Charles S. Liebman - Böcker

Throughout history, the persecutions of the Jewish people have been central to their identity and to the cohesion of their religion and cultural heritage. But now, with the success of the Jewish State of Israel and the prosperity of Jews in the United States, the collective sufferings that have forged the Jewish identity are disappearing. The compelling question Bernard Susser and Charles Liebman ask in Choosing Survival is: Will this success paradoxically prove fatal to Judaism?Susser and Liebman paint a disturbing portrait of the decline of Judaism in both Israel and the United States and the various--and mainly ineffective--efforts to reverse that decline. In Israel, as Jews are increasingly drawn to cosmopolitan Western culture, Jewishness is in danger of being reduced merely to communal folkways, while political tensions between religious and secular Jews threaten to pull the state apart. In the U.S., assimilation and secularization is even harder to resist. Efforts to strengthen Jewish identity by claiming the U.S. is still anti-Semitic and by pointing to the Holocaust and the threats to Israel's survival have not worked. The authors do, however, see a hopeful sign in Jewish Orthodoxy which, while not a viable solution to the problem, is successfully passing on its tenets and practices and attracting many non-Orthodox Jews. They identify several aspects of Orthodoxy that can be emulated by all Jews and hold the best hope for Jewish survival--its reverence for study, its ability to set and maintain boundaries, and its deep belief in community.For anyone concerned about the fate of Judaism and what it means to be Jewish, Choosing Survival is an impassioned, troubling, and essential book.

This study explores the profound influence of Judaism on the political culture of the Jewish settlement in the Land of Israel, spanning from the prestate yishuv period to the present day. Focusing on the concept of civil religion—defined as the ceremonials, myths, and creeds that legitimize the social order, foster unity, and mobilize society toward its key political goals—the research examines how these elements, often rooted in Jewish tradition, have shaped the political and moral community of Israel. Civil religion, representing what is most sacred in a political culture, has played a distinctive role in unifying the population and guiding political aims within modern Jewish society in Israel.The book traces the evolution of civil religion in Israel, highlighting its decline in recent years as a key shift in Israeli political culture. Organized into chapters that define terms, detail the development of civil religions over time, and explore the responses of religious Jews, the study culminates in a comprehensive analysis of the topic. Drawing on research supported by grants from the Israel Foundations Trustees and Bar-Ilan University, the authors offer a collaborative and in-depth examination of civil religion’s dynamic presence and transformation within Israeli society, shedding light on one of the most significant elements of its political and cultural identity.This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1983.

This study explores the profound influence of Judaism on the political culture of the Jewish settlement in the Land of Israel, spanning from the prestate yishuv period to the present day. Focusing on the concept of civil religion—defined as the ceremonials, myths, and creeds that legitimize the social order, foster unity, and mobilize society toward its key political goals—the research examines how these elements, often rooted in Jewish tradition, have shaped the political and moral community of Israel. Civil religion, representing what is most sacred in a political culture, has played a distinctive role in unifying the population and guiding political aims within modern Jewish society in Israel.The book traces the evolution of civil religion in Israel, highlighting its decline in recent years as a key shift in Israeli political culture. Organized into chapters that define terms, detail the development of civil religions over time, and explore the responses of religious Jews, the study culminates in a comprehensive analysis of the topic. Drawing on research supported by grants from the Israel Foundations Trustees and Bar-Ilan University, the authors offer a collaborative and in-depth examination of civil religion’s dynamic presence and transformation within Israeli society, shedding light on one of the most significant elements of its political and cultural identity.This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1983.

Analyzes a recent report on a survey of the religious beliefs and behavior of Israeli Jews, and of the intense public debate that it produced.In December 1993, the Louis Guttman Israel Institute of Applied Social Research released the results of the most comprehensive study ever undertaken of the religious beliefs and behavior of Israeli Jews. The study revealed that Israeli Jews were far more traditional in their religious beliefs and behavior than previously thought, resulting in an intense public debate within Israeli society.This book summarizes the Guttman Report and describes how the media and Israeli intellectuals responded to it and imposed their own interpretations. It then analyzes the report in greater detail and puts in global perspective Israeli Jews' ritual behavior, religious beliefs, and attitudes toward religion in public life. The editors conclude that the religious traditionalism of Israeli Jews is unique among advanced industrial societies. They seek to explain this uniqueness in terms of the particular nature of Israeli society, focusing on Israel's security problems and suggesting the impact that a new security situation would have on Israeli Jews and how it would reshape the Israeli political map.

