Turning the Kaleidoscope

Far from being a blank space on the Jewish map, or a void in the Jewish cultural world, post-Shoah Europe is a place where Jewry has continued to develop, even though it is facing different challenges and opportunities than elsewhere. Living on a continent characterized by highly diverse patterns of culture, language, history, and relations to Jews, European Jewry mirrors that kaleidoscopic diversity. This volume explores such key questions as the new roles for Jews in Europe; models of Jewish community organization in Europe; concepts of diaspora and galut; a European-Jewish way of life in the era of globalization; and European Jews' relationship to Israel and to non-Jews. Some contributions highlight experiences of Jews in Britain, Sweden, Norway, Hungary, Austria, Germany, and the Netherlands. Helping us to understand the special and common characteristics of European Jewry, this collection offers a valuable contribution to the continued rebuilding of Jewish life in the postwar era. The daughter of German-Jewish refugees, Sandra Lustig was born in the U.S.A.and lives in Berlin, Germany. She is a free-lance consultant and translator,and a Senior Policy Advisor with Ecologic - Institute for International andEuropean Environmental Policy, a not-for-profit think tank she co-founded.Her Jewish activities include founding a Jewish Stammtisch (an informal gathering of Jews), and leading sessions at various Jewish conferences. Ian Leveson, Scottish computer specialist, social, Jewish, and environmental activist, sees Germany through British and Jewish eyes, and Jewry through European eyes. His research interests include Jewry's adjustment to European integration, economic liberalization, and Globalization. He has participated in a number of grassroots initatives to rebuild "Jewish civil society" in Berlin.