The Institute for Jewish & Community Research, San Francisco (IJCR) is an
independent think tank devoted to creating a safe, secure, and growing
Jewish community. We provide research to the Jewish community and the
general society, utilize our information to design and develop innovative
initiatives, and educate the general public and opinion leaders.
We mourn the July 6 passing of Dr. Gary Tobin, innovative teacher, writer, community builder, and founder of the Institute for Jewish & Community Research. Watch the video
Visit GaryTobin.org.New Initiative Director In January 2009, Kenneth L. Marcus became the new director of the Initiative to Combat Anti-Semitism and Anti-Israelism in America’s Educational Systems. He is a foremost authority in the field of civil rights and religious freedom. Mr. Marcus will advance efforts to combat anti-semitism and anti-Israel bias in colleges and universities and the misrepresentation of Jews and Israel in K-12 textbooks.
By Lynne Munson and Donald Frey Inside Higher Ed
July 21, 2009
It's a dramatic tale: Harvard is "poor," its endowment "collapsed," according to Vanity Fair magazine. Harvard isn't taking issue with this impoverished profile. In fact, the stream of leaked letters and memos pouring out of this typically proud and stoic institution seem to suggest it is unopposed to its characterization as strapped. But is it true? Is Harvard really poor?
Read on...
Fox News feature: The Trouble With Textbooks
How American Textbooks Mislead on Jews and Israel
Book Review: The Trouble with Textbooks: Distorting History and Religion
by Dr. Manfred Gerstenfeld Jewish Political Studies Review
Published July 2009
In recent years there has been increasing analysis of anti-Israeli and anti-Semitic events, as well as biased academic teaching, on American campuses. Little however is known about prejudiced teaching in high schools. Evidence of its extent is mainly anecdotal.
Read on...
Authors Warn That Many Textbooks Distort Religion
By Lauren Green
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Jesus was a Palestinian? That's what one public school textbook says.
Although Jesus lived in a region known in his time as Palestine, the use of the term "Palestinian," with its modern connotations, is among the hundreds of textbook flaws cited in a recent five-year study of educational anti-Semitism detailed in the book "The Trouble with Textbooks: Distorting History and Religion."
Authors Gary Tobin and Dennis Ybarra of the Institute for Jewish and Community Research found some 500 imperfections and distortions concerning religion in 28 of the most widely used social studies and history textbooks in the United States.
Read on...
Institute Uncovers Bias in K-12 History Textbooks By Lilly Fowler
February 25, 2009
For more than three years, Dennis Ybarra did what many schoolchildren loathe to do for even one day: He pored over textbooks.
As part of a five-year study launched by the Institute for Jewish and Community Research, an independent think tank based in San Francisco, Ybarra read 28 social studies, history and geography textbooks widely used in both public and private schools nationwide.
The Institute for Jewish and Community Research (IJCR) and The Baylor Institute for Studies of Religion recently announced a new association for a series of collaborative research projects. Senior scholars from each institute now hold reciprocal appointments that create a top team of scholars to conduct research and produce joint publications in the study of religion. Among the projects will be studies of attitudes about religion among college faculty and an extensive survey about how college students experience religion on campus. They will also engage in a multi-year study of tolerance and intolerance of different religious groups in the United States.
New Publication The UnCivil University: Intolerance on College Campuses, Revised Edition Gary A. Tobin, Aryeh K. Weinberg, and Jenna Ferer.
Publishers Weekly says, “In this alarming, well-sourced analysis, researchers for the IJCR find anti-Israel propagandists using the banner of academic freedom to intimidate, marginalize and indoctrinate...”
The Trouble with Textbooks:
Distorting History and Religion Gary A. Tobin and Dennis R. Ybarra (Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2008)
The Trouble with Textbooks sounds the alarm about how textbooks disparage some groups and teach historical distortions. Our schools are supposed to instill young people with American values and provide students with the knowledge necessary for good citizenship. Instead, textbooks are filled with mistakes and misrepresentations.
The Quad is a now a monthly publication of the Institute for Jewish & Community Research (IJCR). It includes updates on research and publications; alerts about items in the news; original commentary by scholars; and news about our partners.
The 2009 Be'chol Lashon Media Awards honor excellence in coverage of Jewish ethnic and racial diversity in print, broadcast/film, and new/emerging media. New submisions are due by February 26, 2010. Submit your work for consideration.
In Living Color By Rachel Sarah, June/July 2008, Jewish Living Magazine
Diane Kaufmann Tobin, says about her 10-year-old son, whom she adopted with her husband, Gary, "I wanted him to grow up Jewish and not have to choose between his racial and religious identities." The Tobins, both of whom are white, were determined to find a place where Jonah would feel "very at home being both Jewish and black." So, they founded San Francisco's Be'chol Lashon (In Every Tongue) program, which "grows and strengthens the Jewish people through ethnic, cultural, and racial inclusiveness." Read the June Newsletter
Rabbi Sizomu is delighted to announce the release of the new Abayudaya CD
Music has long been a motivating force for religion in Africa and has been critical to the survival of the Abayudaya community.
In Every Tongue: The Racial & Ethnic Diversity of the Jewish People by Diane Tobin, Gary A. Tobin, and Scott Rubin. (San Francisco: The Institute for Jewish & Community Research, 2005.)
In Every Tongue documents the little known racial and ethnic diversity of the Jewish people, both in the United States and around the world. The impact of the book’s findings reach far beyond the Jewish community. The increasing diversity of the Jewish people is a microcosm of larger changes afoot in American society.
In January 2009, Kenneth L. Marcus became the new director of the Initiative to Combat Anti-Semitism and Anti-Israelism in America’s Educational Systems. He is a foremost authority in the field of civil rights and religious freedom. Mr. Marcus will advance efforts to combat anti-semitism and anti-Israel bias in colleges and universities and the misrepresentation of Jews and Israel in K-12 textbooks.
Listen to Interview
2006 Independent Publisher