Analyzes a recent report on a survey of the religious beliefs and behavior of Israeli Jews, and of the intense public debate that it produced.In December 1993, the Louis Guttman Israel Institute of Applied Social Research released the results of the most comprehensive study ever undertaken of the religious beliefs and behavior of Israeli Jews. The study revealed that Israeli Jews were far more traditional in their religious beliefs and behavior than previously thought, resulting in an intense public debate within Israeli society.This book summarizes the Guttman Report and describes how the media and Israeli intellectuals responded to it and imposed their own interpretations. It then analyzes the report in greater detail and puts in global perspective Israeli Jews' ritual behavior, religious beliefs, and attitudes toward religion in public life. The editors conclude that the religious traditionalism of Israeli Jews is unique among advanced industrial societies. They seek to explain this uniqueness in terms of the particular nature of Israeli society, focusing on Israel's security problems and suggesting the impact that a new security situation would have on Israeli Jews and how it would reshape the Israeli political map.

Deceptive Images is a profoundly thoughtful effort by a social scientist—who is a participant observer in American Jewish life—to come to terms with his concerns about how American Jews and Judaism have been studied, and his sensitivity to the policy implications of such studies. Liebman writes about what he cares deeply about; as a social scientist he is able to use concepts and theories in which he has been trained, although not without a sense of their limitations.In the passionately argued book that results, Liebman contends that those concerned with American Jews, both social scientists and communal leaders, have placed too much emphasis on what Jews do and too little emphasis on Judaism itself. Because they have depended too much on quantitative studies to help them understand contemporary American Jews, they have given too little encouragement to efforts to probe the meaning of Judaism in the lives of American Jews.This stimulating volume takes exception to the notion that American Jewish life is flourishing. It calls for reassessment both of the study of American Judaism and the priorities of American Jewish organizations.

First Published in 1997. The essays in this volume are revisions, in some cases substantial, to the 1995 Sherman Lectures which the author delivered at SOAS, the School of Oriental and African Studies of the University of London.

Deceptive Images is a profoundly thoughtful effort by a social scientist—who is a participant observer in American Jewish life—to come to terms with his concerns about how American Jews and Judaism have been studied, and his sensitivity to the policy implications of such studies. Liebman writes about what he cares deeply about; as a social scientist he is able to use concepts and theories in which he has been trained, although not without a sense of their limitations.In the passionately argued book that results, Liebman contends that those concerned with American Jews, both social scientists and communal leaders, have placed too much emphasis on what Jews do and too little emphasis on Judaism itself. Because they have depended too much on quantitative studies to help them understand contemporary American Jews, they have given too little encouragement to efforts to probe the meaning of Judaism in the lives of American Jews.This stimulating volume takes exception to the notion that American Jewish life is flourishing. It calls for reassessment both of the study of American Judaism and the priorities of American Jewish organizations.

The emergence of the metropolitan complex as the characteristic urban form in the United States has raised the question of the adequacy of traditional local governments to cope with changed local conditions. Most studies on this subject have focused on the attempts by suburbs to achieve metropolitan forms of government, stressing the interdependence of local units of government and the resulting need for integrative governments to formulate and execute area-wide policies. This book takes note of the failures of the metropolitan governmental proposals and turns attention to the forces for decentralization in the government of metropolitan areas. In other words, this is a study of the forces for independence-the values that impel local units to cherish and protect their separate identities. It seeks to describe these values not as sentiments, but as actual public policies realized through the actions of local governments. Specifically, it analyzes the way in which local municipal and school fiscal policies and the patterns of inter-local cooperative arrangements reflect the discrete circumstances of the individual suburbs.The locus of the study is the Philadelphia area, but its findings will be of interest to a national as well as a local audience. Approximately 300 municipalities are covered in the analysis. The findings of the study are discussed for their implications for future changes in the governing of metropolitan areas.Although scholarly in its approach to urban problems, this empirical study has been written in a way that will make it understandable and valuable to the lay reader. It is illustrated with maps and charts, and includes a lengthy statistical appendix.