Comparing Jewish societies
By: Todd M. Endelman, editor.
Contributors: Endelman, Todd M.
Series: The comparative studies in society and history book series
Publisher: University of Michigan Press
Published: 1997
Place of publication: Ann Arbor
Language: eng
Number of pages: 369
Subjects: Jews -- History -- 1789-1945.; Judaism -- History.; Jews -- Social conditions.; Cross-cultural studies.; Israel.
Description: Having unfolded in the diverse communities of the diaspora, the Jewish experience lends itself almost effortlessly to comparative treatment.

The contributors to this volume use the methodological strategies and theoretical insights of history, sociology, anthropology, and political science to explore such topics as Jewish and African nationalism; Arab and Jewish railway workers in British-ruled Palestine; East European Jewish immigrants in New York, London, and Paris; ritual murder trials in fin-de-siecle Central Europe; and Catholic and Jewish enlightenment movements.

Because of their comparative structure and method, these essays stimulate fresh questions about the larger societies in which Jews lived - their values, practices, and structures. Comparing Jewish Societies will appeal to students and scholars at all levels who wish to break out of old frameworks to observe the Jews and their religion with a new, methodologically sophisticated eye.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Introduction : comparing Jewish societies / Todd M. Endelman; title: Religious syncretism and religious distinctiveness : a comparative analysis of pre-modern Jewish communities / Stephen Sharot; title: Jewish millennial-messianic movements : a comparison of medieval communities / Stephen Sharot; title: Enlightenment and emancipation : German Jewry's formative age in comparative perspective / David Sorkin; title: The modern Jewish diaspora : East European Jews in New York, London, and Paris / Nancy L. Green; title: The importance of place : comparative aspects of the ritual murder trial in modern Central Europe / Hillel J. Kieval; title: Andean two-step : the encounter between Bolivians and Central European Jewish refugees / Leo Spitzer; title: Colonization and decolonization : the case of Zionist and African elites / Dan V. Segre; title: Railway workers and relational history : Arabs and Jews in British-ruled Palestine / Zachary Lockman; title: The viability of ethnic democracy as a mode of conflict management : comparing Israel and Northern Ireland / Sammy Smooha; title: Religion and communal life in an evolutionary-functional perspective : the orthodox kibbutzim / Aryei Fishman; title: The situational analysis of religious change revisited / Shlomo Deshen.