Sh'ma: A Jewish Lens on Consumerism

by Ruth Messinger, Mara Einstein, Jenna Weissman Joselit

Fundamental to life is the pleasure and burden of making choices. Clearly, we do not always have the luxury of choice; and yet, choice remains an inescapable feature of who we are, and perhaps more so as the world changes around us. In this issue of Sh’ma, we examine the critical questions we must ask ourselves as we navigate our lives as How are we distinguished by what we buy, how we eat, what we wear, where we live, what schools our children attend, and, also, where we choose to satisfy our spiritual longings? How, if at all, do we embed our Jewish values in these choices? We also address the ever-more-blurry chasm in some circles between consumer and producer in Jewish life — namely, the role of the “prosumer,” who both produces and consumes Jewish learning and religious experiences. To what extent might co-creation, like the work of a prosumer, offer a new paradigm for Jewish engagement on both the communal and personal levels? This month’s contributors include a medley of writers, activists, rabbis, parents, and bread-makers; they draw on these and other experiences in their explorations of the power of individual choice and collective action.

37 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 1, 2012