Fragile Branches: Travels Through the Jewish Diaspora - James R Ross

"The strength of Fragile Branches is Ross's narration. He tells the stories of these six communities with immediacy and color, with the journalist's eye for telling details." — The Jewish Week

A Ugandan village. An island in the Amazon. A Peruvian mountain town. Throughout the world, in the unlikeliest places, isolated communities are embracing Judaism despite enormous obstacles. In this tour of six Jewish communities, James Ross creates a fascinating portrait of people. who are currently risking their lives and livelihoods to exist as Jews, though in some cases they have no historical links to Judaism.

As Ross describes Jewish communities in India, Peru, Brazil, Israel, Uganda, and other far-flung countries, a variegated picture of contemporary Jewish life emerges, offering us new perspectives on ancient precepts, thoughts, and rituals-and inspiring us to reexamine our own relationship with tradition. In reminding us of the diversity and richness of Jewish life, which has always borrowed from surrounding cultures, Fragile Branches begs the ever-perplexing question of who is a Jew-a question that has troubled Jews and non-Jews alike for centuries.

James R. Ross is an associate professor and acting director at the School of Journalism at Northeastern University in Boston. He is the author of Escape to Shanghai: A Jewish Community in China and Caught in a Tornado: A Chinese American Woman Survives the Cultural Revolution.

Riverhead Books 2000, paperback