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This paper was written in 2013 as the faculty of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College (RRC) was considering a policy barring prospective rabbinical students from being partnered with non-Jews. Composed by Rabbi Deborah Waxman, Ph.D., prior to her assuming the presidency of Reconstructing Judaism, it recommends that RRC set aside this policy and replace it with a clearly articulated preference that rabbinical students create for themselves homes with rich Jewish practice, and a requirement that children in the home be raised exclusively in the Jewish tradition. The recommendation emerges from a review of classical Reconstructionist positions as articulated by Mordecai M. Kaplan, the 1968 and 1979 Reconstructionist stands on patrilineal descent, the nature of religious authority, the impact of second-wave feminism on American Jewish life, and consideration of universalism versus particularism. The ultimate conclusion is that RRC's mission is to attract Jews to Jewish living and not to police boundaries and that adopting a more inclusive partner status policy is an affirmation of key Reconstructionist principles, including fostering diverse expressions of Jewish identity and inclusive Jewish communities, and an authentic step in an evolving understanding of the Jewish civilization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The release in March/April 2023 of England and Wales 2021 Census complete data on "usual residents" by the Office for National Statistics provides an opportunity to analyze, understand and comment on the current geographic disposition of Anglo–Jewry. The analysis presented in this paper incorporates data from the 2001 and 2011 censuses, and makes use of a geodemographic assessment of Jewish communities developed from the 2011 census, setting the scene for changes which have taken place, particularly in the last 10 years. Estimates of the scale of births, deaths and net migration in the 2011–2021 period have been developed to explain why the changes in population have taken place. The potential impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on the census results is also considered. A total of 26 sub-communities in the London and Manchester areas, together with 34 free-standing communities, each with more than 200 Jewish residents, have been analyzed in detail. Unexpected changes in Stamford Hill, Gateshead and Bristol are investigated. A total of 42 smaller communities (60–200 members) are also identified. The paper shows that an understanding of the socio-economic characteristic of each of the communities explains their changes in population since 2011, particularly when factors such as "meta-suburbanisation" in the London fringe area, the impact of student numbers in university towns, and special factors affecting Haredi areas are also taken into account. The picture presented is one of a stable (indeed slightly growing) overall population, but with a large variation in fortunes of the many communities which make up Anglo–Jewry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the wake of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, religious organizations increasingly mediatized their activities. Studies examining this process mostly focused on communal offerings, while ignoring how rapid mediatization affected programs geared toward interfaith dialogue. This paper examines the effects and possibilities of this shift to virtual spaces by focusing on frameworks that promote Jewish–Muslim dialogue in Germany. It traces how Jews and Muslims intervene in popular discourse using social media platforms to self-define their respective religions and the relationship between them. In this process, those involved in creating virtual spaces focused on the intersectionality between gender biases and Christonormativity. This paper utilizes a broad methodological approach, including participant observation in dialogue events in virtual spaces, discursive analyses of videos and podcasts, and qualitative interviews with Jews and Muslims involved in the creation of virtual spaces. The first section discusses Jewish–Muslim encounters occurring in organized dialogue events on video communication platforms that are ephemeral in nature (no recordings). The subsequent sections analyze German-language formats that have a representative character and are streamed, recorded, and presented on social media platforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Pew Research Center's study "Jewish Americans in 2020" (Pew 2020) found that about 10% (750,000) of American Jews were born in the former Soviet Union (FSU) or are the children of Jews born in the FSU. The goal of the Soviet Jewry movement was to settle all Soviet Jews in Israel where they would be free to be Jews/live Jewishly. Many observers thought that the chances were significant that FSU Jews who came to the US would quickly assimilate and lose the tenuous Jewish identity with which many arrived. The purpose of this paper, using data from the Century 21 dataset and Pew 2020, is to examine the extent to which FSU Jews differ from non-FSU Jews. Are FSU Jews more or less religiously and culturally connected to their Jewish identity than non-FSU Jews? Has this immigrant group, about 30 years after many arrived, lost their Jewish identity? To provide context, this paper reviews studies from Israel and Germany as well as the 2000–2001 National Jewish Population Survey and the 2011 Jewish Community Study of New York. The Soviet Jewry movement was correct in assuming that FSU Jews would be more connected in an ethnic sense than in a religious sense. Both Century 21 and Pew 2020 basically show this to be true. But for so many measures, even when FSU Jews have lower levels of Jewish connectivity, those levels are not all that much lower. Perhaps most telling is that synagogue membership is now just over one-third for both FSU and non-FSU Jews. In Pew 2020, 82% of FSU Jews do at least one of eight religious behaviors, as do 81% of non-FSU Jews. Thirty-nine percent of FSU Jews do four or more of these behaviors as compared with 41% of non-FSU Jews. FSU Jews show greater Jewish connectivity for eight of nine Jewish cultural behaviors. Thus, the fears of the Soviet Jewry movement appear to be mostly unfounded. