Zev Eleff: Is This the End of American Judaism? [Denominations 1/5]

18Forty Podcast

18Forty

Religion & Spirituality, Judaism

4.6 • 638 Ratings

🗓️ 14 May 2024

⏱️ 129 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This series is sponsored by Joel and Lynn Mael in memory of Estelle and Nysen Mael.

In this episode of the 18Forty Podcast, we begin our Denominations series by talking to Zev Eleff—historian, author, and the president of Gratz College—about the development of the denominations of Judaism we have in America today.

We’ve been occupied for months with defending our right to be Jews in America, so perhaps this is the right time to return to considering the purpose of the Jewish lives we want to live. In this episode we discuss:

How did America’s Jewish “denominations”—better termed “movements”—as we know them come to be?
What have the different Jewish movements each contributed to American Jewish life?
How can we get back to not just fighting antisemitism, but uncovering the meaning of our Judaism?

Tune in to hear a conversation about how previous generations of American Jews have handled the issues that, to one degree or another, threatened to divide us.

Interview begins at 49:36.

Rabbi Dr. Zev Eleff is the president of Gratz College. Zev is the author and editor of nine books and more than 50 scholarly articles in the fields of Jewish Studies and American Religion, including Modern Orthodox Judaism: A Documentary History, Dyed in Crimson: Football, Faith, and Remaking Harvard's America, and Authentically Orthodox: A Tradition-Bound Faith in American Life. Zev’s research focuses on American Jewish history, sports, and Modern Orthodox history.

References:

Jonathan Haidt on The Daily Show

Ammi Hirsch on Campus Chaos

“Failure Goes to Yeshivah: What I’ve Learned From the Failure Narratives of My Students” by David Bashevkin

Authentically Orthodox: A Tradition-Bound Faith in American Life by Zev Eleff

The Birth of Conservative Judaism by Michael Cohen

American Judaism by Jonathan D. Sarna

The Jews of the United States, 1654 to 2000 by Hasia R. Diner

Jew Vs Jew: The Struggle For The Soul Of American Jewry by Samuel G. Freedman

This Is My God by Herman Wouk

Jewish Continuity in America by Abraham J. Karp

18Forty Podcast: “Halacha as a Language”

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/18forty-podcast--4344730/support.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi friends, a few months ago we advertised the birth of a new community in Israel.
0:05.4	Eden Bait Shemesh, a community tailored made for all those of us in need of a five-year plan,
0:12.7	and let's face it, we are living in a time when every single one of us should be drafting the five-year plan for our futures in Israel.
0:20.5	Our own listeners from within the 1840 community have purchased in Eden, an opportunity which
0:26.4	they will longingly watch unfold into a reality, a shul, and a community.
0:32.1	I am so proud that the leaders behind Aden are none other than Rabbi Benny and Khani Krohn. I know them personally because they are the rabbi and Rebitten of my own
0:42.4	personal community and they are the ones leading this new development community. And I know for my own life that
0:49.6	their stewardship, their leadership is you know this is going to be a welcoming, joyous, incredible
0:55.7	community where everyone is going to be able to feel comfortable and build a home.
1:00.2	On June 29th, Eden will be hosting a webinar to speak in detail about the vision for this project.
1:07.6	In order to register, please click the link below or email info at
1:12.7	Edenbateschemish.com to find out more. Once again, that's info at Edenbateshemesh.com
1:20.2	to find out more.
1:47.1	Hi, friends, and welcome to 1840. You'll notice this is a little bit of a new intro and I want to give some context for kind of where I am, where 1840 is. We've been on break for a few weeks and a lot has happened in those weeks and launching a new series feels very, very daunting to me personally right now. But I'm actually extraordinarily excited because I think this is
1:52.2	an opportunity and a moment to talk about Judaism, Yiddishkite, our lives in ways that we
1:57.9	never have before. And I want to just give a little bit of background to my
2:01.5	own thinking before we enter into this series. I may have mentioned this before, but as we were
2:06.7	headed into Sukas of this year, you know, early October, pre-October 7th, we had an entire
2:13.3	series already completed. That series was about Jewish denominations. It was about basically the
2:20.1	denominational structure that we have in the United States of America. It's slightly different in
2:24.8	other countries, certainly very different in Israel. And we were going to launch that series.
2:30.0	It was something that a lot of our listeners were curious about, something that I've given a
	...

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