The last few months have seen a flood of studies of Gen-Y Jews — all trying to map their sense of Jewish identity, affiliation patterns, needs, hopes, beliefs and behaviors.
The authors propose a new map with \”multiple homelands\” that displaces Israel from \”the center of the Jewish universe.\” They point out that since the mid-19th century, most Jewish religious innovation has originated in the United States, rather than in Europe or Israel. As of 2003, more people emigrated from Israel to Russia than vice versa, and New York is the communal and philanthropic center of Jewish life. Ultimately, the authors find, contemporary Jews are at home wherever they live. \”New Jews,\” they argue, \”connect emotionally and culturally with multiple places and traverse routes across national boundaries but are nonetheless rooted in a specific place they call home.\”
\”Fish prices have tripled; fish form a significant part of our diet,\” Diamond told The Journal. \”At the rate we\’re going, most of the world\’s major fisheries will be gone within a decade.\”
Even as Ron Reagan makes a case for stem cell research at the Democratic National Convention, Californians may take matters into their own hands.
David Milch\’s HBO Western series, "Deadwood," tells of a grimy mining town where drinking, whoring, killing, cussing and cheating are de rigeur.
The National Jewish Population Survey, funded for $6 million by the federation umbrella group United Jewish Communities, reported that the nation\’s population of 5.2 million Jews represented a decline of 2 percent from the 1990 survey, which reported 5.5 million Jews.
Economically and socially successful insiders, Jews are part of a pluralist society in which the primary factor determining ethnic and religious identity is individual choice. We need a new, more helpful descriptive model that recognizes the vital role that personal decisions play in Jewish American identity construction.
Strolling through the classrooms of the Stephen S. Wise Early Education Center is like walking through a museum.
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