Book Reviewed: To Be a Jew Today: A New Guide to God, Israel, and the Jewish People by Noah Feldman

The Jewish identity Author Noah Feldman, a Harvard law professor with Orthodox Jewish identity offers the ways Jews relate to faith, community, and the state of Israel in the 21st century. He examines four categories of Jews: traditionalists, progressives, evolutionists, and Godless Jews, and concludes that secular or non-believing Jews are engaged in a form of spiritual struggle, and still makes them Jewish. In one section he evaluates Israel’s identity as a Jewish state and its struggle with Arabs and Palestinian population. The focus is mainly on American Jewish experiences and doesn’t address Mizrahi, Sephardic, or African Jewish perspectives. He also doesn’t examine the widespread antisemitism and anti-Israel activities on American college campuses. Antisemitism in Western Europe and North America is due to an increase in Islamist ideology, and left-wing anti-Zionism. In one section of the book, he states that “The thing I can say with confidence is that, having immersed myself in Jewish tradition and thought, and having occupied the position of bad Jew to some observers and commentators some of the time, I have come to learn that the tradition, in all its multifarious guises and unexpected manifestations, will never abandon me. That's something.” Does the author mean that other traditions/faiths, like Hinduism, Buddhism or Christianism also does not abandon its followers for being different? So, what is unique about Jewish traditions? Harvard University’s January 2024 “Antisemitism on Campus” report underscores a significant rise in both witnessed and experienced antisemitic acts on campus. It is abundant in statistics as well as anecdotes, and offers more than three hundred pages of dismal reading. Except for Alan Dershowitz, no other faculty members including this author have ever criticized or condemned the school for its divisive role. So, how can we take his analysis seriously?