Category Books

Jewish Choices: American Jewish Denominationalism »

Authors: Bernard Lazerwitz, J. Alan Winter, Ephram Tabory
ISBN-13: 9780791435823, ISBN-10: 0791435822
Format: Paperback
Publisher: State University of New York Press
Date Published: February 1998
Edition: (Non-applicable)

Author Biography: Bernard Lazerwitz

Book Synopsis

American Jews have divided their religion into four parts-Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, and no preference Jews. This book focuses on how Jewish lifestyles are expressed through denominational affiliation. The development of American Jewish denominations is viewed as more a matter of individual choice than family heritage. The characteristics of individual adherents of the three major denominations vary systematically as does one's involvement both in local Jewish communities and in the community-at-large. The authors show that as one goes from Orthodox to no preference Jews, the extent of religious expression, ethnic attachments, and Jewish community involvement declines. They project the distribution of denominational preference in 2010 and conclude with recommendations for those who wish to see Jewish identity survive and thrive in America.

Booknews

With pluralism the key to current debates over Jewish identity (although the term itself does not appear in the index), Lazerwitz (sociology, Bar Ilan U., Israel) and three colleagues analyze factors correlated with current and future trends in the permeable, major denominational affiliations of Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, Reconstructionist, and "no preference" Judaism. Venturing beyond a sociohistorical overview and statistics (primarily those of the 1990 National Jewish Population Survey and a similar 1971 survey), in this third of the series, they make recommendations for sustaining the barely three percent Jewish presence in the US as a viable minority. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

	List of Tables and Figures
	American Jewish Society in the 1990s: An Introduction
	Foreword
	Preface
1	Denominations in American Religious Life	3
2	A Sociohistorical Overview of American Jewish Denominations	15
3	A General Description of the Adherents of American Jewish Denominations	33
4	The Components and Consequences of Jewish Involvement	63
5	Jewish Denominational Switching: Permeable Boundaries among Jews in the United States	77
6	Denominational Preferences and Intermarriage: Permeable Boundaries between Jews and Non-Jews	93
7	A Look toward the Future: Jewish Fertility, Births, and Denominational Preference	115
8	Summation, Conclusions, and Recommendations	123
App. A	Methodology of CJF 1990 National Jewish Population Survey	147
App. B	Total Sample Errors and the Comparison of the 1971 and 1990 Surveys	169
App. C	Model Indices Cited in Chapter 4	181
App. D	Computation of the Projection in Chapter 7, Table 7.2	187
	Notes	191
	References	197
	Subject Index	207
	Name Index	213