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Religion & beliefs

WHY BE JEWISH?

Edgar M. Bronfman

A Testament

Edgar Bronfman's clarion call to a generation of secular, disaffected and unaffiliated Jews, WHY BE JEWISH? addresses the most critical question confronting Judaism worldwide. Completed in December 2013, just weeks before he passed away, WHY BE JEWISH? expresses Edgar Bronfman's awe, respect, and deep love for his faith and heritage. Edgar M. Bronfman served for over twenty years as president of the World Jewish Congress and was the founding chairman of the board of governors of Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life.

WHY BE JEWISH? was Bronfman’s final book, completed just weeks before his death in December 2013. This will be an important Spring 2016 publication for Twelve Books, the highly esteemed imprint that features only twelve titles per year and focuses on key topics of discussion by authoritative voices including Edward M. Kennedy, Christopher Hitchens, Christopher Buckley, and Sebastian Junger, among others. Edgar Bronfman's clarion call to a generation of secular, disaffected and unaffiliated Jews, WHY BE JEWISH? addresses the most critical question confronting Judaism worldwide. Completed in December 2013, just weeks before he passed away, WHY BE JEWISH? expresses Edgar Bronfman's awe, respect, and deep love for his faith and heritage. Bronfman walks readers through the major tenets and ideas in Jewish life, fleshing out their meaning and offering proof texts from the Jewish tradition gleaned over his many years of study with some of the greatest teachers in the Jewish world. In WHY BE JEWISH?, with honesty, poignancy, and passion, Bronfman shares insights gleaned from his own personal journey and makes a compelling case for the meaning and transcendence of a secular Judaism that is still steeped in deep moral values, authentic Jewish texts, and a focus on deed over creed or dogma. Edgar M. Bronfman was the longtime CEO of Seagram Company Ltd. He also served for over twenty years as president of the World Jewish Congress and was the founding chairman of the board of governors of Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life. Through the Samuel Bronfman Foundation, he nurtured initiatives to cultivate Jewish learning, including the Bronfman Fellowships and MyJewishLearning, Inc. He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1999. Edgar M. Bronfman passed away in December of 2013, survived by his wife, Jan Aronson, his seven children, twenty-three grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.

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Book Published 2016-03-22 by Twelve Books/Hachette

Comments

This book is Edgar Bronfman’s parting gift to his people—his legendary devotion in a new form. It is deeply affecting to behold this worldly man become a soulful student and submit himself to the rigors (and the beauties) of his tradition. As he was with his deeds, so he is with his words: a prince of Jewish commitment.

In this beautiful book, Edgar Bronfman shares how a tradition that he knew little about in his youth became a motivating force for him later in life—even though he is an atheist. This moving and powerful testament demonstrates how much Judaism, with its intertwined concepts of freedom and responsibility, has to offer the thinking modern person in search of life’s purpose. Read, and choose to stand at Sinai.

This book had me nodding my head and taking notes in the margin from the very first page. Edgar Bronfman rightly reminds us that Judaism need not rigid. Nor does it need to be God-centric. Judaism has a long tradition is of openness, questioning and creative reinterpretation, and Bronfman makes a wonderful case for embracing this side. And speaking of wonderful, he rightly points out that Judaism can be a powerful way to access the feeling of wonder about the universe, even for the most secular of us.

Bronfman makes his case intellectually as well as spiritually persuasive.

Edgar Bronfman has left us a legacy in so many ways, and in Why Be Jewish?, he elegantly highlights some of the most compelling and invigorating aspects of being Jewish with his quintessential warmth, honesty and love. This book is a must have for anyone compelled to more deeply understand and love being Jewish.

One man’s personal call to laggard Jews to study, learn, and seek justice in a broken world. Readers of other persuasions may also profit from his insight into bits of Jewish thought and practice. Read more...

Edgar Bronfman is one of the most visionary figures of World Jewry of the last century and his farewell book is both passionate and clear-sighted. But what makes it a revelation is how deeply personal and emotional it is. I was blown away by the beauty of this book and whole-heartedly recommend it.