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Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs



American Jewry's Challenge:
Conversations Confronting the 21st Century
(Rowman and Littlefield)

Manfred Gerstenfeld

Watershed events - including the second Palestinian uprising in 2000, September 11, 2001, and the Iraq war - have created major challenges for American Jewry, leading to a change in its perceptions and environment.

These developments are explored in an introductory essay and in interviews with 17 prominent American Jews: Norman Podhoretz, Alan Dershowitz, Gary Rosenblatt, David Harris, Malcolm Hoenlein, Stuart Eizenstat, Abraham Foxman, Marvin Hier, Daniel Pipes, Shoshana Cardin, Rela Mintz Geffen, David Ellenson, Ismar Schorsch, Norman Lamm, Richard Joel, Carole Solomon, and Mark Charendoff.

Their views provide a time-capsule as well as put order into a dynamic development by identifying key issues to watch as American Jewry and its environment evolve over the coming years.

A major element of American Jewry's changing mind-set relates to Israel. The great majority of those who identify most with the Jewish community have become more supportive due to the events of recent years. This in turn has intensified the search for ways to strengthen Jewish identification and that with Israel.

Other elements of change concern attitudes toward Evangelical Christians and Muslims as well as increased anxiety about anti-Zionism on campuses and anti-Semitism.

The new, mainly political, challenges emerging from the recent mega-events are superimposed on the structural problems of American Jewry. These include a high rate of intermarriage, low fertility, assimilation, reduced voluntarism, the high cost of Jewish living, and a declining percentage of Jewish philanthropy for Jewish causes.


Contents:

  • Jonathan Sarna: Foreword
  • Manfred Gerstenfeld: American Jewry after Recent Mega-Events

    Interviews:

  • Norman Podhoretz: Countervailing Trends in American Jewry
  • Alan Dershowitz: Unprepared Jewish Leadership and Radical Change
  • Gary Rosenblatt: Change and Perplexity
  • David Harris: Confronting Existential Questions
  • Malcolm Hoenlein: A Community Seeking Unity through Consensus
  • Stuart Eizenstat: The Activism of American Jews and Restitution
  • Abraham Foxman: The Resuscitation of Anti-Semitism
  • Marvin Hier: Building a Major Organization from Scratch
  • Daniel Pipes: The End of American Jewry's Golden Era
  • Shoshana Cardin: Community versus Individualism
  • Rela Mintz Geffen: Sociological Changes in the Community
  • David Ellenson: New Concepts for Teaching Reform Rabbis
  • Ismar Schorsch: Indicators of Spiritual Renaissance
  • Norman Lamm: Changes in Modern Orthodoxy
  • Richard Joel: Revitalizing Hillel
  • Carole Solomon: National and International Responsibilities
  • Mark Charendoff: At the Core of the Funding Revolution
  • Alan Mittleman: Afterword


Excerpts from Reviews and Commentary:

This volume presents the voices of key leaders in American Jewish life who are working to shape its future. Thanks to Manfred Gerstenfeld's brilliant introduction, the volume also highlights the central changes that are buffeting American Jews in the present. For an historian like myself, however, the volume's greatest significance lies in the 'snapshot' it preserves of American Jewry at the dawn of a new century and a new era. Future generations will thank Manfred Gerstenfeld for capturing this snapshot and freezing it for inspection.
Jonathan Sarna, Brandeis University, from the Foreword

How are American Jewish leaders responding to the new dangers of the twenty-first century? Manfred Gerstenfeld captures the thinking of these leaders at a transitional moment, when the formulas of the twentieth century may no longer work and the solutions of the new century have yet to be conceived.
Jack Wertheimer, Provost and Professor of American Jewish History at the Jewish Theological Seminary

This book offers a fascinating look at how America's Jewish leadership has begun to assess the impact of recent global events. New threats, old challenges and future alliances are explored in a reflective snapshot by key players whose careers span decades of organizational activism. Historians and policy-makers—not only in America but particularly in Europe—will find these interviews both useful and revealing.
Barry Kosmin, Executive Director, Institute for Jewish Policy Research, London

A time capsule of analyses and predictions on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the growth of antisemitism, trends in the American Jewish community, relations with Evangelical Christians, and the danger of radical Islam by a distinguished group of American Jewish leaders. Only time will tell who were the true prophets.
David R. Blumenthal, Emory University, Jay and Leslie Cohen Professor of Judaic Studies, Emory University

This incisive tour d'horizon of the ideas that drive the American Jewish community post 9/11 is coupled with probing interviews with American Jewish leaders. The combination is an insightful survey of the community's hopes and fears in the twenty-first century. It makes for engaging reading.
Marshall J. Breger, Professor of Law, Columbus School of Law, The Catholic University of America

Manfred Gerstenfeld provides a useful analysis of the problems facing Jews today along with commentary by current Jewish leaders on how to grapple with them.
Murray Friedman, Director, Feinstein Center for American Jewish History at Temple University