How Israel Might Be the Only Place Where an Organic Judaism Can Be Revived

Surveying American Judaism today—of both the Orthodox and non-Orthodox varieties—Moshe Koppel laments the disappearance of the naturalness of Jewish faith and practice he witnessed in his own New York childhood, especially among immigrants from Eastern Europe. But in Israel, despite great internal religious divisions, Koppel sees the re-emergence of an organic attachment to Judaism, rooted in a sense of tribal loyalty as well as moderation, and finds reason to believe that it is on its way to becoming the norm there. He discusses his ideas, first articulated in a series of blog posts, in conversation with Shmuel Rosner. (Audio, 40 minutes. A summary of Koppel’s argument can be found here.)