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Inventing Jewish Identity in California: Schlomo Bardin, Zionism and the Brandeis Camp Institute

Author(s)

Deborah Dash Moore

Publication Name

National Variations in Jewish Identity: Implications for Jewish Education

Publication Date

Publisher

State University of New York (SUNY) Press

Abstract

This piece employs a case study to explore educational innovation explicitly designed to change the Jewish identities of its participants. Through its focus on a charismatic figure in Los Angeles and the camp he created in the Simi Valley, the author approaches the central issue of individual initiative and communal organization to test the claims of this theory. She finds that the camp ended up losing its original Zionist ideologist zeal while keeping its Zionist reputation. In addition, the author notes how the charismatic figure was able to get Secular Jews to reclaim part of their Jewish identity by recreating it through the camp experience as something inspiring, compelling and intriguing.

Editor

Cohen, Steven M
Horenczyk, Gabriel

Geographic Coverage

United States

Copyright Info

Download for personal use, freely distribute link

BJPA Record

Bibliographic Information

Inventing Jewish Identity in California: Schlomo Bardin, Zionism and the Brandeis Camp Institute. 1999:  https://archive.jpr.org.uk/object-bjpa4275
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