From the Director
I am pleased to announce the publication of three new journal articles that reflect our commitment to furthering the academic debate on several issues of significant concern to US Jewry. Two of our latest publications, part of a special issue of the journal Contemporary Jewry, include a re-analysis of the Pew Research Center’s Jewish Americans in 2020 study.
According to their numbers: Assessing the Pew Research Center's estimate of 7.5 million Jewish Americans

In this article, we examine Pew’s US Jewish population estimate in its 2020 study and how it relates historically to other estimates. We then compare Pew’s findings to other recent studies. We conclude that there is considerable evidence of the validity of Pew’s estimate.
The reach and impact of Birthright Israel: What we can learn from Pew’s “Jewish Americans in 2020"

In this paper we use data from the 2020 Pew survey to assess the program’s “reach” into different segments of the American Jewish population and to extend the validity of existing findings regarding the program’s impact on participants’ attitudes and behaviors related to Israel and Jewish life.
Antisemitism and polarization: The political dynamics of American Jewish concerns about traditional and Israel-related antisemitism

Using a sample of over 2000 Jewish young adults, this paper examines whether American Jews’ concerns about antisemitism are filtered through political identitywith liberal Jews more concerned about “traditional” antisemitism (long-standing anti-Jewish stereotypes) emanating from the political right, and conservative Jews concerned about “Israel-related” antisemitism (blaming individual Jews for the actions of Israel) associated with the political left.

In the News

New study links Birthright trips to stronger Jewish identity, 7Israel National News, November 15, 2022

Visit us at the Association for Jewish Studies Conference
in Boston, December 18-20, 2022

CMJS will have an exhibit booth at the 2022 AJS annual conference. Find us under the "Scholarship in Jewish and Israel Studies at Brandeis University" banner.

CMJS researchers will also be presenting at the following sessions:

[Panel Session] It’s Jewish Identity, but Not as You Know It: Novel Approaches, Foci, and Findings in Contemporary Jewish Identity
Mon, December 19, 3:00 to 4:30pm, Sheraton Boston Fairfax B 3rd Floor (AV)
Seekers and Servers: The Role of Metaphor in Jewish Identity Research
Presenter: Adina Bankier-Karp
The Port Jew and Nuestra América: Narratives of Collective Responsibility and Belonging Presenter: Dalia Wassner
 
[Panel Session] Rethinking Counting and Categorizing Jews
Mon, December 19, 3:00 to 4:30pm, Sheraton Boston Back Bay Blrm C 2nd Floor (AV)
On the Decreasing Usefulness of Denomination as a Measure of Jewish Life
Presenter: Matthew Brookner
Understanding Jewish Diversity: Using Extant Data to Understand the Uniqueness of Ethnoreligious Subgroups
Presenters: Leonard Saxe, Janet Krasner Aronson
 
[Roundtable] Social Science, Cultural Studies, and the Good: Making Our Work Matter
Tue, December 20, 8:30 to 10:00am, Sheraton Boston Commonwealth 4th Floor (AV)
Discussant: Matthew Boxer
 
[Panel Session] Jewish Sociolinguistics and Identity Construction
Tue, December 20, 8:30 to 10:00am, Sheraton Boston Fairfax B 3rd Floor (AV)
Distinctively Jewish? Personal Names of American Jews
Presenter: Alicia Chandler

[Roundtable] American Jewish “Diversity” and the US Racial Binary
Tue, December 20, 10:15 to 11:45am, Sheraton Boston Arnold Arboretum E 5th Floor
Discussant: Leonard Saxe