A recent talk that some of our best and brightest readers told us about is one of the most fascinating recent discussions hosted at this local institution.
Take a look . . .
KC Public Library: The Jewish American Paradox: Embracing Change in a Changing World
Description . . .
An innocent question from Robert Mnookin’s daughter—“When are we going to become Jewish?”—prompted the Harvard law professor and Kansas City native to take stock of the situation of American Jews today. While they’ve now achieved unprecedented integration, esteem, and influence, he concluded, they also face a number of critical challenges: rampant intermarriage, weak religious observance, a waning sense of community (owing to a diminished threat of persecution), and deeply conflicting views about Israel.
Mnookin, an assimilated American Jew, lays out his findings and analysis in a discussion of his new book The Jewish American Paradox. He radically proposes what he calls a new “big-tent” approach to determining who is Jewish, not restricting it to ancestry or formal conversion but accepting all who choose to identify.
Check the conversation after the jump . . .
More insight on the topic.
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