The Making of Modern Jewish Identity: Ideological Change and Religious Conversion

This volume explores the processes that led several modern Jewish leaders – rabbis, politicians, and intellectuals – to make radical changes to their ideology regarding Zionism, Socialism, and Orthodoxy. Comparing their ideological change to acts of conversion, the study examines the philosophical, sociological, and psychological path of the leaders’ transformation.

The individuals examined are novelist Arthur Koestler, who transformed from a devout Communist to an anti-Communist crusader f...