Zvi Gitelman

In Religion or Ethnicity? fifteen leading scholars trace the evolution of Jewish identity. The book examines Judaism from the Greco-Roman age, through medieval times, modern western and eastern Europe, to today. Jewish identity has been defined as an ethnicity, a nation, a culture, and even a race. Religion or Ethnicity? questions what it means to be Jewish. The contributors show how the Jewish people have evolved over time in different ethnic, religious, and political movements. In his closing essay, Gitelman questions the viability of secular Jewishness outside Israel but suggests that the continued interest in exploring the relationship between Judaism's secular and religious forms will keep the heritage alive for generations to come.

The New Jewish Diaspora is the first English-language study of nearly two million Jews who emigrated from the former Soviet Union and examines the marks they have made on the social and political terrain of the United States, Israel, and Germany. An international array of experts on the Russian-speaking Jewish diaspora from a variety of disciplines explore the diverse ways these immigrants have adapted to their new environments, and identify the common cultural bonds that continue to unite them.