This comprehensive reference work contains historical sketches of over 125 national and local voluntary organizations. The articles are arranged in an A to Z format and provide information on the many philanthropic, religious, political, cultural, and social agencies that are representative of Jewish organizational life in America. An outstanding feature of this volume is the collection of essays by a group of noted scholars on major issues of American Jewish organizational life including Jewish communal responses to the needs of the elderly, the Jewish Federation Movement, the Jewish feminist movement, American Zionism, and the Soviet Jewish movement in the United States. In addition, the editor has included a valuable chronology that juxtaposes significant events in American Jewish history with the founding dates of the organizations; a listing by category and function of the agencies; and an organizational genealogy that lists the name changes and mergers undergone by each group.

The book evaluates service-learning within the context of a liberal arts education from a variety of disciplines. Contributors have written chapters that have practical appeal to other teachers and students interested in developing their own service-learning courses and connecting those courses to broader issues of citizenship and democracy.