Turning the Kaleidoscope

Far from being a blank space on the Jewish map, or a void in the Jewish cultural world, post-Shoah Europe is a place where Jewry has continued to develop, even though it is facing different challenges and opportunities than elsewhere. Living on a continent characterized by highly diverse patterns of culture, language, history, and relations to Jews, European Jewry mirrors that kaleidoscopic diversity. This volume explores such key questions as the new roles for Jews in Europe; models of Jewish community organization in Europe; concepts of diaspora and galut; a European-Jewish way of life in the era of globalization; and European Jews' relationship to Israel and to non-Jews. Some contributions highlight experiences of Jews in Britain, Sweden, Norway, Hungary, Austria, Germany, and the Netherlands. Helping us to understand the special and common characteristics of European Jewry, this collection offers a valuable contribution to the continued rebuilding of Jewish life in the postwar era. "...with its assertiveness as well as the confidence and sense of excitement expressed on its pages, the volume is in itself a document of the tremendous change that has occurred in Europe. The multicultural Europe that appears to be emerging will indeed possess a different culture from the humanist universalism (or worse) of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, which could not tolerate Jewish difference. And it is conceivable that, as this volume claims, a recovering European Jewry will develop its own voice and weight at a time when Diaspora Jewries worldwide are moving beyond the Israel- and Shoah-focused identities of the postwar era." * European History Quarterly "...a valuable contribution to the study of postwar Jewish life. In attempting to reverse popular misperceptions about the fate of continental Jewry after World War II, it enables readers to hear 'voices' that have been ignored for too long." * Shofar

Acknowledgements Introduction Sandra Lustig and Ian Leveson PART I: OVERARCHING QUESTIONS Chapter 1. A New Role for Jews in Europe: Challenges and Responsibilities Diana Pinto Chapter 2. European Models of Community: Can Ambiguity Help? Clive A. Lawton Chapter 3. Concepts of Diaspora and Galut Michael Galchinsky Chapter 4. 'Homo Zappiens': A European-Jewish Way of Life in the Era of Globalisation Lars Dencik Chapter 5. Israel and Diaspora: From Solution to Problem Goeran Rosenberg PART II: INNER-JEWISH CONCERNS: REBUILDING AND CONTINUITY Chapter 6. Left Over - Living after the Shoah: (Re-)building Jewish Life in Europe. A Panel Discussion Sandra Lustig Chapter 7. Debora's Disciples: AWomen's Movement as an Expression of Renewing Jewish Life in Europe Lara Dammig and Elisa Klapheck Chapter 8. A Jewish Cultural Renascence in Germany? Y. Michal Bodemann PART III: THE JEWISH SPACE IN EUROPE Chapter 9. The Jewish Space in Europe Diana Pinto Chapter 10. Caught between Civil Society and the Cultural Market: Jewry and the Jewish Space in Europe. A Response to Diana Pinto Ian Leveson and Sandra Lustig Chapter 11. 'The Germans Will Never Forgive the Jews for Auschwitz'. When Things Go Wrong in the Jewish Space: The Case of the Walser-Bubis Debate Sandra Lustig Notes on Contributors Index