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The subjects of Jewish identity and Jewish communal vitality, and how they may be conceptualized and measured, are the topics of lively debate among scholars of contemporary Jewry (DellaPergola 2015, 2020; Kosmin 2022; Pew Research Center 2021; Phillips 2022). Complicating matters, there appears to be a disconnect between the broadly accepted claim that comparative analysis yields richer understanding of Jewish communities (Cooperman 2016; Weinfeld 2020) and the reality that the preponderance of that research focuses on discrete communities. This paper examines the five largest English-speaking Jewish communities in the diaspora: the United States of America (US) (population 6,000,000–7,600,000), Canada (population 393,500), the United Kingdom (UK) (population 292,000), Australia (population 118,000), and South Africa (population 52,000) (DellaPergola 2022). A comparison of the five communities' levels of Jewish engagement, and the identification of factors shaping these differences, are the main objectives of this paper. The paper first outlines conceptual and methodological issues involved in the study of contemporary Jewry; hierarchical linear modeling is proposed as the suitable statistical approach for this analysis, and ethnocultural and religious capital are promoted as suitable measures for studying Jewish engagement. Secondly, a contextualizing historical and sociodemographic overview of the five communities is presented, highlighting attributes which the communities have in common, and those which differentiate them. Statistical methods are then utilized to develop measures of Jewish capital, and to identify explanatory factors shaping the differences between these five communities in these measures of Jewish capital. To further the research agenda of communal and transnational research, this paper concludes by identifying questions that are unique to the individual communities studied, with a brief exploration of subjects that Jewish communities often neglect to examine and are encouraged to consider. This paper demonstrates the merits of comparative analysis and highlights practical and conceptual implications for future Jewish communal research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Pew Research Center's survey, Jewish Americans in 2020, was designed to provide estimates of the size of the US Jewish population, sociodemographic data on issues such as intermarriage, child-rearing, engagement in Jewish communal life, and a description of American Jewish attitudes. A sophisticated sample design was employed to ensure accurate and generalizable assessments of the population. Because Jews are a small sub-group and the US government does not collect census data on religious groups, creating estimates is a non-trivial task. The focus of this paper is on the validity of Pew's estimate of 7.5 million US Jewish adults and children, 2.4% of the overall US population. The estimate is an important standalone indicator and is the basis for assessments of current Jewish attitudes and behavior. This paper considers the underlying construct of Jewish identity and its operationalization by Pew and evaluates the convergent validity of Pew's findings. The efforts to define "who is a Jew" in sociodemographic surveys is described, and a set of methodological challenges to creating estimates are considered. The results of this review indicate that Pew's criteria for inclusion in the population estimate comports with long-standing views of how to assess the Jewish population. Furthermore, Pew's estimate of 7.5 million Jewish Americans is consistent with other recent demographic studies of the population. Their conclusions about a growing US Jewish population suggest a new narrative of American Jewish life that reflects the diversity of ways in which Jewish identity is expressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses an aspect of cultural transfer and transformation by immigrants, focusing on the case of Israeli baseball, brought to Israel by Jewish migrants from the USA. As such, it examines cultural transfer as part of the transnational activities of transnational migrants. The analysis is based on interviews with 20 Jewish migrants from the USA to Israel who are engaged In Israeli baseball – as players, coaches, administrators, etc. – as well as five Israeli-born players who are also engaged in the sport. This study contributes to our understanding of transnational migration by drawing attention to the ways in which the experiences of transnational migrants are shaped by recreational activity and how transnational migrants' activities affect their host county. This occurs via transnational cultural diffusion, mediated in this case by a "critical community" of American Jews. Israeli baseball provides Jewish migrants from the USA with a means to identify with Israel as well as a sense of transnational belonging and, counter-intuitively, eases their acculturation to Israeli society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article comments on Samuel J. Klausner's study on survival of the Jews. The Christian or Islamic hegemony that motivated conversion in the Middle Ages and sustained the ontological plausibility of Judaism may no longer be efficient. Nevertheless, present-day American Judaism, a highly voluntaristic religion, has proved to be a life-enhancing identity for many and may continue to do so. Factors favoring Jewish survival are identified. Klausner's subject is one which strikes a sensitive chord in the heart of all concerned for Jewish survival. Klausner brings together valuable evidence on a populace's transfer from one religious identity to another, especially in the early medieval period when large numbers of Christians were Islamicized and barbarian European nations were being Christianized. The adoption of protestant styles of explaining Judaism and Jewish identity in the Christian American culture to which Klausner alludes is impressive. Klausner's conclusions concerning the degree of disassociation formal conversion to Christianity within American Jewry was impressive. Klausner's hypothesis of Jewish survival has been affected by the ability of the Jewish spiritual and intellectual elite.

