American Jewry and the Oslo years
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2013-06-11
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Towson University. Jewish Studies Program
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There are no restrictions on access to this document. An internet release form signed by the author to display this document online is on file with Towson University Special Collections and Archives.
There are no restrictions on access to this document. An internet release form signed by the author to display this document online is on file with Towson University Special Collections and Archives.
Abstract
By the early 1990s the themes binding American Jewish life were experiencing irrevocable change. Formal emigration and religious barriers for Jews in the former Soviet Union had ended. The task of commemorating the Holocaust was entrenched. Finally, the 1993 Israeli-PLO signing of the Olso Accords seriously challenged American Jewry's unity in politically defending an embattled Israel. Meanwhile, mounting internal American Jewish communal concerns included confronting intermarriage, declining Jewish identity measurements, and rising tensions between Orthodox and non-Orthodox Jews over Israeli government attempts to redefine the "Who is a Jew?" issue. At the same time, membership groups declined, the influence of "mega-donors" rose, and the sense being in a collective community weakened. By the end of the Oslo period and the start of the Second Intifada, American Jewish groups quickly again rushed to defend Israel, but they found an overall smaller, less interested and more divided community than in the past.