Framing Conflict: Why American Congregations Cannot Not Talk about Israel

Kelman, Ari Y.; Baron, Ilan Zvi

doi:10.1007/s12397-019-09305-2

Cited by 3 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…This list is not exhaustive, but it addresses omissions in the community studies that limited comparisons between these countries. Knowledge of Hebrew and Yiddish - understanding, speaking, reading, and writing; also, the languages in which people are most fluent and speak at home; Antisemitism - how and where it is experienced and how it impacts on Jewish engagement; Israel - reasons for connection and disconnection, and how to find ways to bring people together without entirely excluding Israel from the conversation (Kelman and Baron 2019 ). Few surveys differentiated between Israel programs of different lengths and explored an “immersiveness factor”; namely, the intensity in duration, ideology, and educational content of different programs (Graham 2014); Jewish culture - questions that more broadly capture forms of cultural engagement.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Israel - reasons for connection and disconnection, and how to find ways to bring people together without entirely excluding Israel from the conversation (Kelman and Baron 2019 ). Few surveys differentiated between Israel programs of different lengths and explored an “immersiveness factor”; namely, the intensity in duration, ideology, and educational content of different programs (Graham 2014);…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Tongue Ties or Fragments Transformed: Making Sense of Similarities and Differences between the Five Largest English-Speaking Jewish Communities

Bankier-Karp

2023

Cont Jewry

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The subjects of Jewish identity and Jewish communal vitality, and how they may be conceptualized and measured, are the topics of lively debate among scholars of contemporary Jewry (DellaPergola 2015, 2020; Kosmin 2022; Pew Research Center 2021; Phillips 2022). Complicating matters, there appears to be a disconnect between the broadly accepted claim that comparative analysis yields richer understanding of Jewish communities (Cooperman 2016; Weinfeld 2020) and the reality that the preponderance of that research focuses on discrete communities. This paper examines the five largest English-speaking Jewish communities in the diaspora: the United States of America (US) (population 6,000,000), Canada (population 393,500), the United Kingdom (UK) (population 292,000), Australia (population 118,000), and South Africa (population 52,000) (DellaPergola 2022). A comparison of the five communities’ levels of Jewish engagement, and the identification of factors shaping these differences, are the main objectives of this paper. The paper first outlines conceptual and methodological issues involved in the study of contemporary Jewry; hierarchical linear modeling is proposed as the suitable statistical approach for this analysis, and ethnocultural and religious capital are promoted as suitable measures for studying Jewish engagement. Secondly, a contextualizing historical and sociodemographic overview of the five communities is presented, highlighting attributes which the communities have in common, and those which differentiate them. Statistical methods are then utilized to develop measures of Jewish capital, and to identify explanatory factors shaping the differences between these five communities in these measures of Jewish capital. To further the research agenda of communal and transnational research, this paper concludes by identifying questions that are unique to the individual communities studied, with a brief exploration of subjects that Jewish communities often neglect to examine and are encouraged to consider. This paper demonstrates the merits of comparative analysis and highlights practical and conceptual implications for future Jewish communal research.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tongue Ties or Fragments Transformed: Making Sense of Similarities and Differences between the Five Largest English-Speaking Jewish Communities

Bankier-Karp

2023

Cont Jewry

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“…Wertheimer also dedicates a few pages of his study to describe the way that over the past seven decades Israel-through its new holidays, Hebrew pronunciation, liturgical additions and tunes, placement of Israeli flags in synagogue sanctuaries, and more recently through the sense of delegitimization felt by many American Jews-has become a key element in Jewish religious experience. Unlike Shain, however, he is not convinced that Israel is or can serve as the foundational basis for American Judaism (Kelman and Baron 2019). Building on broader studies of American society that demonstrate the "declining influence of ethnicity," Wertheimer asserts that "peoplehood alone will not keep Jews engaged in Jewish life with any measure of intensity."…”

Section: Liberal (Non-orthodox) Judaismmentioning

confidence: 99%

Israelization and Lived Religion: Conflicting Accounts of Contemporary Judaism

Ferziger

2020

Cont Jewry

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The article begins with an analysis of Yossi Shain, Ha-Me'ah ha-Yisraelit ve-ha-Yisraelizaziyah shel ha-Yahadut (The Israeli Century and the Israelization of Judaism) (2019), which puts forward a novel and enlightening revisionist view of the relationship between Israeli and American Jewries. The second part of the article reveals essential problems with Shain's central argument. These come to a fore through the study of Judaism as a lived religion. Three examples are discussed at length to illustrate this point: developments in the religious lives of liberal Jews, Chabad, and Orthodox Feminism.

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