Rachel Gross wants to blur the distinction between Jewish culture and Jewish religion

This book, part of the North American Religions series from New York University Press, tells the story of our religious present and future. In fact, I would argue that what the author says about American Judaism is also largely true in American Catholicism.

Rachel B. Gross, who teaches Ameri­can Jewish studies at San Francisco State University, wants to make clear that there are ways of being Jewish “beyond the synagogue” and that these ways are just as Jewish as practicing Judaism is. With a smart analysis of contemporary culture, sociology, urban studies, and religion, she makes her point clearly and well, with cogent examples.

Beyond the Synagogue opens with an anecdote of a tour of the Eldridge Street Synagogue on New York’s Lower East Side, where a once-vibrant shul for Eastern European immigrants has, since 2007, been a museum. Gross then states her thesis: