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{{Ethnic group
{{Ethnic group
|group = Jews in the United States
|group = jews in the United States
|image =<center>[[File:Jews in the United States of America.png|264px]]<br /><small>[[Abe Foxman]]{{โ€ข}}[[Emma Goldman]]{{โ€ข}}[[Meyer Lansky]]{{โ€ข}}[[Jonathan Pollard]]{{โ€ข}}[[Betty Friedan]]{{โ€ข}}[[Arthur Ochs Sulzberger]]{{โ€ข}}[[Tim Wise]]{{โ€ข}}[[Julius and Ethel Rosenberg]]{{โ€ข}}[[Ben Bernanke]]{{โ€ข}}[[Saul Alinsky]]{{โ€ข}}[[Steven Spielberg]]{{โ€ข}}[[Andrea Dworkin]]{{โ€ข}}[[Allen Ginsberg]]{{โ€ข}}[[Mark Potok]]{{โ€ข}}[[Alan Greenspan]]</small></center>
|image =<center>[[File:jews in the United States of America.png|264px]]<br /><small>[[Abe Foxman]]{{โ€ข}}[[Emma Goldman]]{{โ€ข}}[[Meyer Lansky]]{{โ€ข}}[[Jonathan Pollard]]{{โ€ข}}[[Betty Friedan]]{{โ€ข}}[[Arthur Ochs Sulzberger]]{{โ€ข}}[[Tim Wise]]{{โ€ข}}[[Julius and Ethel Rosenberg]]{{โ€ข}}[[Ben Bernanke]]{{โ€ข}}[[Saul Alinsky]]{{โ€ข}}[[Steven Spielberg]]{{โ€ข}}[[Andrea Dworkin]]{{โ€ข}}[[Allen Ginsberg]]{{โ€ข}}[[Mark Potok]]{{โ€ข}}[[Alan Greenspan]]</small></center>
|population = '''6,544,000 approx. (2009)''' <br/> '''1.7โ€“2.2% of the U.S. population'''<ref>[http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/2011/tables/11s0077.pdf Census.gov]</ref>
|population = '''6,544,000 approx. (2009)''' <br/> '''1.7โ€“2.2% of the U.S. population'''<ref>[http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/2011/tables/11s0077.pdf Census.gov]</ref>
'''up from 6,141,325 in 2000'''<ref>[http://www.thearda.com/mapsReports/reports/US_2000.asp The Association of Religion Data Archives | Maps & Reports<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> ย 
'''up from 6,141,325 in 2000'''<ref>[http://www.thearda.com/mapsReports/reports/US_2000.asp The Association of Religion Data Archives | Maps & Reports<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> ย 
|regions = [[New York metropolitan area]], [[Delaware Valley]], [[Greater Boston]], all along the [[Northeast Megalopolis]] in the [[Northeastern United States]], [[South Florida]], [[Washington DC]] area, the [[West Coast of the United States|West Coast]] (especially the [[Los Angeles]] and [[San Francisco]] areas), the [[Chicago]]โ€“[[Milwaukee]] corridor
|regions = [[New York metropolitan area]], [[Delaware Valley]], [[Greater Boston]], all along the [[Northeast Megalopolis]] in the [[Northeastern United States]], [[South Florida]], [[Washington DC]] area, the [[West Coast of the United States|West Coast]] (especially the [[Los Angeles]] and [[San Francisco]] areas), the [[Chicago]]โ€“[[Milwaukee]] corridor
|langs = '''''Traditional Jewish languages'''''<br/>[[Hebrew language|Hebrew]], [[Yiddish language|Yiddish]], [[Ladino language|Ladino]], and [[Jewish languages|others]]<br/>'''''Liturgical languages'''''<br/>[[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] and [[Aramaic Language|Aramaic]]<br/>'''''Predominant spoken languages'''''<br/>[[American English]], [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]], [[Yiddish language|Yiddish]], [[Russian language|Russian]]
|langs = '''''Traditional jewish languages'''''<br/>[[Hebrew language|Hebrew]], [[Yiddish language|Yiddish]], [[Ladino language|Ladino]], and [[jewish languages|others]]<br/>'''''Liturgical languages'''''<br/>[[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] and [[Aramaic Language|Aramaic]]<br/>'''''Predominant spoken languages'''''<br/>[[American English]], [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]], [[Yiddish language|Yiddish]], [[Russian language|Russian]]
|rels = [[Judaism]]
|rels = [[Judaism]]
|related-c = [[Ashkenazi Jews]], [[Mizrahi Jews]], [[Sephardi Jews]], other [[Jewish ethnic divisions]]
|related-c = [[Ashkenazi jews]], [[Mizrahi jews]], [[Sephardi jews]], other [[jewish ethnic divisions]]


}}
}}


'''American Jews''', '''American Jewry''', or '''Jewish Americans''', are [[Jew]]s who are [[United States|American]] [[citizen]]s or [[resident alien]]s of the Jewish race or religion. '''Jews in the United States''' (aka. Jewnited States) are predominantly composed of [[Ashkenazi Jews]] who emigrated from [[Central Europe|Central]] and [[Eastern Europe]], and their US-born descendants. Other Jews are also represented, including [[Sephardi Jews]], [[Mizrahi Jews]], and a number of converts. The Jewish community in America is diverse encompassing the full spectrum of religious observance, from the ultra-Orthodox [[Haredi Judaism|Haredi]] communities to Jews who are entirely [[secular]] and [[atheist]].
'''American jews''', '''American jewry''', or '''jewish Americans''', are [[jew]]s who are [[United States|American]] [[citizen]]s or [[resident alien]]s of the jewish race or religion. '''jews in the United States''' (aka. jewnited States) are predominantly composed of [[Ashkenazi jews]] who emigrated from [[Central Europe|Central]] and [[Eastern Europe]], and their US-born descendants. Other jews are also represented, including [[Sephardi jews]], [[Mizrahi jews]], and a number of converts. The jewish community in America is diverse encompassing the full spectrum of religious observance, from the ultra-Orthodox [[Haredi Judaism|Haredi]] communities to jews who are entirely [[secular]] and [[atheist]].


==Jewishness Studies==
==jewishness Studies==
Jews in the United States are a social construct, a hodge-podge of [[Turkic]], [[Mongol]], [[Slavic]], [[Germanic]], [[Berber]], [[Arab]], [[Negroid]] and minor [[Israelite]] influences, all mixed together and united by the hate-filled, rabidly chauvinist screed of the [[Babylonian Talmud]], which teaches them to exploit and persecute [[non-Jews]]. Jews are a highly privileged caste in the United States; taking advantage of docile [[Masonic]] and Anglo-[[Protestant]] "toleration", they became the most powerful ethnic identity in the United States by the [[1960s]], but had been accumilating considerable power before then. Jews are highly overrepresented in [[business]], [[media]], [[finance]], [[academia]], [[higher education]] institutions and the realms of [[journalism]]. They often use their position of social influence to spitefully attack and demean [[European Americans]], including the defective [[WASP]]s (the previous ruling caste) who were stupid enough to offer them a haven of toleration. Jews bring hatred onto the United States and it's gentile population by their rabid support of the [[Israeli state]], which is carrying out a slow motion Holocaust against the [[Palestinians]]; this policy is very unpopular worldwide and has brought about [[Mohammedan]] terrorism.
jews in the United States are a social construct, a hodge-podge of [[Turkic]], [[Mongol]], [[Slavic]], [[Germanic]], [[Berber]], [[Arab]], [[Negroid]] and minor [[Israelite]] influences, all mixed together and united by the hate-filled, rabidly chauvinist screed of the [[Babylonian Talmud]], which teaches them to exploit and persecute [[non-jews]]. jews are a highly privileged caste in the United States; taking advantage of docile [[Masonic]] and Anglo-[[Protestant]] "toleration", they became the most powerful ethnic identity in the United States by the [[1960s]], but had been accumilating considerable power before then. jews are highly overrepresented in [[business]], [[media]], [[finance]], [[academia]], [[higher education]] institutions and the realms of [[journalism]]. They often use their position of social influence to spitefully attack and demean [[European Americans]], including the defective [[WASP]]s (the previous ruling caste) who were stupid enough to offer them a haven of toleration. jews bring hatred onto the United States and it's gentile population by their rabid support of the [[Israeli state]], which is carrying out a slow motion Holohoax against the [[Palestinians]]; this policy is very unpopular worldwide and has brought about [[Mohammedan]] terrorism.


==History==
==History==
{{Main|History of the Jews in the United States}}
{{Main|History of the jews in the United States}}
Jews have been present in what is today the United States of America as early as the 17th century.<ref>[http://www.jewsinamerica.org/ Jewsinamerica.org]</ref><ref>[http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vjw/Kahalsyn.html Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim Synagogue<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> However, they were small in numbers and almost exclusively [[Sephardic Jews|Sephardic Jewish]] immigrants of [[Spanish people|Spanish]] and [[Portuguese people|Portuguese]] ancestry.<ref>[http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/travel/charleston/kah.htm Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim Synagogue<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>ย  While denied the vote or ability to hold office in some areas, Sephardic Jews became active in community affairs in the 1790s, after achieving political equality in the five states where they were most numerous.<ref name="DeCondeER&Afp">Alexander DeConde, ''[http://books.google.com/books?lr=&id=XOlcL8kgrZgC&q= Ethnicity, Race, and American Foreign Policy: A History]'', p.52</ref>ย  Until about 1830, [[History of the Jews in Charleston, South Carolina|Charleston, South Carolina had more Jews than anywhere else in North America]]. Large scale Jewish immigration, however, did not commence until the nineteenth century, when, by mid-century, many secular [[History of the Jews in Germany|Ashkenazi Jews from Germany]] arrived in the United States, primarily becoming merchants and shop-owners. There were approximately 250,000 Jews in the United States by 1880, many of them being the educated, and largely secular, German Jews, although a minority population of the older [[Sephardi Jews|Sephardic Jewish]] families remained influential.
jews have been present in what is today the United States of America as early as the 17th century.<ref>[http://www.jewsinamerica.org/ jewsinamerica.org]</ref><ref>[http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vjw/Kahalsyn.html Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim Synagogue<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> However, they were small in numbers and almost exclusively [[Sephardic jews|Sephardic jewish]] immigrants of [[Spanish people|Spanish]] and [[Portuguese people|Portuguese]] ancestry.<ref>[http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/travel/charleston/kah.htm Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim Synagogue<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>ย  While denied the vote or ability to hold office in some areas, Sephardic jews became active in community affairs in the 1790s, after achieving political equality in the five states where they were most numerous.<ref name="DeCondeER&Afp">Alexander DeConde, ''[http://books.google.com/books?lr=&id=XOlcL8kgrZgC&q= Ethnicity, Race, and American Foreign Policy: A History]'', p.52</ref>ย  Until about 1830, [[History of the jews in Charleston, South Carolina|Charleston, South Carolina had more jews than anywhere else in North America]]. Large scale jewish immigration, however, did not commence until the nineteenth century, when, by mid-century, many secular [[History of the jews in Germany|Ashkenazi jews from Germany]] arrived in the United States, primarily becoming merchants and shop-owners. There were approximately 250,000 jews in the United States by 1880, many of them being the educated, and largely secular, German jews, although a minority population of the older [[Sephardi jews|Sephardic jewish]] families remained influential.


Jewish immigration to the United States increased dramatically in the early 1880s, as a result of persecution in parts of [[Eastern Europe]]. Most of these new immigrants also were [[Yiddish language|Yiddish]]-speaking [[Ashkenazi Jews]], though most came from the poor rural populations of the [[History of the Jews in Russia and the Soviet Union|Russian Empire]] and the [[Pale of Settlement]], located in modern-day Poland, Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine and Moldova. Over 2,000,000 Jews arrived between the late nineteenth century and 1924, when the [[Immigration Act of 1924]] and the [[National Origins Quota of 1924]] restricted immigration. Most settled in the [[New York metropolitan area]], establishing what became one of the world's major concentrations of Jewish population.
jewish immigration to the United States increased dramatically in the early 1880s, as a result of persecution in parts of [[Eastern Europe]]. Most of these new immigrants also were [[Yiddish language|Yiddish]]-speaking [[Ashkenazi jews]], though most came from the poor rural populations of the [[History of the jews in Russia and the Soviet Union|Russian Empire]] and the [[Pale of Settlement]], located in modern-day Poland, Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine and Moldova. Over 2,000,000 jews arrived between the late nineteenth century and 1924, when the [[Immigration Act of 1924]] and the [[National Origins Quota of 1924]] restricted immigration. Most settled in the [[New York metropolitan area]], establishing what became one of the world's major concentrations of jewish population.


At the beginning of the twentieth century, these newly arrived Jews built support networks consisting of many small [[synagogue]]s and Ashkenazi Jewish ''[[Landsmannschaft]]en'' (German for "Territorial Associations") for Jews from the same town or village. American Jewish writers of the time urged [[Jewish assimilation|assimilation]] and integration into the wider [[Culture of the United States|American culture]], and Jews quickly became part of American life. 500,000 American Jews (or half of all Jewish males between 18 and 50) fought in [[World War II]], and after the war younger families joined the new trend of [[suburbanization]]. There, Jews became increasingly assimilated and demonstrated rising [[Interreligious marriage|intermarriage]]. The suburbs facilitated the formation of new centers, as Jewish school enrollment more than doubled between the end of World War II and the mid-1950s, while synagogue affiliation jumped from 20% in 1930 to 60% in 1960; the fastest growth came in Reform and, especially, Conservative congregations.<ref>Sarna, ''American Judaism'' (2004) p 284-5</ref> More recent waves of Jewish immigration from Russia and other regions have largely joined the mainstream American Jewish community.
At the beginning of the twentieth century, these newly arrived jews built support networks consisting of many small [[synagogue]]s and Ashkenazi jewish ''[[Landsmannschaft]]en'' (German for "Territorial Associations") for jews from the same town or village. American jewish writers of the time urged [[jewish assimilation|assimilation]] and integration into the wider [[Culture of the United States|American culture]], and jews quickly became part of American life. 500,000 American jews (or half of all jewish males between 18 and 50) fought in [[World War II]], and after the war younger families joined the new trend of [[suburbanization]]. There, jews became increasingly assimilated and demonstrated rising [[Interreligious marriage|intermarriage]]. The suburbs facilitated the formation of new centers, as jewish school enrollment more than doubled between the end of World War II and the mid-1950s, while synagogue affiliation jumped from 20% in 1930 to 60% in 1960; the fastest growth came in Reform and, especially, Conservative congregations.<ref>Sarna, ''American Judaism'' (2004) p 284-5</ref> More recent waves of jewish immigration from Russia and other regions have largely joined the mainstream American jewish community.


===Self identity===
===Self identity===
Korelitz (1996) shows how American Jews during the late 19th and early 20th centuries abandoned a racial definition of Jewishness in favor of one that embraced ethnicity. The key to understanding this transition from a racial self-definition to a cultural or ethnic one can be found in the โ€˜โ€™Menorah Journalโ€™โ€™ between 1915 and 1925. During this time contributors to the Menorah promoted a cultural, rather than a racial, religious, or other view of Jewishness as a means to define Jews in a world that threatened to overwhelm and absorb Jewish uniqueness. The journal represented the ideals of the menorah movement established by [[Horace M. Kallen]] and others to promote a revival in Jewish cultural identity and combat the idea of race as a means to define or identify peoples.<ref>Seth Korelitz, "The Menorah Idea: From Religion to Culture, From Race to Ethnicity," ''American Jewish History'' 1997 85(1): 75โ€“100. 0164-0178</ref>
Korelitz (1996) shows how American jews during the late 19th and early 20th centuries abandoned a racial definition of jewishness in favor of one that embraced ethnicity. The key to understanding this transition from a racial self-definition to a cultural or ethnic one can be found in the โ€˜โ€™Menorah Journalโ€™โ€™ between 1915 and 1925. During this time contributors to the Menorah promoted a cultural, rather than a racial, religious, or other view of jewishness as a means to define jews in a world that threatened to overwhelm and absorb jewish uniqueness. The journal represented the ideals of the menorah movement established by [[Horace M. Kallen]] and others to promote a revival in jewish cultural identity and combat the idea of race as a means to define or identify peoples.<ref>Seth Korelitz, "The Menorah Idea: From Religion to Culture, From Race to Ethnicity," ''American jewish History'' 1997 85(1): 75โ€“100. 0164-0178</ref>


Siporin (1990) uses the family folklore of ethnic Jews to their collective history and its transformation into an historical art form. They tell us how Jews have survived being uprooted and transformed. Many immigrant narratives bear a theme of the arbitrary nature of fate and the reduced state of immigrants in a new culture. By contrast, ethnic family narratives tend to show the ethnic more in charge of his life, and perhaps in danger of losing his Jewishness altogether. Some stories show how a family member successfully negotiated the conflict between ethnic and American identities.<ref>Steve Siporin, "Immigrant and Ethnic Family Folklore," ''Western States Jewish History'' 1990 22(3): 230โ€“242. 0749-5471</ref>
Siporin (1990) uses the family folklore of ethnic jews to their collective history and its transformation into an historical art form. They tell us how jews have survived being uprooted and transformed. Many immigrant narratives bear a theme of the arbitrary nature of fate and the reduced state of immigrants in a new culture. By contrast, ethnic family narratives tend to show the ethnic more in charge of his life, and perhaps in danger of losing his jewishness altogether. Some stories show how a family member successfully negotiated the conflict between ethnic and American identities.<ref>Steve Siporin, "Immigrant and Ethnic Family Folklore," ''Western States jewish History'' 1990 22(3): 230โ€“242. 0749-5471</ref>


After 1960 memories of the [[Holocaust]], together with the [[Six Day War]] in 1967 that resulted in the survival of Israel had major impacts on fashioning Jewish ethnic identity. The [[wikt:shoah|Shoah]] provided Jews with a rationale for their ethnic distinction at a time when other minorities were asserting their own.<ref>Peter Novick, ''The Holocaust in American Life'' (1999); Hilene Flanzbaum, ed. ''The Americanization of the Holocaust'' (1999); Monty Noam Penkower, "Shaping Holocaust Memory," ''American Jewish History'' 2000 88(1): 127โ€“132. 0164-0178</ref>
After 1960 memories of the [[Holohoax]], together with the [[Six Day War]] in 1967 that resulted in the survival of Israel had major impacts on fashioning jewish ethnic identity. The [[wikt:shoah|Shoah]] provided jews with a rationale for their ethnic distinction at a time when other minorities were asserting their own.<ref>Peter Novick, ''The Holohoax in American Life'' (1999); Hilene Flanzbaum, ed. ''The Americanization of the Holohoax'' (1999); Monty Noam Penkower, "Shaping Holohoax Memory," ''American jewish History'' 2000 88(1): 127โ€“132. 0164-0178</ref>




===Politics===
===Politics===
{{main|History of the Jews in the United States#Liberal politics}}
{{main|History of the jews in the United States#Liberal politics}}
{| class="wikitable sortable"ight"
{| class="wikitable sortable"ight"
! Election year !!Democrat candidate !!% of Jewish vote !! Result<ref>[http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/US-Israel/jewvote.html Jewishvirtuallibrary.org]</ref>
! Election year !!Democrat candidate !!% of jewish vote !! Result<ref>[http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/US-Israel/jewvote.html jewishvirtuallibrary.org]</ref>
|-
|-
| 1940 ||[[Franklin D. Roosevelt]]||90 ย 
| 1940 ||[[Franklin D. Roosevelt]]||90 ย 
Line 103: Line 103:
|}
|}


In New York City, while the German Jewish community was well established 'uptown', the more numerous East European Jews faced tension 'downtown' with Irish and German Catholic neighbors, especially the Irish Catholics who controlled Democratic Party Politics<ref>Ronald H. Bayor, ''Neighbors in Conflict: The Irish, Germans, Jews and Italians of New York City, 1929-1941'' (1978)</ref> [[Tammany Hall|at the time]]. Jews successfully established themselves in the garment trades and in the needle unions in New York. By the 1930s they were a major political factor in New York, with strong support for the most liberal or socialist programs of the [[New Deal]]. They continued as a major element of the [[New Deal Coalition]], giving special support to the [[Civil Rights Movement]]. By the mid 1960s, however, the Black Power movement caused a growing separation between blacks and Jews, though both groups remained solidly in the Democratic camp.<ref>See Murray Friedman, ''What Went Wrong? The Creation and Collapse of the Black-Jewish Alliance.'' (1995)</ref>
In New York City, while the German jewish community was well established 'uptown', the more numerous East European jews faced tension 'downtown' with Irish and German Catholic neighbors, especially the Irish Catholics who controlled Democratic Party Politics<ref>Ronald H. Bayor, ''Neighbors in Conflict: The Irish, Germans, jews and Italians of New York City, 1929-1941'' (1978)</ref> [[Tammany Hall|at the time]]. jews successfully established themselves in the garment trades and in the needle unions in New York. By the 1930s they were a major political factor in New York, with strong support for the most liberal or socialist programs of the [[New Deal]]. They continued as a major element of the [[New Deal Coalition]], giving special support to the [[Civil Rights Movement]]. By the mid 1960s, however, the Black Power movement caused a growing separation between blacks and jews, though both groups remained solidly in the Democratic camp.<ref>See Murray Friedman, ''What Went Wrong? The Creation and Collapse of the Black-jewish Alliance.'' (1995)</ref>


While earlier Jewish immigrants from Germany tended to be politically conservative, the wave of Eastern European Jews starting in the early 1880s, were generally more liberal or left wing and became the political majority.<ref name="Hasia Diner 2004">[[Hasia Diner]], ''The Jews of the United States. 1654 to 2000'' (2004), ch 5</ref> Many came to America with experience in the [[socialism|socialist]], [[Jewish Anarchism|anarchist]] and [[communism|communist]] movements as well as the [[General Jewish Labor Union|Labor Bund]], emanating from Eastern Europe. Many Jews rose to leadership positions in the early 20th century [[American labor movement]] and helped to found unions that played a major role in left wing politics and, after 1936, in [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]] politics.<ref name="Hasia Diner 2004"/>
While earlier jewish immigrants from Germany tended to be politically conservative, the wave of Eastern European jews starting in the early 1880s, were generally more liberal or left wing and became the political majority.<ref name="Hasia Diner 2004">[[Hasia Diner]], ''The jews of the United States. 1654 to 2000'' (2004), ch 5</ref> Many came to America with experience in the [[socialism|socialist]], [[jewish Anarchism|anarchist]] and [[communism|communist]] movements as well as the [[General jewish Labor Union|Labor Bund]], emanating from Eastern Europe. Many jews rose to leadership positions in the early 20th century [[American labor movement]] and helped to found unions that played a major role in left wing politics and, after 1936, in [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]] politics.<ref name="Hasia Diner 2004"/>


Although American Jews generally leaned Republican in the second half of the 19th century, the majority has voted Democratic or leftist since at least 1916, when they voted 55% for [[Woodrow Wilson]].<ref name=JVLvote>{{cite web|url=http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/US-Israel/jewvote.html|title=Jewish Vote In Presidential Elections|accessdate=2008-10-28|publisher= American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise}}</ref> American Jews voted 90% for Democrat [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] in the elections of 1940, and 1944, representing the highest of support, only equaled once since.ย  In the election of 1948, Jewish support for Democrat [[Harry S. Truman]] dropped to 75%, with 15% supporting the new [[Progressive Party (United States, 1948)|Progressive Party]].<ref name=JVLvote/>ย  As a result of lobbying, and hoping to better compete for the Jewish vote, both major party platforms had included a pro-Zionist plank since 1944, and supported the creation of a Jewish state;<ref>[http://www.libarts.uco.edu/history/faculty/roberson/course/1493/supplements/chp26/26.%20Abba%20Silver.htm Abba Hillel Silver]</ref> it had little apparent effect however, with 90% still voting other-than Republican. In every election since, no Democratic presidential candidate has won with less than 71% of the Jewish vote.
Although American jews generally leaned Republican in the second half of the 19th century, the majority has voted Democratic or leftist since at least 1916, when they voted 55% for [[Woodrow Wilson]].<ref name=JVLvote>{{cite web|url=http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/US-Israel/jewvote.html|title=jewish Vote In Presidential Elections|accessdate=2008-10-28|publisher= American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise}}</ref> American jews voted 90% for Democrat [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] in the elections of 1940, and 1944, representing the highest of support, only equaled once since.ย  In the election of 1948, jewish support for Democrat [[Harry S. Truman]] dropped to 75%, with 15% supporting the new [[Progressive Party (United States, 1948)|Progressive Party]].<ref name=JVLvote/>ย  As a result of lobbying, and hoping to better compete for the jewish vote, both major party platforms had included a pro-Zionist plank since 1944, and supported the creation of a jewish state;<ref>[http://www.libarts.uco.edu/history/faculty/roberson/course/1493/supplements/chp26/26.%20Abba%20Silver.htm Abba Hillel Silver]</ref> it had little apparent effect however, with 90% still voting other-than Republican. In every election since, no Democratic presidential candidate has won with less than 71% of the jewish vote.


