The New Jewish Leaders: Reshaping the American Jewish Landscape

by Jack Wertheimer (Editor)

Overview

By the end of the twentieth century, a new generation of leaders had begun to assume positions of influence within established organizations. They quickly launched a slew of new initiatives directed at their age peers. Born during the last quarter of the twentieth century, these leaders came of age in a very different America and a different Jewish world than earlier generations. Not surprisingly, their worldview and understanding of Jewish issues set them apart from their elders, as does their approach to organizing. Based upon extensive interviews and survey research, as well as an examination of the websites frequented by younger Jews and personal observation of their programs, The New Jewish Leaders presents a pioneering account of the renewal of American Jewish community. This book describes how younger Jews organize, relate to collective Jewish efforts, and think about current Jewish issues. It also offers a glimpse of how they re-envision American Jewish communal arrangements. What emerges is a fascinating exploration of Jewish community in America today—and tomorrow.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781611681840
Publisher:	Brandeis University Press
Publication date:	12/13/2011
Series:	Brandeis Series in American Jewish History, Culture, and Life
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	352
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

JACK WERTHEIMER is Professor of History at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, author of Unwelcome Strangers: East European Jews in Imperial Germany (1987), and editor of The American Synagogue: A Sanctuary Transformed (UPNE/Brandeis, 1995).

Table of Contents

Preface • Contributors • Mapping the Scene: How Younger Jewish Adults Engage with Jewish Community – Jack Wertheimer • From Jewish People to Jewish Purpose: Establishment Leaders and Their Nonestablishment Successors – Steven M. Cohen • Expressive, Progressive, and Protective: Three Impulses for Nonestablishment Organizing among Young Jews Today – Steven M. Cohen • Young Jewish Leaders in Los Angeles: Strengthening the Jewish People in Conventional and Unconventional Ways – Sarah Bunin Benor • Reimagining Jewishness: Younger American Jewish Leaders, Entrepreneurs, and Artists in Cultural Context – Sylvia Barack Fishman, with Rachel S. Bernstein and Emily Sigalow • The Reality of the Virtual: Looking for Jewish Leadership Online – Ari Y. Kelman • In Its Own Image: Independent Philanthropy and the Cultivation of Young Jewish Leadership – Shaul Kelner • Conclusion – Jack Wertheimer • Acknowledgments • Appendix: The Research Design • Index

Editorial Reviews

This book provides data and insights intended to guide the institutional changes needed to attract and enhance the commitment of today’s young Jews. Several important shifts in the general society, which are echoed in the Jewish community, pose serious challenges. . . . Numerous scholarly and programmatic efforts are being devoted to responding to these shifts. This book adds a great deal to that discourse.” —Jewish Book World

“Edited by one of the finest chroniclers of Jewish history, this volume seeks to provide a literary template regarding young Jewish leaders between the ages of 21 and 40. Hardly surprising, its greatest strengths are editor Wertheimer’s contributions: his preface, lengthy first chapter, and conclusion. . . . Recommended.”—Choice

“Collections focusing primarily on the development of Jewish organizations, American Jewish history and non-profit management can directly benefit from this work.”—Association of Jewish Libraries newsletter

“As with Wertheimer’s previous efforts, the research is well done, the writing and editing is excellent, and the results are significant. . . . The project—because this is the culmination of a research effort and not just the editing of a book collection—is well done from beginning to end.”—H-JUDAIC

"On many levels, this is a wonderfully informative book. It offers great insight into shifting patterns and attitudes towards pluralism, denominationalism, and many other topics critical to this generation of young, involved Jews. Those with the skills and training to plumb the depths of this material will learn a great deal about what the book’s subtitle calls the reshaping of the American Jewish landscape. And for that, serious readers should be grateful."—Jewish Ideas Daily

“On many levels, this is a wonderfully informative book. It offers great insight into shifting patters and attitudes towards pluralism, denominationalism, and many other topics critical to this generation of young, involved Jews. Those with the skills and training to plumb the depths the depths of this material will learn a great deal about what the book’s subtitle calls the reshaping of the American Jewish landscape.”—Jewish Ideas Daily

From the Publisher