Jews have called themselves wanderers ever since Moses led them out of Egypt and into the desert thousands of years ago. The Palestinian dispersal is more recent but no less significant. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, diaspora and identity. Also, Alan Dershowitz warns that if they don't watch out, American Jews will disappear.

SEGMENT 1

Palestinian Rashid Khalidi teaches history and directs the Center for International Studies at the University of Chicago. He is the author of "The Construction of Modern National Consciousness," and tells Jim Fleming that national identities as we know them are a recent phenomenon.

SEGMENT 2:

Columbia University historian Michael Stanislawski tells Judith Strasser about the history of the Jews in Russia. Though they lived in the same places for centuries, they were never seen as "Russian" even when the Russian empire expanded to include the territory where they lived.

SEGMENT 3:

Lawyer and Harvard professor Alan Dershowitz tells Steve Paulson why he thinks that wide-spread anti-semitism has faded and why its absence poses a threat to American Jews. Dershowitz thinks Jews should develop a positive sense of self, one not based on fear of persecution. His book on the subject is "The Vanishing American Jew." Also, Pearl Abraham grew up in a Hasidic community. Her novel "The Romance Reader" is about a Hasidic child who defies her family by obtaining a library card. Abraham talks with Judith Strasser about the values and customs of the Hasidim, which can look very strange to an outsider.

Distribution dates:

• week of 04/27/97 - hour 1