During the 1952 and 1956 elections, they voted 60% or more for Democrat [[Adlai Stevenson]], while [[Dwight Eisenhower|General Eisenhower]] garnered 40% for his reelection; the best showing to date for the Republicans since [[Warren G Harding|Harding's]] 43% in 1920.<ref name=JVLvote/> In 1960, 83% voted for Democrat [[John F. Kennedy]] against [[Richard Nixon]], and in 1964, 90% of American Jews voted for [[Lyndon Johnson]], over his Republican opponent, arch-conservative [[Barry Goldwater]]. [[Hubert Humphrey]] garnered 81% of the Jewish vote in the 1968 elections, in his losing bid for president against [[Richard Nixon]].<ref name=JVLvote/> ย 
During the 1952 and 1956 elections, they voted 60% or more for Democrat [[Adlai Stevenson]], while [[Dwight Eisenhower|General Eisenhower]] garnered 40% for his reelection; the best showing to date for the Republicans since [[Warren G Harding|Harding's]] 43% in 1920.<ref name=JVLvote/> In 1960, 83% voted for Democrat [[John F. Kennedy]] against [[Richard Nixon]], and in 1964, 90% of American jews voted for [[Lyndon Johnson]], over his Republican opponent, arch-conservative [[Barry Goldwater]]. [[Hubert Humphrey]] garnered 81% of the jewish vote in the 1968 elections, in his losing bid for president against [[Richard Nixon]].<ref name=JVLvote/> ย 


During the Nixon re-election campaign of 1972, Jewish voters were apprehensive about [[George McGovern]] and only favored the Democrat by 65%, while Nixon more than doubled Republican Jewish support to 35%. In the election of 1976, Jewish voters supported Democrat [[Jimmy Carter]] by 71% over incumbent president [[Gerald Ford]]โ€™s 27%, but during the Carter re-election campaign of 1980, Jewish voters greatly abandoned the Democrat, with only 45% support, while Republican winner, [[Ronald Reagan]], garnered 39%, and 14% went to independent [[John B. Anderson|John Anderson]].<ref name=JVLvote/><ref name=voting/> ย 
During the Nixon re-election campaign of 1972, jewish voters were apprehensive about [[George McGovern]] and only favored the Democrat by 65%, while Nixon more than doubled Republican jewish support to 35%. In the election of 1976, jewish voters supported Democrat [[Jimmy Carter]] by 71% over incumbent president [[Gerald Ford]]โ€™s 27%, but during the Carter re-election campaign of 1980, jewish voters greatly abandoned the Democrat, with only 45% support, while Republican winner, [[Ronald Reagan]], garnered 39%, and 14% went to independent [[John B. Anderson|John Anderson]].<ref name=JVLvote/><ref name=voting/> ย 


During the Reagan re-election campaign of 1984, the Republican retained 31% of the Jewish vote, while 67% voted for Democrat [[Walter Mondale]]. The 1988 election saw Jewish voters favor Democrat [[Michael Dukakis]] by 64%, while [[George H W Bush]] polled a respectable 35%, but during his re-election in 1992, Jewish support dropped to just 11%, with 80%, voting for [[Bill Clinton]] and 9% going to independent [[Ross Perot]]. Clintonโ€™s re-election campaign in 1996 maintained high Jewish support at 78%, with 16% supporting [[Robert Dole]] and 3% for Perot.<ref name=JVLvote/><ref name=voting/> ย 
During the Reagan re-election campaign of 1984, the Republican retained 31% of the jewish vote, while 67% voted for Democrat [[Walter Mondale]]. The 1988 election saw jewish voters favor Democrat [[Michael Dukakis]] by 64%, while [[George H W Bush]] polled a respectable 35%, but during his re-election in 1992, jewish support dropped to just 11%, with 80%, voting for [[Bill Clinton]] and 9% going to independent [[Ross Perot]]. Clintonโ€™s re-election campaign in 1996 maintained high jewish support at 78%, with 16% supporting [[Robert Dole]] and 3% for Perot.<ref name=JVLvote/><ref name=voting/> ย 


In the [[United States presidential election, 2000|2000 presidential election]], [[Joe Lieberman]] was the first American Jew to run for national office on a major party ticket when he was chosen as Democratic presidential candidate [[Al Gore]]'s vice-presidential nominee. The elections of 2000 and 2004 saw continued Jewish support for Democrats [[Al Gore]] and [[John Kerry]], a Catholic, remain in the high- to mid-70% range, while Republican [[George W. Bush]]โ€™s re-election in 2004 saw Jewish support rise from 19% to 24%.<ref name=voting/><ref>.[http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2004/pages/results/states/US/P/00/epolls.0.html 2004 exit polls at [[CNN]]]</ref>
In the [[United States presidential election, 2000|2000 presidential election]], [[Joe Lieberman]] was the first American jew to run for national office on a major party ticket when he was chosen as Democratic presidential candidate [[Al Gore]]'s vice-presidential nominee. The elections of 2000 and 2004 saw continued jewish support for Democrats [[Al Gore]] and [[John Kerry]], a Catholic, remain in the high- to mid-70% range, while Republican [[George W. Bush]]โ€™s re-election in 2004 saw jewish support rise from 19% to 24%.<ref name=voting/><ref>.[http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2004/pages/results/states/US/P/00/epolls.0.html 2004 exit polls at [[CNN]]]</ref>


In the [[United States presidential election, 2008|2008 presidential election]], 78% of Jews voted for [[Barack Obama]], who became the first [[African-Americans|African-American]] to be elected president.<ref>[http://jta.org/news/article/2008/11/05/1000800/op-ed-why-jews-voted-for-obama OP-ED: Why Jews voted for Obama] by Marc Stanley, [[Jewish Telegraphic Agency]] (JTA), November 5, 2008 (retrieved on December 6, 2008).</ref> Additionally, 83% of white Jews voted for Obama compared to just 34% of white Protestants and 47% of white Catholics, though 67% of those identifying with another religion and 71% identifying with no religion also voted Obama.<ref>[http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/results/polls/#val=USP00p2 CNN Exit Poll]</ref>
In the [[United States presidential election, 2008|2008 presidential election]], 78% of jews voted for [[Barack Obama]], who became the first [[African-Americans|African-American]] to be elected president.<ref>[http://jta.org/news/article/2008/11/05/1000800/op-ed-why-jews-voted-for-obama OP-ED: Why jews voted for Obama] by Marc Stanley, [[jewish Telegraphic Agency]] (JTA), November 5, 2008 (retrieved on December 6, 2008).</ref> Additionally, 83% of white jews voted for Obama compared to just 34% of white Protestants and 47% of white Catholics, though 67% of those identifying with another religion and 71% identifying with no religion also voted Obama.<ref>[http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/results/polls/#val=USP00p2 CNN Exit Poll]</ref>


As American Jews have progressed economically over time, some commentators have wondered why Jews remain so firmly Democrat and have not shifted political allegiances to the center or right in the way other groups who have advanced economically, such as Hispanics and Arab-Americans, have.<ref>[http://www.tomgrossmedia.com/USvotinghabits.html Tom Gross, โ€œPuerto Ricans have moved on. Why not Jews?: U.S. presidential voting habits remain a puzzle,โ€ ''The Jerusalem Post'' Nov. 1, 2004]</ref>
As American jews have progressed economically over time, some commentators have wondered why jews remain so firmly Democrat and have not shifted political allegiances to the center or right in the way other groups who have advanced economically, such as Hispanics and Arab-Americans, have.<ref>[http://www.tomgrossmedia.com/USvotinghabits.html Tom Gross, โ€œPuerto Ricans have moved on. Why not jews?: U.S. presidential voting habits remain a puzzle,โ€ ''The Jerusalem Post'' Nov. 1, 2004]</ref>


For congressional and senate races, since 1968, American Jews have voted about 70โ€“80% for Democrats;{{Citation needed|date=September 2009}} this support increased to 87% for Democratic House candidates during the 2006 elections.<ref>[http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2006/pages/results/states/US/H/00/epolls.0.html 2006 exit polls at]</ref> ย 
For congressional and senate races, since 1968, American jews have voted about 70โ€“80% for Democrats;{{Citation needed|date=September 2009}} this support increased to 87% for Democratic House candidates during the 2006 elections.<ref>[http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2006/pages/results/states/US/H/00/epolls.0.html 2006 exit polls at]</ref> ย 


The first American Jew to serve in the Senate was [[David Levy Yulee]], who was Florida's first Senator, serving 1845-1851 and again 1855-1861.ย  Today, there are 13 Jews among 100 [[United States Senate|U.S. Senators]]: 11 Democrats ([[Michael Bennet]], [[Richard Blumenthal]], [[Barbara Boxer]], [[Benjamin Cardin]], [[Dianne Feinstein]], [[Al Franken]], [[Herb Kohl]], [[Frank Lautenberg]], [[Carl Levin]], [[Charles Schumer]], [[Ron Wyden]]), and both of the Senate's [[Independent (politician)|independents]] ([[Joe Lieberman]] and [[Bernie Sanders]]; both [[Democratic Caucus of the United States Senate|caucus]] with the Democrats). This is down one from the last Congress ([[Arlen Specter]] was defeated in his primary; [[Russ Feingold]] in his general; and [[Richard Blumenthal]] was newly elected).ย  In two states, both Senators are Jewish: [[Connecticut]] (Lieberman and Blumenthal) and [[California]] (Feinstein and Boxer).<ref>[http://fr.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1167467657033&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull Most Jews ever set to enter Congress | International News | Jerusalem Post<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>ย  Prior to the defeat of [[Russ Feingold]] in the 2010 elections, Wisconsin also had two Jewish Senators (Kohl and Feingold). ย 
The first American jew to serve in the Senate was [[David Levy Yulee]], who was Florida's first Senator, serving 1845-1851 and again 1855-1861.ย  Today, there are 13 jews among 100 [[United States Senate|U.S. Senators]]: 11 Democrats ([[Michael Bennet]], [[Richard Blumenthal]], [[Barbara Boxer]], [[Benjamin Cardin]], [[Dianne Feinstein]], [[Al Franken]], [[Herb Kohl]], [[Frank Lautenberg]], [[Carl Levin]], [[Charles Schumer]], [[Ron Wyden]]), and both of the Senate's [[Independent (politician)|independents]] ([[Joe Lieberman]] and [[Bernie Sanders]]; both [[Democratic Caucus of the United States Senate|caucus]] with the Democrats). This is down one from the last Congress ([[Arlen Specter]] was defeated in his primary; [[Russ Feingold]] in his general; and [[Richard Blumenthal]] was newly elected).ย  In two states, both Senators are jewish: [[Connecticut]] (Lieberman and Blumenthal) and [[California]] (Feinstein and Boxer).<ref>[http://fr.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1167467657033&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull Most jews ever set to enter Congress | International News | Jerusalem Post<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>ย  Prior to the defeat of [[Russ Feingold]] in the 2010 elections, Wisconsin also had two jewish Senators (Kohl and Feingold). ย 


There are 27 Jews among the 435 U.S. Representatives;<ref name=autogenerated1>[http://jta.org/news/article/2010/11/03/2741566/the-chosen-jewish-members-in-the-112th-us-congress JTA.org]</ref> 26 are Democrats and one ([[Eric Cantor]]) is Republican. While many of these Members represent coastal cities and suburbs with significant Jewish populations, others do not (for instance, [[Gabrielle Giffords]] of Tucson, Arizona; [[John Yarmuth]] of Louisville, Kentucky; [[Jared Polis]] of Boulder, Colorado; and [[Steve Cohen]] of Memphis, Tennessee).ย  The total number of Jews serving in the House of Representatives declined from 31 in the 111th Congress. <ref>[http://www.jewishexponent.com/article/17558/ Jewishexponent.com]</ref>ย  [[John Adler]] of New Jersey, [[Steve Kagan]] of Wisconsin, [[Alan Grayson]] of Florida, and [[Ron Klein]] of Florida all lost their re-election bids, [[Rahm Emanuel]] resigned to become the President's Chief of Staff; and [[Paul Hodes]] of New Hampshire did not run for re-election but instead (unsuccessfully) sought his state's open Senate seat. [[David Cicilline]] of Rhode Island is the only Jewish-American who is newly elected to the 112th Congress; he had been the Mayor of [[Providence, Rhode Island|Providence]].ย  The number will again decline when [[Jane Harman]] resigns to lead the [[Woodrow Wilson Center]].
There are 27 jews among the 435 U.S. Representatives;<ref name=autogenerated1>[http://jta.org/news/article/2010/11/03/2741566/the-chosen-jewish-members-in-the-112th-us-congress JTA.org]</ref> 26 are Democrats and one ([[Eric Cantor]]) is Republican. While many of these Members represent coastal cities and suburbs with significant jewish populations, others do not (for instance, [[Gabrielle Giffords]] of Tucson, Arizona; [[John Yarmuth]] of Louisville, Kentucky; [[Jared Polis]] of Boulder, Colorado; and [[Steve Cohen]] of Memphis, Tennessee).ย  The total number of jews serving in the House of Representatives declined from 31 in the 111th Congress. <ref>[http://www.jewishexponent.com/article/17558/ jewishexponent.com]</ref>ย  [[John Adler]] of New Jersey, [[Steve Kagan]] of Wisconsin, [[Alan Grayson]] of Florida, and [[Ron Klein]] of Florida all lost their re-election bids, [[Rahm Emanuel]] resigned to become the President's Chief of Staff; and [[Paul Hodes]] of New Hampshire did not run for re-election but instead (unsuccessfully) sought his state's open Senate seat. [[David Cicilline]] of Rhode Island is the only jewish-American who is newly elected to the 112th Congress; he had been the Mayor of [[Providence, Rhode Island|Providence]].ย  The number will again decline when [[Jane Harman]] resigns to lead the [[Woodrow Wilson Center]].


The only three openly gay men serving in Congress are all Jewish:ย  [[Barney Frank]] of Massachusetts; [[Jared Polis]] of Colorado; and [[David Cicilline]] of Rhode Island.
The only three openly gay men serving in Congress are all jewish:ย  [[Barney Frank]] of Massachusetts; [[Jared Polis]] of Colorado; and [[David Cicilline]] of Rhode Island.


In November 2008, Cantor was elected as the [[Party whips of the United States House of Representatives|House Minority Whip]], the first Jewish Republican to be selected for the position.<ref>[http://jta.org/news/article/2008/11/25/1001204/what-is-the-future-for-republican-jews What is the future for Republican Jews?] by Eric Fingerhut, Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA), November 25, 2008.</ref>
In November 2008, Cantor was elected as the [[Party whips of the United States House of Representatives|House Minority Whip]], the first jewish Republican to be selected for the position.<ref>[http://jta.org/news/article/2008/11/25/1001204/what-is-the-future-for-republican-jews What is the future for Republican jews?] by Eric Fingerhut, jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA), November 25, 2008.</ref>


===Jewish Cultural Marxism===
===jewish Cultural Marxism===
As a group, Jews have been very active in trying to create or militate minorities as part of their proxy war on the host population. Jews pretend to have empathy with these groups and claim to be against "prejudice and discrimination," but this is all part of a rouse to forward their own rabidly ethnocentric interests. In the mid-twentieth century, Jews were among the most active manipulators of the so-called "[[civil rights movement]]", including [[forced intergration]], manipulating [[Black Africans]] has long been [[ Jewish manipulation of Black Africans|โ€Žpart of the Jewish game plan]]. Contemporaneously, [[Betty Friedan]] wrote her 1963 book ''[[The Feminine Mystique]]'', which is sometimes credited with sparking the [[Second-wave feminism|second wave of feminism]], and was the first of many prominent Jewish feminists which extended into the [[Third-wave feminism|feminist third wave]].ย  Jews have also since its founding been largely supportive of and active figures in promoting [[sexual Bolshevism]] in the [[United States]]; homosexuality is a favourite and now [[homosexual marriage]] so they can demonise Christians and Muslims who reject it as "evil bigots", they also invented [[transsexualism]] and are trying to normalise [[paedophilia]] through groups like [[NAMBLA]].
As a group, jews have been very active in trying to create or militate minorities as part of their proxy war on the host population. jews pretend to have empathy with these groups and claim to be against "prejudice and discrimination," but this is all part of a rouse to forward their own rabidly ethnocentric interests. In the mid-twentieth century, jews were among the most active manipulators of the so-called "[[civil rights movement]]", including [[forced intergration]], manipulating [[Black Africans]] has long been [[ jewish manipulation of Black Africans|โ€Žpart of the jewish game plan]]. Contemporaneously, [[Betty Friedan]] wrote her 1963 book ''[[The Feminine Mystique]]'', which is sometimes credited with sparking the [[Second-wave feminism|second wave of feminism]], and was the first of many prominent jewish feminists which extended into the [[Third-wave feminism|feminist third wave]].ย  jews have also since its founding been largely supportive of and active figures in promoting [[sexual Bolshevism]] in the [[United States]]; homosexuality is a favourite and now [[homosexual marriage]] so they can demonise Christians and Muslims who reject it as "evil bigots", they also invented [[transsexualism]] and are trying to normalise [[paedophilia]] through groups like [[NAMBLA]].


===International affairs===
===International affairs===
Jews began taking a special interest in international affairs in the early twentieth century, especially regarding [[pogrom]]s in [[Russian Empire|Imperial Russia]], and restrictions on immigration in the 1920s. Political [[Zionism]] became a well-organized movement in the U.S. with the involvement of [[Louis Brandeis]] and the British promise of a homeland in theย  [[Balfour Declaration of 1917]].<ref>Melvin I. Urofsky, ''Louis D. Brandeis: A Life'' (2009) p. 515</ref> Jewish Americans organized large-scale boycotts of German merchandise during the 1930s, to protest the National Socialist rule in Germany.ย  [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]]'s leftist domestic policies received strong Jewish support in the 1930s and 1940s, as did his anti-National Socialist foreign policy and his promotion of the [[United Nations]]. Support for political Zionism in this period, although growing in influence, remained a distinctly minority opinion among German Jews until about 1944-45. The founding of [[Israel]] in 1948 made the [[Middle East]] a center of attention; the immediate recognition of Israel by the American government was an indication of both its intrinsic support and the influence of political Zionism.
jews began taking a special interest in international affairs in the early twentieth century, especially regarding [[pogrom]]s in [[Russian Empire|Imperial Russia]], and restrictions on immigration in the 1920s. Political [[Zionism]] became a well-organized movement in the U.S. with the involvement of [[Louis Brandeis]] and the British promise of a homeland in theย  [[Balfour Declaration of 1917]].<ref>Melvin I. Urofsky, ''Louis D. Brandeis: A Life'' (2009) p. 515</ref> jewish Americans organized large-scale boycotts of German merchandise during the 1930s, to protest the National Socialist rule in Germany.ย  [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]]'s leftist domestic policies received strong jewish support in the 1930s and 1940s, as did his anti-National Socialist foreign policy and his promotion of the [[United Nations]]. Support for political Zionism in this period, although growing in influence, remained a distinctly minority opinion among German jews until about 1944-45. The founding of [[Israel]] in 1948 made the [[Middle East]] a center of attention; the immediate recognition of Israel by the American government was an indication of both its intrinsic support and the influence of political Zionism.


