Creating Judaism

Creating Judaism is a work of uncommon synthesis that draws upon frameworks provided by the academic study of religions to offer a sympathetic and insightful overview of the nature and development of Judaism from ancient to modern times. Michael Satlow displays exceptional erudition and range in these pages, and he allows the reader to understand the dynamism and diversity as well as the coherence that has marked Judaism as a religious tradition throughout the ages. Creating Judaism will be of genuine interest and import to students of Judaism and scholars of religion alike. I recommend it most highly. -- David Ellenson, President, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion Satlow's insightful, lucid, and often daring account locates each period of Jewish history in its larger immediate context yet linked in complex, unforeseen ways to antecedent Jewish collective identities, sacred texts, and ritual practices. Judicious, erudite, and speaking in his own personal voice, Satlow adroitly describes how the Jewish heritage has repeatedly remolded itself--and what that flexibility signifies today. A book of great value to sophisticated novices and informed academics alike. -- Robert M. Seltzer, professor of Jewish history, Hunter College, and the author of Jewish People, Jewish Thought: The Jewish Experience in History

Offers a different way of understanding Judaism that recognizes both its immense diversity and its unifying features. Presenting a series of portraits of Judaism throughout time and from around the globe, this work explores how communities shaped Jewish tradition in light of historical circumstances.How can we define "Judaism," and what are the common threads uniting ancient rabbis, Maimonides, the authors of the Zohar, and modern secular Jews in Israel? Michael L. Satlow offers a fresh perspective on Judaism that recognizes both its similarities and its immense diversity. Presenting snapshots of Judaism from around the globe and throughout history, Satlow explores the links between vastly different communities and their Jewish traditions. He studies the geonim, rabbinical scholars who lived in Iraq from the ninth to twelfth centuries; the intellectual flourishing of Jews in medieval Spain; how the Hasidim of nineteenth-century Eastern Europe confronted modernity; and the post-World War II development of distinct American and Israeli Jewish identities. Satlow pays close attention to how communities define themselves, their relationship to biblical and rabbinic texts, and their ritual practices. His fascinating portraits reveal the amazingly creative ways Jews have adapted over time to social and political challenges and continue to remain a "Jewish family."