Jewish Choices

Bernard Lazerwitz is Professor Emeritus of Sociology at Bar Ilan University, Israel. His previous work includes Pathways to Suicide: A Survey of Self-Destructive Behaviors (with Ronald Maris) and Americans Abroad: A Comparative Study of Emigrants from the United States (with Arnold Dashefsky, Jan DeAmicis, and Ephraim Tabory). J. Alan Winter is Professor of Sociology at Connecticut College. He is the author of Continuities in the Sociology of Religion: Creed, Congregation and Community; Clergy in Action Training (with Edgard W. Mills and Polly S. Hendrick); and is the editor of The Poor and Vital Problems for American Society (with Jerome Rabow and Marc Chesler). Arnold Dashefsky is Professor of Sociology and Director of the Center for Judaic Studies and Contemporary Jewish Life at the University of Connecticut. His previous work includes Ethnic Identification Among American Jews (with H. M. Shapiro), among others.

• List of Tables and Figures American Jewish Society in the 1990s: An IntroductionBarry A. Kosmin and Sidney Goldstein ForewordAndrew Greeley Preface PART I 1. Denominations in American Religious Life Chapter Preview 2. A Sociohistorical Overview of American Jewish Denominations The First Jewish Denomination: Reform JudaismThe Counter Reformation: Orthodox JudaismThe Centrist Denomination: Conservative JudaismDenominational Development in Historical RetrospectDenominational Differences: Homosexuality as a Case in PointThe Social Psychology of American Jewish Denominationalism PART II 3. A General Description of the Adherents of American Jewish Denominations The Two SurveysThe Population of InterestCharacterisitcs Associated with Differing Denomiational PreferencesDemographic and Socioeconomic Concomitants of Denominational PreferencesReligious and Jewish Community Involvement: 1971 and 1990Consequential Dimensions of Denominational PreferenceJewish Denominations within the Context of America's Denominational Structure 4. The Components and Consequences of Jewish Involvement The Models 5. Jewish Denominational Switching: Permeable Boundaries among Jews in the United States Denominational Switching among American JewsConcomitants of Denominational Switching 6. Denominational Preferences and Intermarriage: Permeable Boundaries between Jews and Non-Jews Intermarriage and Denominational PreferenceIntermarriages Before and After 1970Variables Associated with IntermarriageRaising Jewish ChildrenJewish Community Size and Intermarriage PART III 7. A Look toward the Future: Jewish Fertility, Births, and Denominational Preference Jewish Religiosity and FertilityA Fertility Projection: A Look at the Future 8. Summation, Conclusions, and Recommendations Summary of Major FindingsThe Challenge of AmericanizationRecommendations for the DenominationsClosing Comments Appendix A. Methodology of CJF 1990 National Jewish Population SurveyJoseph Waksberg Appendix B. Total Sample Errors and the Comparison of the 1971 and 1990 Surveys Appendix C. Model Indices Cited in Chapter 4 Appendix D. Computation of the Projection in Chapter 7, Table 7.2 Notes References Subject Index Name Index

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.