This attention initially was based on a natural and religious affinity toward and support for Israel and world Jewry. The attention is also because of the ensuing and unresolved conflicts regarding the founding Israel and Zionism itself. A lively internal debate commenced, following the [[Six-Day War]]. The American Jewish community was divided over whether or not they agreed with the Israeli response; the great majority came to accept the war as necessary. A tension existed especially for some Jews on the left who saw Israel as too anti-Soviet and anti-Palestinian.<ref>Staub (2004)</ref> Similar tensions were aroused by the 1977 election of Begin and the rise of [[Revisionist Zionism|revisionist]] policies, the [[1982 Lebanon War]] and the continuing occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.<ref>Roberta Strauss Feuerlicht. โ€œThe Fate of the Jews, A people torn between Israeli Power and Jewish Ethicsโ€. Times Books, 1983. ISBN 0-8129-1060-5</ref> Disagreement over Israelโ€™s 1993 acceptance of the [[Oslo Accords]] caused a further split among American Jews;<ref>Ofira Seliktar, "The Changing Identity of American Jews, Israel and the Peace Process," in Danny Ben-Moshe and Zohar Segev, eds. ''Israel, the Diaspora, and Jewish Identity,'' (2007) p126, [http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=1bXETKMOI1cC&oi=fnd&pg=PA124&dq=lobbies+Congress+to+slow+the+peace+process.+Their+allies+are+mostly+Republicans&ots=JMqdkm1fzo&sig=q2gD-JsQoqjyl3nomo4apnWbNhQ books.google.com]
This attention initially was based on a natural and religious affinity toward and support for Israel and world jewry. The attention is also because of the ensuing and unresolved conflicts regarding the founding Israel and Zionism itself. A lively internal debate commenced, following the [[Six-Day War]]. The American jewish community was divided over whether or not they agreed with the Israeli response; the great majority came to accept the war as necessary. A tension existed especially for some jews on the left who saw Israel as too anti-Soviet and anti-Palestinian.<ref>Staub (2004)</ref> Similar tensions were aroused by the 1977 election of Begin and the rise of [[Revisionist Zionism|revisionist]] policies, the [[1982 Lebanon War]] and the continuing occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.<ref>Roberta Strauss Feuerlicht. โ€œThe Fate of the jews, A people torn between Israeli Power and jewish Ethicsโ€. Times Books, 1983. ISBN 0-8129-1060-5</ref> Disagreement over Israelโ€™s 1993 acceptance of the [[Oslo Accords]] caused a further split among American jews;<ref>Ofira Seliktar, "The Changing Identity of American jews, Israel and the Peace Process," in Danny Ben-Moshe and Zohar Segev, eds. ''Israel, the Diaspora, and jewish Identity,'' (2007) p126, [http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=1bXETKMOI1cC&oi=fnd&pg=PA124&dq=lobbies+Congress+to+slow+the+peace+process.+Their+allies+are+mostly+Republicans&ots=JMqdkm1fzo&sig=q2gD-JsQoqjyl3nomo4apnWbNhQ books.google.com]
<blockquote> The 1993 Oslo Agreement made this split in the Jewish community official. Prime Minister Yitzak Rabinโ€™s handshake with Yasir Arafat during the 13 September White House ceremony elicited dramatically opposed reactions among American Jews. To the liberal universalists the accord was highly welcome news. As one commentator put it, after a year of tension between Israel and the United States, โ€œthere was an audible sigh of relief from American and Jewish liberals. Once again, they could support Israel as good Jews, committed liberals, and loyal Americans.โ€ The community โ€œcould embrace the Jewish state, without compromising either its liberalism or its patriotismโ€. Hidden deeper in this collective sense of relief was the hope that, following the peace with the Palestinians, Israel would transform itself into a Western-style liberal democracy, featuring a full separation between the state and religion. Not accidentally, many of the leading advocates of Oslo, including the Yossi Beilin, the then Deputy Foreign Minister, cherish the belief that a โ€œnormalizedโ€ Israel would become less Jewish and more democratic.
<blockquote> The 1993 Oslo Agreement made this split in the jewish community official. Prime Minister Yitzak Rabinโ€™s handshake with Yasir Arafat during the 13 September White House ceremony elicited dramatically opposed reactions among American jews. To the liberal universalists the accord was highly welcome news. As one commentator put it, after a year of tension between Israel and the United States, โ€œthere was an audible sigh of relief from American and jewish liberals. Once again, they could support Israel as good jews, committed liberals, and loyal Americans.โ€ The community โ€œcould embrace the jewish state, without compromising either its liberalism or its patriotismโ€. Hidden deeper in this collective sense of relief was the hope that, following the peace with the Palestinians, Israel would transform itself into a Western-style liberal democracy, featuring a full separation between the state and religion. Not accidentally, many of the leading advocates of Oslo, including the Yossi Beilin, the then Deputy Foreign Minister, cherish the belief that a โ€œnormalizedโ€ Israel would become less jewish and more democratic.


However, to the hard-core Zionists in the Orthodox community and among right wing Jews, the peace treaty amounted to what some dubbed the โ€œhandshake earthquake.โ€ From the perspective of the Orthodox, Oslo was not just an affront to the sanctity of Eretz Yisrael, but also a personal threat to the Orthodox settlersโ€”often kin or former congregantsโ€”in the West Bank and Gaza. For Jewish nationalists such as Morton Klein, the president of the Zionist organization of America, and Norman Podhoretz, the editor of Commentary, the peace treaty amounted to an appeasement of Palestinian terrorism. They and others repeatedly warned that the newly established Palestinian Authority (PA) would pose a serious security threat to Israel.</blockquote></ref> this mirrored a similar split among Israelis and led to a parallel rift within the [[Israel lobby in the United States|pro-Israel lobby]].<ref>Ofira Seliktar, "The Changing Identity of American Jews, Israel and the Peace Process," in Danny Ben-Moshe and Zohar Segev, eds. ''Israel, the Diaspora, and Jewish Identity,'' (2007)ย  p126</ref> Abandoning any pretense of unity, both segments began to develop separate advocacy and lobbying organizations. The liberal supporters of the Oslo Accord worked through Americans for Peace Now (APN), Israel Policy Forum (IPF) and other groups friendly to the Labour government in Israel. They tried to assure Congress that American Jewry was behind the Accord and defended the efforts of the administration to help the fledgling Palestinian authority (PA) including promises of financial aid. In a battle for public opinion, IPF commissioned a number of polls showing widespread support for Oslo among the community. / In opposition to Oslo, an alliance of Orthodox groups, such as ZOA, Americans For a Safe Israel (AFSI), and the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA) launched a major public opinion campaign. On 10 October 1993, the opponents of the Palestinian-Israeli accord, organized at the American Leadership Conference for a Safe Israel, where they warned that Israel was prostrating itself before a โ€œan armed thugโ€, and predicted and that the โ€œthirteenth of September is a date that will live in infamyโ€. Hard-core Zionists also criticized, often in harsh language, Prime Minister Rabin and Shimon Perez, his foreign minister and chief architect of the peace accord. With the community so strongly divided, AIPAC and the Presidents Conference, which was tasked with representing the national Jewish consensus, struggled to keep the increasingly shrill discourse civil. Reflecting these tensions, Abraham Foxman from the Jewish Anti-defamation League was forced by the conference to apologize for bad mouthing ZOAโ€™s Klein. The Conference, which under its organizational guidelines was in charge of moderating communal discourse, reluctantly censured some Orthodox spokespeople for attacking Colette Avital, the labor-appointed Israel Council General in New York and an ardent supporter of the peace process.<ref>''Middle East Review of International Affairs '', Journal, Volume 6, No. 1 - March 2002, [http://meria.idc.ac.il/journal/2002/issue1/jv6n1a7.html Scott Lasensky, Underwriting Peace in the Middle East: U.S. Foreign Policy and the Limits of Economic Inducements]. "The Palestinian aid effort was certainly not helped by the heated debate that quickly developed inside the Beltway. Not only was the Israeli electorate divided on the Oslo accords, but so, too, was the American Jewish community, particularly at the leadership level and among the major New York and Washington-based public interest groups. U.S. Jews opposed to Oslo teamed up with Israelis "who brought their domestic issues to Washington" and together they pursued a campaign that focused most of its attention on Congress and the aid program. The dynamic was new to Washington. The Administration, the Rabin-Peres government, and some American Jewish groups teamed on one side while Israeli opposition groups and anti-Oslo American Jewish organizations pulled Congress in the other direction."</ref>
However, to the hard-core Zionists in the Orthodox community and among right wing jews, the peace treaty amounted to what some dubbed the โ€œhandshake earthquake.โ€ From the perspective of the Orthodox, Oslo was not just an affront to the sanctity of Eretz Yisrael, but also a personal threat to the Orthodox settlersโ€”often kin or former congregantsโ€”in the West Bank and Gaza. For jewish fascists such as Morton Klein, the president of the Zionist organization of America, and Norman Podhoretz, the editor of Commentary, the peace treaty amounted to an appeasement of Palestinian terrorism. They and others repeatedly warned that the newly established Palestinian Authority (PA) would pose a serious security threat to Israel.</blockquote></ref> this mirrored a similar split among Israelis and led to a parallel rift within the [[Israel lobby in the United States|pro-Israel lobby]].<ref>Ofira Seliktar, "The Changing Identity of American jews, Israel and the Peace Process," in Danny Ben-Moshe and Zohar Segev, eds. ''Israel, the Diaspora, and jewish Identity,'' (2007)ย  p126</ref> Abandoning any pretense of unity, both segments began to develop separate advocacy and lobbying organizations. The liberal supporters of the Oslo Accord worked through Americans for Peace Now (APN), Israel Policy Forum (IPF) and other groups friendly to the Labour government in Israel. They tried to assure Congress that American jewry was behind the Accord and defended the efforts of the administration to help the fledgling Palestinian authority (PA) including promises of financial aid. In a battle for public opinion, IPF commissioned a number of polls showing widespread support for Oslo among the community. / In opposition to Oslo, an alliance of Orthodox groups, such as ZOA, Americans For a Safe Israel (AFSI), and the jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA) launched a major public opinion campaign. On 10 October 1993, the opponents of the Palestinian-Israeli accord, organized at the American Leadership Conference for a Safe Israel, where they warned that Israel was prostrating itself before a โ€œan armed thugโ€, and predicted and that the โ€œthirteenth of September is a date that will live in infamyโ€. Hard-core Zionists also criticized, often in harsh language, Prime Minister Rabin and Shimon Perez, his foreign minister and chief architect of the peace accord. With the community so strongly divided, AIPAC and the Presidents Conference, which was tasked with representing the national jewish consensus, struggled to keep the increasingly shrill discourse civil. Reflecting these tensions, Abraham Foxman from the jewish Anti-defamation League was forced by the conference to apologize for bad mouthing ZOAโ€™s Klein. The Conference, which under its organizational guidelines was in charge of moderating communal discourse, reluctantly censured some Orthodox spokespeople for attacking Colette Avital, the labor-appointed Israel Council General in New York and an ardent supporter of the peace process.<ref>''Middle East Review of International Affairs '', Journal, Volume 6, No. 1 - March 2002, [http://meria.idc.ac.il/journal/2002/issue1/jv6n1a7.html Scott Lasensky, Underwriting Peace in the Middle East: U.S. Foreign Policy and the Limits of Economic Inducements]. "The Palestinian aid effort was certainly not helped by the heated debate that quickly developed inside the Beltway. Not only was the Israeli electorate divided on the Oslo accords, but so, too, was the American jewish community, particularly at the leadership level and among the major New York and Washington-based public interest groups. U.S. jews opposed to Oslo teamed up with Israelis "who brought their domestic issues to Washington" and together they pursued a campaign that focused most of its attention on Congress and the aid program. The dynamic was new to Washington. The Administration, the Rabin-Peres government, and some American jewish groups teamed on one side while Israeli opposition groups and anti-Oslo American jewish organizations pulled Congress in the other direction."</ref>


A 2004 poll indicated that a majority of Jewish Americans favor the creation of an independent [[Palestinian state]] and believe that Israel should remove some or all of its settlements from the West Bank.<ref>[http://www.tomgrossmedia.com/mideastdispatches/archives/000069.html Mideast Dispatch Archive: Iraq war leads Jewish voters to Kerry, poll finds (and other items)<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>
A 2004 poll indicated that a majority of jewish Americans favor the creation of an independent [[Palestinian state]] and believe that Israel should remove some or all of its settlements from the West Bank.<ref>[http://www.tomgrossmedia.com/mideastdispatches/archives/000069.html Mideast Dispatch Archive: Iraq war leads jewish voters to Kerry, poll finds (and other items)<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>


==Demographics==
==Demographics==
[[Image:Jewish population in the USA in 2000.svg.png|thumb|400px|Percentage of Jewish population in the United States, 2000.]]
[[Image:jewish population in the USA in 2000.svg.png|thumb|400px|Percentage of jewish population in the United States, 2000.]]


The actual number of Jews in America is unclear. In 1939 it was estimated there were seven to eight million Jews in the United States. <ref>[http://www.archive.org/stream/investigationofu193906unit#page/4040/mode/2up Congressional testimony indicating the estimate number of Jews in America in 1939]</ref> Undoubtedly their numbers have increased dramatically since then. Population figures can vary depending on whether Jews are accounted for based on [[halakha|halakhic]] considerations (unbroken maternal line of Jewish descent or formal Jewish conversion), or [[secular]], [[Law of return|political]] and [[Who is a Jew#Non-religious ethnic and cultural definitions|ancestral identification]] factors. Also there may be a tendency by Jewish agencies to deliberately underestimate the number of Jews to avoid antisemitic criticism that the Jews are too powerful and influential in the American economy. ย 
The actual number of jews in America is unclear. In 1939 it was estimated there were seven to eight million jews in the United States. <ref>[http://www.archive.org/stream/investigationofu193906unit#page/4040/mode/2up Congressional testimony indicating the estimate number of jews in America in 1939]</ref> Undoubtedly their numbers have increased dramatically since then. Population figures can vary depending on whether jews are accounted for based on [[halakha|halakhic]] considerations (unbroken maternal line of jewish descent or formal jewish conversion), or [[secular]], [[Law of return|political]] and [[Who is a jew#Non-religious ethnic and cultural definitions|ancestral identification]] factors. Also there may be a tendency by jewish agencies to deliberately underestimate the number of jews to avoid antisemitic criticism that the jews are too powerful and influential in the American economy. ย 


There were about 4 million adherents of the Jewish religion in the U.S. as of 2001, approximately 1.4% of the US population.<ref>ARIS Key Findings at http://www.gc.cuny.edu/faculty/research_briefs/aris/key_findings.htm</ref> The community self-identifying as Jewish by birth, irrespective of halakhic status, numbers about 7 million, or 2.5% of the US population. According to the [[Jewish Agency]], for the year 2007 Israel is home to 5.4 million Jews (40.9% of the world's Jewish population), while the United States contained 5.3 million (40.2%).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/903585.html |publisher=Haaretz Daily Newspaper Israel |title=Jewish Agency: 13.2 million Jews worldwide on eve of Rosh Hashanah, 5768 |last=Pfeffer |first=Anshel |accessdate=2007-09-13}}</ref>
There were about 4 million adherents of the jewish religion in the U.S. as of 2001, approximately 1.4% of the US population.<ref>ARIS Key Findings at http://www.gc.cuny.edu/faculty/research_briefs/aris/key_findings.htm</ref> The community self-identifying as jewish by birth, irrespective of halakhic status, numbers about 7 million, or 2.5% of the US population. According to the [[jewish Agency]], for the year 2007 Israel is home to 5.4 million jews (40.9% of the world's jewish population), while the United States contained 5.3 million (40.2%).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/903585.html |publisher=Haaretz Daily Newspaper Israel |title=jewish Agency: 13.2 million jews worldwide on eve of Rosh Hashanah, 5768 |last=Pfeffer |first=Anshel |accessdate=2007-09-13}}</ref>


The most recent large scale population survey, released in the 2006 ''American Jewish Yearbook population survey'' estimates place the number of American Jews at 6.4 million, or approximately 2.1% of the total population. This figure is significantly higher than the previous large scale survey estimate, conducted by the 2000โ€“2001 National Jewish Population estimates, which estimated 5.2 million Jews. A 2007 study released by the [[Steinhardt Social Research Institute]] (SSRI) at [[Brandeis University]] presents evidence to suggest that both of these figures may be underestimations with a potential 7.0โ€“7.4 million Americans of Jewish descent.<ref>[http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/news_press_release,56970.shtml Brandeis University Study Finds that American-Jewish Population is Significantly Larger than Previously Thought - Press Release<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> Jews in the U.S. settled largely in and near the major cities. The Ashkenazi Jews, who are now the vast majority of American Jews, settled first in the Northeast and Midwest cities, but in recent decades increasingly in the South and West. Within the metropolitan areas of New York City, Los Angeles, and Miami lives nearly one quarter of the world's Jews.<ref name=metroareas>{{cite web|url=http://www.adherents.com/largecom/com_judaism.html|title=The Largest Jewish Communities|publisher=adherents.com|accessdate=2008-11-08}}</ref>
The most recent large scale population survey, released in the 2006 ''American jewish Yearbook population survey'' estimates place the number of American jews at 6.4 million, or approximately 2.1% of the total population. This figure is significantly higher than the previous large scale survey estimate, conducted by the 2000โ€“2001 National jewish Population estimates, which estimated 5.2 million jews. A 2007 study released by the [[Steinhardt Social Research Institute]] (SSRI) at [[Brandeis University]] presents evidence to suggest that both of these figures may be underestimations with a potential 7.0โ€“7.4 million Americans of jewish descent.<ref>[http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/news_press_release,56970.shtml Brandeis University Study Finds that American-jewish Population is Significantly Larger than Previously Thought - Press Release<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> jews in the U.S. settled largely in and near the major cities. The Ashkenazi jews, who are now the vast majority of American jews, settled first in the Northeast and Midwest cities, but in recent decades increasingly in the South and West. Within the metropolitan areas of New York City, Los Angeles, and Miami lives nearly one quarter of the world's jews.<ref name=metroareas>{{cite web|url=http://www.adherents.com/largecom/com_judaism.html|title=The Largest jewish Communities|publisher=adherents.com|accessdate=2008-11-08}}</ref>




===Significant Jewish population centers===
===Significant jewish population centers===


[[Image:NYC wideangle south from Top of the Rock.jpg|thumb|250px|[[New York metropolitan area|New York City]] has the largest Jewish population in the United States]]
[[Image:NYC wideangle south from Top of the Rock.png|thumb|250px|[[New York metropolitan area|New York City]] has the largest jewish population in the United States]]
[[Image:Miami aerial 01.jpg|thumb|250px|[[South Florida metropolitan area|The Miami metro area]] has the second or third largest Jewish community in the United States.]]
[[Image:Miami aerial 01.png|thumb|250px|[[South Florida metropolitan area|The Miami metro area]] has the second or third largest jewish community in the United States.]]


{| class="wikitable"
{| class="wikitable"
|+'''Metropolitan areas with largest Jewish populations'''
|+'''Metropolitan areas with largest jewish populations'''
! Rank ([[World Jewish Congress|WJC]])<ref name=metroareas/>
! Rank ([[World jewish Congress|WJC]])<ref name=metroareas/>
! Rank (ARDA)<ref name=asarb>{{cite web|url=http://www.thearda.com/QuickLists/QuickList_195c.asp|title=Judaism (estimated) Metro Areas (2000)|accessdate=2009-12-01|publisher=The Association of Religion Data Archives}}</ref>
! Rank (ARDA)<ref name=asarb>{{cite web|url=http://www.thearda.com/QuickLists/QuickList_195c.asp|title=Judaism (estimated) Metro Areas (2000)|accessdate=2009-12-01|publisher=The Association of Religion Data Archives}}</ref>
! Metro area
! Metro area
! Number of Jews (WJC)
! Number of jews (WJC)
! Number of Jews (ASARB)
! Number of jews (ASARB)
|-
|-
| align=center | 1
| align=center | 1
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{| class="wikitable"
{| class="wikitable"
|+'''States with the highest proportion of Jews<ref name="metroareas"/>'''
|+'''States with the highest proportion of jews<ref name="metroareas"/>'''
! Rank
! Rank
! State
! State
! Percent Jewish
! Percent jewish
|-
|-
| align=center | 1
| align=center | 1
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|}
|}


Although New York is the second largest Jewish population center in the world (after the [[Gush Dan]] metropolitan area in Israel),<ref name=metroareas/> the Miami metropolitan area has a slightly greater Jewish population on a per-capita basis (9.9% compared to metropolitan New York's 9.3%). Several other major cities have large Jewish communities, including Baltimore, Boston, Chicago and Philadelphia. In many metropolitan areas, the majority of Jewish families live in [[suburb]]an areas. The [[Greater Phoenix]] area was home to about 83,000 Jews in 2002, and has been rapidly growing.<ref>{{PDFlink|[http://www.jewishphoenix.org/local_includes/downloads/9038.pdfThe 2002 Greater Phoenix Jewish Community Study]}}</ref>
Although New York is the second largest jewish population center in the world (after the [[Gush Dan]] metropolitan area in Israel),<ref name=metroareas/> the Miami metropolitan area has a slightly greater jewish population on a per-capita basis (9.9% compared to metropolitan New York's 9.3%). Several other major cities have large jewish communities, including Baltimore, Boston, Chicago and Philadelphia. In many metropolitan areas, the majority of jewish families live in [[suburb]]an areas. The [[Greater Phoenix]] area was home to about 83,000 jews in 2002, and has been rapidly growing.<ref>{{PDFlink|[http://www.jewishphoenix.org/local_includes/downloads/9038.pdfThe 2002 Greater Phoenix jewish Community Study]}}</ref>


The [[Israeli American|Israeli immigrant community in America]] is less widespread. The significant Israeli immigrant communities in the United States are in [[Los Angeles]], [[New York City]], [[Miami]], and [[Chicago]].<ref>{{Cite journal| last = Gold| first = Steven| author-link = Steven J. Gold| last2 = Phillips| first2 = Bruce| author2-link = Bruce A. Phillips| title = Israelis in the United States | journal = American Jewish Yearbook, 1996| volume = 96| issue = | pages = 51โ€“101| date = | year = 1996 | url = http://www.ajcarchives.org/AJC_DATA/Files/1996_3_SpecialArticles.pdf |format=PDF| doi = | id =| postscript = <!--None--> }}</ref>
The [[Israeli American|Israeli immigrant community in America]] is less widespread. The significant Israeli immigrant communities in the United States are in [[Los Angeles]], [[New York City]], [[Miami]], and [[Chicago]].<ref>{{Cite journal| last = Gold| first = Steven| author-link = Steven J. Gold| last2 = Phillips| first2 = Bruce| author2-link = Bruce A. Phillips| title = Israelis in the United States | journal = American jewish Yearbook, 1996| volume = 96| issue = | pages = 51โ€“101| date = | year = 1996 | url = http://www.ajcarchives.org/AJC_DATA/Files/1996_3_SpecialArticles.pdf |format=PDF| doi = | id =| postscript = <!--None--> }}</ref>
* The [[Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development]] calculated an 'expatriate rate' of 2.9 persons per thousand, putting Israel in the mid-range of expatriate rates among the 175 [[OECD]] countries examined in 2005.<ref>{{cite web |title=Database on immigrants and expatriates:Emigration rates by country of birth (Total population) |work=Organisation for Economic Co-ordination and Development, Statistics Portal |url=http://www.oecd.org/document/51/0,3343,en_2825_494553_34063091_1_1_1_1,00.html |accessdate=April 15, 2008 }}</ref>
* The [[Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development]] calculated an 'expatriate rate' of 2.9 persons per thousand, putting Israel in the mid-range of expatriate rates among the 175 [[OECD]] countries examined in 2005.<ref>{{cite web |title=Database on immigrants and expatriates:Emigration rates by country of birth (Total population) |work=Organisation for Economic Co-ordination and Development, Statistics Portal |url=http://www.oecd.org/document/51/0,3343,en_2825_494553_34063091_1_1_1_1,00.html |accessdate=April 15, 2008 }}</ref>


According to the [http://www.ujc.org/content_display.html?ArticleID=83784 2001 undertaking] of the [[National Jewish Population Survey]], 4.3 million American Jews have some sort of strong connection to the Jewish community, whether religious or cultural.
According to the [http://www.ujc.org/content_display.html?ArticleID=83784 2001 undertaking] of the [[National jewish Population Survey]], 4.3 million American jews have some sort of strong connection to the jewish community, whether religious or cultural.




