The Israel Connection And American Jews [Hardcover]

Mittelberg analyzes the effect of the Israel visit/experience upon the ethnic identity of American Jews. For most American Jews, being Jewish carries both religious and ethnic connotations. It is because of this dual context that the Israel visit has a different significance for American Jews when compared to visits of members of other ethnic groups back to their homelands. As Mittelberg argues, the relationship of American Jews to Israel is bound up in the broader concept of peoplehood, a notion that encompasses a shared sense of religion, nationality, language, culture, and history.

Approximately one-third of the American Jewish population has visited Israel. Using a variety of survey data, Mittelberg examines the impact such visits have had on American Jews in terms of their affinity with Israel as well as their bonds to the American Jewish community.

DAVID MITTELBERG is former head and current research associate at The Institute for Research of the Kibbutz and the Cooperative Idea, Haifa University and Lecturer in Sociology at the Oranim and Jezreel Academic Colleges./e Professor Mittelberg has published widely on kibbutz, gender, ethnicity, and migration.

Preface
Introduction
The Visit to Israel
Identity, Modernity, and Ethnicity in the Cross-Cultural Encounter
Behind the Symbols: Community, Polity, and American Jewish Ethnicity
The Israel Connection and the Jewish Question
Methodology
The Core Jewish Population of North America
Visits to Israel
Outmarriage
The Intention to Visit Israel and the Jewishness of Respondents
The Impact of the Israel Visit: A Comprehensive Parametric Analysis of the NJPS Data
Being Jewish in America in the Year 2000: Will Visiting Israel Make a Difference?
Conclusion
Tables
Bibliography
Index