American JewBu, Emily Sigalow
American JewBu, Emily Sigalow
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American JewBu
Jews, Buddhists, and Religious Change

Author: Emily Sigalow

Narrator: Rebecca Gibel

Unabridged: 8 hr 10 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 11/12/2019

Categories: Nonfiction, Religion, Judaism


Synopsis

Today, many Jewish Americans are embracing a dual religious identity, practicing Buddhism while also staying connected to their Jewish roots. This book tells the story of Judaism's encounter with Buddhism in the United States, showing how it has given rise to new contemplative forms within American Judaism—and shaped the way Americans understand and practice Buddhism.

Taking listeners from the nineteenth century to today, Emily Sigalow traces the history of these two traditions in America and explains how they came together. She argues that the distinctive social position of American Jews led them to their unique engagement with Buddhism, and describes how people incorporate aspects of both into their everyday lives. Drawing on a wealth of original in-depth interviews conducted across the nation, Sigalow explores how Jewish American Buddhists experience their dual religious identities. She reveals how Jewish Buddhists confound prevailing expectations of minority religions in America. Rather than simply adapting to the majority religion, Jews and Buddhists have borrowed and integrated elements from each other, and in doing so they have left an enduring mark on the American consciousness.


About Emily Sigalow

Emily Sigalow is a sociologist of contemporary Jewish life and Executive Director of the Impact and Performance Assessment Department at the UJA-Federation of New York, a leading Jewish philanthropic organization.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Jessica

highly recommend. super informative......more

Emily Sigalow took an in-depth look into the phenomena of Jews embracing Buddhism in the United States. She began her dive with a humorly description, in form of a joke, but jumped right into sociological data to prove the point. Sigalow argued that theres a significant number of US Jews who have an......more

Goodreads review by Marsha

This is the most up-to-date sociological examination of the phenomenon of American Jews becoming Buddhists, or at least encorporating Buddhism into their daily spiritual practice. It's probably the best book since Judith Linzer's "Torah and Dharma." The book works chronologically, beginning with the......more

Goodreads review by robin

A Study of Jewish Buddhists in America The term "JewBu" has been coined to refer to individuals of Jewish birth who have come to practice Buddhism to varying degrees. Many Americans who come to Buddhism are, in fact, Jewish. In her book, "American JewBu: Jews Buddhists, and Religious Change" (2019) i......more

Goodreads review by Eric

A somewhat fascinating look into how Judaism seems to be strangling itself by tolerating a good deal of syncretism; in this case by way of Buddhism. Or perhaps one might question whether Jews even have a Jewish religion - they want to be something else. One feature of the author's work points out th......more