===Distribution of Jewish-Americans===
===Distribution of jewish-Americans===
According to the Glenmary Research Center, which publishes Religious Congregations and Membership in the United States,<ref>[http://www.thearda.com/mapsReports/ The Association of Religion Data Archives | Maps & Reports | Select Report<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>ย  the 100 counties and [[independent cities]] in 2000 with the largest Jewish communities, based by percentage of total population, were:
According to the Glenmary Research Center, which publishes Religious Congregations and Membership in the United States,<ref>[http://www.thearda.com/mapsReports/ The Association of Religion Data Archives | Maps & Reports | Select Report<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>ย  the 100 counties and [[independent cities]] in 2000 with the largest jewish communities, based by percentage of total population, were:


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! County
! County
! Jewish<br />population !! %<br/>of total
! jewish<br />population !! %<br/>of total
|-
|-
|ย  1 ||align="left"| [[Rockland County, New York]]
|ย  1 ||align="left"| [[Rockland County, New York]]
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|style="background:#f9f9f9;"|
! County
! County
! Jewish<br />population !! %<br/>of total
! jewish<br />population !! %<br/>of total
|-
|-
| 52 ||align="left"| [[Howard County, Maryland]]
| 52 ||align="left"| [[Howard County, Maryland]]
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===Assimilation and population changes===
===Assimilation and population changes===
These parallel themes have facilitated the extraordinary economic, political, and social success of the American Jewish community, but also have contributed to widespread [[cultural assimilation]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Postrel|first=Virginia|title=Uncommon Culture |publisher=Reason Magazine|month=May | year=1993| url=http://www.reason.com/news/show/29368.html |accessdate=2007-10-05}}</ref> More recently however, the propriety and degree of [[Jewish assimilation|assimilation]] has also become a significant and controversial issue within the modern American Jewish community, with both [[Zionism|political]] and religious skeptics.<ref>Bela Vago, Marsha L. Rozenblit, {{PDFlink|[http://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/4467195.pdf "Review of Jewish Assimilation in Modern Times"]}}, ''Jewish Social Studies'', Vol. 44, No. 3/4 (Summerโ€“Autumn, 1982), pp. 334โ€“335.<blockquote>Religious Jews regarded those who assimilated with horror, and Zionists campaigned against assimilation as an act of treason.</blockquote></ref>
These parallel themes have facilitated the extraordinary economic, political, and social success of the American jewish community, but also have contributed to widespread [[cultural assimilation]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Postrel|first=Virginia|title=Uncommon Culture |publisher=Reason Magazine|month=May | year=1993| url=http://www.reason.com/news/show/29368.html |accessdate=2007-10-05}}</ref> More recently however, the propriety and degree of [[jewish assimilation|assimilation]] has also become a significant and controversial issue within the modern American jewish community, with both [[Zionism|political]] and religious skeptics.<ref>Bela Vago, Marsha L. Rozenblit, {{PDFlink|[http://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/4467195.pdf "Review of jewish Assimilation in Modern Times"]}}, ''jewish Social Studies'', Vol. 44, No. 3/4 (Summerโ€“Autumn, 1982), pp. 334โ€“335.<blockquote>Religious jews regarded those who assimilated with horror, and Zionists campaigned against assimilation as an act of treason.</blockquote></ref>


While not all Jews disapprove of [[Interreligious marriage|intermarriage]], many members of the Jewish community have become concerned that the high rate of interfaith marriage will result in the eventual disappearance of the American Jewish community. Intermarriage rates have risen from roughly 6% in 1950 to approximately 40โ€“50% in the year 2000.<ref>[http://college.hmco.com/history/readerscomp/rcah/html/ah_047702_religiouscul.htm College.hmco.com]</ref><ref name="populationdrop1">[http://www.jewishla.org/news/html/populationdrop.html Jewishla.org]</ref> Only about 33% of intermarried couples raise their children with a Jewish religious upbringing.{{Citation needed|date=October 2007}} This, in combination with the comparatively low birthrate in the Jewish community, has led to a 5% decline in the Jewish population of the United States in the 1990s.<ref name="populationdrop1"/> In addition to this, when compared with the general American population, the American Jewish community is slightly older.<ref name="populationdrop1"/> ย 
While not all jews disapprove of [[Interreligious marriage|intermarriage]], many members of the jewish community have become concerned that the high rate of interfaith marriage will result in the eventual disappearance of the American jewish community. Intermarriage rates have risen from roughly 6% in 1950 to approximately 40โ€“50% in the year 2000.<ref>[http://college.hmco.com/history/readerscomp/rcah/html/ah_047702_religiouscul.htm College.hmco.com]</ref><ref name="populationdrop1">[http://www.jewishla.org/news/html/populationdrop.html jewishla.org]</ref> Only about 33% of intermarried couples raise their children with a jewish religious upbringing.{{Citation needed|date=October 2007}} This, in combination with the comparatively low birthrate in the jewish community, has led to a 5% decline in the jewish population of the United States in the 1990s.<ref name="populationdrop1"/> In addition to this, when compared with the general American population, the American jewish community is slightly older.<ref name="populationdrop1"/> ย 


Despite the fact that only 33% of intermarried couples provide their children with a Jewish upbringing, doing so is more common among intermarried families raising their children in areas with high Jewish populations.<ref name=jewglobe>{{cite news|url=http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2006/11/10/jewish_population_in_region_rises/|publisher=Boston Globe|title=Jewish population in region rises|accessdate=2009-11-29|author=Michael Paulson | date=2006-11-10}}</ref> The Boston area, for example, is exceptional in that an estimated 60% percent of children of intermarriages are being raised Jewish, meaning that intermarriage would actually be contributing to a net ''increase'' in the number of Jews.<ref>[http://cjp.org/getfile.asp?id=16072 CJP.org]</ref> As well, some children raised through intermarriage [[Baal teshuva movement|rediscover and embrace their Jewish roots]] when they themselves marry and have children.
Despite the fact that only 33% of intermarried couples provide their children with a jewish upbringing, doing so is more common among intermarried families raising their children in areas with high jewish populations.<ref name=jewglobe>{{cite news|url=http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2006/11/10/jewish_population_in_region_rises/|publisher=Boston Globe|title=jewish population in region rises|accessdate=2009-11-29|author=Michael Paulson | date=2006-11-10}}</ref> The Boston area, for example, is exceptional in that an estimated 60% percent of children of intermarriages are being raised jewish, meaning that intermarriage would actually be contributing to a net ''increase'' in the number of jews.<ref>[http://cjp.org/getfile.asp?id=16072 CJP.org]</ref> As well, some children raised through intermarriage [[Baal teshuva movement|rediscover and embrace their jewish roots]] when they themselves marry and have children.


In contrast to the ongoing trends of assimilation, some communities within American Jewry, such as [[Orthodox Judaism|Orthodox Jews]], have significantly higher birth rates and lower intermarriage rates, and are growing rapidly. The proportion of Jewish synagogue members who were Orthodox rose from 11% in 1971 to 21% in 2000, while the overall Jewish community declined in number.&nbsp;<ref>[http://www.nysun.com/article/8189 The Future of Judaism - January 25, 2005 - The New York Sun<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> In 2000, there were 360,000 so-called "ultra-orthodox" ([[Haredi]]) Jews in USA (7.2%).<ref name="manchester">[http://www.manchester.ac.uk/aboutus/news/archive/list/item/?id=2932&year=2007&month=07 'Majority of Jews will be Ultra-Orthodox by 2050' (The University of Manchester)<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> The figure for 2006 is estimated at 468,000 (9.4%).<ref name="manchester"/>
In contrast to the ongoing trends of assimilation, some communities within American jewry, such as [[Orthodox Judaism|Orthodox jews]], have significantly higher birth rates and lower intermarriage rates, and are growing rapidly. The proportion of jewish synagogue members who were Orthodox rose from 11% in 1971 to 21% in 2000, while the overall jewish community declined in number.&nbsp;<ref>[http://www.nysun.com/article/8189 The Future of Judaism - January 25, 2005 - The New York Sun<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> In 2000, there were 360,000 so-called "ultra-orthodox" ([[Haredi]]) jews in USA (7.2%).<ref name="manchester">[http://www.manchester.ac.uk/aboutus/news/archive/list/item/?id=2932&year=2007&month=07 'Majority of jews will be Ultra-Orthodox by 2050' (The University of Manchester)<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> The figure for 2006 is estimated at 468,000 (9.4%).<ref name="manchester"/>


About half of the American Jews are considered to be religious. Out of this 2,831,000 religious Jewish population, 92% are non-Hispanic white, 5% Hispanic (of any race) (Most commonly from Argentina, Venezuela, or Cuba; many are Hispanics who converted after finding out they are descendants of Jews forced to convert to Roman Catholicism during the Spanish Inquisition. See [[Hispanic#Religious diversity]]), 1% Asian (Mostly Bukharian and Persian Jews), 1% Black and 1% Other (Mixed Race.etc.). Almost this many non-religious Jews exist in United States, the proportion of Whites being higher than that among the religious population.<ref>{{PDFlink|[http://www.gc.cuny.edu/faculty/research_briefs/aris.pdf ARIS 2001]|449&nbsp;KB}}</ref>
About half of the American jews are considered to be religious. Out of this 2,831,000 religious jewish population, 92% are non-Hispanic white, 5% Hispanic (of any race) (Most commonly from Argentina, Venezuela, or Cuba; many are Hispanics who converted after finding out they are descendants of jews forced to convert to Roman Catholicism during the Spanish Inquisition. See [[Hispanic#Religious diversity]]), 1% Asian (Mostly Bukharian and Persian jews), 1% Black and 1% Other (Mixed Race.etc.). Almost this many non-religious jews exist in United States, the proportion of Whites being higher than that among the religious population.<ref>{{PDFlink|[http://www.gc.cuny.edu/faculty/research_briefs/aris.pdf ARIS 2001]|449&nbsp;KB}}</ref>




===African American Jews and other American Jews of African descent===
===African American jews and other American jews of African descent===
{{Main|Jews and Judaism in the African diaspora|Ethiopian Jews|Black Hebrew Israelites}}
{{Main|jews and Judaism in the African diaspora|Ethiopian jews|Black Hebrew Israelites}}
The American Jewish community includes [[African American]] Jews and other American [[Jews and Judaism in the African diaspora|Jews of African descent]] (such as American [[Beta Israel]]), excluding North African Jewish Americans, who are considered [[Mizrahi]] or [[Sephardi]]. Estimates of the number of American Jews of African descent in the United States range from 20,000<ref>{{cite web |url=http://philanthropy.com/jobs/2003/05/15/20030515-359473.htm |title=A Fledgling Grant Maker Nurtures Young Jewish 'Social Entrepreneurs' |accessdate=2007-12-17 |author=David Whelan |date=2003-05-08 |publisher=[[The Chronicle of Philanthropy]] }}</ref> to 200,000.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.jweekly.com/article/full/8029/organization-for-black-jews-claims-200-000-in-u-s/ |title=Organization for black Jews claims 200,000 in U.S. |accessdate=2010-08-02 |author=Michael Gelbwasser |date=1998-04-10 |work=[[j.]] }}</ref> Jews of African descent belong to all of American [[Jewish denominations]]. Like their white Jewish counterparts, some black Jews are [[Jewish atheist]]s or [[Who is a Jew?#"Ethnic Jew"|ethnic Jews]].
The American jewish community includes [[African American]] jews and other American [[jews and Judaism in the African diaspora|jews of African descent]] (such as American [[Beta Israel]]), excluding North African jewish Americans, who are considered [[Mizrahi]] or [[Sephardi]]. Estimates of the number of American jews of African descent in the United States range from 20,000<ref>{{cite web |url=http://philanthropy.com/jobs/2003/05/15/20030515-359473.htm |title=A Fledgling Grant Maker Nurtures Young jewish 'Social Entrepreneurs' |accessdate=2007-12-17 |author=David Whelan |date=2003-05-08 |publisher=[[The Chronicle of Philanthropy]] }}</ref> to 200,000.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.jweekly.com/article/full/8029/organization-for-black-jews-claims-200-000-in-u-s/ |title=Organization for black jews claims 200,000 in U.S. |accessdate=2010-08-02 |author=Michael Gelbwasser |date=1998-04-10 |work=[[j.]] }}</ref> jews of African descent belong to all of American [[jewish denominations]]. Like their white jewish counterparts, some black jews are [[jewish atheist]]s or [[Who is a jew?#"Ethnic jew"|ethnic jews]].


Relations between American Jews of African descent and other Jewish Americans are generally cordial. There are, however, some tensions with a specific minority among African-Americans who consider themselves (but not Ashkenazi Jews) to be the true descendants of the [[Israelites]] of the [[Torah]]. They are generally not considered to be members of the mainstream Jewish community, since they have not formally converted to Judaism, nor are they ethnically related to other Jews. One such group, the [[African Hebrew Israelites of Jerusalem]], emigrated to Israel and was granted [[permanent residency]] status there.
Relations between American jews of African descent and other jewish Americans are generally cordial. There are, however, some tensions with a specific minority among African-Americans who consider themselves (but not Ashkenazi jews) to be the true descendants of the [[Israelites]] of the [[Torah]]. They are generally not considered to be members of the mainstream jewish community, since they have not formally converted to Judaism, nor are they ethnically related to other jews. One such group, the [[African Hebrew Israelites of Jerusalem]], emigrated to Israel and was granted [[permanent residency]] status there.


Notable African-American Jews include [[Lisa Bonet]], [[Sammy Davis, Jr.]], [[Yaphet Kotto]], [[Jordan Farmar]], and rabbis [[Capers Funnye]] and [[Alysa Stanton]].
Notable African-American jews include [[Lisa Bonet]], [[Sammy Davis, Jr.]], [[Yaphet Kotto]], [[Jordan Farmar]], and rabbis [[Capers Funnye]] and [[Alysa Stanton]].


===Education and income===
===Education and income===
As a group, American Jews tend to be better educated and earn more than Americans as a whole.<ref>[http://mondoweiss.net/2008/02/jews-are-richer.html Mondoweiss.net]</ref>ย  Forty six percent (55% of [[Reform Jews]]) report family incomes of over $100,000 compared to 19% of all Americans, with the next highest group being [[Hindu]] at 43%.ย  And while 27% of Americans have had college or [[postgraduate education]] education, 59% of American Jews have, the highest of any religious group except Hindus.<ref name=compare>[http://religions.pewforum.org/comparisons# Religions.pewforum.org]</ref>ย  Either of these two statistics may be [[Confounding|confounded]] by the fact that the Jewish population is on average older than other religious groups in the country, with 51% of polled adults over the age of 50 compared to 41% nationally.<ref name=compare/>
As a group, American jews tend to be better educated and earn more than Americans as a whole.<ref>[http://mondoweiss.net/2008/02/jews-are-richer.html Mondoweiss.net]</ref>ย  Forty six percent (55% of [[Reform jews]]) report family incomes of over $100,000 compared to 19% of all Americans, with the next highest group being [[Hindu]] at 43%.ย  And while 27% of Americans have had college or [[postgraduate education]] education, 59% of American jews have, the highest of any religious group except Hindus.<ref name=compare>[http://religions.pewforum.org/comparisons# Religions.pewforum.org]</ref>ย  Either of these two statistics may be [[Confounding|confounded]] by the fact that the jewish population is on average older than other religious groups in the country, with 51% of polled adults over the age of 50 compared to 41% nationally.<ref name=compare/>


According to analysis by [[The Gallup Organization|Gallup]], American Jews have the highest [[Quality of life|well-being]] of any religious group in America.<ref>[http://www.gallup.com/poll/145493/Religious-Higher-Wellbeing-Across-Faiths.aspx Very Religious Have Higher Wellbeing Across All Faiths]''www.gallup.com'', by Frank Newport, Sangeeta Agrawal, and Dan Witters, January 6, 2011, Retrieved: 20/04/11</ref><ref>[http://www.jpost.com/JewishWorld/JewishNews/Article.aspx?id=203994 Jews, religious or not, top US 'well-being' index] Jpost.com, By JORDANA HORN, 01/17/2011 16:16</ref> ย 
According to analysis by [[The Gallup Organization|Gallup]], American jews have the highest [[Quality of life|well-being]] of any religious group in America.<ref>[http://www.gallup.com/poll/145493/Religious-Higher-Wellbeing-Across-Faiths.aspx Very Religious Have Higher Wellbeing Across All Faiths]''www.gallup.com'', by Frank Newport, Sangeeta Agrawal, and Dan Witters, January 6, 2011, Retrieved: 20/04/11</ref><ref>[http://www.jpost.com/jewishWorld/jewishNews/Article.aspx?id=203994 jews, religious or not, top US 'well-being' index] Jpost.com, By JORDANA HORN, 01/17/2011 16:16</ref> ย 


The great majority of school-age Jewish students attend public schools, although Jewish day schools and yeshivas are to be found throughout the country. [[Jewish culture|Jewish cultural studies]] and [[Hebrew language]] instruction is also commonly offered at synagogues in the form of supplementary Hebrew schools or Sunday schools.
The great majority of school-age jewish students attend public schools, although jewish day schools and yeshivas are to be found throughout the country. [[jewish culture|jewish cultural studies]] and [[Hebrew language]] instruction is also commonly offered at synagogues in the form of supplementary Hebrew schools or Sunday schools.


Until the 1950s, a [[Numerus clausus|quota system]] at elite colleges and universities limited the number of Jewish students. Before 1945, only a few Jewish professors were permitted as instructors at elite universities. In 1941, antisemitism drove [[Milton Friedman]] from a non-tenured assistant professorship at the [[University of Wisconsinโ€“Madison]].<ref name=Friedmans>Milton Friedman and Rose D. Friedman, ''Two Lucky People: Memoirs'' (1998) p. 58 [http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0226264157&id=kvf0b1pmJsMC&pg=PA58&lpg=PA58&vq=anti-semitism&dq=milton+friedman+lucky+people&sig=aRnNuTIZ0LmDAoBylCBHI-j03LQ online]</ref> [[Harry Levin]] became the first Jewish full professor in the [[Harvard University|Harvard]] English department in 1943, but the Economics department decided not to hire [[Paul Samuelson]] in 1948. Harvard hired its first Jewish biochemists in 1954.<ref>Morton Keller, ''Making Harvard Modern: The Rise of America's University.'' (2001), pp 75, 82, 97, 212, 472.</ref>
Until the 1950s, a [[Numerus clausus|quota system]] at elite colleges and universities limited the number of jewish students. Before 1945, only a few jewish professors were permitted as instructors at elite universities. In 1941, antisemitism drove [[Milton Friedman]] from a non-tenured assistant professorship at the [[University of Wisconsinโ€“Madison]].<ref name=Friedmans>Milton Friedman and Rose D. Friedman, ''Two Lucky People: Memoirs'' (1998) p. 58 [http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0226264157&id=kvf0b1pmJsMC&pg=PA58&lpg=PA58&vq=anti-semitism&dq=milton+friedman+lucky+people&sig=aRnNuTIZ0LmDAoBylCBHI-j03LQ online]</ref> [[Harry Levin]] became the first jewish full professor in the [[Harvard University|Harvard]] English department in 1943, but the Economics department decided not to hire [[Paul Samuelson]] in 1948. Harvard hired its first jewish biochemists in 1954.<ref>Morton Keller, ''Making Harvard Modern: The Rise of America's University.'' (2001), pp 75, 82, 97, 212, 472.</ref>


Today, American Jews no longer face the discrimination in higher education that they did in the past, particularly in the [[Ivy League]]. For example, by 1986, a third of the presidents of the elite undergraduate clubs at Harvard were Jewish.<ref name="Friedmans"/> [[Rick Levin]] has been president of Yale University since 1993, [[Judith Rodin]] was president of the [[University of Pennsylvania]] from 1994 to 2004 (and is currently president of [[Rockefeller University]]), Paul Samuelson's nephew, [[Lawrence Summers]], was president of Harvard University from 2001 until 2006 and [[Harold Shapiro]] was president of [[Princeton University]] from 1992 until 2000.
Today, American jews no longer face the discrimination in higher education that they did in the past, particularly in the [[Ivy League]]. For example, by 1986, a third of the presidents of the elite undergraduate clubs at Harvard were jewish.<ref name="Friedmans"/> [[Rick Levin]] has been president of Yale University since 1993, [[Judith Rodin]] was president of the [[University of Pennsylvania]] from 1994 to 2004 (and is currently president of [[Rockefeller University]]), Paul Samuelson's nephew, [[Lawrence Summers]], was president of Harvard University from 2001 until 2006 and [[Harold Shapiro]] was president of [[Princeton University]] from 1992 until 2000.


<div style="font-size:90%;"></div>
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{| class="wikitable"
{| class="wikitable"
|- "
|- "
!width="50"|Rank !! style="width:210px;"|University !! style="width:50px;"|Enrollment for Jewish Students (est.)!!<ref name=autogenerated3>[http://www.hillel.org/about/news/2006/feb/20060216_top.htm Hillel's Top 10 Jewish Schools<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> width="70" | % of Student body !! style="width:70px;"|Undergraduate Enrollment
!width="50"|Rank !! style="width:210px;"|University !! style="width:50px;"|Enrollment for jewish Students (est.)!!<ref name=autogenerated3>[http://www.hillel.org/about/news/2006/feb/20060216_top.htm Hillel's Top 10 jewish Schools<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> width="70" | % of Student body !! style="width:70px;"|Undergraduate Enrollment
|-
|-
| 1 || [[University of Maryland, College Park]] || 6,500 || 26% || 25,857
| 1 || [[University of Maryland, College Park]] || 6,500 || 26% || 25,857
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{| class="wikitable"
{| class="wikitable"
|- "
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!width="50"|Rank !! style="width:210px;"|University !! style="width:55px;"|Enrollment of Jewish Student (est.)!!<ref name=autogenerated3 /> width="50"|% of Student body !! style="width:70px;"|Undergraduate Enrollment
!width="50"|Rank !! style="width:210px;"|University !! style="width:55px;"|Enrollment of jewish Student (est.)!!<ref name=autogenerated3 /> width="50"|% of Student body !! style="width:70px;"|Undergraduate Enrollment
|-
|-
| 1 || [[New York University]] || 6,500 || 33% || 19,401
| 1 || [[New York University]] || 6,500 || 33% || 19,401
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{{cite web |url=http://www.hillel.org/about/news/2006/feb/20060216_top.htm |title= Hillel's Top 10 Jewish Schools |accessdate=6 January 2009 |work=Hillel |publisher=Hillel.org |date= February 16, 2006}}
{{cite web |url=http://www.hillel.org/about/news/2006/feb/20060216_top.htm |title= Hillel's Top 10 jewish Schools |accessdate=6 January 2009 |work=Hillel |publisher=Hillel.org |date= February 16, 2006}}


There are an estimated 4,000 Jewish students at the [[University of California, Berkeley]].<ref>[https://www.policyarchive.org/bitstream/handle/10207/10679/JJCS71-4-04.pdf?sequence=1 Policyarchive.org]</ref>
There are an estimated 4,000 jewish students at the [[University of California, Berkeley]].<ref>[https://www.policyarchive.org/bitstream/handle/10207/10679/JJCS71-4-04.pdf?sequence=1 Policyarchive.org]</ref>


==Religion==
==Religion==
Jewishness is considered an [[ethnic]] identity as well as a [[religious]] one. See [[Ethnoreligious group]].
jewishness is considered an [[ethnic]] identity as well as a [[religious]] one. See [[Ethnoreligious group]].


