Turbulent Times: The British Jewish Community Today

Announcing the  publication of

Turbulent Times: The British Jewish Community Today

Keith Kahn-Harris and Ben Gidley

Continuum 2010

The first book-length study of contemporary British Jewry , Turbulent Times: The British Jewish Community Today examines the changing nature of the British Jewish community and its leadership since 1990.   Keith Kahn-Harris and Ben Gidley contend that there has been a shift within Jewish communal discourse from a strategy of security, which emphasized Anglo-Jewry’s secure belonging and citizenship, toa  strategy of insecurity, which emphasizes the dangers and threats Jews face individually and communally. This shift is part of a process of renewal in the community that has led to something of a  ‘Jewish renaissance’ in Britain.

Addressing key questions on the transitions in the history of Anglo-Jewish community and leadership, and tackling the concept of the ‘new antisemitism’, this important and timely study addresses the question: how has UK Jewry adapted from a shift from monoculturalism to multiculturalism?

“There is a paradox at the centre of Jewish life in modern Britain. On the one hand Jews are arguably the most successfully integrated ethnic minority in Britain today. On the other, they feel marginalized and – still – unwelcome. Drs. Kahn-Harris and Gidley offer us the first scholarly dissection of this paradox. Their conclusions – based on the exhaustive examination of written and oral sources – will surprise many. But these conclusions could also offer the blueprint for a renewed engagement between Britain’s Jews and the British state.” – Geoffrey Alderman, Michael Gross Professor of Politics & Contemporary History, University of Buckingham, UK