TY  - BOOK
AU  - Rachel Werczberger
PY  - 2019
CY  - New York, United States of America
PB  - Peter Lang Verlag
SN  - 9781453919200
TI  - Jews in the Age of Authenticity
T2  - Jewish Spiritual Renewal in Israel
DO  - 10.3726/b10527
UR  - https://www.peterlang.com/document/1109633
N2  - In this book, Rachel Werczberger takes stock of the Jewish New Age spirituality scene in Israel at the turn of the millennium. Led by highly charismatic rabbis, the Hamakom and Bayit Chadash communities attempted to bring about a Jewish spiritual renewal by integrating Jewish tradition – especially Kabbalah and Hasidism – with New Age spirituality. Having spent over two years in field research, Werczberger presents a comprehensive ethnographic account of these two groups, examining their rise and fall after only six years of activity. At the core of their aspiration for Jewish spiritual renewal, claims Werczberger, was the quest for authenticity. She investigates the ways in which the language of authenticity was embraced by the members of the communities in their construction of a new spiritual Jewish identity, their re-invention of Jewish rituals, and their failed attempt at constructing community. She concludes that all these elements point to the dual form of politics of authenticity and identity with which the Israeli Jewish New Age is involved.
KW  - Judaism, New Age spirituality, spiritual authenticity, Israel, ethnography, Jewish renewal
LA  - English
ER  -