“Where Do You Draw the Line?” Negotiating Kashrut and Jewish Identity in a Small British Reform Community
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Abstract
This study explores the importance of food and the negotiation of kosher laws in the context of strategies to maintain an individual and collective Jewish identity among a British Reform Jewish community in a non-metropolitan area. Based on interviews with active members of the local synagogue, it explores the challenges to maintaining Jewish life in a small, disparate community remote from any major Jewish settlement. In the interview data, food emerges as a major point of reference for defining identity and for positioning members of the community in relation to religious traditions. Food observance further serves as a means of defining boundaries within as well as outside the community. This discussion raises several important issues: the place of religious observance in modern societies, the question of membership and boundaries of communities, the diversity of contemporary Jewish Reform observance and, finally, the specific role of food and foodways in negotiating these challenges.
Topics
Reform/Liberal/Progressive Judaism Food Kashrut Small Jewish Communities Main Topic: Identity and Community
Genre
Geographic Coverage
Original Language
Volume/Issue
17(1)
Page Number / Article Number
125-142
Link
“Where Do You Draw the Line?” Negotiating Kashrut and Jewish Identity in a Small British Reform Community
“Where Do You Draw the Line?” Negotiating Kashrut and Jewish Identity in a Small British Reform Community
“Where Do You Draw the Line?” Negotiating Kashrut and Jewish Identity in a Small British Reform Community
Bibliographic Information
“Where Do You Draw the Line?” Negotiating Kashrut and Jewish Identity in a Small British Reform Community. 2014: 125-142. https://archive.jpr.org.uk/object-uk212
