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In the academic field of Jewish Studies, it has fallen to the social sciences to unlock the mystery of American Jews. Every new quantitative study, however, raises inevitable questions about what the numbers really measure, and what they capture about the lives of American Jews. Steven M. Cohen, a sociologist, and Arnold M. Eisen, a religious studies scholar, have set out to do just that in a highly readable and fascinating book The Jew Within. This collaborative work draws on fifty lengthy interviews and a national survey of over 1,000 Jews. From this data, they learned what a significant sector of American Jews do and believe, and how, where, and with whom they practice their Judaism. What they learned about American Jews is provocative, perhaps not surprising, but neither is it simply predictable. One of the unique features of this study is its focus on the group that they define as the most "typical" of American Jews, the "moderately affiliated.'' These baby boomers belong to Jewish organizations, most likely synagogues, which they attend occasionally. They are not leaders, nor are they among the more religiously observant. They are most likely to be married with children, and have a Jewish spouse. Eisen and Cohen learned that the moderately affiliated are deeply committed to their Judaism, but the nature of that commitment is precisely what calls for analysis. Their "subjects" describe their Judaism as a journey and they travel through it overwhelmingly in the company of the nuclear family, both as children and as parents. Only "the sovereign self" is the arbiter of what happens on that journey because these American Jews are little moved by the authority of God or the normative tradition in their behavior and attitudes. They seek a Judaism that is meaningful to them, and hence requires a degree of personal investment that is high in the private sphere of the family where emotions are deep. The Jews of the new century are less committed than any previous generation to either communal expression of Judaism or the Jewish people. Although they continue to feel a special connection to other Jews, the boundaries that separate them from non-Jews is far more porous than previously experienced. While these Jews would oppose their children choosing another religion, that may be the last frontier of absolute difference for them in American culture. The privatization and deep personalism of this Judaism seems to have affected a significant change in these Jews' attitudes toward Israel, which they regard with a mixture of criticism and attachment; that criticism has very much limited the extent of that attachment. Similarly organizations that often linked Jews to Israel, like the Federations, are currently viewed by most as alienating and unappealing. These Jews feel a strong attachment to God, but they do not anticipate encountering that God in the synagogue. They are not disappointed, according to Cohen and Eisen when God does not appear. The rituals, activities, and events from which they derive the most meaning involve family members. Their zeal to pass on this Judaism to their children is profound, but as they do not want to be told what is an acceptable or legitimate Judaism they do not choose to do so for their children. The rich narratives that make up much of The Jew Within go well beyond these key findings. They are testimony to all that is involved in a journey, its struggles, power, and disappointments. What is even more significant than the nature of the journey is how it is different from their parents' sojourns. If both generations can be described as "pick and choose Jews," it is the baby boomers who are less concerned with consistency than their parents. Their expectation for personal meaning is greater and their experience of community and collective responsibility is far weaker. The authors raise powerful questions and conundrums. Have they described a Judaism that is close to running its course, since nearly two generations that follow the baby boom are in or moving toward adulthood? The Jew Within emphasizes the link between Jewish identity and family perhaps more fully and complexly than any recent study of American Jews. It is a major contribution to the study of Jewish identity. Families, however, continue to change. Is the Judaism of journey tied to the rather traditional forms of family life described in this book, or will Judaism become the religion only of such families? While Jewish practice continues to grow in the soil of Jewish commitment and observance, the freedom to choose among mitzvot and the yearning for meaning have created not a new formulation of Judaism as much as a new version of an increasingly secularized Judaism. It is precisely these powerful tensions, if not contradictions, thatThe Jew Within brings to our attention. This book will serve as a mirror into which American Jews will gaze for many years, if not decades, in puzzling out who we are and how we got here. (c)2004 Sh'ma. All rights reserved. The information contained in this article may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of Sh'ma.
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