Jew vs. Jew: The Struggle for the Soul of American Jewry

by Samuel G. Freedman

Fundamentalist vs. secularist, denomination vs. denomination, liberal vs. conservative -- in the last forty years, American Jews have increasingly found themselves torn apart by their diversity. In this chronicle of the evolution of American Jewry, Samuel G. Freedman illuminates the forces that have undermined the traditional peaceful coexistence among the Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, and Reconstructionist branches, and secular and unaffiliated Jews. Examining recent headline-making stories as well as less publicized controversies, Freedman discusses the vitriolic battles that have arisen over intermarriage, standards of conversion, the role of women in religious ritual, the Middle East peace process, and the secular influence on religious life. As he weighs the arguments of both extremes, Freedman comes to the controversial conclusion that the Jewish-American community is headed for a Reformation, a permanent fracture of one faith into many.

Genres: Jewish, Judaism, Nonfiction, Religion, Judaica, History, Politics

397 pages, Paperback

First published August 10, 2000

About the author

Samuel G. Freedman is a columnist for The New York Times and a professor at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. He is the author of seven acclaimed books, most recently "Breaking The Line," and has been a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award.

Reviews

[gideon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Conflicted rating- 3.5

This was not the academic investigation into the topic that I expected it to be, and was better for it! Each chapter is an engaging and very readable zoom-in on a story demonstrating the tensions in areas like secular vs. religious Judaism, gender, Israel, haredi vs. modern Orthodoxy, and Orthodox hegemony ("unity") vs. pluralism. I really enjoyed the bulk of the content and found it informative to see trends (both new to me and ones that I'm aware of in the abstract) unfolding in personal stories. It gave me a lot to think about. The exploration of the interplay between Israeli community politics and American interdenominational relations was most new and interesting to me.

Being 25 years old, the book is quite dated, which is most evident in the epilogue. Freedman assumes that with the death of secular/yiddishist Judaism, religion is the only remaining pillar of Jewish identity in America. Certainly today Zionism and anti-Zionism are heavily load bearing pillars of Jewish identity, and it's kind of baffling to me that he overlooked that even back then- maybe that kind of Jewish world is just inconceivable to me. He was writing shortly after the first-ever Birthright trip. Besides Zionism, there are plenty of other culturally-based pillars of Jewish identity popping up more recently, though small- Yiddishists are coming back, reconnection with diasporic cultures and identities, the ex-Orthodox community, etc. The secular Jewish outlook is alive and creative, I don't think that will ever die even as it becomes more decentralized.

What I do agree with from the epilogue is his prediction of where Jewish denominations will head in the future. Modern Orthodoxy has only gotten deeper in its crisis with no way out visible yet. As another reviewer mentioned, the proliferation of independent minyans is a phenomenon not predicted here but definitely changes the landscape and adds more diversity and fluidity than Freedman expected.

I found it interesting that in the chapter about Beachwood, Ohio and Orthodoxy vs. pluralism, it was mentioned that Orthodox homes were recognizable for being garish mansions extending to the very edges of the plot. Lately I've been really interested in wealth and class issues specifically within Modox & frum communities and I guess that trend is not new. This is a note to self to read more about that.

[Reb · Rating 3 out of 5]

the author thinks that Orthodox and liberal Judaism are on a course for serious schism, which he proves through a series of anecdotes (nicely written, quite generous in portrayal of some people who act like jerks) about clashes between "traditionalists" and "revisionaries." I use scare quotes of course because the "traditionalists" are only interested in their received version of tradition, and "revisionists" often have many faith-based non-negotiables.

anyway, he takes us through several intractable disagreements--neighborhood Haredization, the Yale Five, conversion standards, egalitarianism--and shows how communities break down over these things. ultimately he says that Modern Orthodoxy is going to disappear: the liberalish side will link up with the conservative Conservatives and the rest will just become Haredi. and, more to the point, that there will be some kind of rift between the Orthos and the liberals. the more interesting point, and one that is made well both here and elsewhere, is that religiosity is making a comeback among religious Jews of all flavors.

his conclusions, I think, are flawed--there will continue to be exchange between Orthos and liberals, and I think the independent minyan movement has proved that there is fertile ground (and not just for dating, har de har) in between. on the other hand, he's gone looking for intra-Jewish conflict, which I think is older than he realizes. when was this imaginary age of beautiful pluralism? the sort of "landscape" writing--a picture of American Jewry, sort of, at a particular moment in time, is wonderful though.

it's a good book and highly readable. just don't believe the hype about schism...

[Janet · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am a novice on the subject of Jews. I’ve always known that Jesus was a Jew and that makes us all family of a sort, Christians and Jews. I believe in supporting Israel. I’ve often had a Jewish doctor. I have Jewish friends. It was the Israeli National website that I turned to on 9/11 to gain insight on how to protect my family from assorted terrorist weapons. One of my favorite documentaries is Raid on the Reactor: http://video.google.com/videoplay?doc...#

I find it comforting to know that Israel will act on world threats, even if our American government today lacks the requisite chutzpah. I am studying WW2 and my #1 daughter is taking a Holocaust studies class. So I saw this book, Jew v/s Jew, and pondered, “What can this be about; what does it really mean to be Jewish?” The pages of this book shed some light on the question. Simultaneously I am reading Thomas Friedman’s Beirut to Jerusalem and within the pages of both books can be found not answers rather guidelines, as it were. Fundamentally, there are 2 sides to being Jewish. The first is in being Jewish the way Frenchmen are French, a racial and national identity. Then there is the religious side of being Jewish. And here it gets complicated as there are Orthodox, Reform, and Conservative Jews all of varying degrees of observation and practice. One may be racially or nationally Jewish and not a religiously practicing Jew at all. Understanding the Jewish roots of tradition and learning about our shared history is vital to the pursuit of peace throughout the world.

