The Uncovered Head

Book excerpt: Surveying the evolution of the Jewish people and its culture and thought throughout the ages, this book describes the momentous results of Jewry's encounter with European Modernism. It traces how, over the last two-and-a-half centuries, pluralism and secularism first took hold in the Jewish world and then expanded until they are now the dominant feature and the driving force in contemporary Judaism. These issues are illuminated with a wide selection of works from the Jewish literature and thought.