This book deals with the meaning of identity in general and Jewish identity in particular. Different notions of Jewish identity have been formulated in the history of Jewish thought, many of them supporting a rigid and one-sided view of it. Relying on a cultural historical analysis of various theoretical and empirical dimensions of this concept, the book shows that the term Jewish identity denotes a field covering a broad range of options for Jewish existence. Common to all is the affirmation of Jewish identity, but not necessarily one single approach as the sole possible course of Jewish life.

Translated by: Batya Stein