Biography and Book Report on Shaul Magid - 1610 Words

BACKGROUND OF SHAUL MAGID Shaul Magid is a professor of religious studies and the Jay and Jeannie Schottenstein Chair of Jewish Studies in Modern Judaism at Indiana University. In addition, on the site he says that he grew up in a secular Jewish household in New York and then become serious about religion at the age of 20 in which he dove deeply into the world of Hasidism. He says that he is fascinated by the complex nexus of Judaism and American counterculture of his youth and writes about the topic as a scholar rather then an observer. In the introduction he states that, proximity does not by definition produce bias. Investment does not necessarily yield apologetics. The best critic, perhaps, is one who is open†¦ about what is at stake, collectively and personally, in his or her scholarly projects (confirm that!!) INTRODUCTION: Magids brilliant introduction really sets the tone for the rest of his book. American Jews or Jewish Americans? American Judaism or Judaism in America? One is; the other describes. It is without question that America has offered Jews the most loving society in the Jewish Diaspora, but at the same time it is also proving to be problematic. Jews are in a current state of transition in that they have to figure out a way to adapt their Jewishness beyond their ethnicity. The Jewish leaders in America have been wondering how to handle the sky rocketing assimilation and intermarriage rates, because they are fearful that it will lead to the end of not