Hybrid Judaism: Irving Greenberg, Encounter, and the Changing Nature of American Jewish Identity

Darren Kleinberg

Published by Academic Studies Press 2016

Hybrid Judaism

Irving Greenberg, Encounter, and the Changing Nature of American Jewish Identity

Darren Kleinberg
With contributions by: Marc Dollinger

In the series Studies in Orthodox Judaism

https://doi.org/10.1515/9781618115461

Overview
Contents

About this book

American Jewish identity has changed significantly over the course of the past half century. Kleinberg analysis of Greenberg’s recognition theology of Hybrid Judaism represents a compelling understanding of contemporary American Jewish identity.

Author / Editor information

Darren Kleinberg was ordained by Yeshivat Chovevei Torah in 2005 and completed his doctorate in Religious Studies from Arizona State University in 2014. He currently serves as Head of School at Kehillah Jewish High School, in Palo Alto, California. Prior to arriving at Kehillah, he was the Founding Executive Director of Valley Beit Midrash in Phoenix, Arizona.

Reviews

“[Hybrid Judaism] provides excellent surveys of the evolving sociological theories of group life in twentieth-century America, of the historiographical record of American religious history, and of Greenberg’s thought itself. I especially appreciated the window it provided into how Greenberg’s ideas took form. A number of essays have been published on Greenberg, but Hybrid Judaism is the most comprehensive picture available to date.”

—Eric Caplan, McGill University, Religious Studies Review (December 2019)

"In Hybrid Judaism, Darren Kleinberg presents a comprehensive and sophisticated analysis of Rabbi Irving Greenberg’s mature thoughts on a host of subjects crucial to modern Jewish life and religious thought, and does so by situating him against the larger backdrop of American religious history and sociology. In this insightful and compelling portrait of Greenberg, Kleinberg has helped us understand how this preeminent Jewish thinker was shaped by the American setting as well as the critical role Greenberg has played in defining the nature and overall directions of modern Judaism. This book is required reading for anyone who wishes to understand Judaism in the modern world as well as American religion as it moves on into the 21st Century."

—David Ellenson, Director, Schusterman Center for Israel Studies at Brandeis University and Chancellor-Emeritus, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion

"American Jewry is in the midst of a sustained period of introspection and re-organization. This is playing out along any number of axes: The repercussions of the Holocaust, the significance of the State of Israel, withering denominational and institutional divisions, and the polarization of religious and political commitments. In this volume, Kleinberg makes a strong case for Yitz Greenberg as one of the leading thinkers of this period, whose writings shape not only how we understood Jewish life in the 20th century, but how we ought to understand it in the 21st."

—Professor Ari Y Kelman, Jim Joseph Chair in Education and Jewish Studies, Stanford University Graduate School of Education

"For the past half century Rabbi Yitz Greenberg’s role as an innovative institution builder and thinker on issues related to the Holocaust are well known. Kleinberg underscores the significance of Greenberg’s importance as a Jewish thinker by presenting a full analysis of Greenberg’s novel conception of Hybrid Judaism. Kleinberg traces the growth of Greenberg’s thinking, situating it within Greenberg’s rich and complex life experiences."

—Joel Gereboff, Associate Professor, Religious Studies, Arizona State University

"Darren Kleinberg offers a masterful integration and analysis of the theology of Yitz Greenberg. Sophisticated, holistic, and insightful, I highly recommend this work."

—Aaron J. Hahn Tapper, PhD, Mae and Benjamin Swig Associate Professor of Jewish Studies, University of San Francisco and author of Judaisms: A Twenty-First-Century Introduction to Jews and Jewish Identities

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vi
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Preface Publicly Available Download PDF	xi
Introduction Publicly Available Download PDF	xv
Part I Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Part II Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	63
Conclusion Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	125
Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	127
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	138

Language: English
Publisher: Academic Studies Press
Audience: College/higher education;Professional and scholarly;General/trade;
Pages
- Main content: 170
Keywords: Orthodox Judaism; life and practice; Rabbi Irving Greenberg; American Jewish Identity; covenantal theology; postethnicity; transformative power of encounter; denominational boundaries; Christian-Jewish dialogue; Comparative Religion; American Jewry; Jewish life in the 20th century

eBook

Published: November 15, 2016
ISBN: 9781618115461