Steven M. Cohen and Arnold M. Eisen. The Jew Within: Self, Family and Community in America. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2000. x, 242 pp.

Abstract

Demographic studies and their findings have dominated research in to the American Jewish community since the first National Jewish Population Survey (NJPS) of 1970. When it comes to Jewish identity, both national and community-based demographic studies have been criticized for providing only superficial portraits of the character of American Jewish institutional life and being even less revelatory of the inner life of American Jews. Yet, few fiscal resources and little public notice have been given to those who sought to describe American Jews and their Judaism in depth through the use of qualitative research methods. It took Steven M. Cohen and Arnold M. Eisen, professors of sociology and religion respectively to risk the development of a theory of Jewish identity for more than 50 percent of America's adult Jewish population based on 45 in-depth interviews and two focus groups. To be sure, the authors, both highly respected and prolific scholars, set their findings against a backdrop provided by surveys mailed back by 1005 Jews. Nevertheless, it is the insights derived from the three hour interviews that are critical to the analysis. Paralleling the work of students of American Protestantism such as Robert Bellah, Wade Clark Roof, and Robert Wuthnow, Cohen and Eisen seek to decipher the inner workings of the life journeys of moderately affiliated Jews.