The Jewish American Paradox

Who should count as Jewish inAmerica? What should be the relationship of American Jews to Israel? Can theAmerican Jewish community collectively sustain and pass on to the nextgeneration a sufficient sense of Jewish identity?
The situation of American Jews todayis deeply paradoxical. Jews have achieved unprecedented integration, influence,and esteem in virtually every facet of American life. But this extraordinarilydiverse community now also faces four critical and often divisive challenges:rampant intermarriage, weak religious observance, diminished cohesion in theface of waning anti-Semitism, and deeply conflicting views about Israel.
Can the American Jewish communitycollectively sustain and pass on to the next generation a sufficient sense ofJewish identity in light of these challenges? Who should count as Jewish inAmerica? What should be the relationship of American Jews to Israel?
In this thoughtful and perceptivebook, Robert H. Mnookin argues that the answers of the past no longer serveAmerican Jews today. The book boldly promotes a radically inclusiveAmerican-Jewish community—one where being Jewish can depend on personal choiceand public self-identification, not simply birth or formal religiousconversion. Instead of preventing intermarriage or ostracizing those criticalof Israel, he envisions a community that embraces diversity and debate, and inso doing, preserves and strengthens the Jewish identity into the nextgeneration and beyond.

Introduction
The PuzzlingNature of Jewish Identity
TheMatrilineal Principle
Must a JewPractice Judaism?
The Puzzle of “Jewish Blood”
Peoplehood
Who Is a Jewin Israel?
Who Is a Jewin America? A Twenty-First-Century Standard
Can We SurviveAcceptance?
The Challengeof Israel
The Challengeof Intermarriage
Raising aJewish Child
Conclusion
Acknowledgments
Notes
Index