Education and Identity An interview-based study of the importance of religious afternoon education for the preservation of a Jewish identity

The aim of this essay is to study the religious education which the Jewish Community of Göteborg offers to members between six and fourteen years of age. The main question of the essay is “what function does the religious afternoon education serve for the Jewish Community of Göteborg?” To answer this question I have interviewed four people who in various ways are engaged in the religious education. To analyse the result I have used Danièle Herviue-Léger’s theory “religion as a chain of memory”. The interviews show clearly that according to the respondents the religious education is an important factor in the preservation of the Jewish tradition and a Jewish identity in the face of modernity and against the threat of assimilation. The function of education as a means to enhance the construction of identity in accordance with a tradition is questioned in the analysis however, and parallels are drawn to the much debated task of Swedish schools to promote values “in accordance with the ethics borne by Christian tradition and Western humanism”. The conclusion that can be drawn from this is that education is an important factor to maintain a Jewish identity in a modern society, even if it is not the sole solution