American Jewish Year Book

The American Jewish Year Book (AJYB), was published for 108 years. Publication was initiated by the Jewish Publication Society (JPS). In 1908 American Jewish Committee (AJC) assumed responsibility for compilation and editing while JPS remained the publisher. From 1950 through 1993 the two organizations were co-publishers, and in 1994 AJC became the sole publisher.

The American Jewish Year Book was "The Annual Record of Jewish Civilization." This volume has been a very important and prestigious annual publication because it has acted as a major resource for academic researchers, researchers at Jewish institutions and organizations, practitioners at Jewish institutions and organizations, the media, both Jewish and secular, educated leaders and lay persons, and libraries, particularly University and Jewish libraries, for up-to-date information about the American and Canadian Jewish communities. For decades, the American Jewish Year Book has been the premiere place for leading academics to publish long review chapters on topics of interest to the American Jewish community.

Publication of the American Jewish Year Book ceased with the 2008 volume, a victim of both the economic slowdown of 2008 and changes in the publishing industry.

The American Jewish Year Book will once again be published starting in 2012, in both hard copy and on the Internet, as a Springer publication. Significant monetary and institutional support are being provided by the Miller Center for Contemporary Judaic Studies at the University of Miami, the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Connecticut, the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Miami, and the Center for Judaic Studies and Contemporary Jewish Life at the University of Connecticut. The new Year Book is edited by Arnold Dashefsky of the University of Connecticut and Ira Sheskin of the University of Miami.

Part I features 5-7 major review chapters, including 2-3 long chapters reviewing topics of major concern to the American Jewish community written by top experts on each topic, review chapters on “National Affairs” and “Jewish Communal Affairs,” and articles on the Jewish population of the United States and the World Jewish Population.

Parts II-V contain a listing Jewish Federations, national Jewish organizations, Jewish periodicals, obituaries, Jewish Community Centers, Jewish Camps, Jewish Museums, Holocaust Museums, and Jewish honorees (both those honored through awards by Jewish organizations and by receiving honors, such as Presidential Medals of Freedom and Academy Awards, from the secular world). Finally, a list of major events in the North American Jewish Community over the past year is included.

The new Year Book, as a publication by academics, has added to its mission bringing the results of academic research to the Jewish communal world by adding lists of academic journals, articles in academic journals on Jewish topics, Jewish websites, and books on American and Canadian Jews.

Unlike the old Year Book, the new volume contains no articles on Jews in other countries. The Jewish calendar was also discontinued.