This edited collection seeks to present a valuable guide to the Jewish contribution to the European integration process, and to enable readers to obtain a better understanding of the unknown Jewish involvement in the European integration project. Adopting both a national and a pan-European approaches, this volume brings together the work of leading international researchers and senior practitioners to cover a wide range of topics with an interdisciplinary approach under three different parts: present challenges, Jews and pan-European identity, and unsung heroes.

This first-of-its-kind edited collection examines the role that Jewish history, values, and individuals played in inspiring and promoting the European integration process.

In the context of unifying Europe, Jews of the “Old Continent” are re-thinking their role as ethno-cultural minority. European Jewry is developing a remarkable new assertiveness, but faces inner divisions and new anti-Semitism. This volume gives insight into controversial experiences and perspectives.

Departing from the recent critical literature on the emergence of a new German Jewry, this volume proposes a new perspective on the post-1980s phenomenon of re-emerging Jewish culture in Germany as a case study for wider developments in Europe and the international context.

Contemporary Jewish identity, integration and acculturation in Europe has become an urgent topic in view of the current wave of antisemitism and reliable research on the present state of Jewish identity is scarce. Lilach Lev Ari has chosen three ethnically diverse communities - Paris, Brussels, and Antwerp - that can shed a light on the identity and acculturation of the Jewish minority in Europe. To understand patterns of social integration of native-born and immigrant Jews in the three host societies she applies the correlational quantitative method and has conducted semi-structured interviews. The study can promote further understanding of Jewish continuity within the non-Jewish host societies in a situation, when there is a concern about the resilience and strength of the Jewish communities vis-à-vis new waves of antisemitism.

David B. Ruderman's groundbreaking studies of Jewish intellectuals as they engaged with Renaissance humanism, the Scientific Revolution, and the Enlightenment have set the agenda for a distinctive historiographical approach to Jewish culture in early modern Europe, from 1500 to 1800. From his initial studies of Italy to his later work on eighteenth-century English, German, and Polish Jews, Ruderman has emphasized the individual as a representative or exemplary figure through whose life and career the problems of a period and cultural context are revealed. Thirty-one leading scholars celebrate Ruderman's stellar career in essays that bring new insight into Jewish culture as it is intertwined in Jewish, European, Ottoman, and American history. The volume presents probing historical snapshots that advance, refine, and challenge how we understand the early modern period and spark further inquiry. Key elements explored include those inspired by Ruderman's own work: the role of print, the significance of networks and mobility among Jewish intellectuals, the value of extraordinary individuals who absorbed and translated so-called external traditions into a Jewish idiom, and the interaction between cultures through texts and personal encounters of Jewish and Christian intellectuals. While these elements can be found in earlier periods of Jewish history, Ruderman and his colleagues point to an intensification of mobility, the dissemination of knowledge, and the blurring of boundaries in the early modern period. These studies present a rich and nuanced portrait of a Jewish culture that is both a contributing member and a product of early modern Europe and the Ottoman Empire. As director of the Herbert D. Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, Ruderman has fostered a community of scholars from Europe, North America, and Israel who work in the widest range of areas that touch on Jewish culture. He has worked to make Jewish studies an essential element of mainstream humanities. The essays in this volume are a testament to the haven he has fostered for scholars, which has and continues to generate important works of scholarship across the entire spectrum of Jewish history.