Twenty-one American Jewish intellectuals have contributed articles to a symposium entitled “My Jewish Affirmation” published here today in the tenth anniversary issue of Judaism, a quarterly sponsored by the American Jewish Congress. The authors have responded to these five questions:
“1. What do you regard as centrally significant in Jewish tradition and presently viable”
“2. What revisions and adaptations, if any, of the tradition do you deem essential if it is to be preserved and enhanced?
“3. Do you deem your Jewish outlook and commitment a fundamental source for your total life orientation?
“4. By what lines of force do you consider yourself linked to the American Jewish community, the State of Israel and the Jewish people generally?
“5. What, in your own background and experience, do you judge to have been decisive in your present Jewish engagements?”
The answers, according to Rabbi Theodore Friedman, managing editor of the magazine, represent “a significant contribution” in analyzing the relevance of Jewish ideas and values “to the living issues and options that confront Jewry today.” The responses from the 21 contributors–including painters, publishers, philosophers and others–cover a wide range of opinion and belief from Orthodoxy to Existentialism, Zionism and Hasidism, belief in Jewish peoplehood, reliance on traditional Jewish law and adherence to Jewish ritual.
A similar symposium was conducted among writers and other Jewish intellectuals last year by the monthly Commentary, published by the American Jewish Committee.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
