Jew vs. Jew

By Freedman, Samuel G.
Touchstone, 2001, Paperback, 400 pp, ISBN: 0684859459, $14.00

Every Jew, practicing or not, knows that there is a schism today between purist Orthodoxy on one side and secular integration on the other.

In the last 40 years, the uneasy peace among the Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, and Reconstructionist branches, and secular and unaffiliated Jews has been shaken repeatedly by disputes about religious practice and social behavior. National Book Award finalist Samuel G. Freedman examines these battles, explaining how arguments about intermarriage, synagogue admission, and the role of women in religious ritual indicate even deeper fissures in the faith.

Praised as "a masterly storyteller" by Time, Freedman renders his dramatic story with fairness and dignity.