ABSTRACT
Between "American Jewry" and "American Judaism" there exists a peculiar tension of which most American Jews, the author believes, are not aware. By "Jewry" he means simply the total body of American Jews and everything they do and stand for. American Jews are predominantly businessmen and professionals; their children overwhelmingly go to college; they are concentrated geographically in major cities and retire very often to Florida; their average income is high; and they vote Democratic, and even when they vote Republican they vote for liberal Republican politicians. By "Judaism" he refers to something more specific: the religion of the Jews, not just any religion that Jews, defined by descent, practice but a historical complex, one that has evolved and become different things at different times and that is still evolving, but that can be transformed to the point where, although it may still be the religion of Jews or of Jewry, it is no longer Judaism.
