The 2012 American Jewish Year Book, “The Annual Record of American Jewish Civilization,” contains major chapters on Jewish secularism (Barry Kosmin and Ariela Keysar), Canadian Jewry (Morton Weinfeld, David Koffman, and Randal Schnoor), national affairs (Ethan Felson), Jewish communal affairs (Lawrence Grossman), Jewish population in the United States (Ira Sheskin and Arnold Dashefsky), and World Jewish population (Sergio DellaPergola). These chapters provide insight into major trends in the North American and world Jewish community. The volume also acts as a resource for the American Jewish community and for academics studying that community by supplying obituaries and lists of Jewish Federations, Jewish Community Centers, national Jewish organizations, Jewish overnight camps, Jewish museums, Holocaust museums, local and national Jewish periodicals, Jewish honorees, major recent events in the American Jewish community, and academic journals, articles, websites, and books. The volume should prove useful to social scientists and historians of the American Jewish community, Jewish communal workers, the press, and others interested in American and Canadian Jews.​

The American Jewish Year Book, now in its 117th year, is the annual record of the North American Jewish communities and provides insight into their major trends. The first chapter of Part I is an examination of how American Jews fit into the US religious landscape, based on Pew Research Center studies. The second chapter examines intermarriage. Chapters on “The Domestic Arena” and “The International Arena” analyze the year’s events as they affect American Jewish communal and political affairs. Three chapters analyze the demography and geography of the US, Canada, and world Jewish populations. Part II provides lists of Jewish institutions, including federations, community centers, social service agencies, national organizations, synagogues, Hillels, day schools, camps, museums, and Israeli consulates. The final chapters present national and local Jewish periodicals and broadcast media; academic resources, including Jewish Studies programs, books, journals, articles, websites, and research libraries; and lists of major events in the past year, Jewish honorees, and obituaries.

The American Jewish Year Book, which spans three different centuries, is the annual record of the North American Jewish communities and provides insight into their major trends. Part I of the current volume contains the lead article: Chapter 1, “Pastrami, Verklempt, and Tshoot-spa: Non-Jews’ Use of Jewish Language in the US” by Sarah Bunin Benor. Following this chapter are three on domestic and international events, which analyze the year’s events as they affect American Jewish communal and political affairs. Three chapters analyze the demography and geography of the US, Canada, and world Jewish populations. Part II provides lists of Jewish institutions, including federations, community centers, social service agencies, national organizations, synagogues, Hillels, camps, museums, and Israeli consulates. The final chapters present national and local Jewish periodicals and broadcast media; academic resources, including Jewish Studies programs, books, journals, articles, websites, and research libraries; and lists of major events in the past year, Jewish honorees, and obituaries. While written mostly by academics, this volume conveys an accessible style, making it of interest to public officials, professional and lay leaders in the Jewish community, as well as the general public and academic researchers. The American Jewish Year Book has been a key resource for social scientists exploring comparative and historical data on Jewish population patterns. No less important, the Year Book serves organization leaders and policy makers as the source for valuable data on Jewish communities and as a basis for planning. Serious evidence-based articles regularly appear in the Year Book that focus on analyses and reviews of critical issues facing American Jews and their communities which are indispensable for scholars and community leaders. Calvin Goldscheider, Professor Emeritus of Sociology and Ungerleider Professor Emeritus of Judaic Studies, Brown University They have done it again. The American Jewish Year Book has produced yet another edition to add to its distinguished tradition of providing facts, figures and analyses of contemporary life in North America. Its well-researched and easily accessible essays offer the most up to date scrutiny of topics and challenges of importance to American Jewish life; to the American scene of which it is a part and to world Jewry. Whether one is an academic or professional member of the Jewish community (or just an interested reader of all things Jewish), there is not another more impressive and informative reading than the American Jewish Year Book. Debra Renee Kaufman, Professor Emerita and Matthews Distinguished University Professor, Northeastern University

The American Jewish Year Book, now in its 118th year, is the annual record of the North American Jewish communities and provides insight into their major trends. The first two chapters of Part I include a special forum on "Contemporary American Jewry: Grounds for Optimism or Pessimism?" with assessments from more than 20 experts in the field. The third chapter examines antisemitism in Contemporary America. Chapters on “The Domestic Arena” and “The International Arena” analyze the year’s events as they affect American Jewish communal and political affairs. Three chapters analyze the demography and geography of the US, Canada, and world Jewish populations. Part II provides lists of Jewish institutions, including federations, community centers, social service agencies, national organizations, synagogues, Hillels, day schools, camps, museums, and Israeli consulates. The final chapters present national and local Jewish periodicals and broadcast media; academic resources, including Jewish Studies programs, books, journals, articles, websites, and research libraries; and lists of major events in the past year, Jewish honorees, and obituaries. Today, as it has for over a century, the American Jewish Year Book remains the single most useful source of information and analysis on Jewish demography, social and political trends, culture, and religion. For anyone interested in Jewish life, it is simply indispensable. David Harris, CEO, American Jewish Committee (AJC), Edward and Sandra Meyer Office of the CEO The American Jewish Year Book stands as an unparalleled resource for scholars, policy makers, Jewish community professionals and thought leaders. This authoritative and comprehensive compendium of facts and figures, trends and key issues, observations and essays, is the essential guide to contemporary American Jewish life in all its dynamic multi-dimensionality. Christine Hayes, President, Association for Jewish Studies (AJS)and Robert F. and Patricia R. Weis Professor of Religious Studies in Classical Judaica at Yale University

