After Emancipation
Jewish Religious Responses to Modernity
David Ellenson prefaces this fascinating collection of twenty-three essays with a remarkably candid account of his intellectual journey from boyhood in Virginia to the scholarly immersion in the history, thought, and literature of the Jewish people that has informed his research interests in a distinguished academic career. Ellenson has been particularly intrigued by the attempts of religious leaders in all denominations of Judaism to redefine themselves and their traditions in the modern period.
The essays are grouped into five sections. In the first, Ellenson reflects upon the expression of Jewish values and identity in contemporary America, explains his debt to Jacob Katz's socio-religious approach to Jewish history, and shows how the works of Max Weber highlight the tensions between the universalism of Western thought and Jewish demands for a particularistic identity. In the second section, he indicates how Jewish religious leaders in nineteenth-century Europe labored to demonstrate that the Jewish religion and Jewish culture were worthy of respect by the larger gentile world. In a third section, Ellenson shows how the leaders of the Liberal and Orthodox branches of Judaism in Central Europe constructed novel parameters for their communities through prayer books, legal writings, sermons, and journal articles. The fourth section takes a close look at twentieth-century Jewish legal decisions on new issues such as the status of women, fertility treatments, and even the obligations of the Israeli government toward its minority populations. Finally, review essays in the last section analyze landmark contemporary works of legal and liturgical creativity.
"...a masterful achievement by one of American Jewry's most inspiring and beloved mentors."
-Arnold Eisen, Stanford University
"David Ellenson's scholarship is not merely sound; it is rich and multilayered."
-David N. Myers, University of California, Los Angeles
David Ellenson, President of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, is a distinguished rabbi, scholar, and leader of the Reform Movement.
David Ellenson
Winner of the 2005 National Jewish Book Award in the category of Jewish Thought and Experience
2004 / 547 pp / ISBN 0-87820-223-4, cloth: $35.00
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