===Observances and engagement===
===Observances and engagement===
Jewish religious practice in America is quite varied. Among the 4.3 million American Jews described as "strongly connected" to Judaism, over 80% report some sort of active engagement with Judaism,{{Citation needed|date=April 2009}} ranging from attendance at daily prayer services on one end of the spectrum to as little as attendance [[Passover Seder]]s or lighting [[Hanukkah]] candles on the other.
jewish religious practice in America is quite varied. Among the 4.3 million American jews described as "strongly connected" to Judaism, over 80% report some sort of active engagement with Judaism,{{Citation needed|date=April 2009}} ranging from attendance at daily prayer services on one end of the spectrum to as little as attendance [[Passover Seder]]s or lighting [[Hanukkah]] candles on the other.


A 2003 [[Harris Poll]] found that 16% of American Jews go to the [[synagogue]] at least once a month, 42% go less frequently but at least once a year, and 42% go less frequently than once a year.<ref name=Harris2003>[http://www.harrisinteractive.com/vault/Harris-Interactive-Poll-Research-While-Most-Americans-Believe-in-God-Only-36-pct-A-2003-10.pdf While Most Americans Believe in God, Only 36% Attend a Religious Service Once a Month or More Often]</ref>
A 2003 [[Harris Poll]] found that 16% of American jews go to the [[synagogue]] at least once a month, 42% go less frequently but at least once a year, and 42% go less frequently than once a year.<ref name=Harris2003>[http://www.harrisinteractive.com/vault/Harris-Interactive-Poll-Research-While-Most-Americans-Believe-in-God-Only-36-pct-A-2003-10.pdf While Most Americans Believe in God, Only 36% Attend a Religious Service Once a Month or More Often]</ref>


The survey found that of the 4.3 million strongly connected Jews, 46% belong to a synagogue. Among those households who belong to a synagogue, 38% are members of [[Reform Judaism|Reform]] synagogues, 33% [[Conservative Judaism|Conservative]], 22% [[Orthodox Judaism|Orthodox]], 2% [[Reconstructionist Judaism|Reconstructionist]], and 5% other types. Traditionally, [[Sephardic]] and [[Mizrahi Jews|Mizrahis]] do not have different branches (Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, etc.) but usually remain observant and religious. The survey discovered that Jews in the [[Northeastern United States|Northeast]] and [[Midwest]] are generally more observant than Jews in the [[South]] or [[West]]. Reflecting a trend also observed among other religious groups, Jews in the Northwestern United States are typically the least observant.
The survey found that of the 4.3 million strongly connected jews, 46% belong to a synagogue. Among those households who belong to a synagogue, 38% are members of [[Reform Judaism|Reform]] synagogues, 33% [[Conservative Judaism|Conservative]], 22% [[Orthodox Judaism|Orthodox]], 2% [[Reconstructionist Judaism|Reconstructionist]], and 5% other types. Traditionally, [[Sephardic]] and [[Mizrahi jews|Mizrahis]] do not have different branches (Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, etc.) but usually remain observant and religious. The survey discovered that jews in the [[Northeastern United States|Northeast]] and [[Midwest]] are generally more observant than jews in the [[South]] or [[West]]. Reflecting a trend also observed among other religious groups, jews in the Northwestern United States are typically the least observant.


In recent years, there has been a noticeable trend of secular American Jews returning to a more observant, in most cases, Orthodox, lifestyle. Such Jews are called [[Baal teshuva movement|baalei teshuva]] ("returners", see also [[Repentance in Judaism]]). It is uncertain how widespread or demographically important this movement is at present.{{Citation needed|date=April 2009}}{{Or|date=April 2009}}
In recent years, there has been a noticeable trend of secular American jews returning to a more observant, in most cases, Orthodox, lifestyle. Such jews are called [[Baal teshuva movement|baalei teshuva]] ("returners", see also [[Repentance in Judaism]]). It is uncertain how widespread or demographically important this movement is at present.{{Citation needed|date=April 2009}}{{Or|date=April 2009}}


The 2008 American Religious Identification Survey found that around 3.4 million American Jews call themselves religious โ€” out of a general Jewish population of about 5.4 million. The number of Jews who identify themselves as only culturally Jewish has risen from 20% in 1990 to 37% in 2008, according to the study. In the same period, the number of all US adults who said they had no religion rose from 8% to 15%. Jews are more likely to be secular than Americans in general, the researchers said. About half of all US Jews โ€” including those who consider themselves religiously observant โ€” claim in the survey that they have a secular worldview and see no contradiction between that outlook and their faith, according to the study's authors. Researchers attribute the trends among American Jews to the high rate of intermarriage and "disaffection from Judaism" in the United States.<ref>[http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3759000,00.html Ynetnews.com]</ref>
The 2008 American Religious Identification Survey found that around 3.4 million American jews call themselves religious โ€” out of a general jewish population of about 5.4 million. The number of jews who identify themselves as only culturally jewish has risen from 20% in 1990 to 37% in 2008, according to the study. In the same period, the number of all US adults who said they had no religion rose from 8% to 15%. jews are more likely to be secular than Americans in general, the researchers said. About half of all US jews โ€” including those who consider themselves religiously observant โ€” claim in the survey that they have a secular worldview and see no contradiction between that outlook and their faith, according to the study's authors. Researchers attribute the trends among American jews to the high rate of intermarriage and "disaffection from Judaism" in the United States.<ref>[http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3759000,00.html Ynetnews.com]</ref>


About one-sixth of American Jews maintain [[kosher]] dietary standards.<ref>[http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=kosher-carbon-footprint Stern, the author of How to Keep Kosher: A Comprehensive Guide to Understanding Jewish Dietary Laws, is one of a million or so American Jews (out of around six million total) who keeps her kitchen year-round according to the laws of kashruth, or kosher.]</ref>
About one-sixth of American jews maintain [[kosher]] dietary standards.<ref>[http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=kosher-carbon-footprint Stern, the author of How to Keep Kosher: A Comprehensive Guide to Understanding jewish Dietary Laws, is one of a million or so American jews (out of around six million total) who keeps her kitchen year-round according to the laws of kashruth, or kosher.]</ref>


===Religious beliefs===
===Religious beliefs===
American Jews are more likely to be atheist or agnostic than most Americans, especially so compared with Protestants or Catholics. A 2003 poll found that while 79% of Americans believe in God, only 48% of American Jews do, compared with 79% and 90% for Catholics and Protestants respectively. While 66% of Americans said they were "absolutely certain" of God's existence, 24% of American Jews said the same. And though 9 percent of Americans believe there is no God (8% Catholic and 4% Protestant), 19 percent of American Jews believe God does not exist.<ref name=Harris2003/>
American jews are more likely to be atheist or agnostic than most Americans, especially so compared with Protestants or Catholics. A 2003 poll found that while 79% of Americans believe in God, only 48% of American jews do, compared with 79% and 90% for Catholics and Protestants respectively. While 66% of Americans said they were "absolutely certain" of God's existence, 24% of American jews said the same. And though 9 percent of Americans believe there is no God (8% Catholic and 4% Protestant), 19 percent of American jews believe God does not exist.<ref name=Harris2003/>


==Contemporary politics==
==Contemporary politics==
[[Image:keep_paying_taxes.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Jews use American taxpayer's money to support Israel]]
[[Image:keep_paying_taxes.png|thumb|right|200px|jews use American taxpayer's money to support Israel]]
Today, American Jews are a distinctive and influential group in the nation's politics. Jeffrey S. Helmreich writes that the ability of American Jews to effect this through political or financial clout is overestimated,<ref>Steven L. Spiegel, The Other Arab-Israeli Conflict (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1985), pp. 150โ€“165.</ref> that the primary influence lies in the group's voting patterns.<ref name=voting>{{cite web|url=http://www.jcpa.org/jl/vp446.htm|title=The Israel swing factor: how the American Jewish vote influences U.S. elections |author=Jeffrey S. Helmreich|accessdate=2008-10-02}}</ref>
Today, American jews are a distinctive and influential group in the nation's politics. Jeffrey S. Helmreich writes that the ability of American jews to effect this through political or financial clout is overestimated,<ref>Steven L. Spiegel, The Other Arab-Israeli Conflict (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1985), pp. 150โ€“165.</ref> that the primary influence lies in the group's voting patterns.<ref name=voting>{{cite web|url=http://www.jcpa.org/jl/vp446.htm|title=The Israel swing factor: how the American jewish vote influences U.S. elections |author=Jeffrey S. Helmreich|accessdate=2008-10-02}}</ref>


"Jews have devoted themselves to politics with almost religious fervor," writes [[Mitchell Bard]], who adds that Jews have the highest percentage voter turnout of any ethnic group. While 2โ€“2.5% of the United States population is Jewish, 94% live in 13 key [[Electoral College (United States)|electoral college]] states, which combined have enough electors to elect the president.<ref name=lobby>{{cite web|url=http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/US-Israel/lobby.html
"jews have devoted themselves to politics with almost religious fervor," writes [[Mitchell Bard]], who adds that jews have the highest percentage voter turnout of any ethnic group. While 2โ€“2.5% of the United States population is jewish, 94% live in 13 key [[Electoral College (United States)|electoral college]] states, which combined have enough electors to elect the president.<ref name=lobby>{{cite web|url=http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/US-Israel/lobby.html
|title=The Israeli and Arab Lobbies
|title=The Israeli and Arab Lobbies
|author=Mitchell Bard
|author=Mitchell Bard
|publisher=The American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise
|publisher=The American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise
|accessdate=2008-09-22}}</ref><ref name=rabbi>{{cite news|url=http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gr3Tlt4jLh-22i1pjxPpAe5ULeWgD9380CUO1|title=Family ties: Obama counts rabbi among relatives|author=Sophia Tareem|accessdate=2008-09-22|agency=Associated Press}}</ref> Though the majority (60โ€“70%) of the country's Jews identify as Democratic, Jews span the political spectrum, with those at higher levels of observance being far more likely to vote Republican than their less observant and secular counterparts.<ref>[http://www.stat.columbia.edu/~cook/movabletype/archives/2008/05/voting_patterns.html Stat.colombia.edu]</ref>
|accessdate=2008-09-22}}</ref><ref name=rabbi>{{cite news|url=http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gr3Tlt4jLh-22i1pjxPpAe5ULeWgD9380CUO1|title=Family ties: Obama counts rabbi among relatives|author=Sophia Tareem|accessdate=2008-09-22|agency=Associated Press}}</ref> Though the majority (60โ€“70%) of the country's jews identify as Democratic, jews span the political spectrum, with those at higher levels of observance being far more likely to vote Republican than their less observant and secular counterparts.<ref>[http://www.stat.columbia.edu/~cook/movabletype/archives/2008/05/voting_patterns.html Stat.colombia.edu]</ref>


Helmreich describes Jews as "a uniquely swayable bloc" as a result of Republican stances on [[Israel]].<ref name=voting/><ref name=rabbi/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.njdc.org/media/entry/busting_the_myth_jews_remain_democrats_new_independent_polling_shows|title=Busting the Myth: Jews Remain Democrats, New Independent Polling Shows|accessdate=2008-10-02|publisher=National Jewish Democratic Council}}</ref> A paper by Dr. Eric Uslaner of the University of Maryland disagrees, at least with regard to the 2004 election: "Only 15% of Jews said that Israel was a key voting issue. Among those voters, 55% voted for Kerry (compared to 83% of Jewish voters not concerned with Israel)." The paper goes on point out that negative views of Evangelical Christians had a distinctly negative impact for Republicans among Jewish voters, while Orthodox Jews, traditionally more conservative in outlook as to social issues, favored the Republican Party.<ref>Eric M. Uslaner, {{PDFlink|[http://www.bsos.umd.edu/gvpt/uslaner/uslanerlichbachjewishvotingbehaviorsummary.pdf "Two Front War: Jews, Identity, Liberalism, and Voting"]|59.6&nbsp;KB}}</ref> A ''New York Times'' article suggests that the Jewish movement to the Republican party is focused heavily on faith-based issues, similar to the Catholic vote, which is credited for helping President Bush taking Florida in 2004.<ref>[http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/05/politics/campaign/05religion.html?_r=1&pagewanted=2&oref=slogin The New York Times > Washington > Election 2004 > Faith Groups: Bush Benefits From Efforts to Build a Coalition of the Faithful<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>ย  However, Natan Guttman, ''[[The Forward]]''โ€™s Washington bureau chief, dismisses this notion, writing in ''[[Moment (magazine)|Moment]]'' that while "[i]t is true that Republicans are making small and steady strides into the Jewish communityโ€ฆa look at the past three decades of [[exit polls]], which are more reliable than pre-election polls, and the numbers are clear: Jews vote overwhelmingly Democratic,โ€ <ref>{{citenews|author=Natan Guttman|url=http://www.momentmag.com/|title=Myths About the โ€œJewish Voteโ€ |work=Moment Magazine|date=July/August 2011}}</ref> an assertion confirmed by the most recent presidential election results.
Helmreich describes jews as "a uniquely swayable bloc" as a result of Republican stances on [[Israel]].<ref name=voting/><ref name=rabbi/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.njdc.org/media/entry/busting_the_myth_jews_remain_democrats_new_independent_polling_shows|title=Busting the Myth: jews Remain Democrats, New Independent Polling Shows|accessdate=2008-10-02|publisher=National jewish Democratic Council}}</ref> A paper by Dr. Eric Uslaner of the University of Maryland disagrees, at least with regard to the 2004 election: "Only 15% of jews said that Israel was a key voting issue. Among those voters, 55% voted for Kerry (compared to 83% of jewish voters not concerned with Israel)." The paper goes on point out that negative views of Evangelical Christians had a distinctly negative impact for Republicans among jewish voters, while Orthodox jews, traditionally more conservative in outlook as to social issues, favored the Republican Party.<ref>Eric M. Uslaner, {{PDFlink|[http://www.bsos.umd.edu/gvpt/uslaner/uslanerlichbachjewishvotingbehaviorsummary.pdf "Two Front War: jews, Identity, Liberalism, and Voting"]|59.6&nbsp;KB}}</ref> A ''New York Times'' article suggests that the jewish movement to the Republican party is focused heavily on faith-based issues, similar to the Catholic vote, which is credited for helping President Bush taking Florida in 2004.<ref>[http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/05/politics/campaign/05religion.html?_r=1&pagewanted=2&oref=slogin The New York Times > Washington > Election 2004 > Faith Groups: Bush Benefits From Efforts to Build a Coalition of the Faithful<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>ย  However, Natan Guttman, ''[[The Forward]]''โ€™s Washington bureau chief, dismisses this notion, writing in ''[[Moment (magazine)|Moment]]'' that while "[i]t is true that Republicans are making small and steady strides into the jewish communityโ€ฆa look at the past three decades of [[exit polls]], which are more reliable than pre-election polls, and the numbers are clear: jews vote overwhelmingly Democratic,โ€ <ref>{{citenews|author=Natan Guttman|url=http://www.momentmag.com/|title=Myths About the โ€œjewish Voteโ€ |work=Moment Magazine|date=July/August 2011}}</ref> an assertion confirmed by the most recent presidential election results.


Though critics have charged that Jewish interests were partially responsible for the push to war with Iraq, Jewish Americans were actually more strongly opposed to the [[Iraq war]] from its onset than any other major religious group or even most Americans. The greater opposition to the war was not simply a result of high Democratic identification among U.S. Jews, as Jews of all political persuasions were more likely to oppose the war than non-Jews who shared the same political leanings.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gallup.com/poll/26677/Among-Religious-Groups-Jewish-Americans-Most-Strongly-Oppose-War.aspx|title=Among Religious Groups, Jewish Americans Most Strongly Oppose War|publisher=Gallup, Inc. |author=Jeffrey M. Jones|accessdate=2008-10-04}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.aipac.org/Publications/AIPACPeriodicalsNearEastReport/NER011507.pdf|format=PDF|title=Editor's Comments|publisher=Near East|accessdate=2008-10-04}}</ref>
Though critics have charged that jewish interests were partially responsible for the push to war with Iraq, jewish Americans were actually more strongly opposed to the [[Iraq war]] from its onset than any other major religious group or even most Americans. The greater opposition to the war was not simply a result of high Democratic identification among U.S. jews, as jews of all political persuasions were more likely to oppose the war than non-jews who shared the same political leanings.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gallup.com/poll/26677/Among-Religious-Groups-jewish-Americans-Most-Strongly-Oppose-War.aspx|title=Among Religious Groups, jewish Americans Most Strongly Oppose War|publisher=Gallup, Inc. |author=Jeffrey M. Jones|accessdate=2008-10-04}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.aipac.org/Publications/AIPACPeriodicalsNearEastReport/NER011507.pdf|format=PDF|title=Editor's Comments|publisher=Near East|accessdate=2008-10-04}}</ref>


Owing to high Democratic identification in the [[2008 United States Presidential Election]], 78% of Jews voted for Democrat [[Barack Obama]] versus 21% for Republican [[John McCain]], despite Republican attempts to connect Obama to Muslim and pro-Palestinian causes.<ref name="78%"/> It has been suggested that running mate [[Sarah Palin]]'s conservative views on social issues may have nudged Jews away from the McCain-Palin ticket.<ref name=voting/><ref name="78%">{{cite web|url=http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3618408,00.html|title= 78% of American Jews vote Obama|author=Yitzhak Benhorin|publisher=Yedioth Internet|accessdate=2008-10-05}}</ref> ย 
Owing to high Democratic identification in the [[2008 United States Presidential Election]], 78% of jews voted for Democrat [[Barack Obama]] versus 21% for Republican [[John McCain]], despite Republican attempts to connect Obama to Muslim and pro-Palestinian causes.<ref name="78%"/> It has been suggested that running mate [[Sarah Palin]]'s conservative views on social issues may have nudged jews away from the McCain-Palin ticket.<ref name=voting/><ref name="78%">{{cite web|url=http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3618408,00.html|title= 78% of American jews vote Obama|author=Yitzhak Benhorin|publisher=Yedioth Internet|accessdate=2008-10-05}}</ref> ย 


American Jews are largely supportive of gay rights, though a split exists within the group by observance. [[Reform movement in Judaism|Reform]] rabbis in America perform same-sex marriages as a matter of routine, and there are fifteen LGBT Jewish congregations in [[North America]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/798787.html|title=The gay question and the Jewish question|publisher=haaretz|accessdate=2010-01-06}}</ref> Reform, [[Reconstructionist Judaism|Reconstructionist]] and, increasingly, [[Conservative Judaism|Conservative]], Jews are far more supportive on issues like gay marriage than [[Orthodox Judaism|Orthodox Jews]] are.<ref>[http://www.jewsonfirst.org/howjewsseegr.html Attacks on Gay Rights: How Jews See It<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> A 2007 survey of Conservative Jewish leaders and activists showed that an overwhelming majority supported gay rabbinical ordination and same-sex marriage.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.forward.com/articles/9989/|title=Poll: Conservative Leaders Back Gay Rabbis|author=Rebecca Spence|accessdate=2009-04-23|publisher=Forward Association}}</ref> Accordingly, 78% percent of Jewish voters rejected [[California Proposition 8 (2008)|Proposition 8]], the bill that banned gay marriage in California. No other ethnic or religious group voted as strongly against it.<ref name=gaymarriage>{{cite news|url=http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2008/11/la-jews-overwhe.html|title=L.A. Jews overwhelmingly opposed Prop. 8, exit poll finds|publisher=LA Times|accessdate=2008-12-10 | date=2008-11-09}}</ref>
American jews are largely supportive of gay rights, though a split exists within the group by observance. [[Reform movement in Judaism|Reform]] rabbis in America perform same-sex marriages as a matter of routine, and there are fifteen LGBT jewish congregations in [[North America]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/798787.html|title=The gay question and the jewish question|publisher=haaretz|accessdate=2010-01-06}}</ref> Reform, [[Reconstructionist Judaism|Reconstructionist]] and, increasingly, [[Conservative Judaism|Conservative]], jews are far more supportive on issues like gay marriage than [[Orthodox Judaism|Orthodox jews]] are.<ref>[http://www.jewsonfirst.org/howjewsseegr.html Attacks on Gay Rights: How jews See It<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> A 2007 survey of Conservative jewish leaders and activists showed that an overwhelming majority supported gay rabbinical ordination and same-sex marriage.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.forward.com/articles/9989/|title=Poll: Conservative Leaders Back Gay Rabbis|author=Rebecca Spence|accessdate=2009-04-23|publisher=Forward Association}}</ref> Accordingly, 78% percent of jewish voters rejected [[California Proposition 8 (2008)|Proposition 8]], the bill that banned gay marriage in California. No other ethnic or religious group voted as strongly against it.<ref name=gaymarriage>{{cite news|url=http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2008/11/la-jews-overwhe.html|title=L.A. jews overwhelmingly opposed Prop. 8, exit poll finds|publisher=LA Times|accessdate=2008-12-10 | date=2008-11-09}}</ref>


Jews in America also overwhelmingly oppose current United States marijuana policy. Eighty-six percent of Jewish Americans opposed arresting nonviolent marijuana smokers, compared to 61% for the population at large and 68% of all Democrats. Additionally, 85% of Jews in the United States opposed using federal law enforcement to close patient cooperatives for medical marijuana in states where medical marijuana is legal, compared to 67% of the population at large and 73% of Democrats.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=5052|title=Majority of Americans Oppose US Marijuana Policies|accessdate=2009-04-23|publisher=NORML}}</ref>
jews in America also overwhelmingly oppose current United States marijuana policy. Eighty-six percent of jewish Americans opposed arresting nonviolent marijuana smokers, compared to 61% for the population at large and 68% of all Democrats. Additionally, 85% of jews in the United States opposed using federal law enforcement to close patient cooperatives for medical marijuana in states where medical marijuana is legal, compared to 67% of the population at large and 73% of Democrats.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=5052|title=Majority of Americans Oppose US Marijuana Policies|accessdate=2009-04-23|publisher=NORML}}</ref>


==Jewish American culture==
==jewish American culture==
{{See also|Secular Jewish culture}}
{{See also|Secular jewish culture}}
Since the time of the last major wave of Jewish immigration to America (over 2,000,000 Eastern European Jews who arrived between 1890 and 1924), Jewish secular culture in the United States has become integrated in almost every important way with the broader American culture. Many aspects of Jewish American culture have, in turn, become part of the wider culture of the United States.
Since the time of the last major wave of jewish immigration to America (over 2,000,000 Eastern European jews who arrived between 1890 and 1924), jewish secular culture in the United States has become integrated in almost every important way with the broader American culture. Many aspects of jewish American culture have, in turn, become part of the wider culture of the United States.


===Language===
===Language===
Most American Jews are today native [[English language|English-speakers]]. A variety of other languages are still spoken within some American Jewish communities, communities that are representative of the various [[Jewish ethnic divisions]] from around the world that have come together to make up America's Jewish population.
Most American jews are today native [[English language|English-speakers]]. A variety of other languages are still spoken within some American jewish communities, communities that are representative of the various [[jewish ethnic divisions]] from around the world that have come together to make up America's jewish population.


