Evaluating Contemporary American Judaism

IN THE MAIL:  Dana Evan Kaplan’s “Contemporary American Judaism:  Transformation and Renewal.”  From the book jacket:

No longer controlled by a handful of institutional leaders based in remote headquarters and rabbinical seminaries, American Judaism is being transformed by the individual spiritual decisions of tens of thousands of Jews living in all corners of the
United States.

A pulpit rabbi and American Jew, Kaplan follows this religious individualism from its postwar suburban roots to the hippie revolution of the 1960s and the multiple postmodern identities of today.

There is a chapter entitled “Herculean Efforts at Synagogue Renewal” that focuses on B’nai Jeshurun in
New York City and Sinai Temple in
Los Angeles.