Introduction

Summary

Our book is entitled The Cambridge Guide to Jewish History, Religion, and Culture. The wordiness of the title indicates the difficulty of identifying the exact nature of the Jewish experience and the proper perspective from which to view Jews and Judaism. Readers may ask: Are Jews a national entity with a common history based on collective experiences? Are they best understood as a religious community with shared beliefs and rituals? Or are Jews an ethnic group with common cultural traditions? The truth is that no one category is entirely accurate. Jews are citizens of the many nations in which they live. Some live in countries where they are a small minority of the population; others live in Israel, a state built on the idea of Jewish nationhood. Some Jews are devoutly observant of the traditional beliefs and practices of Judaism. Many Jews have found intellectual and spiritual meaning in modernized approaches to Jewish convictions and customs. Others, who have abandoned religious ritual and live secular lives, define themselves by their Jewish ethnic origins and shared social values and mores. However, there is no single Jewish ethnicity or point of view. Contemporary Jews come from many parts of Europe, the Americas, Asia, Africa, Australia, and New Zealand. These diverse communities have been shaped by the variety of majority cultures in which they developed.