ABSTRACT
At the beginning of the twentieth century, when European Jews constituted about 83 percent of world Jewry, Jewish thinkers posited models for the future of European Jewry. Contemporary European Jews, like those in America and in Israel, have made an historic and revolutionary gamble in defining their identity in terms that go beyond traditional religious culture and society. The Holocaust devastated European Jewry, and America and Israel have emerged as the greatest centers of contemporary Jewry. Since World War II there has been periodic assessments of the problems and prospects of European Jewry. In March 1946, at a conference in London, the American Jewish Committee (AJC) and the American Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) surveyed what remained of Europe's Jews after the Holocaust. Most community studies begin with a demographic discussion in which they explain why they are so imprecise about the Jewish population. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.
