An exploration of how American Jewish thinkers grapple with the notion of being the isolated "Chosen People" in a nation that is a melting pot.What does it mean to be a Jew in America? What opportunities and what threats does the great melting pot represent for a group that has traditionally defined itself as "a people that must dwell alone?" Although for centuries the notion of "The Chosen People" sustained Jewish identity, America, by offering Jewish immigrants an...

Thinking Jewish Culture in America argues that Jewish thought extends our awareness and deepens the complexity of American Jewish culture. This volume stretches the disciplinary boundaries of Jewish thought so that it can productively engage expanding arenas of culture by drawing Jewish thought into the orbit of cultural studies. The eleven contributors to Thinking Jewish Cultures, together with Chancellor Arnold Eisen’s postscript, position Jewish thought within the dynamics and possibili...

Rising calls in both the United States and abroad for theologizing national agendas have renewed examinations about whether liberal states can accommodate such programs without either endangering citizens' rights or trivializing religious concerns. Conventional wisdom suggests that theology is necessarily unfriendly to the liberal state, but neither philosophical analysis nor empirical argument has convincingly established that conclusion. Examining the problem from a variety of perspectiv...

The synagogue remains a central institution in Jewish life as a place of study, worship, and assembly, but each day brings word of a new challenging development within each of the larger movements to which synagogues belong—Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, and Reconstructionist. Jewish religious communities today share a number of challenges, from the increase in secular or unaffiliated Jews to emerging Jewish spiritual communities forming outside the synagogue. There has never been a more ...

Where Judaism and health intersect, healing may begin.Essential reading for people interested in the Jewish healing, spirituality and spiritual direction movements, this groundbreaking volume explores the Jewish tradition for comfort in times of illness and Judaism’s perspectives on the inevitable suffering with which we live.Pushing the boundaries of Jewish knowledge, scholars, teachers, artists and activists examine the aspects of our mortality and the im...

In Seeking the Hiding God, Arnold Eisen delves into the profound mystery of divine hiddenness, presenting a compelling exploration of how this central theological dilemma resonates within modern Jewish life. Through rigorous analysis and heartfelt reflection, Eisen tackles the poignant questions that arise when God seems absent, drawing on classical Jewish texts and contemporary thought. His insightful examination reveals how these ancient narratives continue to influence and illu...