Who Is a Jew?: Conversations, Not Conclusions [Paperback]

Meryl Hyman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1999

Who is "Jewish enough" to be considered a Jew? And by whom? The definition is as important now as at any time since before the Holocaust. Tackling the question head-on, this is a book for those who seek to understand the issue, and for those who think they already do .

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

"Who Is a Jew?": Conversations, Not Conclusions is a collection of interviews with religious, academic, and political leaders from the U.S., Israel, and England. Journalist Meryl Hyman has a sharp ear for the nuances of their answers, and she's presented them here in her subjects' own words. "Who Is a Jew?" covers many aspects of this question and the wildly diverse answers offered by more than 30 Orthodox, Reform, Conservative, and Reconstructionist leaders. The validity of non-Orthodox conversion and of patrilineal descent, as well as the variety of perspectives on who should be able to immigrate to Israel are among the vital issues covered in Hyman's conversations. The answers given by this book are passionate and insightful. Most strikingly, they are always fluid, without ever relaxing into easy relativism. --Michael Joseph Gross --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

Journalist Hyman has gathered the voices of more than 35 religious leaders, including Dr. Eugene J. Fisher, the associate director of the Secretariat for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, and Jim Sibley, coordinator of Jewish ministries of the Southern Baptist Convention, to address the question of Jewish identity. Rabbis from the full range of Jewish traditions in Israel, Europe and the United States offer their own answers to questions like, "Why is it crucial for Jews to establish the definition of Jewish identity?" and "What impact does Israel's answer to the question Who is a Jew? have on Jews in the rest of the world?" Many of the writers assert that there exists no collective Jewish identity that can be regulated in any fashion, while others contend that elements such as the existence of the Israeli state as the place to which all Jews will one day return or the religious force of halakhic observance are the hallmarks of Jewish identity. Hyman's volume is a sober and balanced collection of voices struggling to come to terms with the fraught question of Jewish identity.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Jewish Lights Pub (March 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1580230520
• ISBN-13: 978-1580230520
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,031,367 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Read this. You'll feel better. You'll feel worse. But read., July 30, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (Riverside, California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Who is a Jew: Conversations Not Conclusions (Hardcover)

Who is a Jew? It seems everyone has an opinion on this one. The issue is close to Meryl Hyman, as she is a Reform Jew of patrilineal descent. This gives the book an immediacy that will be welcome to those, such as myself, who embrace Judaism as a religion but await ~full~ acceptance as members of the people Israel. Although personally involved with her subject, the author uses her skills as a journalist to maintain perspective. This book will be of great interest to anyone troubled by vague status due to the history of their parentage or conversion. It is remarkably up to date and includes discussion of the proposed Israeli conversion law.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars 10+10+10 degrees of separation?, February 22, 2006

By 

Ace (East Coast) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Who Is a Jew?: Conversations, Not Conclusions (Paperback)

One woman's quest for self-identity and belonging, which brought her deeply into the question of belonging yet not belonging.

Fascinating, highly engrossing, well-researched. Raises many questions with no clear-cut answers forthcoming, or -- given the complexity and variety of laws AND opinions -- expected.

This book follows the frustrating yet fascinating quest for one's place, one's station in life, one's family tree and how it affects one's standing as a Jew in Israel, as well as in the US.

The Matrilineal as well as the Patrilineal sucession of Jewish identity as well as Rabbinical laws, Political decrees and biblical decrees relating to one's "Jewish-ness" are outlined and argued and brought into play -- and although no clear-cut conclusions are reached in this book, this reader was definitely made more aware of not only what it means to be a Jew, but also of the agony of loving one's Jewish heritage, yet still being unable to be fully accepted as a Jew because of one's family tree.

Fascinating, absorbing, and thought-provoking.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Marvelous Discussion of an Important Jewish Topic, January 2, 2001

By 

"jrw38" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Who Is a Jew?: Conversations, Not Conclusions (Paperback)

Ms. Hyman's book is an excellent discussion of the debate surrounding the "Who is a Jew?" issue. As a Reform Jew of patrilineal descent, she is able to add a unique perspective to this debate and shows us some of the outright hypocrisy that surrounds such Jews.

The one question I would ask Ms. Hyman is why she is satisfied to let Orthodox and Conservative rabbis control her ethnic and religious identity. I would like to comfort Ms. Hyman and all others with the words Andrew Jackson once uttered when faced with a Supreme Court ruling he didn't like: "The Court has made its decision; now let them enforce it." This is the way I feel about the "Who is a Jew?" issue: Orthodox and (most) Conservative rabbis can say as loudly as they like that only the child of a Jewish mother is a Jew, but it matters not when (at least in America) they have no real power to enforce it.

Ms. Hyman's book is particularly interesting in that it presents the one voice we haven't heard in this vociferous debate: the voice of the patrilineal Jew. It seems that everyone has been consulted in this debate except the people actually affected by this issue. I suggest that Ms. Hyman and other patrilineal Jews simply take matters into their own hands; if the Orthodox and Conservative movements will not give them legitimacy, they should simply take it. Ultimately, only an individual person can know whether he or she has legitimacy as a Jew.