The "Jewish Enterprise" (Mordecai Kaplan's term) consists of all attitudes and actions, not just religious, which are held or performed by people who call themselves Jewish. This paper focuses on Pew 2020 variables that measure non-religious attitudes and behaviors of self-identified Jewish Americans. The Pew 2020 survey includes more non-religious indicators than did Pew 2013. We investigate how well these newer questions measure the "Jewish Enterprise," and also identify important topics that are not measured by either Pew study. We characterize the distribution of non-religious attitudes and behaviors from the perspective of three different classifications of the Jewish American population (Jewish type, denomination, and Jewish engagement). The results of our analysis show important characteristics of the Jewish American population that are not made visible in the Pew 2020 report. This paper concludes with recommendations for changes in future national and regional studies that will enable the capture and display of additional important non-religious information over the entire self-identifying Jewish American population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the analysis of the discourse in major Israeli ultra-Orthodox newspapers during the first year of COVID-19. Following Durkheim, we argue that the pandemic not only brought about a health emergency, but also a state of anomie. Analyzing both Hamodia and Yated Neeman—both major news outlets of the ultra-Orthodox community in Israel—we show how in a time of anomie when the sanctity of life (pikuach nefesh) conflicted with the sanctity of the community, the latter prevailed. Thus, this study unveils a different set of moral priorities than the one commonly referred to in Israeli bioethical discussions in the pre-COVID-19 era. We also found that the Durkheimian "totem" or "God" metaphors—a symbol of society itself—are highly relevant in analyzing how leaders of the Haredi community in Israel tried to keep their congregation together. This was expressed in the two heavily censored newspapers we analyzed: they placed communal living above the sanctity of individual life in a way that exposed how the cohesion of the group and the community itself were sanctified. At the same time, what was identified as the real virus was in fact secularism and not COVID-19. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Across the Jewish world religious polarization is gaining momentum. At the secular end of the spectrum people are switching away from religion while at the religious pole fertility levels are high. This trend is evident among South African Jewry; data from the 2019 Jewish Community Survey of South Africa (N = 4193) show that the community is becoming polarized, and the traditional center ground is collapsing. However, unlike many other Jewish communities today, switching toward more religious subgroups than the one in which one was raised is more common in South Africa than switching away from them. This tendency is most pronounced among people born in the 1960s and 1970s. A similar trend characterizes South African non-Jews. We argue that coming of age in a period of profound political and social instability explains the increased likelihood of switching toward religion. The effect is more marked among Jews due to distinct communal characteristics and history that provided the optimal conditions for switching towards a more religious lifestyle. This paper highlights the necessity of examining internal processes that are unique to the Jewish community alongside broader developments to improve our understanding of religious polarization among Jews. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In June 2020, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) in England and Wales published the results of an investigation into mortality from COVID-19 by religious group. The analysis revealed a significant "Jewish penalty": coronavirus mortality of Jews was shown to be relatively high compared to the British Christian majority. This paper considers these findings in the light of the literature on Jewish mortality and undertakes a re-analysis of the results alongside the additional data on Jewish deaths provided by the British Jewish communal statistics. It asks two questions: (1) To what extent is elevated British Jewish mortality from COVID-19 a result of the presence of long-standing vulnerability and ill health among Jews? (2) What role do strictly Orthodox Jews play in elevating coronavirus mortality levels among British Jews? The primary contribution of the paper is to explore, via analyses of alternative data sources, the ONS finding of elevated Jewish mortality from coronavirus, to explain why it is surprising, to test whether it is real and to eliminate certain explanations. Such process of elimination in itself will highlight other alternative explanations, but the paper falls short of decisively explaining the phenomenon of the elevated British Jewish mortality from coronavirus. It ends with an outline of future directions of research in this area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper contributes to current debates over the "Jewish continuity crisis" and its paradigmatic status, by broadening the scope to include the Israeli context, shifting the focus from reproduction and intermarriage to struggles over Jewish divorce, and challenging gendered assumptions about the nature of the crisis and its solutions. Based on a qualitative study of agunah activists' narratives and Israel's rabbinic courts' rulings, it demonstrates how both religious-feminist activists and conservative judges frame their actions as caring for the collective. They aim to rescue not only Jewish families, but "the Jewish family" writ large, entangling national, gendered, and religious politics in supposedly private divorce disputes. This paper argues that Israeli marriage and divorce is a central, intractable battlefield shaped by overlapping "wars." Understanding it as (also) a site of contention over Jewish continuity clarifies the field's affective dynamics of anxiety, urgency, and risk, and challenges dominant scholarly constructions of a single binary conflict. Juxtaposing the North American and Israeli continuity debates allows for critical reflection on how each political, social, and academic context shapes the issues similarly and differently. Specifically, this study broadens the possible political and theoretical implications of the "Jewish continuity" frame, arguing that agunah activists' family-centered logic and commitment to Jewish continuity bridge autonomy and collectivism to advance feminist politics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The pre-army preparatory programs established in Israel constitute a unique and popular model of education. Using the qualitative method and semi-structured interviews, I found four key themes that can explain this model: identity, autonomy, affiliation, and an informal approach. A variety of psychological theories are raised throughout the paper that address each one. It seems that a combination of these themes may be a key factor contributing to the popularity of these programs, and to other popular Jewish education programs beyond the borders of Israel that are similar. This innovative educational model is capable of influencing not only Jewish education but general education as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although there have been many studies describing the practice of Israel education, few, if any, have explored the pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) of this subject matter—what teachers know about how best to teach it. In this phenomenological study, 20 teachers in English-speaking Jewish high school settings in the USA, Israel, Australia, and Canada were interviewed to describe the components of their PCK. This research demonstrates that disappointment in the idealization of Israel by previous generations has impacted how today's Israel educators in Jewish high schools understand the purposes of their