The Myth of the Cultural Jew: Culture and Law in Jewish Tradition
Roberta Rosenthal Kwall
Abstract
A myth exists that Jews can embrace the cultural components of Judaism without appreciating the legal aspects of the Jewish tradition. This myth suggests that law and culture are independent of one another. In reality, however, much of Jewish culture has a basis in Jewish law. Similarly, Jewish law produces Jewish culture. A cultural analysis paradigm provides a useful way of understanding the Jewish tradition as the product of both legal precepts and cultural elements. This paradigm sees law and culture as inextricably intertwined and historically specific. This perspective also emphasizes th ... More
A myth exists that Jews can embrace the cultural components of Judaism without appreciating the legal aspects of the Jewish tradition. This myth suggests that law and culture are independent of one another. In reality, however, much of Jewish culture has a basis in Jewish law. Similarly, Jewish law produces Jewish culture. A cultural analysis paradigm provides a useful way of understanding the Jewish tradition as the product of both legal precepts and cultural elements. This paradigm sees law and culture as inextricably intertwined and historically specific. This perspective also emphasizes the human element of law’s composition and the role of existing power dynamics in shaping Jewish law. In light of this inevitable intersection between culture and law, this book argues that Jewish culture is shallow unless it is grounded in Jewish law. It develops and applies a cultural analysis paradigm to the Jewish tradition that departs from the understanding of Jewish law solely as the embodiment of Divine command. Its paradigm explains why both law and culture must matter to those interested in forging meaningful Jewish identity and transmitting the tradition.
Keywords:
cultural analysis,
Jewish law,
Jewish culture,
Jewish tradition,
Jewish identity,
Judaism
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2015 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780195373707 |
| Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: March 2015 |
DOI:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195373707.001.0001 |
