Religion or ethnicity? : Jewish identities in evolution /

Is "Jewish" an ethnic description or a religious adjective? Can one be Jewish without practicing the Jewish religion? This is both the subject of and the question addressed by a number of the 15 scholarly essays included in this provocative and important volume. Although the debate over defining Jewish identity will not be resolved to everyone's satisfaction, what the book does accomplish is to elucidate how the definition of the Jewish people has evolved over the centuries and has changed at different times in different places. Editor Gitelman (Univ. of Michigan) divides his volume chronologically into four parts representing the evolution of the Jewish people: Judaism and Jewish identity in the premodern period; secular Jewishness in modern times; secular Jewishness in contemporary Israel; and, finally, secular Jewishness in the Diaspora today. Gitelman recognizes the futility of being "once and for all" able to classify Jews. Rather, he aims to ask what the history of these transformations reveals about Jewish ethnicity, religion, and culture, and, more significantly, whether a sense of Jewishness can be transmitted over generations in societies where Jews are free to adopt the majority culture. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All levels/libraries. J. Fischel emeritus, Messiah College