The vanishing American Jew : [electronic resource] in search of Jewish identity for the next century / Alan M. Dershowitz.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [343]-373) and index.

Introduction: The "Jewish Question" for the Twenty-first Century: Can We Survive Our Success? -- Pt. I. The Problem Defined. Ch. 1. An America Without Jews -- Pt. II. Why So Many Jews are Drifting Away. Ch. 2. Will the End of Institutional Anti-Semitism Mean the End of the Jews? Ch. 3. Anti-Semitism in the Twenty-first Century: Changing to Adapt to the New Realities. Ch. 4. The Dangers of the Christian Right - and Their Jewish Allies -- Pt. III. Proposed Solutions - and Why They Will Not Be Enough to Preserve Jewish Life. Ch. 5. Go to Shul!: The Religious Solution to the Jewish Question of the Twenty-first Century. Ch. 6. Make Aliyah!: The Israeli Solution to the Jewish Question of the Twenty-first Century. Ch. 7. Be a Mensch!: The Ethical Solution to the Jewish Question of the Twenty-first Century -- Pt. IV. A Workable Answer to the Jewish Question. Ch. 8. Filling the Yiddisher Cup: The Competitive Solution to the Jewish Future -- Epilogue: A Call to Action -- Appendix. The $500 Beginning Jewish Home Library.

In this urgent book, Alan M. Dershowitz shows why American Jews are in danger of disappearing - and what must be done now to create a renewed sense of Jewish identity for the next century. In previous times, the threats to Jewish survival were external - the virulent consequences of anti-Semitism. Now, however, in late-twentieth-century America, the danger has shifted. Jews today are more secure, more accepted, more assimilated, and more successful than ever before.

They've dived into the melting pot - and they've achieved the American Dream. And that, according to Dershowitz, is precisely the problem. More than 50 percent of Jews will marry non-Jews, and their children will most often be raised as non-Jews. Which means, in the view of Dershowitz, that American Jews will vanish as a distinct cultural group sometime in the next century - unless they act now. Speaking to concerned Jews everywhere, Dershowitz calls for a new Jewish.

identity that focuses on the positive - the 3,500-year-old legacy of Jewish culture, values, and traditions. Dershowitz shows how this new Jewish identity can compete in America's open environment of opportunity and choice - and offers concrete proposals on how to instill it in the younger generation.