Abstract
The prevailing position among social scientists that American Jewry is rapidly assimilating is questioned. While acknowledging that American Jews are fully integrated into American society, the position taken here is that, rather than assimilating, they are acculturating. Data from the 1990 National Jewish Population Survey and a recent study of Alaskan Jews are offered in support of the latter position.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Birnbaum, Philip. 1964.A Book of Jewish Concepts, New York: Hebrew Publishing Company.
Cohen, Steven M. 1994. “Why Intermarriage May Not Threaten Jewish Continuity,”Moment December: 54-95.
Goldstein, Sidney and Alice Goldstein. 1996.Jews on the Move: Implications for Jewish Identity. Albany: State University of New York Press.
Herberg, Will. 1955.Protestant-Catholic-Jew: An Essay in American Religious Sociology. Garden City, NY: Doubleday and Company,.Jewish Outreach Newsletter. 1997. New York: Jewish Outreach Institute.
Klausner, Samuel Z. 1997 “Conversion of American Jews to Christianity,”Contemporary Jewry 18:
Kosmin, Barry A., Sidney Goldstein, Joseph Waksberg, Nava Lerer, Ariella Keysar and Jeffrey Scheckner. 1991.Highlights of the CJF 1990 National Jewish Population Survey. New York: Council of Jewish Federations.
Reisman, Bernard. 1995. “An Agenda for a Watershed Change.” Pp.74–77 inAt the Crossroads: Shaping Our Jewish Future. Boston: Combined Jewish Philanthropies and Wilstein Institute of Jewish Policy Studies.
—. 1996 “New Perspectives from the Alaskan Frontier for the American Jewish Community.”Worldspeaker: Connecting Educational Institutions Around the World. 1: 8–15.
Reisman, Bernard and Joel I. Reisman. 1995.Life on the Frontier: The Jews of Alaska, San Francisco: Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies, Brandeis University
Roof, Wade Clark. 1993.A Generation of Seekers: The Spiritual Journeys of the Baby-Boomer Generation, San Francisco: Harper.
Williams, Gregory. 1996. “Population Estimates of Alaskan Cities, Table 3.” Alaska Department of Labor: Juneau.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Reisman, B. An alternative perspective: The acculturation of American Jews. Cont Jewry 18, 134–145 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02965483
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02965483