description: A Sense of Belonging, which accompanied the major Channel 4 television series, is the first book to chronicle, using first-hand accounts, the dilemmas of Jewish identity in Britain today. At the same time as traditional expressions of Jewishness - such as synagogue membership and attendance - are on the decline, individual Jews are struggling to make their Jewish heritage more integral to their lives. But how can this be done? Where is the kernel of truth to be found beneath the largely superficial observances, the often suffocating expectations? Is the Jewish family, traditionally the nucleus of Jewish religious heritage, capable of the task of renewal in this age of divorce, single-parenthood and outmarriage? After the Holocaust, when God seemed to abandon His chosen people, where is He to be found?In the past British Jews - unlike East Europeans - have put nationality first, Jewishness second; they have often felt uneasily separate from society yet striven not to seem different. But the foundation of the state of Israel has, along with the Holocaust, made it no longer tenable for many Jews to continue this double life. A Sense of Belonging, its structure mirroring the Biblical pattern of family, exile, exodus and redemption, locates today's British Jews in a historical perspective and explores how, as individuals and communities, they are finding in their heritage not a burden, but a challenge and an unexpected source of richness. They are discovering what it means to be Jews.
language: English
title: A sense of belonging: Dilemmas of British Jewish identity
titlecomplete: A sense of belonging: Dilemmas of British Jewish identity
ratings_count: 1
publisher: George Weidenfeld & Nicolson Ltd