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Book Reviews
| American Judaism: A History. By Jonathan D. Sarna. (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2004. xx, 490p. Illustrations, notes, glossary, chronology, selected bibliography, index. $35.)
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In 1997, attorney Alan Dershowitz published The Vanishing American Jew, in which he argued that the survival of Judaism in America was threatened by its very success: the lack of antisemitism and integration of Jews into mainstream society decreased the percentage of Jews in America from nearly 4 percent in the 1930s to less than 2 percent today. To keep Judaism viable, Dershowitz made several suggestions that appeal to different audiences: retain and strengthen traditional religious practices, develop new ones to accommodate social change, stress the Jews' cultural and historical heritage outside the synagogue, and participate as Jews to support domestic reform and religious freedom at home and Israel abroad. |
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