discipline, the curricular choices they make, the instructional strategies they employ, and the context in which they teach. Addressing this unique phenomenon, which has come to be known by the slogan "you never told me," has become a guiding instructional principle in the field as teachers about Israel prepare their students to maintain their Jewish commitments while transitioning from an immersive Jewish learning environment to becoming nuanced participants in conversations concerning Israel on college and university campuses. In addition to contributing to limited discourse on the teacher knowledge of Israel educators to improve the practice of the field, the findings of this paper emphasize the need for a pedagogy for complex Israel education deepening nuance and commitment to Israel. On the basis of the findings, we propose a model with eight design principles for how to do Israel education effectively in Jewish education frameworks, both formal and informal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Pew Research Center's 2020 survey of American Jews is a valuable resource to scholars of American Jewry, enabling interrogation of questions using data that no other source can reliably provide. One set of questions pertains to the reach and impact of Birthright Israel, the largest extant Jewish educational program targeted at Jewish young adults, on American Jews. Pew's nationally representative sample provides important validation of previous findings regarding Birthright's impact on participants and extends the generalizability of what has been learned. In this paper we use data from the 2020 Pew survey to assess the program's "reach" into different segments of the American Jewish population and to extend the validity of existing findings regarding the program's impact on participants' attitudes and behaviors related to Israel and Jewish life. Pew's data estimate that around 20% of American Jews ages 18–46 have participated in Birthright, and that among Jewish parents with a grown child, nearly 30% have an adult child who participated in the program. After controlling for preexisting differences between participants and those who have never been to Israel, Pew's data also confirm that Birthright has a significant impact on a broad set of Jewish outcomes. These results support a more optimistic view of the future for US Jewry and suggest that the investment in large-scale educational interventions can substantially alter the trajectory of the American Jewish community writ large. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper offers a comprehensive historical and conceptual overview of Jewish-Hindu relations. It offers an encyclopedic overview of historical roots, theological differences, legal challenges and present-day relations. Special attention is given to the possibilities of how Jews can handle the claim that Hinduism is idolatrous and to its present-day consequences. Hindu-Jewish summits form the last chapter in the history of relations, and their declarations are analyzed as part of the overview. The paper concludes with a projection of areas for future development of the relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper offers a comparative analysis of Hinduism and Judaism, largely based on references and quotes from the book The Jewish Encounter with Hinduism—Wisdom, Spirituality, Identity by Dr. Alon Goshen-Gottstein. It visits topics such as ethnicity, conversion, pluralism and universalism, tolerance and intolerance. The paper also questions the reasons of Jewish seekers of Hindu spirituality, doubting Dr. Goshen-Gottstein's argument that this is due to a crisis in Judaism, but rather due to prevalence of left-brain thinking over right-brain thinking in Judaism. The paper concludes with a parable that relates to one finding a treasure hidden where one least expects to find it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Periodic measurement of the size and behaviors of the Jewish population is of vital importance to Jewish communal planners, both nationally and in communities throughout the United States. Methodological design decisions, such as the choice of a sampling frame, mode of data collection, nonresponse follow-up protocols, and definition of eligibility can have significant impacts on population estimates. This paper demonstrates how two studies, one national and one for the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia used the current state-of-the-art address-based sampling methodology and other methodological improvements to significantly increase coverage and reduce bias in the survey results compared to other methodologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Jews and geography have been inextricably related for millennia. This paper examines the importance of geographic analysis in fostering an understanding of contemporary Jewry by employing geographic concepts and methods that illuminate our understanding of American Jewry. Topics covered include Jewish identity studies completed for academic journals and local Jewish community studies completed for planning in the Jewish community. It highlights some methodological contributions, including the development of a community level data set, the Decade 2000 data set, and the Century 21 data set. Also, it presents the use of distinctive Jewish names (DJNs) for examining the historical geography of a Jewish community and for selecting the best location for a facility. Several maps are shown that illustrate the importance of cartographic analysis in understanding American Jews. It shows how a geographer's "touch" has enhanced the utility of the US Jewish population chapter in the American Jewish Year Book. Finally, it connects an interest in completing academically-sound research that can improve American Jewish communities, with a plea for doing so while remaining a neutral provider of facts rather than an advocate for any particular programs in the Jewish community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Brazilian income distribution is one of the most unequal in the world, yet the first 15 years of the twenty-first century showed some improvement in reducing inequality. However, data from Brazilian censuses show that the income distribution of the Jewish population in Brazil worsened from 2000 to 2010. The goal of this paper is to investigate whether this observed phenomenon should be attributed to the emergence of new Jewish identities among poorer segments of Brazilian society or a structural change in the more traditional Jewish community. We calculated Gini coefficients, Lorenz curves, and Kuznets ratios of the Jewish population (i) in Brazil, (ii) in the capital cities of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, considered as a unit, and (iii) among the general Brazilian population from microdata in the 1980 and 2010 censuses. The results show that the worsening of income distribution among the Jewish population in Brazil is more intense in areas outside of urban centers in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. This finding suggests that the observed phenomenon should be attributed to emerging new identities rather than structural change in the more traditional community. A conclusion section addresses issues for further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

