Jacob Jay Lindenthal, Professor, Department of Psychiatry at Rutgers – New Jersey Medical School and creator of its MiniMed program, has long been interested in the relationship between life events and social and mental outcomes as well as ethnicity and health. He was awarded the UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School Foundation Excellence in Teaching Award in 1994 and named Faculty Member of the Year in 2005.

“Jacob Jay Lindenthal’s exploration of the historic linkage of Jews, health, and the American experience is boldly provocative. Having created a rich database to chart the disease experience of American Jews from 1874 to 1904, the author uses his data and a rich array of other sources to argue that Jews unique concern with health and healthy behaviors yielded their marked economic success following migration. His intriguing thesis should attract general readers even as it fuels rich scholarly debate among historians of American medicine, immigrant assimilation, and American Jewish life.”

• ForewordPrefaceAcknowledgementsIntroduction Chapter 1. Halacha—The Foundation of Jewish Law and LifeChapter 2. Education and Literacy: the Path to Good Health Social SupportChapter 3. Charity—Das Jüdische Herz Chapter 4. Family FirstHealth-Related BehaviorsChapter 5. Childrearing Practices and AttitudesChapter 6. Alcoholism Among the JewsHuman CapitalChapter 7. Housing and Jobs in the New World—Health Against All OddsImplicationsChapter 8. Socioeconomic Status and HealthChapter 9. Health, Culture, and Wealth Appendix IInfant MortalityMaternal MortalityMaternal AgeBirth IntervalsBreastfeeding and Infant MortalityHousing CongestionMaternal Employment During PregnancyAppendix IISources Corroborating Comparatively Low Rates of Tuberculosis Among Jews in Eastern EuropeSources Corroborating Comparatively Low Rates of Infection Among JewsSources Corroborating Comparatively Low Rates of Influenza Among JewsSources Corroborating Comparatively Low Rates of Typhoid Fever Among JewsSources Corroborating Comparatively Low Rates of Mortality Associated with Whooping Cough, Scarlet Fever, and Measles Among JewsSources Corroborating Comparatively Low Rates of Syphilis Among JewsSources Corroborating Alcohol Consumption Among Jews Appendix IIIAdditional Reading

Jacob Jay Lindenthal, Professor, Department of Psychiatry at Rutgers – New Jersey Medical School and creator of its MiniMed program, has long been interested in the relationship between life events and social and mental outcomes as well as ethnicity and health. He was awarded the UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School Foundation Excellence in Teaching Award in 1994 and named Faculty Member of the Year in 2005.

“Jacob Jay Lindenthal’s exploration of the historic linkage of Jews, health, and the American experience is boldly provocative. Having created a rich database to chart the disease experience of American Jews from 1874 to 1904, the author uses his data and a rich array of other sources to argue that Jews unique concern with health and healthy behaviors yielded their marked economic success following migration. His intriguing thesis should attract general readers even as it fuels rich scholarly debate among historians of American medicine, immigrant assimilation, and American Jewish life.”

• ForewordPrefaceAcknowledgementsIntroduction Chapter 1. Halacha—The Foundation of Jewish Law and LifeChapter 2. Education and Literacy: the Path to Good Health Social SupportChapter 3. Charity—Das Jüdische Herz Chapter 4. Family FirstHealth-Related BehaviorsChapter 5. Childrearing Practices and AttitudesChapter 6. Alcoholism Among the JewsHuman CapitalChapter 7. Housing and Jobs in the New World—Health Against All OddsImplicationsChapter 8. Socioeconomic Status and HealthChapter 9. Health, Culture, and Wealth Appendix IInfant MortalityMaternal MortalityMaternal AgeBirth IntervalsBreastfeeding and Infant MortalityHousing CongestionMaternal Employment During PregnancyAppendix IISources Corroborating Comparatively Low Rates of Tuberculosis Among Jews in Eastern EuropeSources Corroborating Comparatively Low Rates of Infection Among JewsSources Corroborating Comparatively Low Rates of Influenza Among JewsSources Corroborating Comparatively Low Rates of Typhoid Fever Among JewsSources Corroborating Comparatively Low Rates of Mortality Associated with Whooping Cough, Scarlet Fever, and Measles Among JewsSources Corroborating Comparatively Low Rates of Syphilis Among JewsSources Corroborating Alcohol Consumption Among Jews Appendix IIIAdditional Reading

Jacob Jay Lindenthal, Professor, Department of Psychiatry at Rutgers – New Jersey Medical School and creator of its MiniMed program, has long been interested in the relationship between life events and social and mental outcomes as well as ethnicity and health. He was awarded the UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School Foundation Excellence in Teaching Award in 1994 and named Faculty Member of the Year in 2005.

“Jacob Jay Lindenthal’s exploration of the historic linkage of Jews, health, and the American experience is boldly provocative. Having created a rich database to chart the disease experience of American Jews from 1874 to 1904, the author uses his data and a rich array of other sources to argue that Jews unique concern with health and healthy behaviors yielded their marked economic success following migration. His intriguing thesis should attract general readers even as it fuels rich scholarly debate among historians of American medicine, immigrant assimilation, and American Jewish life.”

• ForewordPrefaceAcknowledgementsIntroduction Chapter 1. Halacha—The Foundation of Jewish Law and LifeChapter 2. Education and Literacy: the Path to Good Health Social SupportChapter 3. Charity—Das Jüdische Herz Chapter 4. Family FirstHealth-Related BehaviorsChapter 5. Childrearing Practices and AttitudesChapter 6. Alcoholism Among the JewsHuman CapitalChapter 7. Housing and Jobs in the New World—Health Against All OddsImplicationsChapter 8. Socioeconomic Status and HealthChapter 9. Health, Culture, and Wealth Appendix IInfant MortalityMaternal MortalityMaternal AgeBirth IntervalsBreastfeeding and Infant MortalityHousing CongestionMaternal Employment During PregnancyAppendix IISources Corroborating Comparatively Low Rates of Tuberculosis Among Jews in Eastern EuropeSources Corroborating Comparatively Low Rates of Infection Among JewsSources Corroborating Comparatively Low Rates of Influenza Among JewsSources Corroborating Comparatively Low Rates of Typhoid Fever Among JewsSources Corroborating Comparatively Low Rates of Mortality Associated with Whooping Cough, Scarlet Fever, and Measles Among JewsSources Corroborating Comparatively Low Rates of Syphilis Among JewsSources Corroborating Alcohol Consumption Among Jews Appendix IIIAdditional Reading