Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Agents of Change: American Jews and the Transformation of Israeli Judaism

Agents of Change: American Jews and the Transformation of Israeli Judaism

Ferziger, Adam S.

Hardcover

JudaismIsrael & Palestine History

ISBN10: 1479817546
ISBN13: 9781479817542
Publisher: New York University Press
Published: Jul 29 2025
Pages: 472
Weight: 1.60
Height: 1.40 Width: 6.10 Depth: 9.10
Language: English

Co-Winner, 2026 Shapiro Award for Best Book in Israel Studies, given by the Association for Israel Studies

The rise of moderate Orthodox Judaism in Israel and the key role of Americans in its emergence

The conservative ultra-Orthodox and redemptive Kook camps hold sway over religious matters in Israel. Yet from the mid-1960s to the early 1980s, a small cadre of American immigrants arrived in Israel and established or led a range of educational institutions that trained thousands of advanced students and laid the ideological foundations for an Israeli moderate religious stream. In Agents of Change, Adam S. Ferziger highlights the parts played by these Americans in promoting the rise of a transnational community of moderate Jewish Orthodoxy.

Analyzing the novel outlooks that have found expression in central areas of debates, from women's engagements in religious and public life and approaches to the gay and lesbian community to interactions with non-Orthodox denominations and attitudes toward academic Jewish studies, Ferziger illuminates both shifting religious dynamics in Israel as a result of this rise in moderate Orthodoxy, as well as the changing relationship between Israeli and American Judaisms, challenging current understandings which see the Jewish co-mmunities of the two nations as drifting apart. Though a minority in Israel, this vocal Orthodox community with a more moderate take on key issues is significant in potentially paving the way for social change. Increasingly, their influence is being felt. Shedding light on the impact of American migration in forming a burgeoning moderate religious direction in Israeli life that has challenged the hegemony of the long dominant direction within Religious Zionism, Agents of Change offers a fresh perspective on the multifaceted collaboration of ideas and practices that exists between Israel and America.

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