First, this paper contends that, in 2013, the best estimate of the percentage of Jews who are Jews of Color (JoC) was about 6%, and in 2020, it was about 8%. We rely on two sources to support this conclusion: national Jewish population studies and local Jewish community studies. This paper also presents evidence that members of some groups (Hispanic Jews in particular) may not consider themselves to be “of color,” and Black, Hispanic, Asian, and “other” Jews differ from one another in significant ways. Treating these different groups under one umbrella may not lead to the best policy decisions. Second, we published a short piece on Jews of Color in the 2019 American Jewish Year Book to bring attention to the increasing diversity of American Jews. This was followed by a column in eJewishPhilanthropy. A controversy ensued upon publication of this column. In this paper, we respond to some of these charges and talk about the lessons we learned from this experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many general population surveys have been conducted relating to the coronavirus/COVID-19. Some have reported on small samples of Jewish respondents, but issues specific to Judaism have not been well explored. This paper provides findings from the first broad coronavirus-related survey of the U.S. Orthodox Jewish community, conducted in May 2020 among 502 Jewish respondents who resided in the United States, self-identified as Orthodox Jews, and indicated whether they were Modern Orthodox or Haredi ("Ultra-Orthodox"). The survey broadly probed the impact of the pandemic through the lens of Jewish individual and communal attitudes, behaviors and practices, exploring such issues as people's health, finances, Jewish prayer and religious study, synagogues and their programs, what services their communities and its Jewish organizations are offering, the extent to which they avail themselves of these services and how they are perceived, changes in the perceived value of Jewish communal connection, and many other aspects, including how people assess the pandemic's impact on their overall "feelings of Jewishness." While many communal changes arising from the pandemic will prove to be transitory, others may become more permanent or, at the very least, create introspection with respect to normative religious observance. This paper references findings relating to the former, while focusing on the latter. Thus, we focus on and report survey findings relating to how the Orthodox community has melded its adherence to Halacha (Jewish law) and tradition with the need for change and flexibility required to deal safely with the pandemic. We will also share some of the communal views that have arisen on how such changes might play out in the years ahead. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Both the Cohen-Kelman paper and the Sasson-Kadushin-Saxe paper acknowledge the importance of Jews of no religion, but both ignore a data source that could help resolve the disagreement between them, namely, the American Jewish Identity Survey (AJIS) 2001. This survey contains information about the attachment to Israel of both Jews by religion and Jews of no religion. AJIS 2001 shows that Jews of no religion are significantly less attached to Israel than Jews by religion. The share of American Jews who profess no religion has continued to grow. Strengthening the bonds between secular Jews and Israel is key to arresting the overall trend of distancing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an ethnographic study of autobiographical narratives about Jewish life during the Spanish Protectorate in Morocco (1912–1956). Based on eighteen interviews conducted between 2013 and 2016, this work examines the peculiar process Sephardic Jews underwent as a consequence of the Spanish colonial presence in the north of Morocco. Spanish-Moroccan Jews developed their identity affiliations and allegiances under the influence of different institutions: the Spanish colonial agencies, the Alliance Israélite Universelle, the Jewish Agency, the Jewish community and the Moroccan authorities. These institutions presented different and often contradictory roles for Moroccan Jews. This work shows the tensions and conflicts experienced by the participants when navigating these different cultural and political spheres. The paper examines the participants' narratives about the ambiguous "re-Hispanicization" of Sephardic Jews during the colonial period. It studies the participants' memories about their identification with Spain and the adoption of Spanish habits and customs during the Protectorate period, which transformed Jewish life and redefined the limits between the different ethno-religious groups. This paper shows the impact of the social, historical and political conditions of the Protectorate on the participants' memories about colonial Morocco. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores Hungarian Orthodox reactions to the Numerus Clausus law (1920) and to the Third Jewish Law (1941). Both laws complied with Orthodox religious views. The first law limited the number of Jewish students in higher secular education institutions, and the second forbade intermarriage. These cases reflect dilemmas of Hungarian Orthodoxy trying to live in two worlds, modern and traditional, and regarding itself as part of the Magyar nation. Orthodoxy held on to the old traditions, which gradually lost their grip on the Jewish community; the new legislations, however, could push their distanced brothers back to the traditional sphere. It was therefore tempting to agree with the laws or, at least, not to raise any objection. Orthodoxy was hardly affected by the Numerus Clausus law, as very few Orthodox students attended universities. The Orthodox press, however, led a lengthy campaign against it, whereas the Orthodox leadership chose to remain silent. The rival Orthodox and Neolog (Reform) streams engaged in bitter disputes but reacted to the marriage ban in similar ways—both expressed mixed feelings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent scholarly articles and popular op-eds assert that male scholars employing demography dominate Jewish family studies, and that scholarly analysis of marriage and fertility reflects controlling male scrutiny. This paper presents a very different factual intellectual history of female scholars' pioneering and ongoing contributions to Jewish family studies since the 1980s, including the study of fertility and marriage patterns along with a broad range of household types. It demonstrates female scholars' explicitly feminist approach to family research and shows that contrasting scholarly views of the sequelae of intermarriage have not been particularly divided by gender. We argue that the intellectual fissure is not about feminism per se, but rather about epistemology: current criticisms of quantitative research on the Jewish family draw heavily on feminist standpoint theory, while many scholars of the Jewish family operate with the alternative tradition of feminist empiricism. The paper concludes by addressing the so-called "paradigm wars," arguing that comprehensive and useful discussions about the interests of Jewish women require both quantitative and qualitative methods of inquiry. Finally, it recommends that social scientists studying Jewish populations utilize the term "households," which functions more inclusively than the term "families." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following the end of World War II, when the world learned about the Holocaust, manifestations of antisemitism grew in Colombia as echoes of what was happening in other countries, both in the region and globally. This paper examines three such manifestations that occurred between 1945 and 1948: Echo 1 concerns an urban campaign against Jews during 1945 by conspirators who handed out flyers or pamphlets with antisemitic messages. Echo 2 concerns the only violence against Jewish traders in Colombian history. It happened in 1946 and culminated in 44 warehouses being destroyed and several Jews being beaten. And Echo 3 concerns the renowned case of the SS Exodus (1947), whose 4500 Jewish travelers presented Colombian visas to leave Europe. The recognition of these activities constitutes a contribution to the field of history, to Jewish communities, and to the study of antisemitism, with the aim of remembering those minorities excluded and challenged in such contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Families play a critical role in shaping children's orientation to Judaism, and decisions about Jewish education are made within the family unit. However, in most studies of Jewish education, individual students or parents serve as the unit of analysis, with families being omitted or relegated to the background. In this