The controversy over the Jewish Diaspora is something I've only been familiar with in passing, and yet I found that Wolfe's work was not only readable and clear, but offered with depth and insight. In some cases, I'm positive I would have gotten more out of his arguments if I'd had more background, but for the most part, I felt Wolfe did an impressive job of balancing his writing to benefit a variety of readers. Wolfe's argument that Diaspora has, in large part, been a good thing for Jews -- despite many scholars and religious leaders arguing the opposite -- is delivered thoughtfully and with real depth, and offers a lot of inspiration for further discussion and thought.

All told, I'd have to recommend this work to anyone interested in the subject, or in religion at large. ( )

I received this book through the Early Reviewers. Since this is not a topic I know very much about, I felt some of it was a little deep. However, the author makes some good points. I especially agreed with his thoughts on millennials not attaching importance to organized religion, and being accepting of inter marriage and gay marriage. For those who know more about the topic than me, the rating would be higher. ( )

This book is an erudite, scholarly tome that delves deeply into the titled subject matter. The author cites many sources and helpfully defines many of the words he uses, however, I would have very much appreciated a glossary for reference and review. This subject can provoke deep emotional and spiritual responses and the author presents many points of view. This is a complex subject (one I was unfamiliar with) and this book provides an excellent overview. ( )

This is an unsettling book, and my more Zionist Israel-is-always-right friends will hate it. It doesn't criticize Israel, mind you, but our general culture surrounding the relationship between Israel and the Diaspora. Wolfe deals with, among other topics, the rejection of the legitimacy of life in Diaspora ("Diaspora negation"), a culture established on survivor guilt ("Six million Jews...did not die so that another six million could lead the good life in New York....Every living Jew must understand that he or she is taking the place of another who never had the opportunity." (p. 4) He looks at the founding of the State of Israel and attitudes the yishuv had toward Diaspora Jews, as well as early relations Israel had with the Diaspora community, including arguing against the founding of Brandeis University. He looks at the ongoing tension between Jewish prophetic universalism and a more parochial particularism, and how that tension determines the relationship between the Diaspora and Israel. The universalism/particularism tension also sets messages regarding intermarriage and other crises that the Jewish community faces -- but he suggests that Jews have survived a great many things, and intermarriage will be no different (this ignores the Orthodox perspective that counts only matrilineal Jews). Wolfe also questions that notion that anti-Semitism is as pervasive and dangerous as our standard narrative says, and suggests, provocatively, that the "the world is out to get us" narrative is disingenuous and manipulative. As he documents claims of widespread anti-Semitism, he eventually even accuses Jews of ingratitude toward the Diaspora: "Jews seem lacking in the confidence that would enable them to become a little more appreciative of just how securely this one part of the Diaspora has offered them a home." (p. 172) He considers the conflation of anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism to be an expansion of the manipulation, with the argument that since insufficient real anti-Semitic examples can be found, those setting the narrative have to reach for criticism of Israel (and there are plenty of examples of that) to bolster their case. (He notes the irony that major Jewish organizations have "welcomed those who utter" real contempt for Jews in the name of accessing e.g. Evangelical Christian support for Israel.) "It may seem odd for Jewish organizations to reach out to right-wing Christians, but once the criterion for finding anti-Semitism becomes not what one things of the Jews but how much one supports Israel, Christians who dislike Jews but love Israel are preferable to those who cite the Hebrew prophets as forerunners but are critical of the Jewish state." (p. 178) Not that he denies that there is real anti-Semitism, but he sees the expansion of "anti-Semitism" into the Israel realm as essentially giving company to the real anti-Semites. In the end he comes out in favor of exile as good for the Jews, and concludes "There remain large sections of world Jewry convinced that the linked memories of the...Holocaust and salvation offered by statehood must never be forgotten...For them, a younger generation of new, more universalistic Jews will be written off as too narcissistic...to recognize why Israel must always remain at the center of everything Jewish. But the events of the 1930s and 1940s are not the only events constituting Jewish memory." (p. 215)

I'm not sure I agree with everything he says, but he supports most of his statements with documentation, and certainly holds a challenging mirror up to how Jews think about themselves in the Diaspora and in Israel.

from the hand-wringers who claim the baby has been thrown out with the bath water, to those who are all too happy to throw the baby out with the bathwater, this book covers a lot of ground and in a very balanced manner. being new to the subject of the Diaspora debate, most of the names are unfamiliar to me but it will serve as a handy reference when reading other articles. the author makes the argument that not only is the diaspora not a disaster, but that it has been good for the Jewish people and for Judaism itself. Jews are in a place today to bring out the best in themselves and Judaism and to work for the well being of all peoples and Israel, a balance of particularism and universalism. There are threats today as ever, but Jews as well as other minorities, have access to media and politics and education and social institutions in a way never before available in order to promote justice and protection for themselves and others in a cooperative spirit. Partly due to assimilation and acceptance, this works like any other two-edged sword, but it can be a source of strength and growth for Jews, Judaism and Israel. I received this book through LT early reviewers. ( )