Covenant and Community: Six Essays on Contemporary Jewish Life and Education (Jewish Education Series) (Volume 6)

Is it still possible and plausible to speak of a living covenant between God and the people of Israel – a covenant to which Jews traditionally were bound, in memory and hope; or are we locked into cultural compulsions that lead to exclusively academic descriptions? To answer this question, we need to clarify our views of religion and theology in modern Jewish life. We must study what Jews have said and believed about a special covenantal bond to be found in the Jewish soul and the Jewish community. These are not only existential issues but are also concerns that stand at the heart of contemporary Jewish education. These six essays address skeptics, on the one hand, and seekers on the other. They move from individuals and their pilgrimages, to the Jewish collective with its various narratives of destruction and redemption. At times they are centered on theological definitions; at other times they urge attention to sociological analysis. What unites these six essays is a serious concern for the spiritual life of the Jewish people in the century now underway.