The New Jewish Canon

The New Jewish Canon is both text and textbook of the Jewish intellectual and communal zeitgeist for the contemporary period. With both primary sources and analytical essays by leading scholars, this book offers a conceptual roadmap to make sense of the mass production and proliferation of new Jewish ideas in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.

Dr. Yehuda Kurtzer is the President of the Shalom Hartman Institute of North America, and a leading thinker and author on the meaning of Israel to American Jews, on Jewish history and Jewish memory, and on questions of leadership and change in American Jewish life. He is also the author of Shuva: The Future of the Jewish Past (Brandeis, 2012).Sufrin Claire E. :

Dr. Claire E. Sufrin is a scholar of religion specializing in modern Jewish thought and theology. She is Associate Professor of Instruction and Assistant Director of Jewish Studies in the Crown Family Center for Jewish and Israel Studies at Northwestern University.

“This is a rich col­lec­tion that pro­vides a win­dow into many of the key debates that have raged, and still rage, in the Jew­ish world. It rais­es many provoca­tive ques­tions about the nature of con­tem­po­rary Judaism and its future.”

—Martin Green, Jewish Book Council

“Extraordinarily rich, lively and illuminating. … [The editors] have succeeded magnificently in achieving their goal.”

—Jonathan Kirsch, the Jewish Journal

“The New Jewish Canon is a map and a guidebook to the shifting intellectual and spiritual landscape of contemporary Jewish life. It is an invitation to deep reflection, a catalyst for passionate discussion, and an invaluable resource for provocative teaching. It is a book to be kept close at hand as the Jewish community struggles to understand where we have come from, and where we are going.”
— Rabbi Ed Feinstein, author of Tough Questions Jews Ask and Senior Rabbi, Valley Beth Shalom, Encino, California

“Anyone interested in contemporary Judaism will benefit from this diverse and dynamic collection. The book’s commentarial structure performs the creation of a new canon of Jewish ideas while also inviting readers to participate in current debates about Jewish politics, history, religion, and identity.”

—Leora Batnitzky, Ronald O. Perelman Professor of Jewish Studies, Princeton University