Must a Jew Believe Anything?

The crucial question for today's Jewish world,Menachem Kellner argues, is not whether Jews will have Jewish grandchildren,but how many different sorts of mutually exclusive Judaisms those grandchildrenwill face. Kellner’s short, brisk, and accessible book examines how the splitthat threatens the Jewish future can be avoided.

The first six chapters of this strongly arguedbook analyse what religious faith means in classical Judaism and will be ofinterest to anyone seeking lucid insights into the nature of Judaism. The finalchapter builds upon the conclusions of the first six in order to argue for anew way of construing the relationship of Orthodoxy to non-Orthodox Jews andinstitutions. Kellner argues that the Orthodox practice of framing the debatewith non-Orthodox movements in terms of dogmatic fidelity contrasted withheresy is not the traditional Jewish approach, and that the debate could wellbe framed in other ways, ways that would allow all Jews to work togethertowards a less polarized Jewish future.

Undoubtedly, Musta Jew Believe Anything? has the potential to make a difference to howOrthodoxy understands itself and its relationship to other Jewish movements inthe modern world.

For the second edition, the author has added asubstantial Afterword, reviewing his thinking on the subject and addressing thereactions to the original edition.