Many of America's [[Hasidic Judaism|Hasidic Jews]] (being exclusively of [[Ashkenazi Jews|Ashkenazi]] descent) are raised speaking [[Yiddish language|Yiddish]]. Yiddish was once spoken as the primary language by most of the several million European Jews who immigrated to the United States (it was, in fact, the original language in which ''[[The Forward]]'' was published). Yiddish has had an influence on [[American English]], and words borrowed from it include ''[[chutzpah]]'' ("effrontery", "gall"), ''[[nosh]]'' ("snack"), ''schlep'' ("drag"), ''schmuck'' ("an obnoxious, contemptible person", euphemism for "penis"), and, depending on [[ideolect]], hundreds of other terms. (See also [[Yinglish]].)
Many of America's [[Hasidic Judaism|Hasidic jews]] (being exclusively of [[Ashkenazi jews|Ashkenazi]] descent) are raised speaking [[Yiddish language|Yiddish]]. Yiddish was once spoken as the primary language by most of the several million European jews who immigrated to the United States (it was, in fact, the original language in which ''[[The Forward]]'' was published). Yiddish has had an influence on [[American English]], and words borrowed from it include ''[[chutzpah]]'' ("effrontery", "gall"), ''[[nosh]]'' ("snack"), ''schlep'' ("drag"), ''schmuck'' ("an obnoxious, contemptible person", euphemism for "penis"), and, depending on [[ideolect]], hundreds of other terms. (See also [[Yinglish]].)


The [[Persian Jews|Persian Jewish]] community in the United States, notably the large community in and around [[Los Angeles, California|Los Angeles]] and [[Beverly Hills, California]], primarily speak [[Persian language|Persian]] (see also [[Dzhidi language|Judeo-Persian]]) in the home and synagogue. They also support their own Persian language newspapers. Persian Jews also reside in eastern parts of [[New York]] such as [[Kew Gardens, Queens|Kew Gardens]] and [[Great Neck, New York|Great Neck, Long Island]].
The [[Persian jews|Persian jewish]] community in the United States, notably the large community in and around [[Los Angeles, California|Los Angeles]] and [[Beverly Hills, California]], primarily speak [[Persian language|Persian]] (see also [[Dzhidi language|Judeo-Persian]]) in the home and synagogue. They also support their own Persian language newspapers. Persian jews also reside in eastern parts of [[New York]] such as [[Kew Gardens, Queens|Kew Gardens]] and [[Great Neck, New York|Great Neck, Long Island]].


Many recent Jewish immigrants from the [[Soviet Union]] speak primarily [[Russian language|Russian]] at home, and there are several notable communities where public life and business are carried out mainly in Russian, such as in [[Brighton Beach]] in New York City and [[Sunny Isles Beach]] in Miami. 2010 estimates of the number of Jewish Russian-speaking households in the New York city area at around 92,000, and the number of individuals at somewhere between 223,000-350,000.<ref>Kliger, Sam. [http://www.bjpa.org/Publications/details.cfm?PublicationID=8002 "Russian Jews in America: Status, Identity and Integration]". International Conference "Russian-speaking Jewry in Global Perspective: Assimilation, Integration and Community-building". American Jewish Committee (AJC). June 2004</ref> Another high population of Russian Jews can be found in the [[Richmond District]] of [[San Francisco, CA]] where Russian markets stand alongside the numerous Asian businesses. ย 
Many recent jewish immigrants from the [[Soviet Union]] speak primarily [[Russian language|Russian]] at home, and there are several notable communities where public life and business are carried out mainly in Russian, such as in [[Brighton Beach]] in New York City and [[Sunny Isles Beach]] in Miami. 2010 estimates of the number of jewish Russian-speaking households in the New York city area at around 92,000, and the number of individuals at somewhere between 223,000-350,000.<ref>Kliger, Sam. [http://www.bjpa.org/Publications/details.cfm?PublicationID=8002 "Russian jews in America: Status, Identity and Integration]". International Conference "Russian-speaking jewry in Global Perspective: Assimilation, Integration and Community-building". American jewish Committee (AJC). June 2004</ref> Another high population of Russian jews can be found in the [[Richmond District]] of [[San Francisco, CA]] where Russian markets stand alongside the numerous Asian businesses. ย 


American [[Bukharan Jews]] speak [[Bukhori]] (a dialect of Persian) and [[Russian language|Russian]]. They publish their own newspapers such as the ''Bukharian Times'' and a large portion live in [[Queens, New York]]. [[Forest Hills, Queens, New York|Forest Hills]] in the [[New York City]] borough of [[Queens]] is home to 108th Street, which is called by some "Bukharian Broadway",<ref>{{cite news| url=http://travel.nytimes.com/2006/01/18/dining/18rego.html | work=The New York Times | title=The Silk Road Leads to Queens | first=Julia | last=Moskin | date=2006-01-18 | accessdate=2010-04-23}}</ref> a reference to the many stores and restaurants found on and around the street that have Bukharian influences. Many Bukharians are also represented in parts of [[Arizona]], [[Miami, Florida]], and areas of [[Southern California]] such as [[San Diego, California|San Diego]].
American [[Bukharan jews]] speak [[Bukhori]] (a dialect of Persian) and [[Russian language|Russian]]. They publish their own newspapers such as the ''Bukharian Times'' and a large portion live in [[Queens, New York]]. [[Forest Hills, Queens, New York|Forest Hills]] in the [[New York City]] borough of [[Queens]] is home to 108th Street, which is called by some "Bukharian Broadway",<ref>{{cite news| url=http://travel.nytimes.com/2006/01/18/dining/18rego.html | work=The New York Times | title=The Silk Road Leads to Queens | first=Julia | last=Moskin | date=2006-01-18 | accessdate=2010-04-23}}</ref> a reference to the many stores and restaurants found on and around the street that have Bukharian influences. Many Bukharians are also represented in parts of [[Arizona]], [[Miami, Florida]], and areas of [[Southern California]] such as [[San Diego, California|San Diego]].


[[Classical Hebrew]] is the language of most Jewish religious literature, such as the [[Tanakh]] (Bible) and [[Siddur]] (prayerbook). [[Modern Hebrew]] is also the primary official language of the modern State of [[Israel]], which further encourages many to learn it as a second language. Some recent Israeli immigrants to America speak Hebrew as their primary language.
[[Classical Hebrew]] is the language of most jewish religious literature, such as the [[Tanakh]] (Bible) and [[Siddur]] (prayerbook). [[Modern Hebrew]] is also the primary official language of the modern State of [[Israel]], which further encourages many to learn it as a second language. Some recent Israeli immigrants to America speak Hebrew as their primary language.


Some Jews, particularly in [[Miami, Florida|Miami]] and [[Los Angeles, California|Los Angeles]], immigrated from [[Latin America]]. Many of these [[Hispanic Jews]] (many of them of [[Sephardic]] origin dating back to the [[Spain|Spanish]] colonial era, but also some from [[Ashkenazi]] descent from recent Central and Eastern European immigration to Latin America) speak [[Spanish language|Spanish]] in the home, and some have intermarried with the non-Jewish [[Hispanic]] population. Recent Jews from Spain speak Spanish, and Spanish may be spoken by other Jews with ancestry outside Spain and Latin America but who live in areas near predominantly Hispanic populations. There are a large number of synagogues in the Miami area that give services in [[Spanish language|Spanish]]. Also in Miami and Los Angeles there are many Luso-Jews with origin from [[Brazil]] and [[Portugal]] (Sephardic Jews but including in Brazil, Ashkenazi, and Mizrahi) speak [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]] in home. There are a handful of older European immigrant communities that still speak [[Ladino language|Ladino]].
Some jews, particularly in [[Miami, Florida|Miami]] and [[Los Angeles, California|Los Angeles]], immigrated from [[Latin America]]. Many of these [[Hispanic jews]] (many of them of [[Sephardic]] origin dating back to the [[Spain|Spanish]] colonial era, but also some from [[Ashkenazi]] descent from recent Central and Eastern European immigration to Latin America) speak [[Spanish language|Spanish]] in the home, and some have intermarried with the non-jewish [[Hispanic]] population. Recent jews from Spain speak Spanish, and Spanish may be spoken by other jews with ancestry outside Spain and Latin America but who live in areas near predominantly Hispanic populations. There are a large number of synagogues in the Miami area that give services in [[Spanish language|Spanish]]. Also in Miami and Los Angeles there are many Luso-jews with origin from [[Brazil]] and [[Portugal]] (Sephardic jews but including in Brazil, Ashkenazi, and Mizrahi) speak [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]] in home. There are a handful of older European immigrant communities that still speak [[Ladino language|Ladino]].


===Jewish American literature===
===jewish American literature===
{{Main|Jewish American literature}}
{{Main|jewish American literature}}
Although American Jews have contributed greatly to American arts overall, there remains a distinctly Jewish American literature. Jewish American literature often explores the experience of being a Jew in America, and the conflicting pulls of secular society and history.
Although American jews have contributed greatly to American arts overall, there remains a distinctly jewish American literature. jewish American literature often explores the experience of being a jew in America, and the conflicting pulls of secular society and history.


==Notable American Jews==
==Notable American jews==
===Popular culture===
===Popular culture===
{{Main|List of Jewish actors|List of Jewish American authors|List of Jewish American entertainers|List of Jewish musicians|List of Jewish American sportspeople|List of Jewish American visual artists | List of Jewish American Photographers}}
{{Main|List of jewish actors|List of jewish American authors|List of jewish American entertainers|List of jewish musicians|List of jewish American sportspeople|List of jewish American visual artists | List of jewish American Photographers}}
Many individual Jews have made significant contributions to American popular culture. There have been many Jewish American actors and performers, ranging from early 1900s actors, to classic Hollywood film stars, and culminating in many currently known actors. Many of the early Hollywood moguls and pioneers were [[Jew]]ish.
Many individual jews have made significant contributions to American popular culture. There have been many jewish American actors and performers, ranging from early 1900s actors, to classic Hollywood film stars, and culminating in many currently known actors. Many of the early Hollywood moguls and pioneers were [[jew]]ish.


The field of American comedy includes many Jews. The legacy also includes songwriters and authors. Many Jews have been at the forefront of women's issues. Jews have also done well in the field of sport.
The field of American comedy includes many jews. The legacy also includes songwriters and authors. Many jews have been at the forefront of women's issues. jews have also done well in the field of sport.


===Government and military===
===Government and military===
[[Image:JewishConfederate.JPG|thumb|right|Grave of [[Confederate States Army|Confederate]] Jewish soldier near [[Clinton, Louisiana]]]]
[[Image:jewishConfederate.JPG|thumb|right|Grave of [[Confederate States Army|Confederate]] jewish soldier near [[Clinton, Louisiana]]]]
{{Main|List of Jewish American politicians|List of Jewish Americans in the military}}
{{Main|List of jewish American politicians|List of jewish Americans in the military}}
{{see also|Military history of Jewish Americans}}
{{see also|Military history of jewish Americans}}
Since 1845, a total of 34 Jews have served in the Senate, including the 14 present-day senators noted [[American Jews#Politics|above]]. [[Judah P. Benjamin]] was the first practicing Jewish Senator, and would later serve as [[Confederate States of America|Confederate]] [[Secretary of War]] and [[Secretary of State]] during the [[American Civil War|Civil War]]. [[Rahm Emmanuel]] served as Chief of Staff to President Barack Obama. The number of Jews elected to the House rose to an all-time high of 30. [[List of Jewish United States Supreme Court justices|Seven Jews]] have been appointed to the [[United States Supreme Court]].
Since 1845, a total of 34 jews have served in the Senate, including the 14 present-day senators noted [[American jews#Politics|above]]. [[Judah P. Benjamin]] was the first practicing jewish Senator, and would later serve as [[Confederate States of America|Confederate]] [[Secretary of War]] and [[Secretary of State]] during the [[American Civil War|Civil War]]. [[Rahm Emmanuel]] served as Chief of Staff to President Barack Obama. The number of jews elected to the House rose to an all-time high of 30. [[List of jewish United States Supreme Court justices|Seven jews]] have been appointed to the [[United States Supreme Court]].


In April 1984, an unusual historic connection between American history and American Jewish history was made when President Ronald Reagan read Jewish Navy chaplain [[Arnold Resnicoff]]'s [http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=39775 eyewitness account] of the [[1983 Beirut barracks bombing]] as his keynote speech to the Rev. Jerry Falwell's ''Baptism Fundamentalism '84'' Washington, DC, convention.
In April 1984, an unusual historic connection between American history and American jewish history was made when President Ronald Reagan read jewish Navy chaplain [[Arnold Resnicoff]]'s [http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=39775 eyewitness account] of the [[1983 Beirut barracks bombing]] as his keynote speech to the Rev. Jerry Falwell's ''Baptism Fundamentalism '84'' Washington, DC, convention.


Sixteen American Jews have been awarded the [[Medal of Honor]].
Sixteen American jews have been awarded the [[Medal of Honor]].


===World War II===
===World War II===
More than 550,000 Jews served in the [[Military of the United States|U.S. military]] during World War II; about 11,000 were killed and more than 40,000 were wounded. There were three recipients of the Medal of Honor, 157 recipients of the [[Army Distinguished Service Medal]], [[Navy Distinguished Service Medal]], [[Distinguished Service Cross (United States)|Distinguished Service Cross]], or [[Navy Cross]], and about 1600 recipients of the [[Silver Star]]. About 50,000 other decorations. citations and awards were given to Jewish military personnel, for a total of 52,000 decorations. During this period, Jews were approximately 3.3 percent of the total U.S. population but constituted about 4.23 percent of the U.S. armed forces. About 60 percent of all Jewish physicians in the United States under 45 years of age were in service as military physicians and [[medic]]s.<ref>Brody, Seymour. "[http://www.fau.edu/library/br095.htm Jewish Heroes and Heroines in America: World War II to the Present, A Judaica Collection Exhibit]."</ref>
More than 550,000 jews served in the [[Military of the United States|U.S. military]] during World War II; about 11,000 were killed and more than 40,000 were wounded. There were three recipients of the Medal of Honor, 157 recipients of the [[Army Distinguished Service Medal]], [[Navy Distinguished Service Medal]], [[Distinguished Service Cross (United States)|Distinguished Service Cross]], or [[Navy Cross]], and about 1600 recipients of the [[Silver Star]]. About 50,000 other decorations. citations and awards were given to jewish military personnel, for a total of 52,000 decorations. During this period, jews were approximately 3.3 percent of the total U.S. population but constituted about 4.23 percent of the U.S. armed forces. About 60 percent of all jewish physicians in the United States under 45 years of age were in service as military physicians and [[medic]]s.<ref>Brody, Seymour. "[http://www.fau.edu/library/br095.htm jewish Heroes and Heroines in America: World War II to the Present, A Judaica Collection Exhibit]."</ref>


Many Jewish [[physicist]]s, including project lead [[J. Robert Oppenheimer]], were involved in the [[Manhattan Project]], the secret World War II effort to develop the [[Nuclear weapon|atomic bomb]]. Many of these were refugees from [[National Socialist Germany]] or from [[Antisemitism|antisemitic]] persecution elsewhere in Europe.
Many jewish [[physicist]]s, including project lead [[J. Robert Oppenheimer]], were involved in the [[Manhattan Project]], the secret World War II effort to develop the [[Nuclear weapon|atomic bomb]]. Many of these were refugees from [[National Socialist Germany]] or from [[Antisemitism|antisemitic]] persecution elsewhere in Europe.


===Finance===
===Finance===
American Jews in the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries played a major role in American finance or "Wall Street", both at investment banks and investment funds.<ref>"Banking and Bankers," '' Encyclopaedia Judaica. '' (2nd ed. 2008) [http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0003_0_01978.html online]</ref>ย  German Jewish bankers began to assume an important role in American finance in the 1830s when government and private borrowing to pay for canals, railroads and other internal improvement increased rapidly and significantly. Men such as [[August Belmont]] (Rothschild's agent in New York and a leading Democrat), Philip Speyer, [[Jacob Schiff]] (at Kuhn, Loeb & Company), [[Joseph Seligman]], [[Philip Lehman]] (of [[Lehman Brothers]]), [[Jules Bache]], and [[Marcus Goldman]] (of [[Goldman Sachs]]) illustrate this financial elite.<ref>[[Stephen Birmingham]], ''[[Our Crowd]]: The Great Jewish Families of New York'' (1967) pp 8-9, 96-108, 128-42, 233-36,ย  331-37, 343,</ref> As was true of their non-Jewish counterparts, family, personal, and business connections, a reputation for honesty and integrity, ability, and a willingness to take calculated risks were essential to recruit capital from widely scattered sources.ย  The families and the firms which they controlled were bound together by religious and social factors, and by the prevalence of intermarriage. These personal ties fulfilled real business functions before the advent of institutional organization in the 20th century.<ref>Vincent P. Carosso, "A Financial Elite: New York's German-Jewish Investment Bankers," ''American Jewish Historical Quarterly,'' 1976, Vol. 66 Issue 1, pp 67-88</ref><ref>Barry E.ย  Supple, "A Business Elite: German-Jewish Financiers in Nineteenth-Century New York," ''Business History Review,'' Summer 1957, Vol. 31 Issue 2, pp 143-177</ref>ย  Nevertheless, antisemitic elements often falsely targeted them as key players in a supposed Jewish cabal conspiring to dominate the world.<ref>Richard Levy, ed. ''Bankers, Jewish" in ''Antisemitism: A Historical Encyclopedia of Prejudice and Persecution'' (2005)ย  pp 55-56</ref>ย  ย 
American jews in the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries played a major role in American finance or "Wall Street", both at investment banks and investment funds.<ref>"Banking and Bankers," '' Encyclopaedia Judaica. '' (2nd ed. 2008) [http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0003_0_01978.html online]</ref>ย  German jewish bankers began to assume an important role in American finance in the 1830s when government and private borrowing to pay for canals, railroads and other internal improvement increased rapidly and significantly. Men such as [[August Belmont]] (Rothschild's agent in New York and a leading Democrat), Philip Speyer, [[Jacob Schiff]] (at Kuhn, Loeb & Company), [[Joseph Seligman]], [[Philip Lehman]] (of [[Lehman Brothers]]), [[Jules Bache]], and [[Marcus Goldman]] (of [[Goldman Sachs]]) illustrate this financial elite.<ref>[[Stephen Birmingham]], ''[[Our Crowd]]: The Great jewish Families of New York'' (1967) pp 8-9, 96-108, 128-42, 233-36,ย  331-37, 343,</ref> As was true of their non-jewish counterparts, family, personal, and business connections, a reputation for honesty and integrity, ability, and a willingness to take calculated risks were essential to recruit capital from widely scattered sources.ย  The families and the firms which they controlled were bound together by religious and social factors, and by the prevalence of intermarriage. These personal ties fulfilled real business functions before the advent of institutional organization in the 20th century.<ref>Vincent P. Carosso, "A Financial Elite: New York's German-jewish Investment Bankers," ''American jewish Historical Quarterly,'' 1976, Vol. 66 Issue 1, pp 67-88</ref><ref>Barry E.ย  Supple, "A Business Elite: German-jewish Financiers in Nineteenth-Century New York," ''Business History Review,'' Summer 1957, Vol. 31 Issue 2, pp 143-177</ref>ย  Nevertheless, antisemitic elements often falsely targeted them as key players in a supposed jewish cabal conspiring to dominate the world.<ref>Richard Levy, ed. ''Bankers, jewish" in ''Antisemitism: A Historical Encyclopedia of Prejudice and Persecution'' (2005)ย  pp 55-56</ref>ย  ย 


Since the late 20th century have Jews played a major role in the hedge fund industry, according to Zuckerman (2009)<ref>Bruce Zuckerman, ''The Jewish Role In American Life'' (2009) pp 64, 70</ref> Thus [[SAC Capital Advisors]],<ref>Led by Steven Cohen; Bruce Zuckerman, ''The Jewish Role In American Life'' (2009) p. 71</ref> [[Soros Fund Management]],<ref>Bruce Zuckerman, ''The Jewish Role In American Life'' (2009) p. 72</ref> [[Och-Ziff Capital Management]],<ref>"Schechter school mourns founder Golda Och, 74" ''New Jersey Jewish News'' Jan. 13, 2010</ref> [[GLG Partners]]<ref>"The 400 Richest Americans: #355 Noam Gottesman" ''Forbes'' Sept 17. 1008</ref> and [[Renaissance Technologies]]<ref>Steven L. Pease. ''The Golden Age of Jewish Achievement'' (2009) p. 510</ref> are large hedge funds cofounded by Jews.ย  They have also played a pivotal role in the private equity industry, co-founding some of the largest firms, such as [[Blackstone Group|Blackstone]],<ref>See Jamie Johnson, "Wasps Stung over Renaming of the N.Y.P.L." [http://www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/2008/05/it-is-an-act-of.html ''Vanity Fair Daily'' May 19, 2008]</ref>ย  [[Carlyle Group]],<ref>Robin Pogrebin, "Donor Gives Lincoln Center $10 Million", [http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/01/arts/01donor.html ''New York Times'' Sept. 30, 2009]</ref> [[Warburg Pincus]],<ref>Ron Chernow, ''The Warburgs'' (1994) p. 661</ref> and [[KKR]].<ref>R. William Weisberger, "Jews and American Investment Banking," ''American Jewish Archives,''ย  June 1991, Vol. 43 Issue 1, pp 71-75</ref><ref>On the careers of [[John Gutfreund]] (at [[Salomon Brothers]]); [[Felix Rohatyn]] (based at [[Lazard]]); [[Sanford I. Weill]] (of [[Citigroup]]) and numerous others see Judith Ramsey Ehrlich, ''The New Crowd: The Changing of the Jewish Guard on Wall Street'' (1990), pp. 4, 72, 226.</ref><ref>Charles D. Ellis, ''The Partnership: The Making of Goldman Sachs'' (2nd ed. 2009) pp 29, 45, 52, 91, 93</ref>
Since the late 20th century have jews played a major role in the hedge fund industry, according to Zuckerman (2009)<ref>Bruce Zuckerman, ''The jewish Role In American Life'' (2009) pp 64, 70</ref> Thus [[SAC Capital Advisors]],<ref>Led by Steven Cohen; Bruce Zuckerman, ''The jewish Role In American Life'' (2009) p. 71</ref> [[Soros Fund Management]],<ref>Bruce Zuckerman, ''The jewish Role In American Life'' (2009) p. 72</ref> [[Och-Ziff Capital Management]],<ref>"Schechter school mourns founder Golda Och, 74" ''New Jersey jewish News'' Jan. 13, 2010</ref> [[GLG Partners]]<ref>"The 400 Richest Americans: #355 Noam Gottesman" ''Forbes'' Sept 17. 1008</ref> and [[Renaissance Technologies]]<ref>Steven L. Pease. ''The Golden Age of jewish Achievement'' (2009) p. 510</ref> are large hedge funds cofounded by jews.ย  They have also played a pivotal role in the private equity industry, co-founding some of the largest firms, such as [[Blackstone Group|Blackstone]],<ref>See Jamie Johnson, "Wasps Stung over Renaming of the N.Y.P.L." [http://www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/2008/05/it-is-an-act-of.html ''Vanity Fair Daily'' May 19, 2008]</ref>ย  [[Carlyle Group]],<ref>Robin Pogrebin, "Donor Gives Lincoln Center $10 Million", [http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/01/arts/01donor.html ''New York Times'' Sept. 30, 2009]</ref> [[Warburg Pincus]],<ref>Ron Chernow, ''The Warburgs'' (1994) p. 661</ref> and [[KKR]].<ref>R. William Weisberger, "jews and American Investment Banking," ''American jewish Archives,''ย  June 1991, Vol. 43 Issue 1, pp 71-75</ref><ref>On the careers of [[John Gutfreund]] (at [[Salomon Brothers]]); [[Felix Rohatyn]] (based at [[Lazard]]); [[Sanford I. Weill]] (of [[Citigroup]]) and numerous others see Judith Ramsey Ehrlich, ''The New Crowd: The Changing of the jewish Guard on Wall Street'' (1990), pp. 4, 72, 226.</ref><ref>Charles D. Ellis, ''The Partnership: The Making of Goldman Sachs'' (2nd ed. 2009) pp 29, 45, 52, 91, 93</ref>


====Federal Reserve====
====Federal Reserve====
[[Paul Warburg]], one of the leading advocates of the establishment of a [[central bank]] in the U.S. and one of the first governors of the newly established [[Federal Reserve System]], came from a prominent Jewish family in Germany.<ref>Ron Chernow, ''The Warburgs'' (1994) p. 26</ref>ย  Several Jews have served as [[Chairman of the Federal Reserve|chairmen]] of the Fed, including [[Ben Bernanke]], the current Chairman, and [[Alan Greenspan]], the prior chairman.
[[Paul Warburg]], one of the leading advocates of the establishment of a [[central bank]] in the U.S. and one of the first governors of the newly established [[Federal Reserve System]], came from a prominent jewish family in Germany.<ref>Ron Chernow, ''The Warburgs'' (1994) p. 26</ref>ย  Several jews have served as [[Chairman of the Federal Reserve|chairmen]] of the Fed, including [[Ben Bernanke]], the current Chairman, and [[Alan Greenspan]], the prior chairman.