[Harold Citron · Rating 2 out of 5]

I came late to the party for this book, but the anecdotal stories continue even beyond the writing. Despite the author's thesis, the plural of anecdote does not equal data. And while individual stories will, if not repeat those already written, they do rhyme, but are very similar to many others, especially those dealing with "changing neighborhoods". You see this in Brooklyn, during the recent fight over bike lanes and a new eruv for a group of Modern Orthodox Jews in a traditionally Chassidic neighborhood. You could see similar veins with a fight over an eruv out in the Hamptons of Long Island. But by the same token, you could see similar changes in Queens, NY, notably Flushing, where a vastly increasing Asian population changed what was once a bastion of Jewish life. Where once you saw signs in Hebrew and Yiddish, you now see them replaced by Korean and Chinese characters. This should not be shocking in a country that has experienced a number of waves of immigrants each one, who viewed the more recent arrivals as some aliens from another world. Go back 100 to 150 years, and New York City had fights over not just Jews, but Irish and Italian immigrants.

However, the triumphalist attitudes (on both the Haredi and Progressive sides), and the narrowing of views of what is acceptable, is a real concern. And while both groups can make legitimate arguments about their own needs in terms of various talking points, the headline confrontations turn legitimate concerns into tabloid hyperbole, which ultimately only adds fuel to the fire and confirms individual convictions rather than provide a way for people to accept their differences while retaining a communal level of acceptance and respect. In that regard, the author leaves out many instances of cooperation and understanding that still permeate throughout Jewish neighborhoods and communities and Jews of various backgrounds and religious observance. Unfortunately for the reader, the author has chosen to ignore such bonds in favor of an argument of communal strife and alienation. Confrontation may make for better headlines and sales, but skews the reality on the ground and misleads the readers.

[Muffin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book! I appreciated that rather than getting into the weeds on statistics or historical trends, the author just worked to tell illustrative stories with thoughtful details. A super engaging read.
I read in a review in I think the New York Times frustration that the author presents these stories without offering his own perspective on them. The epilogue is full of the author’s subjective vision of the future of American Jewry and I find his thoughts so superficial I’m just grateful it didn’t really permeate the rest of the book.
The book was published almost 20 years ago, but the trends it explores of deep fissures within the American (and occasionally Israeli) Jewish community are a nice reminder that the nastiness That has marked a lot of recent internal Jewish drama are, like, nothing new. Recommended to anyone interested in recent Jewish history! You can skip the epilogue.

[Jordyn Haime · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fantastic writing; I've been using this as a guidebook for a story I'm working on. Would have gotten 5 stars but I felt some chapters were just a little bit too long, and I felt Israel-Palestine-related issues could have been dealt with better, particularly the author's choice of simply referring to "the Arabs."

[Simcha York · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jew vs. Jew provides a well-investigated and engaging account of the various cultural and theological struggles that have arisen within Judaism, and particularly within the Jewish-American community. Freedman brings his narrative and investigative journalistic skills to bear on a series of anecdotes that explore such issues within the Jewish community as conversion standards, intermarriage, the role of women in public ritual, the future of Israel and the Palestinians, and inter-denominational conflicts over pluralism and unity.

In developing the various stories that inform Jew vs. Jew, Freedman does a good job of bringing out the actors involved on both sides of the issues he looks at, helping the reader to see both sides of most of these struggles from a sympathetic position. Freedman's stance isn't necessarily so much one of journalistic objectivity, however, as it is an argument that the overarching struggle dividing the Jewish community is really the struggle between the forces of compromise and division. Of course, as Freedman makes clear in many of his stories, however well-intentioned both sides may be, there is not always a common ground to be found.

Even ten years after the initial publication of this book, the conflicts portrayed within still feel very familiar. While the American Jewish community doesn't seem to have moved much further in the directions that Freedman predicts in the epilogue to the book, at the same time one could convincingly argue that it still appears likely to move in that direction. Whether or not the reader shares these conclusions with Freedman, however, Jew vs. Jew is almost certain to be a compelling and emotional read.

[Samantha · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this a very useful look at how the different strains of Judaism have evolved in the U.S. And their relationship to Israel. Immediately after reading this book I have a better understanding of some of the news coming out of Israel. I selfishly wish this book could be rewritten every 5 or 10 years to keep me up-to-date. This is not a comprehensive text, nor does it try to be. But it shows how these divisions have grown through telling specific stories of American Jews, their backgrounds and values. It has been quite helpful.

[Robert Wechsler · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very well written look at a variety of situations where the views and interests of secular and religious Jews have collided in the U.S. or, at least, among American Jews. One even takes place in New Haven, soon after I moved to the area. It grew out of an issue at Yale involving co-ed living arrangements.

Freedman is a first-rate storyteller, especially good at portraits that are done not physically, but professionally and philosophically. He gets way deeper than most journalism. I look forward to reading him again.

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book examines Jewish identity in America. It describes the struggles between Orthodox communities and less observant Jewish communities. It gives descriptions of the Jewish environment in a few cities in the US (unexpected one's like Salt Lake City, Clevland).

[Jon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Helpful in understanding the various divisions within 20th Century Judaism in the U.S. I had no previous knowledge of American Judaism before reading this book, and this book was a good way to begin learning.

[Abigail Cohen · Rating 1 out of 5]

Great title, but that's about it.

[Donna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unbiased and impartial treatment of the tensions between the various spectrums of American Jewish community.