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Acknowledgments
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>> ix Acknowledgments This book emerged from my work at Brandeis University’s Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies. I owe a special debt to the center’s Director, Leonard Saxe, and Distinguished Scholar, Charles Kadushin. Len and Charles supported the project throughout its various stages, as co-investigators on studies of Jewish opinion, educational tourism, and philanthropy, as partners to numerous conversations that helped me formulate the book’s argument, and as careful reviewers of the final manuscript. I also owe a debt to the rest of the Cohen Center team, for discussion of the book’s ideas, for practical assistance with data, analysis , and figures, and for serving as coauthors of many of the studies cited in the book. Thanks especially to Shahar Hecht, Michelle Shain, Mathew Boxer, Graham Wright, Deborah Grant, Masha Sud Lokshin, Annette Koren, and Fern Chertok. Nearly a decade ago, during my sabbatical in Israel, Ezra Kopelowitz and Steven M. Cohen invited me to join a faculty seminar at Hebrew University’s Institute for Advanced Studies. The seminar enabled me to make the professional transition from criminology to the study of contemporary Jewry and Israel. Over the years, Ezra became a good friend and supportive colleague and Steven a generous supporter of my work, even when it challenged some of his own. During the sabbatical , I also met Shaul Kelner and Ephraim Tabory. Both became good friends, coauthors, and intellectual sounding boards. Thanks to Ezra, Steven, Shaul, and Ephraim—and to Mala Tabory as well—for reading and commenting on the book manuscript. I had the help of several very talented research assistants. Special recognition is due to Hillel Buechler and Yael Kletter, who contributed greatly to the research on American Jewish giving to causes in Israel; Hillel also led the research on media coverage of Israel advocacy organizations . I am also grateful for the research assistance of Emily Baum, Yana Bushmelov, Benjamin Briscer, and Monica Pevzner. As a Brandeis x << Acknowledgments doctoral student and research fellow at the Cohen Center, Eitan Melchior helped me with the research on American Jewish travel to Israel. Eitan was a brilliant scholar and wonderful colleague, whose life was tragically shortened by illness. He is sorely missed. I am grateful to Jennifer Hammer at NYU Press for championing the book, and to the anonymous reviewers whose suggestions prompted me to rethink and revise parts of the manuscript. The book received indispensable practical support from my home institutions. Brandeis University ’s Cohen Center supported me during the final several months of full-time writing. The Middlebury College Faculty Professional Development Fund enabled me to make a number of research trips. Students in my Middlebury College course on Diasporas and Homelands introduced me to a wide range of case studies that helped sharpen the book’s comparative dimension. During the latter stages of this project I began working for the Mandel Foundation. My thoughts about Jewish peoplehood and the future of the Israel-diaspora relationship reflect conversations with Mandel colleagues, in particular Jehuda Reinharz, Daniel Pekarsky, and Eli Gottlieb. I have had seemingly endless conversations with colleagues and friends about the book’s core themes. For challenging my thinking— and occasionally agreeing with me—I’d like to thank David and Alisa Dolev, Sharon Cohen Anisfeld and Shimon Anisfeld, Michael and Sara Paasche-Orlow, Jon Levisohn and Emily Beck, Dan Judson and Sandy Falk, Jon Regosin and Randy Berkowitz, Perry Lessing, Robert Schine, David Mittelberg, and Eric Fleisch. Finally, I would like to thank my wife, Deborah Grant, for her encouragement and support, and my children, Aryeh, Kineret, and Asher, for not teasing me nearly as much as they would have liked about my peculiar preoccupation with American Jews and their attachment to Israel. ...