Reviews for Jewish U: A Contemporary Guide for the Jewish College Student

The average rating for Jewish U: A Contemporary Guide for the Jewish College Student based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2015-01-19 00:00:00 David Kurvach Gillman's book is a well-laid out, step-by-step examination of the history and current status of the Conservative Movement. Each chapter has multiple sub-sections that enables the reader to clearly see where Gillman is going and Gillman's writing, though not dry by any means, is to-the-point and (often) as succinct as possible. Though Gillman is an unabashedly partisan Conservative Jew, this book is not meant to sway anyone but rather explain the historical background, internal tensions, major developments, and unique perspective of the Movement. This book has little theology/philosophy in it, other than the briefest amount that serves to explain the Conservative viewpoint and history. I felt at times that Gillman relied on just a few sources upon which he would base entire chapters upon but if so, that may be due to the lack of resources on this relatively new Movement in Judaism. (Or I may be mistaken!) I would recommend this book as a fast, easy to follow primer on Conservative Judaism.

Review # 2 was written on 2016-08-31 00:00:00 Thomas Wojtczuk It is one thing to grow up in a specific religious movement, but it is another thing to learn about its history. I'm not sure if I knew that Conservative Judaism actually came out of Reform Judaism, or that Reform Jews were major funders of the Jewish Theological Seminary.