paper, I foreground the family through an ethnographic study to illustrate the complex negotiations that occur between family members about involvement in Hebrew school post b'nai mitzvah. By illustrating the dynamic interplay between family members, I show the internal and external struggles that family members experience as they negotiate their Jewish commitments, and the potential unintended consequences that might arise from such negotiations. I describe how negotiations about Jewish education can have potentially deleterious effects on family members' relationships, and how parenting philosophy and parenting style may shape negotiations about Hebrew school. My central goal in this paper is to advance a methodological argument about the value of taking a family systems perspective and using an ethnographic approach to understand families' decisions about Hebrew school and Jewish commitments more broadly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we use five complementary conceptual perspectives to describe, contextualize and explain the work and accomplishments of Rabbi Marshall Meyer (1930–1993), a dynamic American expatriate and educator, public intellectual and human rights activist in Argentina, from the 1960s to the 1980s. They are as follows: internationalism and transnationalism as a trademark of Judaism; the religious mutation of Latin America; exiles and expatriates as innovators of knowledge and agents of transculturation; the supply side of religion and the religious entrepreneur; and personal characteristics and attributes of leadership. Specifically, we analyze some mechanisms that help to explain his impact in Jewish life first in Latin America, and then in the USA, like mediation, transculturalization; the place of hybridization in the development of a Jewish liberation theology; the creation of new human resources through the establishment of the Seminario Rabínico Latinoamericano as a new center for the circulation of new ideas and leaders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper seeks to examine the way in which the Canadian Jewish polity has defended communal interests linked to policy disputes involving the intersection of domestic and transnational Jewish concerns. The case of Canadian Jewry is of note given a relatively high degree of integration and a high degree of retention of Jewish culture and identity. The defense of communal interests has used both traditional and deferential forms of actions, as in the apparently discredited shtadlanut response, along with newer more militant forms of mobilization and action. The episodes reviewed here suggest that, contrary to current thinking, both forms of response may play a legitimate role in defending those interests. Comparative research involving Jewish communities in the United States and Latin America can determine whether similar distinctions are relevant there. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a macro-social perspective on Jewish populations and societies in the Americas, arguing for a broad transnational view of several different fundamental demographic and ideational processes and trends. The goal is to detect broad commonalities versus regional differences in the Jewish experience on the American continent beyond local national frameworks. Commonalities and differences between Jews in the different parts of the Americas emerge through observing Jewish population distribution and its relation to local human development levels, inter- and intracontinental migration, levels and modes of Jewish education, and patterns of Jewish identification, socialization, and assimilation. I address Jewish interactions with the majority of society by examining frequencies of antisemitism across different countries. Interactions within the Jewish collective itself are assessed by looking at mutual influences through the worldwide institutional network. Conclusions are suggested at the pancontinental level. A variety of quantitative analytical tools are used. Sources are large-scale sociodemographic surveys, compilations of annual data series, and observations of the global networks of Jewish community organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the structures and trends of the establishment, growth, and transformation of the Jewish presence in the Americas. After outlining several fundamental characteristics of the general continental societal environment and its internal differentiation, we critically discuss several theoretical approaches to a comparative assessment of the Jewish experience. Conceptual formulations include globalization, diaspora studies, and transnationalism, aiming to highlight their achievements and drawbacks. Selected sociohistorical aspects relevant to the development of Jewish immigration, settlement, and community formation are analyzed. This is followed by the exploration of more recent patterns, outlining emerging configurations and challenges. The article focuses on the differences and commonalities between the North (United States and Canada) and the diverse Latin American experiences. The conceptual referents imply rethinking the relationship between societies, communities, individuals, territories, and sociopolitical spaces along the changing contours of dispersion. Lessons from the past may help outline future paths. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the current rise in acceptability and legitimacy of and participation in Chabad-Lubavitch by non-Orthodox Argentine Jews, both in Argentina and abroad. The study draws on ethnographic and qualitative interview data among three groups of Argentine Jews: those who live in the USA, those who have lived abroad but repatriated to Argentina, and frequent travelers between Argentina and other countries. The study places the migrants (permanent, transitory, or return) at the heart of the analysis and examines ways in which information about Chabad is shared among transnational networks. The result is greater attendance at Chabad enters and a rise in acceptability of the Chabad-Lubavitch, leading to an enlarged network of participants within the Chabad-Lubavitch movement, both at the center and at the margin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Jewish community research and demography has seen its share of challenges in the past decade. These challenges, such as substantially decreased rates of participation and the decline of landline ownership, may have particular impact on Jewish community research but are in fact broader overarching trends. This paper documents these trends and notes research showing that while cost in probability surveys have gone up as a consequence, data quality has remained consistently strong. Research comparing telephone research to online Internet surveys shows substantially better data quality in telephone research, even with very low response rates, and these differences can be particularly true in Jewish research. I provide a typical typology of errors found in survey research and afford the reader ways in which such errors can occur in Jewish community research, and how to avoid such errors. The paper then briefly reviews common approaches to Jewish community research and discusses each in the context of the typology of potential survey errors. As is noted elsewhere in the papers of this journal, despite increased costs, RDD telephone remains a uniquely powerful and useful data gathering tool for Jewish community research, to the extent that to date, no other approach executed has yet to result in survey estimates which have not been out-of-trend with past surveys in the same community as well as trends found in similar communities nationwide. The challenge of survey research then continues to be in finding designs that incorporate RDD interviewing with other methods that may be less desirable in terms of data quality but are significantly less costly to administer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article features introduction titled "The Economics of Judaism and Jewish Observance," by Carmel U. Chiswick and Tikva Lecker.

