About Meyer
Michael A. Meyer is Adolph S. Ochs Professor of Jewish History at Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion, Cincinnati. He has published books and essays on modern Judaism, Jewish identity, and Jewish historiography and teaches these topics at universities in America and Israel. Among his books are The Origins of the Modern Jew: Jewish Identity and European Culture in Germany 1749-1824 and Jewish Identity in the Modern World. A voice within the Reform movement, he has also written Response to Modernity: A History of the Reform Movement in Judaism.
Meyer's biography and work as an historian are described in his essay,
"The Thrust of My Work as an Historian of Jews and Judaism,"
published in the CCAR Journal (Spring 1997).
Meyer's Conception of Modern Judaism
Meyer's larger ideas on modern Judaism, Reform Judaism, and Jewish identity in the modern world are discussed in his scholarship, particularly the following texts:
"Preface," The Origins of the Modern Jew (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1967)
"Epilogue: In Quest of Continuity" in Response to Modernity: A History of the Reform Movement in Judaism (New York: Oxford University Press, 1988)
"Introduction: The Elusive Character of Jewish Identity" and
"Conclusion: The Present State of Jewish Identity" in Jewish Identity in the Modern World (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1990)
The excerpts quoted in the supplement to Michael Meyer's chapter in Visions of Jewish Education on the dangers of not drawing a clear boundary between Judaism and Christianity are taken from Meyer's 1993 article "On the Slope Toward Syncretism and Sectarianism" (CCAR Journal 40; pages 41-44).
Applications of Meyer's Ideas to Education
Meyer argues that for Reform Judaism to be a compelling expression of Judaism its educational program must be strengthened. Passages in the supplement are taken from Meyer's "Being Jewish and..." in National Variations in Jewish Identity: Implications for Jewish Education, ed. Steven M. Cohen and Gabriel Horencyzk (New York: State University of New York Press, 1999).
Meyer's suggestions on "Midrash and Memory, History and Critique" in his paper, "Reflections on the Educated Jew from the Perspective of Reform Judaism" (Visions of Jewish Education pages 159-160) are informed by his critique of Y. H. Yerushalmi's Zakhor. See "Comments on The Last Chapter of Y. H. Yerushalmi's Zakhor: Jewish History and Jewish Memory," published in The Association for Jewish Studies Newsletter (Fall 1986).
The full case mentioned in the Supplement on page 176 exemplifies Meyer's conception of the rabbi. See "A Pilgrim's Progress: Educational Reform and Institutional Transformation at Congregation Beth Am" by Richard Block in A Congregation of Learners: Transforming the Synagogue into a Learning Community, eds. Isa Aron, Sara Lee, and Seymour Rossel (New York: UAHC Press, 1995).
Discourse Around Meyer's Conception of the Educated Jew in the Reform Movement
In the Supplement we discuss the role of Meyer's scholarship in a deliberation of Reform educators, scholars and rabbis in November, 1996 in Los Angeles (Visions of Jewish Education pages 162-163). Meyer was the only scholar in the Visions of Jewish Education Project who actively sought out discourse within his movement of Judaism. The following are the full texts of the responses to Meyer's paper that were published in CCAR Journal (Spring 1999):
Sara Lee, "Introduction: Perspective on the Educated Reform Jew"
David Ellenson, "Autonomy and Norms in Reform Judaism"
George J. Markley, "Educating Reform Jews: Toward Integration or Differentiation?"
Lesley Chapman, "Educating Toward Commitment"
Elyse Goldstein, "The Study of Text as Religious Exercise"
Harvey Shapiro, "Reform Jewish Education: Confronting the Interaction of Value Systems"