1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting and Important Book, Very Well Documented and Researched, January 23, 2008
This review is from: After Emanicipation: Jewish Religious Responses to Modernity (Hardcover)
The best word to describe this book is scholarly,and will probably most interest Jewish religious scholars, academics and others already intimately familiar with the religious Jewish life and culture. The presentation may create a rather dry reading experience for a secular audience. This book is a collection of essays, grouped into five sections, examining different aspects of Jewish life and identity in modern America. The collection is impressive and well-thought out, and this book is an essential addition to any library that wants to enrich their Judaica collection.
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4.0 out of 5 stars
OK, but wish he'd quoted more, July 13, 2008
This review is from: After Emanicipation: Jewish Religious Responses to Modernity (Hardcover)
This book is a collection of essays discussing how traditional and liberal Judaism dealt with the social changes of the 19th and early 20th centuries. The first half of the essays focus mostly on the 19th century and on Germany, the later essays on the 20th century and on Israel or America. Some essays focus more on traditional and Orthodox Judaism, others on more liberal streams. Generally I thought the essays were mildly interesting, but could have used more direct and extensive quotes so readers could understand arguments in more detail. (Especially since the author is a Reform rabbi, so some Orthodox readers may instinctively be skeptical of anything he says).
Some of the issues Ellenson addresses include:
*What changed in the 19th century? Before then, a Jewish community was essentially a state within a state; it could levy taxes and enforce communal standards through the threat of excommunication. If you wanted to avoid these difficulties you typically had to leave the community and convert to Christianity. Later, the state took over many of the religious community's functions, and Judaism as a result became more of a matter of personal choice.
*Why (and how) did Orthodox Jews set boundaries between themselves and the new Reform movement. Ellenson suggests that Reform Jews were so radical (some even proposing an end to circumcision) that their agenda was bound to frighten Orthodox Jews. Sometimes, boundaries were set around lines that seem less important today; for example, in Germany the presence or absence of an organ was a key dividing line between Orthodox and Reform congregations, so much so that one seminary's degrees provided that if a rabbi officiated at a congregation that used on, his ordination would be null and voice.
*The divisions between Orthodox Jews- not just over willingness to interact with modern secular society, but over relations with Reform Jews. Even within the relatively modern wing of Orthodoxy, some rabbis opposed all cooperation with Reform Jews, believing that Orthodoxy could not survive contact with Reform. Others favored cooperation on humanitarian projects such as Jewish orphanages, seeing Judaism as more of a people and less of a religion.
*Orthodox views of women's rights. Ellenson focuses on three very different responses by Israel chief rabbis on women's suffrage. One (by Rabbi Abraham Kook, Ashkenazic Chief Rabbi in the first third of the 20th century) opposed votes for women on the ground that women would inevitability either follow their husbands in order to create peace in the house, or vote their own consciences and create martial discord. Because of the absence of halachic precedent on the subject, the Sephardic Chief Rabbi disagree, as did Kook's successor as Askenazic chief.
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