Betty N. Hoffman is Adjunct Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Central Connecticut State University, Adjunct Instructor of Anthropology and Social Science at Saint Joseph College, and Project Director of Witness to War: 1941–1945: The Soviet Jewish Experience at the Jewish Historical Society of Greater Hartford.

"The book provides detailed accounts of various aspects of life in the former U.S.S.R. and the adjustment process in the U. S., especially Hartford. It provides a good background as to how changes in both Russia and America affected the 'old' East European American Jewish community and the ex-Soviet 'New Americans.' " — Walter P. Zenner, editor of Persistence and Flexibility: Anthropological Perspectives on the American Jewish Experience

• LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS INTRODUCTION Definitions and DemographicsRussian JewsSoviet JewsAmerican JewsSources of Information"The Literature"Theoretical Analysis in a Complex World PART I. THE TRANSFORMATION OF JEWISH LIFE IN TWO CONTEXTS, 1881-1970 1. The Old Country Ethnicity and Anti-Semitism: Critical BoundariesAssassinationPolitics and PowerReligion and Ideology: The Basis for Social CohesionEducationEconomic Production under Anti-Semitic PressureWar, Chaos, and ChangeRevolution 2. The Search for a Niche in the Soviet World New Incentives, New Constraints, and Anti-SemitismThe Consolidation of Communist PowerThe Decimation of Religious Practice: Silence as a StrategyEducation for the New EconomyThe Great Patriotic War: The Decimation of the JewsDiscrimination at Home, Support for Israel AbroadStalin's Final TerrorThe Post-Stalin EraThe Six Day WarBeyond Silence: Moving toward a Positive Jewish Ethnicity 3. Die Goldene Medine: The Golden Land Hartford: The Challenge of the New WorldYiddishkeit in Hartford: The Immigrant NeighborhoodAdapting to the Hartford Political SystemReligious Practice: The Defining Ethnic MarkerKinship and Social StructureEducation and Americanization: New Secular TrendsSearching for Economic SecurityThe Beginning of Immigration Restriction 4. The Consolidation of the Hartford Community The Area of Second SettlementThe Depression and Anti-Semitism: Limiting the RefugeesWorld War II and the Aftermath"Transitions in the Postwar PeriodThe Six Day War: The American Jewish Response"Save Soviet Jewry" PART II. EGYPT AND THE EXODUS, 1990-1984 5. Egypt Shifting IdentitiesEnduring Daily Life in the U.S.S.R.The Politicization of Soviet Jewry 6. Jewish Identity Ethnic AmbivalenceRemnants of BehaviorAccepting Ethnic Identity and Shifting to Action 7. Ethnicity: In the Community, at School, and at Work Remnants of Jewish CommunityShrinking Educational Opportunities for the ChildrenThe Threat of Economic Limitations for the Children 8. The Exodus Breaking Old PatternsGathering Courage and InformationEmigration: Moving through the ProcessA Soviet Jewish Analysis of RefusalWandering in the Wilderness: The Transition PART III. THE PROMISED LAND, 1975-1984 9. Selecting New Strategies for the New World Hartford: The New ContextInitial Preoccupations: Interpreting the AlternativesThe Volunteers: A Personal Invitation to Jewish Community 10. Incorporating New Variables Education: Making Critical Choices for the ChildrenEconomic Production: Encountering the Capitalist SystemAlternatives in Economic Production 11. Involvement with Community Life Kinship and Personal ContactsSocial Structure and Community"American Politics Is One of the Best Entertainments" 12. Religion and Identity in the Promised Land Initial ExpectationsReported Jewish BehaviorsExpressions of Jewish IdentityThe AffiliatedThe Unaffiliated with "Jewish Hearts"Rejecting Ascription"There is Judaism in Us So Deep Inside That, When It Matters, It Comes Out; but When It Doesn't, It's Buried" CONCLUSION Who Am I?Where Do I Fit into This New World?What Does It Mean to Be a Jew Now? NOTES SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY INDEX