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A lively, thoughtful history of America's Jews, exploring their
complex relationships with national culture, identity, and
politics-and each other. You can be called a Bad Jew-by the
community or even yourself-if you don't keep kosher, don't send
your children to Hebrew school, or enjoy Christmas music; if your
partner isn't Jewish, or you don't call your mother enough. But
today, amid fears of rising antisemitism, what makes a Good or Bad
Jew is a particularly fraught question. There is no answer, argues
Emily Tamkin. Several million now identify as American Jews; but
they don't all identify with one another. American Jewish history,
like all Jewish history, has been about transformation-and full of
discussions, debates and hand-wringing over who is Jewish, how to
be Jewish, and what it means to be Jewish. Bad Jews is a rich,
absorbing reflection on 100 years of American Jewish identities and
arguments. Tamkin's fascinating, diverse interviews explore the
complex story of American Jewishness, and its evolving, conflicting
positions, from assimilation, race, and social justice; to
politics, Zionism, and Israel. She pinpoints the one truth about
Jewish identity: It's always changing.
A journalist and author of The Influence of Soros examines the
history of Jewish people in America and explores their
ever-evolving relationship to the nation’s culture and
identity—and each other. What does it mean to be a Bad Jew? Many
Jews use the term “Bad Jew” as a weapon against other members
of the community or even against themselves. You can be called a
Bad Jew if you don’t keep kosher; if you only go to temple on Yom
Kippur; if you don’t attend or send your children to Hebrew
school; if you enjoy Christmas music; if your partner isn’t
Jewish; if you don’t call your mother often enough. The list is
endless. In Bad Jews, Emily Tamkin argues that perhaps there is no
answer to this timeless question at all. Throughout American
history, Jewish identities have evolved and transformed in a
variety of ways. The issue of what it means, or doesn’t, to be a
Good Jew or a Bad Jew is particularly fraught at this moment,
American Jews feel and fear antisemitism is on the rise.. There are
several million people who identify as American Jews—but that
doesn’t mean they all identify with one another. American Jewish
history is full of discussions and debates and hand wringing over
who is Jewish, how to be Jewish, and what it means to be Jewish. In
Bad Jews, Emily Tamkin examines the last 100 years of
American Jewish politics, culture, identities, and arguments.
Drawing on over 150 interviews, she tracks the evolution of
Jewishness throughout American history, and explores many of the
evolving and conflicting Jewish positions on assimilation; race;
Zionism and Israel; affluence and poverty, philanthropy, finance,
politics; and social justice. From this complex and nuanced
history, Tamkin pinpoints perhaps the one truth about American
Jewish identity: It is always changing.
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