Be'chol Lashon and the Institute for Jewish & Community Research educates both the public and policymakers through ongoing publication of books, monographs, and reports. Our writing and research focuses in these areas:

Demography and Religious Identity
The Jewish people face serious demographic challenges. It is not easy to clearly identify who is Jew and who is not. How does the Jewish community adjust to significant changes in religious belief and identity?

The Growth and Vitality of Jewish Peoplehood
Organizational, cultural and ideological barriers to growth have developed. How can the Jewish community be more positive, open and welcoming?

In Every Tongue
“The who-is-a-Jew question should be replaced by a discussion of the rich multi-dimensional character of the Jewish people. Attempts to narrowly define who is a Jew from a historical, halakhic, or genetic perspective should not distract from what as Jews-white, black, or brown, or any color-unites us: the central concern for the great revelation on Mount Sinai from which our common values ensue. We are one people. Let us be proud of our unity through the beauty of our diversity.”
-Ephraim Isaac, Ph.D., Institute of Semitic Studies, Princeton, New Jersey

Opening the Gates
“This bold and impassioned book offers a clear-headed and unfailingly perceptive analysis of the relationship between welcoming converts and a healthy Jewish future. Opening the Gates should be required reading for all concerned about the future.”
-Lawrence J. Epstein, president, Conversion to Judaism Resource Center

Rabbis Talk About Intermarriage
“Gary Tobin and Kathy Simon have placed their trained ears against the door of the rabbi's study and penetrated the whispered conversations between those who seek counsel and officiation of those who seek interfaith marriages. With empathic intelligence they examine the ambiguities and ambivalences that confront the rabbi who is torn by seemingly conflictive loyalties. Beyond sociological analysis, the authors propose programs, strategies and attitudes worthy of serious consideration at Rabbinical Seminaries, Synagogue Institutions and concerned laity. I have profited much from the comprehensiveness and lucidity of this important book.”
-Rabbi Harold M. Schulweis, Rabbi, Valley Beth Shalom, author of For Those Who Can't Believe

"The Journal of Jewish Communal Service
America is a vast marketplace of culture. As rapid technological innovation erodes barriers between communities, religious, ethnic, racial, and ideological lines are becoming increasingly permeable. Young people are growing up with unlimited access to information and are discovering a unprecedented sense of agency in the development of their identities (Pew Research Center, 2010). Though America has always been multicultural in the aggregate, today diversity is redefining identity at the community, family, and individual level. The choices made by individual Jews and their families present a challenge—to create a positive vision of the Jewish future that transcends differences is races, ethnicity, geography, class, ritual practice, and beliefs." Subscriptions and orders are available at:







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