Judaism Mediated - by Sharon Avni & Laura Yares

Book Synopsis

Explores how Jews and non-Jews come to learn about Jews and Judaism through leisure-time entertainment

Judaism Mediated explores how Jews and non-Jews learn about Judaism through participation in cultural, digital, and leisurely spaces. Most work on religious education has focused on institutional learning, like religious classrooms and houses of worship, or on the transmission of religious values at home. And most studies focus on youth and how they become socialized into their religious traditions. But, looking specifically at Judaism, Judaism Mediated argues that this focus overlooks how engagement with the arts, such as theatre or museums or music, influences how adults learn about religion.

Laura Yares and Sharon Avni examine audience engagements with five different Jewish cultural arts settings-museums, web-based performances, streaming television, concerts, and live theatre. They show that depictions of Jewish people and topics in these cultural spaces can create powerful learning experiences. However, learning about Judaism through the arts can also be mis-educative, reinforcing stereotypes or creating misunderstandings.

At its core, this book makes the case that adult audiences learn about Judaism and Jewishness in significant ways when they experience Jewish culture, and that we need to expand our understanding of where and how religious education happens. The volume shows not only that religious learning happens in diverse spaces, but that learning in leisure time can take on social, cognitive, and affective dimensions, too. Judaism Mediated offers compelling case studies of contemporary American religion relevant for readers interested in how people enact religion in everyday life

About the Author

Sharon Avni (Author)
Sharon Avni is Research Affiliate, Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Center for Studies in Jewish Education, Brandeis University, as well as Research Associate, Research Institute for the Study of Language in Urban Society, CUNY Graduate Center. Previously, she was Professor, Department of Academic Literacy and Linguistics, BMCC, CUNY. She is coauthor of Hebrew Infusion: Language and Community at North American Jewish Summer Camps.

Laura Yares (Author)
Laura Yares is Assistant Professor of Religious Studies, Michigan State University and author of Jewish Sunday Schools.