Why do American Jews, who are highly successful in several regards, perceive so much antisemitism and discrimination? Previous research has focused on individual characteristics, Jewish identity, and environmental factors. This paper adds another factor, perceptions of discrimination against non-Jews, arguing that when Jews perceive high levels of discrimination against non-Jews, they fear that discrimination against non-Jews will spread to Jews. The paper used data from the 2013 Pew Survey of American Jews to test this hypothesis, and the analysis finds support for it. The conclusion puts the findings into context and offers suggestions for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using the Canadian Censuses of 1971, 1981, 2001, and the Canadian National Household Survey of 2011, this paper compares the homeownership rates of Jews with non-Jews in Canadian urban areas as a whole, and in the cities of Montreal and Toronto. In this paper, I found that the housing career of Jews differs from that of non-Jews, with a lower homeownership rate, especially for seniors. For the entire period covered by this research, I found that Canadian Jews 60 years of age and older were substantially less likely to be homeowners. For Jews under the age of 50, I found a persistent lower homeownership rate in Montreal, while the homeownership gap of the younger cohorts appears to have faded in Toronto. I discuss the diaspora hypothesis as a potential explanation. In addition, I suggest that the results may indicate differences in the determinants of ontological security between Canadian Jews and non-Jews. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the early 2000s, the Russian branch of Lubavitch Hasidism embodied in the Federation of Jewish communities of Russia became a self-proclaimed speaker for Russian Jewry. The paper argues that the Federation is a nation-building project which succeeded in constructing a rather limited and imported real religious community as well as a large and amorphous “imagined community” and tries to offer some inclusive agenda for Russian Jewry as a whole. Most importantly, the Federation switched from the traditional lachrymose concept of the Jewish nation, and suffering as a core of Jewish identity, to the idea of Jewish and Russian Jewish success, achievement, and heroism. The paper seeks to demonstrate that the reason for this ideological innovation lies in Lubavitch mentality (part and parcel of which is the concept of miracle and ardent messianism) as well as in surrounding all-Russian trends. The Federation’s success story and development of optimistic memories and narratives has been parallel to Russia’s “rising from its knees.” The cornerstone of the Federation’s victory on the Russian Jewish scene - its effective and continuous alliance with Kremlin - shows the same pattern: on the one side, it follows the traditional Lubavitch path; on the other, it reflects the traditional Russian idea of state-church “symphony” and dependence of the latter on the former. The attitude to Judaism on the part of the Russian Jewry that supports the Federation may be defined as “vicarious religion,” and may be compared to the “light burden” of Orthodoxy undertaken by the majority of Russians. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The phrase "Jewish paradise" (from Latin paradisus Judeorum) originated in an early seventeenth-century xenophobic and antisemitic poem. Over the centuries, the original poem has been forgotten and the phrase, originally intended to be a satirical exaggeration of the Jewish position, has become increasingly used as a neutral or even favorable expression referencing the Golden Age of Jewish Culture in early modern Poland-Lithuania. This paper traces the history of this transition and argues that it represents an example of the linguistic reclamation: turning an antisemitic phrase into a philosemitic one, used from Poland to Jewish communities worldwide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since 2016, a series of horrific acts motivated by antisemitism appear to have caused a fundamental shift in the prevalence of antisemitism in the United States. Little is known, however, about how the events during this time have affected the day-to-day experiences and concerns of American Jews. Using repeated cross-sectional data from surveys of Jewish young adults who applied to Birthright Israel, this paper analyzes recent trends in Jewish young adults' experiences and perceptions of antisemitism. Despite the high-profile incidents during this period, there is no evidence of a major increase in experiences of antisemitic harassment among Jewish young adults—either on or off campus—between 2017 and 2019. At the same time, data show a substantial increase in concerns among young Jews about antisemitism in the United States and on college campuses, with concerns about antisemitism in the United States (but not on campus) being especially concentrated among liberal Jews. These results suggest that Jewish concerns about antisemitism are linked to broader views about the climate for marginalized populations in the United States. They also point to growing Jewish anxieties over violence, safety, and acceptance in the United States. In an era of widely disseminated antisemitic conspiracy theories, even young Jews who have no first-hand experience of antisemitic harassment have become concerned. