Generation J

Judaism is being reborn as a genuinely hip religion.

Niles Elliot Goldstein (Marty Umans)

GONZO JUDAISM

A Bold Path for Renewing an Ancient Faith

By Niles Elliot Goldstein

St. Martin's. 171 pp. $22.95

HOLY UNEXPECTED

My New Life as a Jew

By Robin Chotzinoff

PublicAffairs. 218 pp. $23.95

The history of the Jews has included a number of strange chapters -- brothers defrauding brothers of their birthright, enslavement in Egypt, the whole Golden Calf thing. Still, for sheer unexpectedness, the current epoch in American Judaism might just earn a spot in the top 10. After several decades of ossification -- remembered by many American Jews as an era of boring sermons, worse Hebrew School and synagogues so large and lifeless that the community was said to suffer from an "Edifice Complex" -- Judaism seems to have been revived. But the religion hasn't simply shaken off the must and mold; it has, astonishingly, become a phenomenon of genuine hipness.

The evidence is legion: Matisyahu, a Hasidic reggae artist, is in regular rotation on MTV; waspy Charlotte on "Sex and the City" converted to Judaism; teenagers wear T-shirts that say "Yo Semite." The most thrilling part of this trend, though, is that many average people are excitedly exploring their identity as Jews -- some in synagogues, some on surfboards. This is not your father's Judaism.

As one might expect, the trend has attracted a different kind of leader and a different type of participant. In Gonzo Judaism , by Rabbi Niles Elliot Goldstein, readers are introduced to this new generation of rabbis, while in Robin Chotzinoff's Holy Unexpected , we meet one of the modern seekers. These two books continue a particular theme in Jewish history -- the leader leaves something to be desired, but the follower is a fascinating, complicated hoot. Indeed, if the insightful, often uproarious Chotzinoff is at all representative, our generation won't be the last clamoring for admittance into Jewish life.