God Is in the Crowd
Twenty-First-Century Judaism
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- 8,49 €
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- 8,49 €
Descripción editorial
“Enthralling, searching, profound, an extraordinarily powerful work on Jewish identity in the twenty-first century.”—Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks
A bold proposal for discovering relevance in Judaism and ensuring its survival, from a pioneering social activist, business leader, and fighter pilot in the Israeli Air Force
God Is in the Crowd is an original and provocative blueprint for Judaism in the twenty-first century. Presented through the lens of Tal Keinan’s unusual personal story, it a sobering analysis of the threat to Jewish continuity. As the Jewish people has become concentrated in just two hubs—America and Israel—it has lost the subtle code of governance that endowed Judaism with dynamism and relevance in the age of Diaspora. This code, as Keinan explains, is derived from Francis Galton’s “wisdom of crowds,” in which a group’s collective intelligence, memory, and even spirituality can be dramatically different from, and often stronger than, that of any individual member’s. He argues that without this code, this ancient people—and the civilization that it spawned—will soon be extinct. Finally, Keinan puts forward a bold and original plan to rewrite the Jewish code, proposing a new model for Judaism and for community in general.
Keinan was born to a secular Jewish family in Florida. His interest in Judaism was ignited by a Christian minister at his New England prep school and led him down the unlikely path to enlistment in the Israel Air Force. Using his own dramatic experiences as a backdrop, and applying lessons from his life as a business leader and social activist, Keinan takes the reader on a riveting adventure, weaving between past, present, and future, and fusing narrative with theory to demonstrate Judaism’s value to humanity and chart its path into the future.
Advance praise for God Is in the Crowd
“Beautifully written, brilliantly argued, this is a unique contribution to the conversation and a must read for anyone concerned with Jewish continuity.”—Yossi Klein Halevi, author of Letters to My Palestinian Neighbor
“God Is in the Crowd blends social science, economics, religion, and national identity to help us see more clearly who we are as individuals, people, and a society.”—Dan Ariely, author of The Upside of Irrationality
“American, Israeli, entrepreneur, fighter pilot, and investor: Keinan’s diagnosis of Israel and the Jewish Diaspora is provided through the lens of a rich and gripping life story. Keinan’s contribution is indispensable to the debate about the future of the Jewish people.”—Dan Senor, co-author of Start-up Nation
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
American-Israeli entrepreneur Keinan, chairman of Koret Israel Economic Development Fund, pulls no punches in this strident assessment of the future of Judaism, but his proposed solutions are ultimately unrealistic. Keinan builds on current research into negative demographic trends for Judaism and makes use of his own experiences in the Israeli Air Force to highlight serious internal divides in Israeli society that threaten stability. With the world's dwindling Jewish population concentrated in the U.S. and Israel, he is afraid the "wisdom of crowds" that helped to constantly redefine Judaism by welcoming a diversity of theological interpretations will soon come to an end. The essence of his points will be familiar to readers already engaged with the topic, but the book's true novelty lies in Keinan's admittedly radical proposals for change. He suggests moving away from the monopoly on Judaism exerted by the Israeli rabbinate and establishing a "president of world Jewry," as well as creating a Jewish world endowment to fund basic Jewish educational and cultural opportunities for children though neither of these comes across as particularly realistic. His final suggestion, that technology "may prove a superior medium for establishing and maintaining a coherent Jewish communal voice," is similarly aspirational and underdeveloped. Keinan's passion for the topic and his desire to advance the discussion are commendable, but his ideas for radical reinvention are unconvincing.