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JEWISH BOOK ANNUAL
1810-1950,
Jerusalem/Buenos Aires, 1983). When the Inquisi
tion was abolished by the nascent Argentine Republic in 1813,
the main bar to Jewish settlement in the La Plata region was re
moved. With the enactment o f Israel’s Law o f Return in 1950,
Jewish emigration from Argentina to the new Jewish state be
came a reality. During the 140 intervening years, radical changes
took place in the attitudes o f the people o f Argentina towards im
migration in general and Jewish immigration in particular. The
book covers the main developments between these two compass
points o f Jewish migration history in Argen tina . Both
Argentinian policies and Jewish migratory behavior are
examined, and the characteristics o f this history that are specific
to Argentina are analyzed. The central questions dealt with con
cern the extent to which Argentina offered opportunities for
Jewish immigration, and the degree to which Jews made use o f
them.
DEMOGRAPH IC RESEARCH
The publications o f the Division for Jewish Demography, put
out by the Institute, cover a variety o f topics. The most recent o f
these publications, to be mentioned here, reflect only a fraction
o f the numerous studies published by this department o f the In
stitute.
In his study,
World Jewish Population
—
Regional Estimates and
Projections
(Jerusalem, 1981), U.O. Schmelz first reviews critic
ally the available estimates for the main countries. After sug
gesting a new set o f corrected totals for 1975, he shows the demo
graphic effects to be expected from the continuation o f recent
trends until the year 2000. According to the author’s estimates,
the total population o f world Jewry may decline from 12,979,000
in 1979 to between 11,789,000 and 12,941,000 in the year 2000.
Papers in J ewish Demography, 1981
(Jerusalem, 1983), edited by
U. O. Schmelz, P. Glikson and S. DellaPergola, includes tran
scripts o f thirty papers presented during the Eighth World Con
gress o f Jewish Studies. It represents, in cross-section, the “state
o f the art” in Jewish demography. Among the subtopics covered,
we can enumerate historical demography, single-country
reports, marriage, fertility, urbanization and urban ecology, Jew
ish education, identity, and community organization.
Studies in Jewish Demography. Survey fo r 1972-1980
(Jerusalem/