For thousands of years, Jewish identity was inextricably joined with the beliefs and rituals of Judaism. Centuries later, to be a Jew meant, for many, to be a Zionist to fight for the Jewish homeland of Israel. Yet for increasing numbers of Jews today the sense of who they are is not defined by either religion or politics.
David Ibry's Exodus to Humanism captures the personal struggles of twenty-four individuals some famous, others courageous citizens who have moved away from traditional forms of Judaism to gain an understanding of themselves as Jews even as they ask if the religion itself has become obsolete.
Ibry doesn't shrink from calling for a new humanism among Jewish people. He boldly examines how to define nonreligious Jewishness, and explains how to cope with the obsolete tenets of the faith. Included with the author's own observations and family experiences are statements from others who have rejected the faith in favor of a new era of nonreligious enlightenment. Included are contributions by Isaiah Berlin, Olga Faroqui, Jean-Claude Pecker, Evry Schatzman, and others.