Being Jewish Today: Confronting the Real Issues

Description

In a world where anti-semitism is on the rise, the Jewish community is under threat throughout the world. With far right governments being elected in Poland, Hungary and Austria, the rhetoric has dreadful echoes of Germany in the 1930s. Rabbi Bayfield was until recently President of the UK Movement for Reform Judaism. He is intensely aware of the pressure on modern Jewish people - marrying outside the community, anti-Israel prejudice, the effects of the feminist movement and the campaign for gay and lesbian rights have all had their impact and have in many ways atomised the Jewish community itself. This leads to a fundamental reconsideration of Jewish identity, of a revitalisation of study of the Torah, of the intellectual case for a religion based on a Covenant and Law made millennia ago. The Jewish religion today is based as it always has been on tradition and hope, both commodities in poor supply at the moment. Rabbi Bayfield draws on key Jewish thinkers who can contribute to the force of his argument - Levinas, Maimonides, Hannah Arendt, Jonathan Sacks, Spinoza, Samson Raphael Hirsch, Walter Benjamin and Stephen Jay Gould. Rabbi Bayfield's book is written to appeal to all Jewish people, whether religious or cultural, and to increase the understanding and self-understanding of Judaism today.

Rabbi Dr Professor Tony Bayfield is a graduate of Magdalene College Cambridge and Leo Baeck College, London. He has been both Head and President of the Movement for Reform Judaism. He also has a Cambridge DD for a body of published work in the world of theology and Christian Jewish relations. He has a CBE for services to Reform Judaism and was awarded the Inter Faith Gold Medallion. This is his sixth book. He has contributed to numerous learned journals and reviews.

This inspiring book has made me a better Jew, one who understands more, who knows more. No wonder Rabbi Bayfield enjoys such a high intellectual reputation. * Daniel Finkelstein * This remarkable book takes us on a journey: geographic, historical, cultural, philosophical, political, autobiographical and, yes, religious. One can almost hear the wise, warm, witty voice of Tony Bayfield; his humanity suffuses the entire volume. For Jew and non-Jew alike there is so much here to satisfy curiosity and promote understanding. * Michael Marmot * A deeply humane, learned and personal reflection on Jewish identity, full of insights and challenges for non-Jews. At this time of resurgent prejudice, it is crucial to have books like this to keep mind and conscience awake. * Rowan Williams, Former Archbishop of Canterbury * Brilliant - clear but erudite, entertaining but weighty, personal but universal * Rebecca Front, actress * Mesmerizing, intelligent, honest, Rabbi Bayfield movingly opens the soul of the reader to the religious depths of his work. This book is a treasure. * David Ellenson, Chancellor Emeritus of Hebrew Union College, Jewish Institute of Religion * Written with engaging humor, intellectual openness and humility, Being Jewish Today delivers just what the title promises: a thoughtful and inviting statement of what it means to be a Jew in today's complicated world. While entirely relevant to American Jews, it also provides an interesting window into some of the differences between the American and British Jewish situations * Judith Plaskow, Professor Emerita of Religious Studies, Manhattan College and author of Standing Again at Sinai * Rabbi Professor Tony Bayfield has produced a magnum opus for our time * Deborah Kahn-Harris, Rabbi and Principal, Leo Baeck College * A wonderful new book ... The theme of Rabbi Bayfield's book is how to understand Judaism now that science and modern sensibility has changed the way we look at the world. And this addresses problems I struggle with all the time ... Rabbi Bayfield deals with all this with great sensitivity. * Daniel Finkelstein, Jewish Chronicle * Tony Bayfield, a theologian and former head of the Movement for Reform Judaism, reflects on the universal dimensions of Judaism and those parts concerned with Jewish identity * Financial Times * British Jews rarely produce theology that demands to be read. Tony Bayfield has ... In attempting to answer the perplexities and uncertainties of contemporary life, Being Jewish Today is part of the Jewish quest for meaning, for Torah. Rabbi Bayfield has done a great service by bringing it to light. * Harry Freedman, Jewish Chronicle * This is a book that will reward careful reading and rereading ... A work that will enrich one's understanding of what it is to be a Jewish believer, fully engaged with the challenges and ideas of today's world. Being Jewish Today will find its place among the significant Jewish books of our time. * Jerusalem Post *