This book looks at the philosophical consideration of Jewish existence in our time, as reflected in Jewish education, its alternative visions, its purposes and instrumentalities, the values it should serve, and the personal and social character it ought to foster. Prevalent conceptions and practices of Jewish education are neither sufficiently reflective nor thoroughgoing enough to meet the multiple challenges that the world now poses to Jewish existence and continuity. New efforts are needed to develop an education of the future that will honor the riches of the Jewish past and grasp the opportunities of fruitful interactions with the general culture of the present. To promote such efforts, six leading scholars in this book formulate their variant visions of an ideal Jewish education for the contemporary world. This book also translates these visions into educational practice and, finally, articulates a vision abstracted from a case study of a school's ongoing practice.

The Jewish family in America is by and large a reflection of the general American family. With the rise of divorce and the increasing preference for alternative life styles, the traditional Jewish family, like its American counterpart, is under increasing challenge. When the effects of intermarriage and a lower-than-average birth rate are added in, the continuity of the Jewish family and Jewish life is under even greater threat. The essays in this volume, by distinguished scholars and social-policy theorists, assess the situation and prescribe policy measures to minimize the adverse affects of these trends when necessary or possible. Among the questions addressed are adoption, divorce, abortion, feminism, and pornography. It is the hope of the editors and contributors alike that their work will not only aid in preserving the American Jewish family, but will have wider resonance as well.

This paper explores the process of working with a Commission constituted by a Jewish community for the purpose of enhancing, creating, and examining Jewish education, most frequently known as Commission on Jewish continuity.