AMERICAN JEWISH YEAR BOOK

Transcription

1 AMERICAN JEWISH YEAR BOOK 1997 THE AMERICAN JEWISH COMMITTEE

2 The 1997 AMERICAN JEWISH YEAR BOOK, the 97th in the series, continues to offer a unique chronicle of developments in areas of concern to Jews around the world. This year's volume features three special articles. Jack Wertheimer's "Current Trends in American Jewish Philanthropy" offers an extensive analysis of changes taking place in Jewish fund-raising, including the growth of family foundations. In "Israeli Literature and the American Reader," Alan Mintz discusses the reception of modern Hebrew fiction in translation, by reviewers and by the book-reading public. Finally, sociologists Bernard Lazerwitz, J. Alan Winter, Arnold Dashefsky, and Ephraim Tabory provide important information on the religious life of American Jews in "A Study of Jewish Denominational Preferences: Summary Findings." Regular articles covering Jewish life in the United States are "National Affairs," by Richard T. Foltin, and "Jewish Communal Affairs," by Lawrence Grossman. (Continued on back flap) $35.00

3 American Jewish Year Book

4 The American Jewish Committee acknowledges with appreciation the foresight and wisdom of the founders of the Jewish Publication Society (of America) in the creation of the AMERICAN JEWISH YEAR BOOK in 1899, a work committed to providing a continuous record of developments in the U.S. and world Jewish communities. For over a century JPS has occupied a special place in American Jewish life, publishing and disseminating important, enduring works of scholarship and general interest on Jewish subjects. The American Jewish Committee assumed responsibility for the compilation and editing of the YEAR BOOK in The Society served as its publisher until 1949; from 1950 through 1993, the Committee and the Society were co-publishers. In 1994 the Committee became the sole publisher of the YEAR BOOK.

5 American Jewish Year Book VOLUME 97 Editor DAVID SINGER Executive Editor RUTH R. SELDIN THE AMERICAN JEWISH COMMITTEE NEW YORK

6 COPYRIGHT 1997 BY THE AMERICAN JEWISH COMMITTEE All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review to be printed in a magazine or newspaper. ISBN Library of Congress Catalogue Number: PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA BY THE HADDON CRAFTSMEN, INC., SCRANTON, PA.

7 Preface 1 hi lis year's volume features three special articles, all dealing with subjects high on the Jewish communal agenda. In a groundbreaking study, "Current Trends in American Jewish Philanthropy," Jack Wertheimer analyzes the changes that have occurred, the new paths being pursued by the Jewish fund-raising establishment, and the implications of these developments for Jewish communal viability. One aspect of the relationship between American Jews and Israel is explored by Alan Mintz in "Israeli Literature and the American Reader." And the religious life of American Jews is the focus of "A Study of Jewish Denominational Preferences: Summary Findings," an analysis of data from the 1990 National Jewish Population Survey, by Bernard Lazerwitz, J. Alan Winter, Arnold Dashefsky, and Ephraim Tabory. Jewish life in the United States is covered in two articles: "National Affairs," by Richard T. Foltin, and "Jewish Communal Affairs," by Lawrence Grossman. David Horovitz and Peter Hirschberg provide extensive coverage of events in Israel, and Rochelle Furstenberg reports on Israeli cultural life. Reports on Jewish communities around the world include Canada, Mexico, Great Britain, France, the Netherlands, Italy, Germany, Austria, East-Central Europe, the former Soviet Union, Australia, and South Africa. David Fishman adds to our picture of current affairs in the former Soviet Union with "The Rebirth of Jewish Scholarship in Russia." Updated estimates of Jewish population are provided for the United States, by Jeffrey Scheckner of the Council of Jewish Federations and North American Jewish Data Bank; and for the world, by Sergio DellaPergola of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Carefully compiled directories of national Jewish organizations, periodicals, and federations and welfare funds, as well as religious calendars and obituaries, round out the 1997 AMERICAN JEWISH YEAR BOOK. We gratefully acknowledge the assistance of our colleagues Cyma M. Horowitz and Michele Anish of the American Jewish Committee's Blaustein Library. THE EDITORS

8 Contributors HENRIETTE BOAS: Dutch correspondent, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Israeli newspapers; Amsterdam, Holland. ARNOLD DASHEFSKY: Professor, sociology, University of Connecticut. SERGIO DELLAPERGOLA: Professor and chairman, the Avraham Harman Institute of Contemporary Jewry, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel. DAVID E. FISHMAN: Associate professor, Jewish history, Jewish Theological Seminary of America; senior research fellow, YIVO Institute for Jewish Research. RICHARD T. FOLTIN: Legislative director and counsel, Office of Government and International Affairs, American Jewish Committee. ROCHELLE FURSTENBERG: Contributing editor, The Jerusalem Report; columnist, Hadassah Magazine; Jerusalem, Israel. ZVIGITELMAN: Professor, political science, and Tisch Professor of Judaic Studies, University of Michigan. MURRAY GORDON: Adjunct professor, Austrian Diplomatic Academy, Vienna, Austria. LAWRENCE GROSSMAN: Director of publications, American Jewish Committee. ELVIRA GROZINGER: Lecturer, modern Hebrew and Yiddish, Potsdam University, Germany. RUTH ELLEN GRUBER: Veteran foreign correspondent and author, specialist in European and Jewish affairs; Morre, Italy. PETER HIRSCHBERG: Senior writer, The Jerusalem Report; Jerusalem, Israel. DAVID HOROVITZ: Managing editor, The Jerusalem Report; Jerusalem, Israel. LIONEL E. KOCHAN: Historian; Oxford, England. MIRIAM L. KOCHAN: Free-lance writer, translator; Oxford, England. BERNARD LAZERWITZ: Professor emeritus, sociology and anthropology, Bar- Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel. vu

9 Viii / CONTRIBUTORS ALAN MINTZ: Joseph H. and Belle R. Braun Professor of Modern Hebrew Literature, Brandeis University. COLIN L. RUBENSTEIN: Editorial chairman, Australia Israel Publications, and senior lecturer, politics, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia. JONATHAN D. SARNA: Joseph H. and Belle R. Braun Professor of American Jewish History, Brandeis University. JEFFREY SCHECKNER: Administrator, North American Jewish Data Bank, City University of New York Graduate Center; research consultant, Council of Jewish Federations. MILTON SHAIN: Associate professor, Hebrew and Jewish studies, and director, Kaplan Centre for Jewish Studies and Research, University of Cape Town, South Africa. DINA SIEGEL: Former executive director, Tribuna Israelita; Mexico City, Mexico. EPHRAIM TABORY: Senior lecturer, sociology and anthropology, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel. MEIR WAINTRATER: Editor in chief, L'Arche, the French Jewish monthly; Paris, France. HAROLD M. WALLER: Professor, political science, McGill University; director, Canadian Centre for Jewish Community Studies; Montreal, Canada. JACK WERTHEIMER: Provost and Joseph and Martha Mendelson Professor of American Jewish History, Jewish Theological Seminary of America. J. ALAN WINTER: Professor, sociology, Connecticut College.