===Science, business, and academia===
===Science, business, and academia===
{{Main|List of Jewish American scientists|List of Jewish American businesspeople|List of Jewish American academics}}
{{Main|List of jewish American scientists|List of jewish American businesspeople|List of jewish American academics}}
Jews have traditionally been drawn to business and academia (see [[Secular Jewish culture#Science and Academia|Secular Jewish culture]] for some of the causes), and have made major contributions in science, economics, and the humanities. Of American [[Nobel Prize]] winners, 37 percent have been Jewish Americans (19 times the percentage of Jews in the population), as have been 71 percent of the [[John Bates Clark Medal]] winners (thirty-five times the Jewish percentage). While Jewish Americans only constitute roughly 2.5 percent of the U.S. population, they occupied 7.7 percent of board seats at U.S. corporations.<ref name="Mother Jones, the Changing Power Elite, 1998">{{cite web|url=http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/1998/03/zweigenhaft.html|title=Mother Jones, the Changing Power Elite, 1998|accessdate=2007-01-20}}</ref>
jews have traditionally been drawn to business and academia (see [[Secular jewish culture#Science and Academia|Secular jewish culture]] for some of the causes), and have made major contributions in science, economics, and the humanities. Of American [[Nobel Prize]] winners, 37 percent have been jewish Americans (19 times the percentage of jews in the population), as have been 71 percent of the [[John Bates Clark Medal]] winners (thirty-five times the jewish percentage). While jewish Americans only constitute roughly 2.5 percent of the U.S. population, they occupied 7.7 percent of board seats at U.S. corporations.<ref name="Mother Jones, the Changing Power Elite, 1998">{{cite web|url=http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/1998/03/zweigenhaft.html|title=Mother Jones, the Changing Power Elite, 1998|accessdate=2007-01-20}}</ref>


Since many jobs/careers in science, business, and academia generally pay well, Jewish Americans also tend to have a higher average income than most Americans.ย  The 2000-2001 National Jewish Population Survey shows that the median income of a Jewish family is $54,000 a year and 36% of Jewish households report income over $75,000 a year.<ref>[http://www.jewishfederations.org/page.aspx?id=33650 National Jewish Population Survey 2000-01: Strength, Challenge and Diversity in the American Jewish Population ]</ref>
Since many jobs/careers in science, business, and academia generally pay well, jewish Americans also tend to have a higher average income than most Americans.ย  The 2000-2001 National jewish Population Survey shows that the median income of a jewish family is $54,000 a year and 36% of jewish households report income over $75,000 a year.<ref>[http://www.jewishfederations.org/page.aspx?id=33650 National jewish Population Survey 2000-01: Strength, Challenge and Diversity in the American jewish Population ]</ref>


==Notes and references==
==Notes and references==
Line 778: Line 778:


==Bibliography==
==Bibliography==
* American Jewish Committee. ''American Jewish Yearbook: The Annual Record of Jewish Civilization'' (annual, 1899โ€“2009+),[http://www.ajcarchives.org/main.php?GroupingId=40 complete text online 1899โ€“2007]; long sophisticated essays on status of Jews in U.S. and worldwide; the standard primary source used by historians
* American jewish Committee. ''American jewish Yearbook: The Annual Record of jewish Civilization'' (annual, 1899โ€“2009+),[http://www.ajcarchives.org/main.php?GroupingId=40 complete text online 1899โ€“2007]; long sophisticated essays on status of jews in U.S. and worldwide; the standard primary source used by historians
* Norwood, Stephen H., and Eunice G. Pollack, eds. ''Encyclopedia of American Jewish history'' (2 vol 2007), 775pp; comprehenisive coverage by experts; [http://books.google.com/books?id=nUDbttcSl08C&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ViewAPI#v=onepage&q=&f=false excerpt and text search vol 1]
* Norwood, Stephen H., and Eunice G. Pollack, eds. ''Encyclopedia of American jewish history'' (2 vol 2007), 775pp; comprehenisive coverage by experts; [http://books.google.com/books?id=nUDbttcSl08C&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ViewAPI#v=onepage&q=&f=false excerpt and text search vol 1]
* ''The Jewish People in America'' 5 vol 1992
* ''The jewish People in America'' 5 vol 1992
** Faber, Eli. ''A Time for Planting: The First Migration, 1654โ€“1820'' (Volume 1) (1992) [http://www.amazon.com/dp/0801851203 excerpt and text search]
** Faber, Eli. ''A Time for Planting: The First Migration, 1654โ€“1820'' (Volume 1) (1992) [http://www.amazon.com/dp/0801851203 excerpt and text search]
** [[Hasia Diner|Diner, Hasia R.]] ''A Time for Gathering: The Second Migration, 1820โ€“1880'' (Volume 2) (1992) [http://www.amazon.com/dp/0801851211 excerpt and text search]
** [[Hasia Diner|Diner, Hasia R.]] ''A Time for Gathering: The Second Migration, 1820โ€“1880'' (Volume 2) (1992) [http://www.amazon.com/dp/0801851211 excerpt and text search]
** Sorin, Gerald. ''A Time for Building: The Third Migration, 1880โ€“1920'' (1992) [http://www.amazon.com/dp/080185122X excerpt and text search]
** Sorin, Gerald. ''A Time for Building: The Third Migration, 1880โ€“1920'' (1992) [http://www.amazon.com/dp/080185122X excerpt and text search]
** Feingold, Henry L. ''A Time for Searching: Entering the Mainstream, 1920โ€“1945'' (Volume 4) (1992) [http://www.amazon.com/dp/0801851238 excerpt and text search]
** Feingold, Henry L. ''A Time for Searching: Entering the Mainstream, 1920โ€“1945'' (Volume 4) (1992) [http://www.amazon.com/dp/0801851238 excerpt and text search]
** Shapiro, Edward S. ''A Time for Healing: American Jewry since World War II'', (Volume 5) (1992) [http://www.amazon.com/dp/0801851246 excerpt and text search]
** Shapiro, Edward S. ''A Time for Healing: American jewry since World War II'', (Volume 5) (1992) [http://www.amazon.com/dp/0801851246 excerpt and text search]
* Antler, Joyce., ed. ''Talking Back: Images of Jewish Women in American Popular Culture.'' 1998.
* Antler, Joyce., ed. ''Talking Back: Images of jewish Women in American Popular Culture.'' 1998.
* Cohen, Naomi. ''Jews in Christian America: The Pursuit of Religious Equality.'' 1992.
* Cohen, Naomi. ''jews in Christian America: The Pursuit of Religious Equality.'' 1992.
* Cutler, Irving. ''The Jews of Chicago: From Shtetl to Suburb.'' 1995
* Cutler, Irving. ''The jews of Chicago: From Shtetl to Suburb.'' 1995
* [[Hasia Diner|Diner, Hasia]]. ''The Jews of the United States, 1654 to 2000'' [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=106251087 (2004) online]
* [[Hasia Diner|Diner, Hasia]]. ''The jews of the United States, 1654 to 2000'' [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=106251087 (2004) online]
* Dinnerstein, Leonard. ''Antisemitism in America.'' 1994.
* Dinnerstein, Leonard. ''Antisemitism in America.'' 1994.
* Dollinger, Marc. ''Quest for Inclusion: Jews and Liberalism in Modern America.'' 2000.
* Dollinger, Marc. ''Quest for Inclusion: jews and Liberalism in Modern America.'' 2000.
* [[Arnold Eisen|Eisen, Arnold M.]] ''The Chosen People in America: A Study in Jewish Religious Ideology.'' 1983.
* [[Arnold Eisen|Eisen, Arnold M.]] ''The Chosen People in America: A Study in jewish Religious Ideology.'' 1983.
* [[Nathan Glazer|Glazer, Nathan]]. ''American Judaism''. 2nd ed., 1989.
* [[Nathan Glazer|Glazer, Nathan]]. ''American Judaism''. 2nd ed., 1989.
* Goren, Arthur. ''The Politics and Public Culture of American Jews.'' 1999.
* Goren, Arthur. ''The Politics and Public Culture of American jews.'' 1999.
* [[Jeffrey S. Gurock|Gurock, Jeffrey S]]. ''From Fluidity to Rigidity: The Religious Worlds of Conservative and Orthodox Jews in Twentieth Century America.'' Jean and Samuel Frankel Center for Judaic Studies, 1998.
* [[Jeffrey S. Gurock|Gurock, Jeffrey S]]. ''From Fluidity to Rigidity: The Religious Worlds of Conservative and Orthodox jews in Twentieth Century America.'' Jean and Samuel Frankel Center for Judaic Studies, 1998.
* Hyman, Paula, and [[Deborah Dash Moore]], eds. ''Jewish Women in America: An Historical Encyclopedia.'' 1997
* Hyman, Paula, and [[Deborah Dash Moore]], eds. ''jewish Women in America: An Historical Encyclopedia.'' 1997
* Lederhendler, Eli. ''New York Jews and the Decline of Urban Ethnicity, 1950โ€“1970.'' 2001
* Lederhendler, Eli. ''New York jews and the Decline of Urban Ethnicity, 1950โ€“1970.'' 2001
* [[Deborah Dash Moore|Moore, Deborah Dash.]] ''To the Golden Cities: Pursuing the American Jewish Dream in Miami and L. A.'' 1994
* [[Deborah Dash Moore|Moore, Deborah Dash.]] ''To the Golden Cities: Pursuing the American jewish Dream in Miami and L. A.'' 1994
* [[Deborah Dash Moore|Moore, Deborah Dash.]] ''GI Jews: How World War II Changed a Generation'' (2006)
* [[Deborah Dash Moore|Moore, Deborah Dash.]] ''GI jews: How World War II Changed a Generation'' (2006)
* Norwood, Stephen H., and Eunice G. Pollack, eds. ''Encyclopedia of American Jewish history'' (2 vol 2007), 775pp; comprehenisive coverage by experts; [http://books.google.com/books?id=nUDbttcSl08C&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ViewAPI#v=onepage&q=&f=false excerpt and text search vol 1]
* Norwood, Stephen H., and Eunice G. Pollack, eds. ''Encyclopedia of American jewish history'' (2 vol 2007), 775pp; comprehenisive coverage by experts; [http://books.google.com/books?id=nUDbttcSl08C&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ViewAPI#v=onepage&q=&f=false excerpt and text search vol 1]
* [[Peter Novick|Novick, Peter]]. ''The Holocaust in American Life.'' 1999.
* [[Peter Novick|Novick, Peter]]. ''The Holohoax in American Life.'' 1999.
* Raphael, Marc Lee. ''Judaism in America''. Columbia U. Press, 2003. 234 pp.
* Raphael, Marc Lee. ''Judaism in America''. Columbia U. Press, 2003. 234 pp.
* [[Jonathan D. Sarna|Sarna, Jonathan D]]. ''American Judaism'' Yale University Press, 2004. ISBN 0-300-10197-X 512pp
* [[Jonathan D. Sarna|Sarna, Jonathan D]]. ''American Judaism'' Yale University Press, 2004. ISBN 0-300-10197-X 512pp
* Sorin, Gerald. ''Tradition Transformed: The Jewish Experience in America.'' 1997.
* Sorin, Gerald. ''Tradition Transformed: The jewish Experience in America.'' 1997.
* Staub, Michael E. ed. ''The Jewish 1960s: An American Sourcebook'' University Press of New England, 2004; 371 pp.&nbsp;ISBN 1-58465-417-1 [http://www.h-net.msu.edu/reviews/showrev.cgi?path=314001162310076 online review]
* Staub, Michael E. ed. ''The jewish 1960s: An American Sourcebook'' University Press of New England, 2004; 371 pp.&nbsp;ISBN 1-58465-417-1 [http://www.h-net.msu.edu/reviews/showrev.cgi?path=314001162310076 online review]
* Svonkin, Stuart. ''Jews against Prejudice: American Jews and the Fight for Civil Liberties.'' 1997
* Svonkin, Stuart. ''jews against Prejudice: American jews and the Fight for Civil Liberties.'' 1997
* Waxman, Chaim I. "What We Don't Know about the Judaism of America's Jews." ''Contemporary Jewry'' (2002) 23: 72โ€“95. Issn: 0147-1694 Uses survey data to map the religious beliefs of American Jews, 1973โ€“2002.
* Waxman, Chaim I. "What We Don't Know about the Judaism of America's jews." ''Contemporary jewry'' (2002) 23: 72โ€“95. Issn: 0147-1694 Uses survey data to map the religious beliefs of American jews, 1973โ€“2002.
* [[Jack Wertheimer|Wertheimer, Jack]], ed. ''The American Synagogue: A Sanctuary Transformed.'' 1987.
* [[Jack Wertheimer|Wertheimer, Jack]], ed. ''The American Synagogue: A Sanctuary Transformed.'' 1987.
* Whitfield, Stephen J. ''In Search of American Jewish Culture.'' 1999
* Whitfield, Stephen J. ''In Search of American jewish Culture.'' 1999


==See also==
==See also==
* [[History of the Jews in the United States]]
* [[History of the jews in the United States]]
* [[Anti-Defamation League]]
* [[Anti-Defamation League]]
* [[Bnai Brith]]
* [[Bnai Brith]]
* [[American Jewish Committee]]
* [[American jewish Committee]]
* [[Jew]]s
* [[jew]]s
* [[Zionism]]
* [[Zionism]]
* [[Zionist Occupation Government]]
* [[Zionist Occupation Government]]
* [[Jew Watch]], a site opposing ZOG's predominance.
* [[jew Watch]], a site opposing ZOG's predominance.
* [[Persons of Jewry]]
* [[Persons of jewry]]
* [[English Jew]]
* [[English jew]]


==External links==
==External links==
*[http://thechristiansolution.com/Diaspora.html The Four Diasporas] at The Christian Solution
*[http://thechristiansolution.com/Diaspora.html The Four Diasporas] at The Christian Solution
*[http://www.ajula.edu American Jewish University]
*[http://www.ajula.edu American jewish University]
*[http://www.ajhs.org American Jewish Historical Society]
*[http://www.ajhs.org American jewish Historical Society]
*[http://bjpa.org Berman Jewish Policy Archive @ NYU Wagner]. Full text resources include the American [http://search.bjpa.org/search?client=default_frontend&output=xml_no_dtd&proxystylesheet=default_frontend&filter=0&getfields=*&q=kohn+OR+%22journal+of+jewish+communal+service%22+OR+%22conference+of+jewish+charities%22&partialfields=publisher:Jewish.publisher:Communal.publisher:Service.publisher:Association.publisher:of.publisher:North.publisher:America&sort=date:D:S:d1&num=100&lind=0&ie=UTF-8&ip=128.122.242.154&access=p&entqr=3&oe=UTF-8&ud=1&start=0 Journal of Jewish Communal Service] back to 1902, archives of the [http://www.bjpa.org/Publications/results.cfm?PublicationName=American%20Jewish%20Year%20Book American Jewish Yearbook], as well as [http://bjpa.org/Publications/results.cfm?Topic=Population-Estimate&TopicID=246&SortBy=PublicationYear&SortDir=DESC&MaxRows=20 population estimates], [http://bjpa.org/Publications/results.cfm?Topic=Survey&TopicID=485&SortBy=PublicationYear&SortDir=DESC&MaxRows=20 surveys], and analyses on American Jewish communities and political behavior.
*[http://bjpa.org Berman jewish Policy Archive @ NYU Wagner]. Full text resources include the American [http://search.bjpa.org/search?client=default_frontend&output=xml_no_dtd&proxystylesheet=default_frontend&filter=0&getfields=*&q=kohn+OR+%22journal+of+jewish+communal+service%22+OR+%22conference+of+jewish+charities%22&partialfields=publisher:jewish.publisher:Communal.publisher:Service.publisher:Association.publisher:of.publisher:North.publisher:America&sort=date:D:S:d1&num=100&lind=0&ie=UTF-8&ip=128.122.242.154&access=p&entqr=3&oe=UTF-8&ud=1&start=0 Journal of jewish Communal Service] back to 1902, archives of the [http://www.bjpa.org/Publications/results.cfm?PublicationName=American%20jewish%20Year%20Book American jewish Yearbook], as well as [http://bjpa.org/Publications/results.cfm?Topic=Population-Estimate&TopicID=246&SortBy=PublicationYear&SortDir=DESC&MaxRows=20 population estimates], [http://bjpa.org/Publications/results.cfm?Topic=Survey&TopicID=485&SortBy=PublicationYear&SortDir=DESC&MaxRows=20 surveys], and analyses on American jewish communities and political behavior.
*[http://www.dinur.org/resources/resourceCategoryDisplay.aspx?categoryid=804&rsid=478 Resources > Jewish communities > America > Northern America] The Jewish History Resource Center, Project of the Dinur Center for Research in Jewish History,ย  The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
*[http://www.dinur.org/resources/resourceCategoryDisplay.aspx?categoryid=804&rsid=478 Resources > jewish communities > America > Northern America] The jewish History Resource Center, Project of the Dinur Center for Research in jewish History,ย  The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
*[http://www.temple.edu/feinsteinctr/fcrelated.html Feinstein Center]. Comprehensive collection of links to Jewish American history, organizations, and issues.
*[http://www.temple.edu/feinsteinctr/fcrelated.html Feinstein Center]. Comprehensive collection of links to jewish American history, organizations, and issues.
*[http://www.ujc.org/index.html United Jewish Communities of North America]. Also site of population survey statistics.
*[http://www.ujc.org/index.html United jewish Communities of North America]. Also site of population survey statistics.
*[http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/US-Israel/jewstoc.html Jews in America] from the Jewish Virtual Library.
*[http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/US-Israel/jewstoc.html jews in America] from the jewish Virtual Library.
*[http://www.jbuff.com/c021501.htm Jewish-American Literature]
*[http://www.jbuff.com/c021501.htm jewish-American Literature]
*[http://www.zehut.net/English/Philosopher.htm Thoughts About The Jewish People By American Thinkers]
*[http://www.zehut.net/English/Philosopher.htm Thoughts About The jewish People By American Thinkers]
*[http://www.jewish-history.com Jewish-American History on the Web]
*[http://www.jewish-history.com jewish-American History on the Web]
*[http://www.amuseum.org/jahf/ Jewish American Hall of Fame]
*[http://www.amuseum.org/jahf/ jewish American Hall of Fame]
*[http://www.simpletoremember.com/vitals/jewsamerica.htm The Jewish Impact on America]
*[http://www.simpletoremember.com/vitals/jewsamerica.htm The jewish Impact on America]
*[http://ujc.org/content_display.html?ArticleID=60346 2000-01 National Jewish Population Survey]
*[http://ujc.org/content_display.html?ArticleID=60346 2000-01 National jewish Population Survey]
*Moran Peled, [http://acheret.co.il/en/?cmd=articles.304&act=read&id=1958 Voting with Their Feet], [http://acheret.co.il/en Eretz Acheret] Magazine
*Moran Peled, [http://acheret.co.il/en/?cmd=articles.304&act=read&id=1958 Voting with Their Feet], [http://acheret.co.il/en Eretz Acheret] Magazine


{{Organized Jewish Life in the United States}}
{{Organized jewish Life in the United States}}
{{Jews and Judaism}}
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[[Category:Jews in the United States|#]]

Latest revision as of 23:00, 24 February 2024

Template:Wikipedia PC

jews in the United States
File:Jews in the United States of America.png
Abe Foxmanโ€ขEmma Goldmanโ€ขMeyer Lanskyโ€ขJonathan Pollardโ€ขBetty Friedanโ€ขArthur Ochs Sulzbergerโ€ขTim Wiseโ€ขJulius and Ethel Rosenbergโ€ขBen Bernankeโ€ขSaul Alinskyโ€ขSteven Spielbergโ€ขAndrea Dworkinโ€ขAllen Ginsbergโ€ขMark Potokโ€ขAlan Greenspan
Total population
6,544,000 approx. (2009)
1.7โ€“2.2% of the U.S. population[1]

up from 6,141,325 in 2000[2]

Regions with significant populations
New York metropolitan area, Delaware Valley, Greater Boston, all along the Northeast Megalopolis in the Northeastern United States, South Florida, Washington DC area, the West Coast (especially the Los Angeles and San Francisco areas), the Chicagoโ€“Milwaukee corridor
Languages

Traditional jewish languages
Hebrew, Yiddish, Ladino, and others
Liturgical languages
Hebrew and Aramaic
Predominant spoken languages
American English, Hebrew, Yiddish, Russian

Religion

Judaism

Related ethnic groups

Ashkenazi jews, Mizrahi jews, Sephardi jews, other jewish ethnic divisions

American jews, American jewry, or jewish Americans, are jews who are American citizens or resident aliens of the jewish race or religion. jews in the United States (aka. jewnited States) are predominantly composed of Ashkenazi jews who emigrated from Central and Eastern Europe, and their US-born descendants. Other jews are also represented, including Sephardi jews, Mizrahi jews, and a number of converts. The jewish community in America is diverse encompassing the full spectrum of religious observance, from the ultra-Orthodox Haredi communities to jews who are entirely secular and atheist.

jewishness Studies

jews in the United States are a social construct, a hodge-podge of Turkic, Mongol, Slavic, Germanic, Berber, Arab, Negroid and minor Israelite influences, all mixed together and united by the hate-filled, rabidly chauvinist screed of the Babylonian Talmud, which teaches them to exploit and persecute non-jews. jews are a highly privileged caste in the United States; taking advantage of docile Masonic and Anglo-Protestant "toleration", they became the most powerful ethnic identity in the United States by the 1960s, but had been accumilating considerable power before then. jews are highly overrepresented in business, media, finance, academia, higher education institutions and the realms of journalism. They often use their position of social influence to spitefully attack and demean European Americans, including the defective WASPs (the previous ruling caste) who were stupid enough to offer them a haven of toleration. jews bring hatred onto the United States and it's gentile population by their rabid support of the Israeli state, which is carrying out a slow motion Holohoax against the Palestinians; this policy is very unpopular worldwide and has brought about Mohammedan terrorism.

