Who, Where and What is "Israel?" [Hardcover]

Jacob Neusner (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 12, 1989 | Series: Studies in Judaism

In this book the author, a recognized authority on Jewish life and thought, poses the question, 'How are we to think about the social and political setting for our religious and ethnic life as Jewish Americans and American Jews?' He gives his answer in six parts: I. What is at Stake in Debates on Zionism and Judaism? II. Zionism and Judaism in Theory III. A Zionist Theory of American Judaism IV. Zionism and Judaism in Practice V. American Jews and the State of Israel VI. The Failure of Nerve: Anti-Semitism and the Self-Ghettoization of 'Jewish Studies.' In Part II, the author states that 'Zionism, that is to say, the view that the Jews form a people, one people, and that the Jews constitute a political entity that deserves a state and a politics of its own, characterizes all Judaisms,' and he explains why.

Editorial Reviews

Review

This volume collects several of Jacob Neusner's important essays....his readers will profit from his insights, even if they disagree with the positions he takes.>>>> (Jewish Post And Opinion )

This volume collects several of Jacob Neusner's important essays....his readers will profit from his insights, even if they disagree with the positions he takes. (Jewish Post And Opinion )

About the Author

Jacob Neusner is Research Professor of Religion and Theology Bard College Annandale-on-Hudson, NY.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 176 pages
• Publisher: University Press Of America (May 12, 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0819173606
• ISBN-13: 978-0819173607
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,178,137 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not what I expected, October 26, 2007

By 

Jill Malter ([e-mail]) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Who, Where and What is "Israel?" (Hardcover)

As a Pagan, I found it surprisingly difficult to get much out of this book. I had read plenty of articles and books on Zionism, and I had understood them. But this one was a little different, at least for me.

Neusner beings by pointing out that Jewish life can survive in the United States, not only in Israel. Next he discusses Zionism as an aspect of theology. I never thought of it in such a manner before. I still don't. Neusner argues that Judaism is Zionism and vice-versa, and he gives some historical arguments which I did not follow. But he does make it clear that he regards "Israel" in Judaism as the people, wherever they are, not the place, however important.

Now what about Zionists who live in, say, the United States? What does it mean to be an American Zionist? Neusner says that a Zionist has to hold that the State of Israel comes first among Jewish responsibilities. The idea is not that Zionists ought to hold Israel as a more important nation than the United States. It is that Jewish existence in Israeli towns is of higher importance than Jewish existence in American or other non-Israeli towns.

I guess I can understand that. It may be a little like saying that one can not be a White House Security guard unless one holds the security of the White House to be more important than the security of any other building. But is this concept all that special?

Neusner has a chapter on Academic anti-Semitism. Well, there is some anti-Semitism at some universities. But guess what Neusner discusses here? It's the field of "Jewish Studies." He says that "admitting and presenting any subject on other than academic terms represents a statement, by the academy, of contempt for that subject." He calls that anti-Semitism on the part of the academy. That is very different from what I expected to read. I guess I agree with him about this, however, as well as about his extension of this accusation to other ethnic studies.

I think Neusner must have had a better way to explain his ideas, one I could have understood better.