Judaism in the Modern World

In the history of Judaism, no cultural contact has resulted in such sweeping changes as the tradition’s encounter with modernity. Beginning in the late 18th century, political, religious and social emancipation opened the door to both undreamt opportunity and cataclysmic disaster. At the same time, this cultural upheaval raised fundamental questions concerning the validity of the Jewish covenant and the meaning of Jewish identity. The chapters share an overarching concern with the issue of Jewish persistence amidst changing forms of identity in the modern world. Taken together, they may be read as reflecting four central concerns of Judaism in the modern world: historical reflections, which treat a variety of cultural and historiographical issues in observing the Jewish presence in modernity; the holocaust and its aftermath; literature, its content, meaning and task; and the theological dimensions of Judaism. When viewed through the prisms of these concerns, Judaism emerges as a tradition in search of a useable past - even in the face of radical discontinuity - in order to live in the present while planning for the future.