights along the way.”—Steve Weisman, author of
The Chosen Wars: How Judiasm Became An American Religion
“Robert Mnookin' s important new book is a brilliant analysis with positive prescriptions
at a critical time for the American Jewish community. Rampant intermarriage here and
conservative policies of today’s Israeli government demand candid dialogue and bold
solutions. Robert Mnookin provides just that.”—Ambassador Stuart E. Eizenstat,
author of President Carter: The White House Years
“Mnookin argues that the greatest danger to American Judaism is not intermarriage
but ‘disengagement,’ a condition for which he suggests remedies to forge connections
of religious, cultural, and personal identity. A wide-ranging, wise, and liberal perspective—perhaps enough so to excite controversy.” —Kirkus Reviews
Introduction
The Puzzling Nature of Jewish Identity
The Matrilineal Principle
Must a Jew Practice Judaism?
The Puzzle of “Jewish Blood”
Peoplehood
Who Is a Jew in Israel?
Who Is a Jew in America? A Twenty-First-Century Standard
Can We Survive Acceptance?
The Challenge of Israel
The Challenge of Intermarriage
Raising a Jewish Child
Conclusion
Acknowledgments
Notes
Index