Overview

Who should count as Jewish in America? What should be the relationship of American Jews to Israel? Can the American Jewish community collectively sustain and pass on to the next generation a sufficient sense of Jewish identity? The situation of American Jews today is deeply paradoxical. Jews have achieved unprecedented integration, influence, and esteem in virtually every facet of American life. But this extraordinarily diverse community now also faces four critical and often divisive challenges: rampant intermarriage, weak religious observance, diminished cohesion in the face of waning anti-Semitism, and deeply conflicting views about Israel. Can the American Jewish community collectively sustain and pass on to the next generation a sufficient sense of Jewish identity in light of these challenges? Who should count as Jewish in America? What should be the relationship of American Jews to Israel? In this thoughtful and perceptive book, Robert H. Mnookin argues that the answers of the past no longer serve American Jews today. The book boldly promotes a radically inclusive American-Jewish community—one where being Jewish can depend on personal choice and public self-identification, not simply birth or formal religious conversion. Instead of preventing intermarriage or ostracizing those critical of Israel, he envisions a community that embraces diversity and debate, and in so doing, preserves and strengthens the Jewish identity into the next generation and beyond.

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9781735996837

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Reviews

A revolutionary (some would say heretical) revision. -New York Times Book Review In a remarkable book at once deeply personal and deeply learned, one of America's leading intellectuals invites us to a fascinating conversation about what it means to be Jewish. This book deals with issues that have preoccupied me personally for many years, and after almost every chapter I wanted to pick up the phone and continue the conversation Mnookin started. -Robert D. Putnam, professor of public policy, Harvard, and author of American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us A master course in negotiating the most important questions a person-or a people-can confront. Mnookin's focus on the contemporary challenges of Jewish identity illuminates the larger issue of what it is to be self-critically human in a world for which few feel sufficiently prepared, much less at home. The Jewish American Paradox is an important book for Jews, Americans, and everyone who hopes for a better future. -James Carroll, author of Constantine's Sword and The Cloister Mnookin presents a terrific case that Judaism should be a welcoming umbrella. My whole Jewish education was based on what you cannot do, what you cannot eat, when you cannot drive, play ball, etc. In an optimistic, almost nondoctrinal evangelical spirit, this book focuses on what you can do. -Harold Holzer, director of Roosevelt House Public Policy Center at Hunter College and Historian The Jewish American Paradox is a powerful combination of meditation on faith and rigorous legal analysis of the dilemmas facing American Jews. The author invites the reader to join his journey, and to learn surprising insights along the way. -Steve Weisman, author of The Chosen Wars: How Judiasm Became An American Religion Robert Mnookin' s important new book is a brilliant analysis with positive prescriptions at a critical time for the American Jewish community. Rampant intermarriage here and conservative policies of today's Israeli government demand candid dialogue and bold solutions. Robert Mnookin provides just that. -Ambassador Stuart E. Eizenstat, author of President Carter: The White House Years Mnookin argues that the greatest danger to American Judaism is not intermarriage but 'disengagement,' a condition for which he suggests remedies to forge connections of religious, cultural, and personal identity. A wide-ranging, wise, and liberal perspective-perhaps enough so to excite controversy. -Kirkus Reviews

“A revolutionary (some would say heretical) revision.” —New York Times Book Review   “In a remarkable book at once deeply personal and deeply learned, one of America’s leading intellectuals invites us to a fascinating conversation about what it means to be Jewish. This book deals with issues that have preoccupied me personally for many years, and after almost every chapter I wanted to pick up the phone and continue the conversation Mnookin started.” —Robert D. Putnam, professor of public policy, Harvard, and author of American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us   “A master course in negotiating the most important questions a person—or a people—can confront. Mnookin’s focus on the contemporary challenges of Jewish identity illuminates the larger issue of what it is to be self-critically human in a world for which few feel sufficiently prepared, much less at home. The Jewish American Paradox is an important book for Jews, Americans, and everyone who hopes for a better future.” —James Carroll, author of Constantine’s Sword and The Cloister   “Mnookin presents a terrific case that Judaism should be a welcoming umbrella. My whole Jewish education was based on what you cannot do, what you cannot eat, when you cannot drive, play ball, etc. In an optimistic, almost nondoctrinal evangelical spirit, this book focuses on what you can do.” —Harold Holzer, director of Roosevelt House Public Policy Center at Hunter College and Historian   “The Jewish American Paradox is a powerful combination of meditation on faith and rigorous legal analysis of the dilemmas facing American Jews. The author invites the reader to join his journey, and to learn surprising insights along the way.”—Steve Weisman, author of The Chosen Wars: How Judiasm Became An American Religion   “Robert Mnookin' s important new book is a brilliant analysis with positive prescriptions at a critical time for the American Jewish community. Rampant intermarriage here and conservative policies of today’s Israeli government demand candid dialogue and bold solutions. Robert Mnookin provides just that.”—Ambassador Stuart E. Eizenstat, author of President Carter: The White House Years   “Mnookin argues that the greatest danger to American Judaism is not intermarriage but ‘disengagement,’ a condition for which he suggests remedies to forge connections of religious, cultural, and personal identity. A wide-ranging, wise, and liberal perspective—perhaps enough so to excite controversy.” —Kirkus Reviews

Author Information

Robert H. Mnookin is the Samuel Williston Professor of Law at Harvard Law School and the Director of the Harvard Negotiation Research Project. For twenty years he has served as chair of Harvard’s Program on Negotiation and as a board officer of Harvard’s Hillel Foundation. Before joining the Harvard faculty, Professor Mnookin was the Adelbert H. Sweet Professor of Law at Stanford Law School and the Director of the Stanford Center on Conflict and Negotiation. At Stanford, he chaired the Jewish Community Federation and served as president of the Stanford Hillel Foundation. Between 1994 and 2003, he served on the International Board of the New Israel Fund as its Secretary and Treasurer. A leading scholar in the field of conflict resolution, Professor Mnookin is the author of nine books, including Kissinger the Negotiator: Lessons from Dealmaking at the Highest Level (with J. Sebenlus and R. N. Burns). This is the most personal among them. He lives in Cambridge, Massacusetts.

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