In Search of the Present: Synagogue Ethnography


 

Publication Date: December 1985

Publisher: Rabbinical Assembly of America

Author(s): Samuel C. Heilman

Research Area: Culture and religion

Keywords: Ethnography; Future; Jewish Religion and Culture; Synagogues

Type: Other

Coverage: United States

Abstract:

This article emphasizes the importance of leaving behind a record of present community life. The author argues for a new archive of ethnography, where the cultural wealth that is Jewish synagogue life in America can be stored. Such an archive will serve not only as a most valuable resource for students and scholars examining the character of synagogue life in America; it will also act as a vehicle for giving synagogue communities a consciousness of their own worth.

In Conservative Judaism vol.36, no.2 (Winter 1985-86), pp.56-66.