God Is in the Crowd: Twenty-First-Century Judaism

by Tal Keinan Narrated by Tal Keinan

Overview

“Enthralling, searching, profound, an extraordinarily powerful work on Jewish identity in the twenty-first century.”-Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks

A bold proposal for discovering relevance in Judaism and ensuring its survival, from a pioneering social activist, business leader, and fighter pilot in the Israeli Air Force

God Is in the Crowd is an original and provocative blueprint for Judaism in the twenty-first century. Presented through the lens of Tal Keinan's unusual personal story, it a sobering analysis of the threat to Jewish continuity. As the Jewish people has become concentrated in just two hubs-America and Israel-it has lost the subtle code of governance that endowed Judaism with dynamism and relevance in the age of Diaspora. This code, as Keinan explains, is derived from Francis Galton's “wisdom of crowds,” in which a group's collective intelligence, memory, and even spirituality can be dramatically different from, and often stronger than, that of any individual member's. He argues that without this code, this ancient people-and the civilization that it spawned-will soon be extinct. Finally, Keinan puts forward a bold and original plan to rewrite the Jewish code, proposing a new model for Judaism and for community in general.

Keinan was born to a secular Jewish family in Florida. His interest in Judaism was ignited by a Christian minister at his New England prep school and led him down the unlikely path to enlistment in the Israel Air Force. Using his own dramatic experiences as a backdrop, and applying lessons from his life as a business leader and social activist, Keinan takes the reader on a riveting adventure, weaving between past, present, and future, and fusing narrative with theory to demonstrate Judaism's value to humanity and chart its path into the future.

Advance praise for God Is in the Crowd

“Beautifully written, brilliantly argued, this is a unique contribution to the conversation and a must read for anyone concerned with Jewish continuity.”-Yossi Klein Halevi, author of Letters to My Palestinian Neighbor

“God Is in the Crowd*blends social science, economics, religion, and national identity to help us see more clearly who we are as individuals, people, and a society.”-Dan Ariely, author of*The Upside of Irrationality

“American, Israeli, entrepreneur, fighter pilot, and investor: Keinan's diagnosis of Israel and the Jewish Diaspora is provided through the lens of a rich and gripping life story. Keinan's contribution is indispensable to the debate about the future of the Jewish people.”-Dan Senor, co-author of*Start-up Nation

Editorial Reviews

The New York Times Book Review - Gal Beckerman

…a pox-on-both-houses indictment. Having grown up in a fully assimilated household in America and then moved to Israel to become a fighter pilot, Keinan became disenchanted with both places. He sees two poles of identity and outlook, unique and intransigent, that are destroying themselves by staying so far apart. What American Jews and Israelis need to recapture is the "Wisdom of the Crowd," his…phrase for the collective knowledge and decision-making that occurred during the diverse and dispersed period of Diaspora.

Publishers Weekly

07/23/2018
American-Israeli entrepreneur Keinan, chairman of Koret Israel Economic Development Fund, pulls no punches in this strident assessment of the future of Judaism, but his proposed solutions are ultimately unrealistic. Keinan builds on current research into negative demographic trends for Judaism and makes use of his own experiences in the Israeli Air Force to highlight serious internal divides in Israeli society that threaten stability. With the world’s dwindling Jewish population concentrated in the U.S. and Israel, he is afraid the “wisdom of crowds” that helped to constantly redefine Judaism by welcoming a diversity of theological interpretations will soon come to an end. The essence of his points will be familiar to readers already engaged with the topic, but the book’s true novelty lies in Keinan’s admittedly radical proposals for change. He suggests moving away from the monopoly on Judaism exerted by the Israeli rabbinate and establishing a “president of world Jewry,” as well as creating a Jewish world endowment to fund basic Jewish educational and cultural opportunities for children—though neither of these comes across as particularly realistic. His final suggestion, that technology “may prove a superior medium for establishing and maintaining a coherent Jewish communal voice,” is similarly aspirational and underdeveloped. Keinan’s passion for the topic and his desire to advance the discussion are commendable, but his ideas for radical reinvention are unconvincing. (Sept.)

