Who, Where and What is "Israel?"

by Jacob Neusner

In this book the author, a recognized authority on Jewish life and thought, poses the question, 'How are we to think about the social and political setting for our religious and ethnic life as Jewish Americans and American Jews?' He gives his answer in six I. What is at Stake in Debates on Zionism and Judaism? II. Zionism and Judaism in Theory III. A Zionist Theory of American Judaism IV. Zionism and Judaism in Practice V. American Jews and the State of Israel VI. The Failure of Anti-Semitism and the Self-Ghettoization of 'Jewish Studies.' In Part II, the author states that 'Zionism, that is to say, the view that the Jews form a people, one people, and that the Jews constitute a political entity that deserves a state and a politics of its own, characterizes all Judaisms,' and he explains why.

176 pages, Hardcover

First published May 12, 1989

About the author

Born in Hartford, Connecticut, Neusner was educated at Harvard University, the Jewish Theological Seminary of America (where he received rabbinic ordination), the University of Oxford, and Columbia University.

Neusner is often celebrated as one of the most published authors in history (he has written or edited more than 950 books.)Since 1994, he taught at Bard College. He also taught at Columbia University, University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, Brandeis University, Dartmouth College, Brown University, and the University of South Florida.

Neusner was a member of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, and a life member of Clare Hall, Cambridge University. He is the only scholar to have served on both the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Endowment for the Arts. He also received scores of academic awards, honorific and otherwise.