This book, in its 113th year, provides insight into major trends in the North American Jewish community, examining Jewish education, New York Jewry, national and Jewish communal affairs, and the US and world Jewish population. It also acts as an important resource with its lists of Jewish Institutions, Jewish periodicals, and academic resources as well as Jewish honorees, obituaries, and major recent events. It should prove useful to social scientists and historians of the American Jewish community, Jewish communal workers, and the press, among others. For more than a century, the American Jewish Year Book has remained and continues to serve, even in the Internet age, as the leading reference work on contemporary Jewish life. This year’s volume, with its special reports on Jewish education and the New York community and its updates on Jewish population statistics, Jewish institutions, and the major Jewish figures who passed in the year past, continues this splendid tradition. Pamela S. Nadell, Chair, Department of History, American University and Co-editor, Making Women’s Histories: Beyond National Perspectives The 2013 volume of the American Jewish Year Book impressively demonstrates that Arnold Dashefsky and Ira Sheskin have restored this important resource in all its former glory. Bruce A. Phillips, Professor of Sociology and Jewish Communal Service, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, Los Angeles Having a current American Jewish Year Book on my shelf is like having a panel of experts on American Jewish life at the ready, prepared to give me thoughtful, accurate answers and observations on the key issues, trends and statistics that define our continental Jewish community today. Well into its second century, the American Jewish Year Book continues to be an essential resource for serious leaders, practitioners and students who seek to ground their work in solid research and up-to-date data. Jacob Solomon, Greater Miami Jewish Federation President and CEO

Part I of each volume will feature 5-7 major review chapters, including 2-3 long chapters reviewing topics of major concern to the American Jewish community written by top experts on each topic, review chapters on "National Affairs" and "Jewish Communal Affairs" and articles on the Jewish population of the United States and the World Jewish Population. Future major review chapters will include such topics as Jewish Education in America, American Jewish Philanthropy, Israel/Diaspora Relations, American Jewish Demography, American Jewish History, LGBT Issues in American Jewry, American Jews and National Elections, Orthodox Judaism in the US, Conservative Judaism in the US, Reform Judaism in the US, Jewish Involvement in the Labor Movement, Perspectives in American Jewish Sociology, Recent Trends in American Judaism, Impact of Feminism on American Jewish Life, American Jewish Museums, Anti-Semitism in America, and Inter-Religious Dialogue in America. Part II-V of each volume will continue the tradition of listing Jewish Federations, national Jewish organizations, Jewish periodicals, and obituaries. But to this list are added lists of Jewish Community Centers, Jewish Camps, Jewish Museums, Holocaust Museums, and Jewish honorees (both those honored through awards by Jewish organizations and by receiving honors, such as Presidential Medals of Freedom and Academy Awards, from the secular world). We expand the Year Book tradition of bringing academic research to the Jewish communal world by adding lists of academic journals, articles in academic journals on Jewish topics, Jewish websites, and books on American and Canadian Jews. Finally, we add a list of major events in the North American Jewish Community.

Across three different centuries, the American Jewish Year Book has provided insight into major trends among Jews primarily in North America. Part I of the current volume contains two chapters: One is a critical assessment of the major American Jewish Population Surveys over the past fifty years (1970-2020). The second chapter is an assessment of the media coverage of Israel in the American Press. Subsequent chapters address recent domestic and international events as they affect the American Jewish community, and the demography and geography of the US, Canada, and World Jewish populations. Part II provides lists of Jewish institutions, including federations, community centers, social service agencies, national organizations, camps, museums, and Israeli consulates. The final chapters present lists of Jewish periodicals and broadcast media, Jewish Studies programs, books, journals, articles, websites, research libraries, and academic conferences as well as lists of major events in the past year, Jewish honorees, and obituaries. This volume employs an accessible style, making it of interest to public officials, Jewish professional and lay leaders, as well as the general public and academic researchers. The American Jewish Year Book is a tremendously useful resource for scholars, Jewish community professionals, pundits, clergy, and policy makers. For over a century, it has offered comprehensive insight into North American Jewish demography, sociology, and culture. It remains a vital source for comprehending the complexities of American and Canadian Jewish life. Robin Judd, Associate Professor of History and Director of the Hoffman Program for Leaders and Leadership in History, The Ohio State University The American Jewish Year Book is the first draft of history, documenting the trends and topics of interest for such an organized community. Looking through the 100+ volumes, we can track how discussions have changed over time, which concerns have returned, and how we arrived at the current point in time. It is a valuable tool for anyone interested in trends in American Jewish life. David Manchester, Director of the Berman Jewish DataBank and Director of Community Data and Research Development at The Jewish Federations of North America