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current paper focuses on the circumstances that have led to the high COVID-19 infection rates amongst the ultra-Orthodox population in Israel. The current study utilizes a qualitative design and is based on in-depth interviews, email correspondence and online records of 25 ultra-Orthodox individuals who either tested positive for COVID-19 or had contact with a verified COVID-19 patient. The data were analyzed through identification of main themes and an interpretation of their meanings. The findings showed that a wide range of causes led to the high infection rate, including aspects that derive from a structural element, a religious element and a social-ideological element—all of which are directly or indirectly connected to religion. These findings demonstrate the central role of religion in health outcomes among the ultra-Orthodox community in general and during pandemics in particular, and they shed light on the central role of religion in health outcomes among closed-religious communities. The findings further reveal the importance of cooperation between the state authorities and the religious ones, and of providing culturally adapted health service solutions in the fight against COVID-19 and promoting health more generally. Study limitations are discussed and recommendations for future research are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the complex Jewish reality in Portugal in the first half of the twentieth century. Alongside the old Sephardic community that emerged in Portugal with the dissolution of the Inquisition, the early twentieth century witnessed the emergence of two new differentiated groups: crypto-Jews, who began to return to Judaism, and Ashkenazi Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe. These two groups changed the physiognomy of the Portuguese Jewish community to a pluralistic religious, ethnic, and cultural compound never seen before in Iberian lands. Later on, the increasing Nazi persecutions and the outbreak of World War brought to Portugal thousands of Jewish refugees who tried to emigrate to countries overseas. The historical and social complexity examined in this article lasted a few years. Before the end of the Second World War, the refugees had emigrated from the country, the return of the Marranos to Judaism had lost its vitality, and the Jewish community continued its course in the Sephardic setting prior to the convulsions of the pre-war years. By focusing on the unique characteristics of Jewish life in Portugal in the first half of the twentieth century and on the diversity that each group presented in social, cultural, economic, and political terms, this study sheds light on a topic that has not yet received the attention it deserves in the historiography of Iberian Jews. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The collective memory of the Holocaust among Israeli Jews has featured competition among four related but distinct constructions: Zionist Proof-text; Wasting Asset; Object Lesson for safeguarding human rights; and Template for Jewish life. This paper will analyze this competition and the implications of the apparent victory of the Template. While there is a sequence to the changing prominence of these different versions of the Holocaust, each version has enjoyed periods of relative success since World War II. In recent decades, however, the Holocaust as a Template for Jewish Life has emerged as ascendant. Throughout, competition among the four constructions was driven by parochial and temporary political interests and by the unintended consequences of dissatisfactions associated with any one of them. My analysis will trace this competition and those consequences, using them to explain the extreme and highly particular features of current Israeli Jewish collective memory of the Holocaust. The paper concludes with an assessment of the implications of the hegemonic status of this version of the Holocaust for appreciating Israel's contemporary political predicament. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the current structural basis of political divisions among American Jews. Theoretically, the paper is situated in the well-established scholarly tradition of understanding political behavior as rooted in social structural location, with accompanying variations in political cohesion and political division across social groups. Empirically, the paper utilizes data from the Pew Research Center's 2013 Survey of US Jews to measure and analyze how social divisions based on religion, immigrant status, age, education, income, gender, marital status, region and race are translated into political divisions with respect to both US and Israeli politics. The findings show that religious divisions among American Jews yield the most significant and consistent political divisions across the US and Israeli political measures. Other social cleavages among American Jews also produce political divisions, but to a smaller and less consistent extent than religion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

She advocated breaking away from the norm in sociology that "unique events do not belong within the sociological purview" (Kaufman [3]: 9) because sociology "cannot capture the immensity of such a horrific event" (ibid.: 7). Themes like the Holocaust and social justice were wrapped together in the views of young American Jews whom Kaufman interviewed for her research on post-Holocaust narratives and Jewish identity (Kaufman [4]). [Extracted from the article]

In recent years, social scientists have claimed that American Jews, in particular in the younger generation, have grown more distant from Israel. This paper draws on evidence from national surveys conducted over two decades to assess the 'distancing hypothesis.' The survey data suggest that emotional attachment to Israel has varied within a narrow band, with no consistent pattern of increase or decrease. Predictions of distancing appear to be incorrect and several factors which were presumed to underlie distancing are examined: generational turnover, intermarriage and political alienation. These factors appear to have only small impact on the overall level of American Jewish attachment to Israel. An alternative narrative is suggested and the implications for the future relationship of American Jews to Israel are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Both sets of authors work within a set of boundaries I find too constraining. As careful and revealing as their work is, they do not examine their assumptions about the desirability of attachment, about the usefulness of Taglit-Birthright, and about what it means to ask respondents their views on 'the West Bank settlements.' Perhaps because of these limits, they neither seek nor find a healthy form of distancing from Israel that might be useful for its holders, for the US Jewish community, and even for Israel itself. I offer a critical response to both articles and to the frameworks and methodology they present. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]