"What binds together Jews of Israel and the United States? Amid the hope and frustration generated by the Middle East peace process, the meaning of Jewish state-hood is more vigorously contested than ever before. A secular democratic Israel, responsive to Western liberal values, is prepared to make peace with the Palestinians by sacrificing its own historic homeland. But a covenantal Israel, which draws its Jewish identity from divine promise and the biblical narrative, refuses to surrender to modern imperatives. As the very nature of Jewish statehood has become ever more polarized, American Jewish life has been profoundly affected by this fateful Zionist contradiction."
"In Are We One? Jerold S. Auerbach presents a surprising new interpretation of this contemporary Jewish dilemma. His conclusion that the modern Jewish impulse to embrace Western values exacts a terrible price stems from a brilliant reassessment of Zionism and a challenging analysis of the sources of the identification of American Jews with Israel." "Drawing upon original historical analysis and extensive personal experience in Israel, Auerbach invites readers to consider the debilitating consequences of an adulterated Jewish identity in Israel and in the United States for the very future of Judaism."--Jacket.
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