Imagining Jewish Authenticity

Ken Koltun-Fromm is Professor of Religion at Haverford College. He is author of several books including Material Culture and Jewish Thought in America (IUP, 2010).

This volume will have great appeal for anyone interested in classic Jewish literary sources and popular culture that have contributed to the American Jewish psyche. Not only does Koltun-Fromm's deep investment in the fallible constructions of authenticity bring new and provocative insights into media we thought we knew, it is itself a demonstration of the sort of psychological and intellectual challenges with which American scholars of contemporary "Jewish studies" continue to struggle.(Studies in Contemporary Jewry) [T]his volume is not about traditionalist philosophical and theological underpinnings of the rabbinic covenant of learning Jewish authenticity but instead about creative Talmud Torah that speaks of two minds: emotional and experiential.  A compelling read. Recommended.(Choice) Koltun-Fromm has written an important book, one that serves as a reminder not only of the value of boundaries and distinctions—particularly for minority groups—but also of the need for 'new relations of justice'.(Modern Judaism) Imagining Jewish Authenticity is an innovative approach to how American Jewish thinkers have explored concepts of identity and belonging and should be required reading for religious practitioners and scholars of Jewish thought alike.- Amy Weiss (Religious Studies Review)

• Acknowledgments Introduction: Visual Authenticity in the American Jewish ImaginarySection I. The Anxiety of Authenticity in Image and Text1. Seeing Israel in Bernard Rosenblatt's Social Zionism2. Seeing Things in Abraham Joshua Heschel's The Sabbath3. Seeing Food in The Jewish Home Beautiful and Kosher by DesignSection II. The Embodied Language of Visual Authenticity4. The Language of Jewish Bodies in Michael Wyschogrod's The Body of Faith5. The Language of Gendered Bodies in Adler's Engendering Judaism6. The Language of Racial Bodies in Melanie Kaye/Kantrowitz's The Colors of JewsConclusion: Imagining Jewish Authenticity in Every GenerationNotesBibliographyIndex