Non­fic­tion

Jew­ish Stud­ies: A The­o­ret­i­cal Introduction

Andrew Bush
  • Review
By – August 30, 2011
This short book is a high­ly the­o­ret­i­cal explo­ration of how to engage in orig­i­nal and eru­dite Jew­ish Stud­ies. Andrew Bush, a pro­fes­sor of Jew­ish Stud­ies and His­pan­ic Stud­ies at Vas­sar Col­lege, draws upon con­structs found in the Jew­ish tra­di­tion of learn­ing,” with its Tal­mu­dic schol­ar­ship and sources, and the siz­able body of aca­d­e­m­ic lit­er­a­ture (soci­o­log­i­cal, his­tor­i­cal, lit­er­ary, and cul­tur­al stud­ies), that explore the Jew­ish expe­ri­ence.

Bush cre­ative­ly employs the Kab­bal­is­tic metaphor of the emi­nent Jew­ish Stud­ies schol­ar Ger­shom Scholem, and argues that Jew­ish Stud­ies should be con­cep­tu­al­ized as a con­tain­er” that is bro­ken and so its con­tents, all them sparks of Jew­ish­ness, are scat­tered.” To build a com­plete body of work in Jew­ish Stud­ies, researchers must engage in a patient effort to col­lect the scat­tered shards of mate­r­i­al and tex­tu­al cul­ture.”

Jew­ish Stud­ies: A The­o­ret­i­cal Intro­duc­tion is not an easy book to read, but com­plex­i­ty and chal­lenge are also hall­mark aspects of the Jew­ish expe­ri­ence. To me this book is an aca­d­e­m­ic plea for giv­ing up clichéd views of the dis­ci­pline of Jew­ish Stud­ies. It encour­ages the read­er to seek new avenues for source mate­r­i­al and devel­op inno­v­a­tive ana­lyt­i­cal mod­els to bet­ter under­stand the Jew­ish expe­ri­ence. End­notes, index.
Car­ol Poll, Ph.D., is the retired Chair of the Social Sci­ences Depart­ment and Pro­fes­sor of Soci­ol­o­gy at the Fash­ion Insti­tute of Tech­nol­o­gy of the State Uni­ver­si­ty of New York. Her areas of inter­est include the soci­ol­o­gy of race and eth­nic rela­tions, the soci­ol­o­gy of mar­riage, fam­i­ly and gen­der roles and the soci­ol­o­gy of Jews.

Discussion Questions