Absorbing Jews Jewishly: Professional Responsibility for Jewishly Absorbing New Immigrants in Their New Communities

Publication Date: January 1990

Publisher: Conference of Jewish Communal Service (U.S.)

Author(s): Joel M. Carp

Research Area: Culture and religion; Population and demographics

Keywords: Soviet Jewry; Immigration; Jewish Outreach

Type: Report

Coverage: United States

Abstract:

Achieving the long-term goal of Jewish community linkage and participation by Soviet Jews is a difficult but doable task, requiring the development and implementation of sensitively designed Jewish acculturation programs. Yet, many studies reveal that Soviet Jews who come to the United States are receptive to Jewish identity-enhancing experiences, and this receptivity should be even more evident among the current wave of émigrés who have been exposed to the Jewish cultural movement in the Soviet Union. Principles around which acculturation programs should be designed can be derived both from research studies on acculturation and our experiences in resettling the first wave of émigrés.