Academic Studies Press The Wandering Jew in America (Jewish Identities in Post-Modern Society)

Provides a thorough description and analysis of the multifaceted nature of Jewish internal migration in the United States. Using data from the 1990 and 2000 NJPS, and through up-to-date approaches in the social sciences, this traces changes in the levels, directions, and types of Jewish migration, evaluating the changing social and economic characteristics of the migrants. Review In The Wandering Jew, Uzi Rebhun has presented the definitive work on American Jews' geographic mobility for our time. Although comprehensive and rich with intriguing data analyses, his prose style makes the exploration of this important dimension of Jewish life readily available, acessible, and engaging. He contends not only with the prevailing theories and images of Jewish mobility, but also discerns fascinating changes over time in the patterns of mobility, in the characteristics of movers and stayers, and in the implications of mobility for Jewish identity and community.--Steven M. Cohen, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion Uzi Rebhun documents changes in the wanderlust of American Jews up through 2001. His research, grounded in current theoretical frameworks, enables us to consider how Jews are similar to and different from other migrants within the United States. Rebhun concludes that American Jews are characterized by increasing and unusually high spatial mobility, which has resulted in high levels of both individual and institutional dispersion. Rebhun spells out the implications of his findings in terms of theoretical insights and suggested directions for future research, as well as for Jewish communal policy. Rebhun has invested considerable skill in making his scientifically sound and sophisticated analyses, mostly based on the 1990 and 2000-1 Natinal Jewish Population Surveys, very accessible to all readers. Sure to be considered the definitive text on American Jewish spatial mobility for this time period, this work in highly recommended as worthwhile for scholars (or religion, ethnicity, and Jewish studies) and practitioners alike, as well anyone interested in the development of the contemporary American Jewry.--Harriet Hartman, Professor of Sociology, Rowan University President, Association for the Social Scientific Study of Jewry About the Author Uzi Rebhun (Ph.D., 1997) is an Associate Professor at the A. Harman Institute of Contemporary Jewry, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He is also heaed of the Advisory Committee of the Israel Social Sciences Data Archive. Rebhun has published extensively on immigration, internal migration, interfaith marriage, Jewish identification, and population projections. His recent works include American Israelis: Migration, Transnationalism, and Diasporic Identity (with Lilach Lev Ari, Brill Academic Publishers, 2010).