Arnold Eisen - Works

Works

His recent publications include a personal essay, Taking Hold of Torah: Jewish Commitment and Community in America (1997), which addresses the renewal of Jewish community and commitment in America through a series of five essays built around the Five Books of Moses; a historical work about the origins of contemporary dilemmas concerning these issues, entitled Rethinking Modern Judaism: Ritual, Commandment, Community (1998); and The Jew Within: Self, Family and Community in America (2000), co-authored with sociologist Steven M. Cohen (2000), which examines the meanings of Judaism and Jewish belonging to contemporary American Jews.

• Galut: Modern Jewish Reflection on Homelessness and Homecoming, Indiana University Press (Bloomington), 1986
• Rethinking Modern Judaism: Ritual, Commandment, Community, University of Chicago Press (Chicago), 1998. (Koret Jewish Book Award, 1999)
• The Jew Within: Self, Family, and Community in America
• The Chosen People in America: A Study in Jewish Religious Ideology, Indiana University Press (Bloomington), 1983.
• (Author of commentary) Michael Strassfeld, The Jewish Holidays: A Guide and Commentary, Harper & Row (New York City), 1985.
• Taking Hold of Torah: Jewish Commitment and Community in America, Indiana University Press (Bloomington), 1997.
• (With Steven M. Cohen) The Jew Within: Self, Family, and Community in America, Indiana University Press, 2000

Several of Eisen's shorter works and publications are available on the Berman Jewish Policy Archive @ NYU Wagner, including:

• Choosing Chosenness in America: The Changing Faces of Judaism (NYU Press: 2009)
• The Sovereign Self: Jewish Identity in Post-Modern America, with Steven M. Cohen (Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs: 2001)
• The Rhetoric of Chosenness and the Fabrication of American Jewish Identity (Transaction Publishers: 1990)

Arnold Eisen is also writing a series of essays for The Huffington Post. These are available to read here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arnold-m-eisen

In May, 2011, Eisen launched “Conservative Judaism: A Community Conversation,” an interactive website featuring original essays on Conservative Judaism, with responses from Movement and Lay leaders and scholars.