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Suggestions from the organizing committee of the international conference on Jewish population problems held in Jerusalem in 1987 for demographic policies in the diaspora. In Jewish Population Studies 23 (World Jewish Population: Trends and Policies), 268-275.

This paper presents a picture of the state of the economy of American Jews in the postwar period by a study of census and survey data at four time periods. In Studies in Contemporary Jewry 8, 85-101.

The author presents a profile of American Jewry based on the findings of the 1990 National Jewish Population Survey (NJPS). He claims that the 1990 NJPS provides a much wider coverage of the full range of American Jewry; it includes both those who have one or two Jewish parents but do not identify as Jewish and non-Jews living with people qualifying as Jewish under the criteria employed by the survey.

This article presents updates (as of the end of 1990), on the population estimates of world Jewry. Over 96 percent of world Jewry is concentrated in ten countries. The aggregate of these ten major Jewish population centers virtually determines the assessment of the size of total world Jewry, estimated at 12.8 million in 1990. During the same year, data collection projects relevant to Jewish population estimates were in planning or already under way in several countries. Two important sources have already yielded results on major Jewish populations: the official population census of the Soviet Union held in 1989, and the National Jewish Population Survey (NJPS) in the United States, completed in 1990. The respective results basically confirm both the estimates reported in previous American Jewish Year Book volumes and their interpretation of the trends now prevailing in the demography of world Jewry.

This article presents updates, as of the end of 1990, on the population of world Jewry. The population estimates given here reflect a prolonged and ongoing effort to study scientifically the demography of contemporary world Jewry. Data collection and comparative research have benefited from the collaboration of scholars and institutions in many countries, including replies to direct inquiries regarding current estimates. During the year 1990, data collection projects relevant to Jewish population estimates were in planning or already underway in several countries. Some of this ongoing research is part of a coordinated effort to update the sociodemographic profile of world Jewry that was undertaken at the outset of the 1990s.

The author responds to "The Coming Reformation in American Jewish Identity" by Egon Mayer. She explores demographic changes facing American Jewry, cultural shifts, attachment to Israel, attitudes toward general American culture, shifts in gender attitudes, educational opinions, and opinions on church-state and other religio-political issues.

Data from the 1990 NJPS are used to examine levels of and trends in Jewish fertility in the United States. Jewish fertility levels continue to be bellow those for all white American women. There are significant differences in fertility within the Jewish population, the Orthodox having substantially more children than other groups. Current fertility levels are perhaps too low to assure long-term population replacement.

Transformations in the religious options among which American Jews may choose will be examined here via a careful reading of prayer books, statements of principles, and essays by representative figures of the major denominations. Such an analysis can shed light on the changed self-presentation of the movements and the changed self-understanding of their elites and can also serve as a basis for evaluation of the altered religious landscape of American Jews.

Professor Eisen argues that attachment to the State of Israel has recently become more problematic for American Jews. He presents options for strengthening Israel's place in American Jewish identity, focusing on four factors: politics, religion, ethos/ethnicity, and ideology. Also included are a foreword by Steven Bayme and responses by Jonathan Woocher of the Jewish Education Service of North America (JESNA) and Allon Gal of the University of the Negev, Beersheba (Israel).

A common conflict between parents and a principal in a synagogue school is analyzed in terms of Turner's "social drama." The analysis suggests why synagogues are vulnerable to these conflicts, how these conflicts unfold and how the way stakeholders play their roles contributes to a cohesive or disharmonious outcome to the drama.