Customer Reviews

Generation J

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This is one of the best books I have read this year. The author (an east coast, inter-married Jewish writer, now living in the bay area) captures perfectly the confusion, effort, and humor of trying to make inroads with an identity that is and is not your own. The anecdotes and research about contemporary American Jewish life are interesting and memorable. However, the book rings true not just as a personal journey through the most conflicted aspects of contemporary Jewish life, but as an open-minded and open-ended conversation about how to take ownership of the aspects of ourselves we avoid in childhood, only to find we need them later.

I have read reviews on this book and people say they are disappointed because they expected to read a deeper book about Judaism in the generation she is describing. However, she says she is keeping field notes on *her* personal journey. Right away this gave me a heads up that this book is not intended to be a deep study of Judaism at a particular generation or moment in time so I would not give the book a poor recommendation for not delivering expectations it never was intended to do. The author is raised by atheists, married a Christian and is a "non practicing" Jewish woman wanting to discover her own Jewish heritage. Her path might be very different from those who had a Jewish education, (she did not have this benefit), fell away from Judaism and are seeking to return. That being said I will review the book as it is written. The author seems concerned about the small Jewish population in the United States and the rate of intermarriage. This is good information for people to know. Yet she herself chose to intermarry yet does not want to be assimilated and erase Judaism from her life. I think it is brave and honest to admit some ambivilance about growing up Jewish in a predominantly Christian culture. Why? Because of anti-semetism. I myself was called "Christ killer" while growing up and this was in a sophisticated metropolitan area so I can understand this Some of her actions on her path to discover Judaism are bizarre but she is writing about her experiences, not mine. One doesn't judge a book on the author's actions, but the merit of its writing. Therefore it is a pretty good read. I am happy that she became proud of being Jewish, however following through with Jewish studies, finding a rabbi to guide her would have made me happier.

If you have ever dated someone not Jewish, if you have ever wondered what other sources of spirituality might be out there, if you have ever felt a passing pang of guilt for eating a cheezeburger, if you have ever wondered what being Jewish was supposed to mean in modern times, if you have ever felt turned away from Judaism because of it's seemingly complicated, contradictory, argumentative, rigid idiosyncracies, you MUST read this book. Lisa Schiffman gives you permission to be confused, to embrace your Jewish Identity Crisis. She had me laughing out loud and jumping out of my skin at the similarities between her writing and experiences and the conversations in my head over the course of my adult years. Read it, highlight it, makes notes in the margin, recite passages out loud to your family and friends. Good luck on your journey!

This book is by no means an answer. But it is a question. The "Who am I?" question that is burning all those of us thirtysomethings who haven't found yet who they are. No matter how far or how close our families may be from Judaism, we have to answer this question - in person and when the time is right.

Lisa Schiffman is a very courageous woman for writing and publishing this book and exposing herself to the understanding and totally misunderstanding world. It is her own spiritual journey. The recipes that worked for her will not necessarily work for others; the version of Judaism that she found in herself is not necessarily what others will accept for themselves; but if she found a way to her Jewish identity, so can we.

This is a short book, but what is included here will definitely resonate with most non-religious thirty-somethings, GenX'ers searching for meaning in some pretty weird places. Like Schiffman, we've grown up Jewish, which makes us different, "but not in the right way," and we've spent our adult lives trying to discover a version of this faith which makes sense to us.

Schiffman does spend a bit of time agonizing (I believe a previous reviewer called this "silly whining") over not being able to find a rabbi to perform her own intermarriage. But for me, those sections only detract a little from what is basically her own inner journey. If this book had been much longer, I might have lost patience, but as it is, she manages to skilfully (and with humour!) avoid falling into the navel-gazing trap of so many "search for meaning" books.

Though my personal answers are different from Schiffman's, I do agree with her when she quotes Rabbi Jane Litman that "Judaism -- even the most Orthodox Judaism -- believes in ongoing revelation." That awareness infuses the rest of Schiffman's travels throughout this fascinating little book.

While some may disagree with the tactics Schiffman chooses to explore her Judaism (taking on an "all-trayfe diet", for instance), her sincerity shines through. She doesn't offer the easy answers some of us may be looking for, but at least she lets us know we're not alone in the search.

I feel that this book was somewhat mis-marketed. It is a very personal, ideosyncratic journey through Judaism in a very specific place, with very specific issues. I had hoped for more of a broad survey of how young Jews in America are approaching their Judaism, the questions they are asking, and the answers they are arriving at.

Instead, it is primarily Schiffman's own personal experiences, flavored heavily by her own prejudices. While this can be the basis for an interesting exploration, I don't think she ever really examined her fundamental beliefs and postulates in a way that provides her a usefull base from which to extrapolate her own experiences.

An accessible and humorous chronicle of one woman's search for a Jewish-ness that is both personal and communal.

Lisa Schiffman was an educated, liberal, workshop-attending city-dweller, with grandparents who had emigrated from Europe, and parents who had either rejected Judaism altogether or else did it by the numbers. For her, being Jewish had always been more of an 'activity' than an identity. In her thirties, however, she found herself wanting more; she wanted to continue to be a modern individual yet also wanted to be one within the tribe.

Blazing her own path, she explores ways in which she is already Jewish without realizing it ("The Zen of Being Jewish"), experiments with the laws of kashrut ("Kosher-Me?"), and musters up the courage to visit a mikvah ("Stray Hairs and Painted Nails"), all of which leads her to her own definitions and rituals.

I greatly enjoyed this entertaining and enlightening read. It is especially apt for anyone -- Jewish or not -- who is seeking to create his or her own, unique religious or spiritual identity.

This text follow's Lisa's search for what it actually means to be "a Jew." Great for Jews and non-Jews alike, it shows what being Jewish means to different people from different generations. Told in narrative style, it is an easy and interesting read.

I found the book to be a fast read, with lots of humour and soul-searching. I thought Lisa was very brave to open her life to the world to see. Especially something as personal as a search for Jewish identity. Her words rang true. I saw myself in much of her book. Not her method of search but certainly as a thirty something person, I could relate to many of her feelings. Tonight, (11-15-00) I saw her speak on the subject. She talked about this review page and I ran home to write. She made me smile for the entire hour. She was a delight. I can't wait to read her next book. To Lisa: How about a Saturday night with husbands. Call the JCC president, Kim.

Very honest and heartfelt journal of sorts written by a woman who was born Jewish, but never quite understood what that meant until it came knocking on the door of her heart. It's funny and a little shocking at times, but we get to know how she feels and why, and she takes us through the steps that helped her regain her true self.

I found it intriguing that she compares herself to a convert to Judaism in that there were many things about Jewish life that she knew nothing about, even though she was "born into the tribe". As I am on the journey to conversion, I could relate to her feeling of being lost within her faith.

I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone wanting a different perspective on Jewish life.