From the Publisher

Tal Keinan has written an extraordinarily powerful work on Jewish identity in the twenty-first century. Enthralling, searching, profound and compellingly written, it should be read by everyone concerned about the Jewish future.”—Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, former Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth and author of Not in God’s Name

“Beautifully written, brilliantly argued, this is a unique contribution to the conversation and a must read for anyone concerned with Jewish continuity.”—Yossi Klein Halevi, author of Letters to My Palestinian Neighbor

“God Is in the Crowd blends social science, economics, religion, and national identity to help us see more clearly who we are as individuals, people, and a society.”—Dan Ariely, author of The Upside of Irrationality

“American, Israeli, entrepreneur, fighter pilot, and investor: Keinan’s diagnosis of Israel and the Jewish Diaspora is provided through the lens of a rich and gripping life story. Keinan’s contribution is indispensable to the debate about the future of the Jewish people.”—Dan Senor, co-author of Start-up Nation

“Part memoir and part road map for the way forward, a book that is both intensely personal and imbued with a collective vision . . . an audacious and compelling read.”—Daphne Merkin, author of This Close to Happy

“We need Keinan’s astute readings of Israel’s current position and his unexpected glimpses of a possible future to make our way through these murky times.”—Judith Shulevitz, author of The Sabbath World

“Tal Keinan offers a uniquely modern vision of community as framework for identity, a timely challenge to the contemporary ethic of individualism. This is an important book, and not just for Jewish readers.”—Cokie Roberts

“A meaningful attempt to answer a significant question: How can Judaism survive? . . . [Tal Keinan] provides an impassioned yet well-reasoned and definitively well-written reflection on an imperiled people. A thoughtful and relevant assessment of the current state of Judaism.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

Kirkus Reviews

★ 2018-06-12
A meaningful attempt to answer a significant question: How can Judaism survive?In his first book, financier and former Israeli combat pilot Keinan reflects on a lifetime of varied experiences with his Jewish identity, providing a heartfelt, well-reasoned reflection on the Jewish people. Raised in a thoroughly secularized Jewish family, the author first engaged with Judaism as a source of identity as a student at Phillips Exeter Academy in the mid-1980s. Later, he moved to Israel and joined the elite Israeli Air Force. After experiencing both American and Israeli Jewish communities, Keinan was led to reflect on the existential issues facing the global Jewish population and to search for answers to the problems facing it. The author deftly describes unsustainable splits in the Jewish communities of Israel; as he terms them, these include Secularists, Theocrats, Territorialists, and the Fourth Israel (often poor and undereducated citizens with little connection to religious and political controversies). According to Keinan, these groups live as separate populations that fundamentally disagree on everything from what it means to be Jewish to the very purpose or legitimacy of the Jewish state. Meanwhile, in America, intermarriage and ambiguity regarding the identity of Judaism continue to lead to a decrease in the Jewish population, a decrease that the author believes will be catastrophic in scope within a few decades. Keinan goes on to search out answers for Jewish viability, drawing on crowd wisdom theory to determine what has kept Judaism alive through diaspora and exploring such intriguing options as a Jewish World Endowment or a strengthened Israeli presidency. As a secular Jew, the author mostly discounts the religious aspects of Jewish identity, and his scorn for ultra-Orthodox Judaism, one of the only growing segments of Judaism, is often evident. But Keinan never promises a perfectly balanced book. Instead, he provides an impassioned yet well-reasoned and definitively well-written reflection on an imperiled people.A thoughtful and relevant assessment of the current state of Judaism.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940171816261
Publisher:	Penguin Random House
Publication date:	09/25/2018
Edition description:	Unabridged

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Excerpted from "God Is in the Crowd"
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Copyright © 2018 Tal Keinan.
Excerpted by permission of Random House Publishing Group.
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