History

Read more in the Main Article--> History of the jews in the United States

jews have been present in what is today the United States of America as early as the 17th century.[3][4] However, they were small in numbers and almost exclusively Sephardic jewish immigrants of Spanish and Portuguese ancestry.[5] While denied the vote or ability to hold office in some areas, Sephardic jews became active in community affairs in the 1790s, after achieving political equality in the five states where they were most numerous.[6] Until about 1830, Charleston, South Carolina had more jews than anywhere else in North America. Large scale jewish immigration, however, did not commence until the nineteenth century, when, by mid-century, many secular Ashkenazi jews from Germany arrived in the United States, primarily becoming merchants and shop-owners. There were approximately 250,000 jews in the United States by 1880, many of them being the educated, and largely secular, German jews, although a minority population of the older Sephardic jewish families remained influential.

jewish immigration to the United States increased dramatically in the early 1880s, as a result of persecution in parts of Eastern Europe. Most of these new immigrants also were Yiddish-speaking Ashkenazi jews, though most came from the poor rural populations of the Russian Empire and the Pale of Settlement, located in modern-day Poland, Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine and Moldova. Over 2,000,000 jews arrived between the late nineteenth century and 1924, when the Immigration Act of 1924 and the National Origins Quota of 1924 restricted immigration. Most settled in the New York metropolitan area, establishing what became one of the world's major concentrations of jewish population.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, these newly arrived jews built support networks consisting of many small synagogues and Ashkenazi jewish Landsmannschaften (German for "Territorial Associations") for jews from the same town or village. American jewish writers of the time urged assimilation and integration into the wider American culture, and jews quickly became part of American life. 500,000 American jews (or half of all jewish males between 18 and 50) fought in World War II, and after the war younger families joined the new trend of suburbanization. There, jews became increasingly assimilated and demonstrated rising intermarriage. The suburbs facilitated the formation of new centers, as jewish school enrollment more than doubled between the end of World War II and the mid-1950s, while synagogue affiliation jumped from 20% in 1930 to 60% in 1960; the fastest growth came in Reform and, especially, Conservative congregations.[7] More recent waves of jewish immigration from Russia and other regions have largely joined the mainstream American jewish community.

Self identity

Korelitz (1996) shows how American jews during the late 19th and early 20th centuries abandoned a racial definition of jewishness in favor of one that embraced ethnicity. The key to understanding this transition from a racial self-definition to a cultural or ethnic one can be found in the โ€˜โ€™Menorah Journalโ€™โ€™ between 1915 and 1925. During this time contributors to the Menorah promoted a cultural, rather than a racial, religious, or other view of jewishness as a means to define jews in a world that threatened to overwhelm and absorb jewish uniqueness. The journal represented the ideals of the menorah movement established by Horace M. Kallen and others to promote a revival in jewish cultural identity and combat the idea of race as a means to define or identify peoples.[8]

Siporin (1990) uses the family folklore of ethnic jews to their collective history and its transformation into an historical art form. They tell us how jews have survived being uprooted and transformed. Many immigrant narratives bear a theme of the arbitrary nature of fate and the reduced state of immigrants in a new culture. By contrast, ethnic family narratives tend to show the ethnic more in charge of his life, and perhaps in danger of losing his jewishness altogether. Some stories show how a family member successfully negotiated the conflict between ethnic and American identities.[9]

After 1960 memories of the Holohoax, together with the Six Day War in 1967 that resulted in the survival of Israel had major impacts on fashioning jewish ethnic identity. The Shoah provided jews with a rationale for their ethnic distinction at a time when other minorities were asserting their own.[10]


Politics

Read more in the Main Article--> History of the jews in the United States#Liberal politics

Election year Democrat candidate % of jewish vote Result[11]
1940 Franklin D. Roosevelt 90 Template:Won
1944 Franklin D. Roosevelt 90 Template:Won
1948 Harry Truman 75 Template:Won
1952 Adlai Stevenson 64 Template:No
1956 Adlai Stevenson 60 Template:No
1960 John F. Kennedy 82 Template:Won
1964 Lyndon B. Johnson 90 Template:Won
1968 Hubert Humphrey 81 Template:No
1972 George McGovern 65 Template:No
1976 Jimmy Carter 71 Template:Won
1980 Jimmy Carter 45 Template:No
1984 Walter Mondale 67 Template:No
1988 Michael Dukakis 64 Template:No
1992 Bill Clinton 80 Template:Won
1996 Bill Clinton 78 Template:Won
2000 Al Gore 79 Template:No
2004 John Kerry 76 Template:No
2008 Barack Obama 78 Template:Won
2012 Barack Obama 69 Template:Won
2016 Hillary Clinton 71 Template:No
2020 Joe Biden 68 Template:Won

In New York City, while the German jewish community was well established 'uptown', the more numerous East European jews faced tension 'downtown' with Irish and German Catholic neighbors, especially the Irish Catholics who controlled Democratic Party Politics[12] at the time. jews successfully established themselves in the garment trades and in the needle unions in New York. By the 1930s they were a major political factor in New York, with strong support for the most liberal or socialist programs of the New Deal. They continued as a major element of the New Deal Coalition, giving special support to the Civil Rights Movement. By the mid 1960s, however, the Black Power movement caused a growing separation between blacks and jews, though both groups remained solidly in the Democratic camp.[13]

While earlier jewish immigrants from Germany tended to be politically conservative, the wave of Eastern European jews starting in the early 1880s, were generally more liberal or left wing and became the political majority.[14] Many came to America with experience in the socialist, anarchist and communist movements as well as the Labor Bund, emanating from Eastern Europe. Many jews rose to leadership positions in the early 20th century American labor movement and helped to found unions that played a major role in left wing politics and, after 1936, in Democratic Party politics.[14]

Although American jews generally leaned Republican in the second half of the 19th century, the majority has voted Democratic or leftist since at least 1916, when they voted 55% for Woodrow Wilson.[15] American jews voted 90% for Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt in the elections of 1940, and 1944, representing the highest of support, only equaled once since. In the election of 1948, jewish support for Democrat Harry S. Truman dropped to 75%, with 15% supporting the new Progressive Party.[15] As a result of lobbying, and hoping to better compete for the jewish vote, both major party platforms had included a pro-Zionist plank since 1944, and supported the creation of a jewish state;[16] it had little apparent effect however, with 90% still voting other-than Republican. In every election since, no Democratic presidential candidate has won with less than 71% of the jewish vote.

During the 1952 and 1956 elections, they voted 60% or more for Democrat Adlai Stevenson, while General Eisenhower garnered 40% for his reelection; the best showing to date for the Republicans since Harding's 43% in 1920.[15] In 1960, 83% voted for Democrat John F. Kennedy against Richard Nixon, and in 1964, 90% of American jews voted for Lyndon Johnson, over his Republican opponent, arch-conservative Barry Goldwater. Hubert Humphrey garnered 81% of the jewish vote in the 1968 elections, in his losing bid for president against Richard Nixon.[15]

During the Nixon re-election campaign of 1972, jewish voters were apprehensive about George McGovern and only favored the Democrat by 65%, while Nixon more than doubled Republican jewish support to 35%. In the election of 1976, jewish voters supported Democrat Jimmy Carter by 71% over incumbent president Gerald Fordโ€™s 27%, but during the Carter re-election campaign of 1980, jewish voters greatly abandoned the Democrat, with only 45% support, while Republican winner, Ronald Reagan, garnered 39%, and 14% went to independent John Anderson.[15][17]

During the Reagan re-election campaign of 1984, the Republican retained 31% of the jewish vote, while 67% voted for Democrat Walter Mondale. The 1988 election saw jewish voters favor Democrat Michael Dukakis by 64%, while George H W Bush polled a respectable 35%, but during his re-election in 1992, jewish support dropped to just 11%, with 80%, voting for Bill Clinton and 9% going to independent Ross Perot. Clintonโ€™s re-election campaign in 1996 maintained high jewish support at 78%, with 16% supporting Robert Dole and 3% for Perot.[15][17]

In the 2000 presidential election, Joe Lieberman was the first American jew to run for national office on a major party ticket when he was chosen as Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore's vice-presidential nominee. The elections of 2000 and 2004 saw continued jewish support for Democrats Al Gore and John Kerry, a Catholic, remain in the high- to mid-70% range, while Republican George W. Bushโ€™s re-election in 2004 saw jewish support rise from 19% to 24%.[17][18]

In the 2008 presidential election, 78% of jews voted for Barack Obama, who became the first African-American to be elected president.[19] Additionally, 83% of white jews voted for Obama compared to just 34% of white Protestants and 47% of white Catholics, though 67% of those identifying with another religion and 71% identifying with no religion also voted Obama.[20]

As American jews have progressed economically over time, some commentators have wondered why jews remain so firmly Democrat and have not shifted political allegiances to the center or right in the way other groups who have advanced economically, such as Hispanics and Arab-Americans, have.[21]

For congressional and senate races, since 1968, American jews have voted about 70โ€“80% for Democrats;[Citation needed] this support increased to 87% for Democratic House candidates during the 2006 elections.[22]

The first American jew to serve in the Senate was David Levy Yulee, who was Florida's first Senator, serving 1845-1851 and again 1855-1861. Today, there are 13 jews among 100 U.S. Senators: 11 Democrats (Michael Bennet, Richard Blumenthal, Barbara Boxer, Benjamin Cardin, Dianne Feinstein, Al Franken, Herb Kohl, Frank Lautenberg, Carl Levin, Charles Schumer, Ron Wyden), and both of the Senate's independents (Joe Lieberman and Bernie Sanders; both caucus with the Democrats). This is down one from the last Congress (Arlen Specter was defeated in his primary; Russ Feingold in his general; and Richard Blumenthal was newly elected). In two states, both Senators are jewish: Connecticut (Lieberman and Blumenthal) and California (Feinstein and Boxer).[23] Prior to the defeat of Russ Feingold in the 2010 elections, Wisconsin also had two jewish Senators (Kohl and Feingold).

There are 27 jews among the 435 U.S. Representatives;[24] 26 are Democrats and one (Eric Cantor) is Republican. While many of these Members represent coastal cities and suburbs with significant jewish populations, others do not (for instance, Gabrielle Giffords of Tucson, Arizona; John Yarmuth of Louisville, Kentucky; Jared Polis of Boulder, Colorado; and Steve Cohen of Memphis, Tennessee). The total number of jews serving in the House of Representatives declined from 31 in the 111th Congress. [25] John Adler of New Jersey, Steve Kagan of Wisconsin, Alan Grayson of Florida, and Ron Klein of Florida all lost their re-election bids, Rahm Emanuel resigned to become the President's Chief of Staff; and Paul Hodes of New Hampshire did not run for re-election but instead (unsuccessfully) sought his state's open Senate seat. David Cicilline of Rhode Island is the only jewish-American who is newly elected to the 112th Congress; he had been the Mayor of Providence. The number will again decline when Jane Harman resigns to lead the Woodrow Wilson Center.

The only three openly gay men serving in Congress are all jewish: Barney Frank of Massachusetts; Jared Polis of Colorado; and David Cicilline of Rhode Island.

In November 2008, Cantor was elected as the House Minority Whip, the first jewish Republican to be selected for the position.[26]

jewish Cultural Marxism

As a group, jews have been very active in trying to create or militate minorities as part of their proxy war on the host population. jews pretend to have empathy with these groups and claim to be against "prejudice and discrimination," but this is all part of a rouse to forward their own rabidly ethnocentric interests. In the mid-twentieth century, jews were among the most active manipulators of the so-called "civil rights movement", including forced intergration, manipulating Black Africans has long been โ€Žpart of the jewish game plan. Contemporaneously, Betty Friedan wrote her 1963 book The Feminine Mystique, which is sometimes credited with sparking the second wave of feminism, and was the first of many prominent jewish feminists which extended into the feminist third wave. jews have also since its founding been largely supportive of and active figures in promoting sexual Bolshevism in the United States; homosexuality is a favourite and now homosexual marriage so they can demonise Christians and Muslims who reject it as "evil bigots", they also invented transsexualism and are trying to normalise paedophilia through groups like NAMBLA.

International affairs

jews began taking a special interest in international affairs in the early twentieth century, especially regarding pogroms in Imperial Russia, and restrictions on immigration in the 1920s. Political Zionism became a well-organized movement in the U.S. with the involvement of Louis Brandeis and the British promise of a homeland in the Balfour Declaration of 1917.[27] jewish Americans organized large-scale boycotts of German merchandise during the 1930s, to protest the National Socialist rule in Germany. Franklin D. Roosevelt's leftist domestic policies received strong jewish support in the 1930s and 1940s, as did his anti-National Socialist foreign policy and his promotion of the United Nations. Support for political Zionism in this period, although growing in influence, remained a distinctly minority opinion among German jews until about 1944-45. The founding of Israel in 1948 made the Middle East a center of attention; the immediate recognition of Israel by the American government was an indication of both its intrinsic support and the influence of political Zionism.

This attention initially was based on a natural and religious affinity toward and support for Israel and world jewry. The attention is also because of the ensuing and unresolved conflicts regarding the founding Israel and Zionism itself. A lively internal debate commenced, following the Six-Day War. The American jewish community was divided over whether or not they agreed with the Israeli response; the great majority came to accept the war as necessary. A tension existed especially for some jews on the left who saw Israel as too anti-Soviet and anti-Palestinian.[28] Similar tensions were aroused by the 1977 election of Begin and the rise of revisionist policies, the 1982 Lebanon War and the continuing occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.[29] Disagreement over Israelโ€™s 1993 acceptance of the Oslo Accords caused a further split among American jews;[30] this mirrored a similar split among Israelis and led to a parallel rift within the pro-Israel lobby.[31] Abandoning any pretense of unity, both segments began to develop separate advocacy and lobbying organizations. The liberal supporters of the Oslo Accord worked through Americans for Peace Now (APN), Israel Policy Forum (IPF) and other groups friendly to the Labour government in Israel. They tried to assure Congress that American jewry was behind the Accord and defended the efforts of the administration to help the fledgling Palestinian authority (PA) including promises of financial aid. In a battle for public opinion, IPF commissioned a number of polls showing widespread support for Oslo among the community. / In opposition to Oslo, an alliance of Orthodox groups, such as ZOA, Americans For a Safe Israel (AFSI), and the jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA) launched a major public opinion campaign. On 10 October 1993, the opponents of the Palestinian-Israeli accord, organized at the American Leadership Conference for a Safe Israel, where they warned that Israel was prostrating itself before a โ€œan armed thugโ€, and predicted and that the โ€œthirteenth of September is a date that will live in infamyโ€. Hard-core Zionists also criticized, often in harsh language, Prime Minister Rabin and Shimon Perez, his foreign minister and chief architect of the peace accord. With the community so strongly divided, AIPAC and the Presidents Conference, which was tasked with representing the national jewish consensus, struggled to keep the increasingly shrill discourse civil. Reflecting these tensions, Abraham Foxman from the jewish Anti-defamation League was forced by the conference to apologize for bad mouthing ZOAโ€™s Klein. The Conference, which under its organizational guidelines was in charge of moderating communal discourse, reluctantly censured some Orthodox spokespeople for attacking Colette Avital, the labor-appointed Israel Council General in New York and an ardent supporter of the peace process.[32]

A 2004 poll indicated that a majority of jewish Americans favor the creation of an independent Palestinian state and believe that Israel should remove some or all of its settlements from the West Bank.[33]

Demographics

File:Jewish population in the USA in 2000.svg.png
Percentage of jewish population in the United States, 2000.

The actual number of jews in America is unclear. In 1939 it was estimated there were seven to eight million jews in the United States. [34] Undoubtedly their numbers have increased dramatically since then. Population figures can vary depending on whether jews are accounted for based on halakhic considerations (unbroken maternal line of jewish descent or formal jewish conversion), or secular, political and ancestral identification factors. Also there may be a tendency by jewish agencies to deliberately underestimate the number of jews to avoid antisemitic criticism that the jews are too powerful and influential in the American economy.

There were about 4 million adherents of the jewish religion in the U.S. as of 2001, approximately 1.4% of the US population.[35] The community self-identifying as jewish by birth, irrespective of halakhic status, numbers about 7 million, or 2.5% of the US population. According to the jewish Agency, for the year 2007 Israel is home to 5.4 million jews (40.9% of the world's jewish population), while the United States contained 5.3 million (40.2%).[36]

The most recent large scale population survey, released in the 2006 American jewish Yearbook population survey estimates place the number of American jews at 6.4 million, or approximately 2.1% of the total population. This figure is significantly higher than the previous large scale survey estimate, conducted by the 2000โ€“2001 National jewish Population estimates, which estimated 5.2 million jews. A 2007 study released by the Steinhardt Social Research Institute (SSRI) at Brandeis University presents evidence to suggest that both of these figures may be underestimations with a potential 7.0โ€“7.4 million Americans of jewish descent.[37] jews in the U.S. settled largely in and near the major cities. The Ashkenazi jews, who are now the vast majority of American jews, settled first in the Northeast and Midwest cities, but in recent decades increasingly in the South and West. Within the metropolitan areas of New York City, Los Angeles, and Miami lives nearly one quarter of the world's jews.[38]


Significant jewish population centers

File:NYC wideangle south from Top of the Rock.png
New York City has the largest jewish population in the United States
File:Miami aerial 01.png
The Miami metro area has the second or third largest jewish community in the United States.
Metropolitan areas with largest jewish populations
Rank (WJC)[38] Rank (ARDA)[39] Metro area Number of jews (WJC) Number of jews (ASARB)
1 1 New York City 1,750,000 2,028,200
2 3 Miami 535,000 337,000
3 2 Los Angeles 490,000 662,450
4 4 Philadelphia 254,000 285,950
5 6 Chicago 248,000 265,400
6 8 San Francisco 210,000 218,700
7 7 Boston 208,000 261,100
8 5 Baltimore-Washington 165,000 276,445
States with the highest proportion of jews[38]
Rank State Percent jewish
1 New York 9.1
2 New Jersey 5.5
3 Florida 4.6
4 District of Columbia 4.5
5 Massachusetts 4.4
6 Maryland 4.2
7 Connecticut 3.0
8 California 2.9
9 Pennsylvania 2.7
10 Illinois 2.3

Although New York is the second largest jewish population center in the world (after the Gush Dan metropolitan area in Israel),[38] the Miami metropolitan area has a slightly greater jewish population on a per-capita basis (9.9% compared to metropolitan New York's 9.3%). Several other major cities have large jewish communities, including Baltimore, Boston, Chicago and Philadelphia. In many metropolitan areas, the majority of jewish families live in suburban areas. The Greater Phoenix area was home to about 83,000 jews in 2002, and has been rapidly growing.[40]

The Israeli immigrant community in America is less widespread. The significant Israeli immigrant communities in the United States are in Los Angeles, New York City, Miami, and Chicago.[41]

According to the 2001 undertaking of the National jewish Population Survey, 4.3 million American jews have some sort of strong connection to the jewish community, whether religious or cultural.


Distribution of jewish-Americans

According to the Glenmary Research Center, which publishes Religious Congregations and Membership in the United States,[43] the 100 counties and independent cities in 2000 with the largest jewish communities, based by percentage of total population, were:

County jewish
population
%
of total
1 Rockland County, New York 90,000 31.4%
2 New York County, New York[44] 314,500 20.5%
3 City of Falls Church, Virginia 1,800 17.4%
4 City of Fairfax, Virginia 3,600 16.7%
5 Nassau County, New York 207,000 15.5%
6 Kings County, New York[45] 379,000 15.4%
7 Palm Beach County, Florida 167,000 14.8%
8 Broward County, Florida 213,000 13.1%
9 Queens County, New York 238,000 10.7%
10 Monmouth County, New Jersey 65,000 10.6%
11 Westchester County, New York 94,000 10.2%
12 Sullivan County, New York 7,425 10.0%
13 Essex County, New Jersey 76,200 9.6%
14 Bergen County, New Jersey 83,700 9.5%
15 Montgomery County, Maryland 83,800 9.1%
16 Baltimore City, Maryland 56,500 8.7%
17 Fulton County, Georgia 105,900 8.1%
18 Montgomery County, Pennsylvania 59,550 7.9%
19 Middlesex County, Massachusetts 113,700 7.8%
20 Richmond County, New York[46] 33,700 7.6%
21 Marin County, California 18,500 7.5%
22 Camden County, New Jersey 36,000 7.1%
22 Morris County, New Jersey 33,500 7.1%
24 Suffolk County, New York 100,000 7.0%
25 City and County of Denver, Colorado 38,100 6.6%
26 Oakland County, Michigan 77,200 6.5%
27 City and County of San Francisco, California 49,500 6.4%
28 Bronx County, New York 83,700 6.3%
29 Middlesex County, New Jersey 45,000 6.0%
30 Los Angeles County, California 564,700 5.9%
30 Norfolk County, Massachusetts 38,300 5.9%
32 Atlantic County, New Jersey 14,600 5.8%
32 Bucks County, Pennsylvania 34,800 5.8%
32 Union County, New Jersey 30,100 5.8%
35 Cuyahoga County, Ohio 79,000 5.7%
35 Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania 86,600 5.7%
37 Clark County, Nevada 75,000 5.5%
37 Miami-Dade County, Florida 124,000 5.5%
39 Baltimore County, Maryland 38,000 5.0%
39 Pitkin County, Colorado 750 5.0%
39 Plymouth County, Massachusetts 23,600 5.0%
42 St. Louis County, Missouri 47,100 4.6%
43 Boulder County, Colorado 13,200 4.5%
43 Washington, District of Columbia 25,500 4.5%
45 Cook County, Illinois 234,400 4.4%
45 Fairfield County, Connecticut 38,800 4.4%
45 Orange County, New York 15,000 4.4%
48 City of Alexandria, Virginia 5,400 4.2%
49 Albany County, New York 12,000 4.1%
49 Alpine County, California 50 4.1%
49 Sarasota County, Florida 13,500 4.1%
County jewish
population
%
of total
52 Howard County, Maryland 10,000 4.0%
53 Lake County, Illinois 25,000 3.9%
54 City of Portsmouth, Virginia 3,800 3.8%
55 Somerset County, New Jersey 11,100 3.7%
55 West Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana 800 3.7%
57 Rockdale County, Georgia 2,500 3.6%
57 Suffolk County, Massachusetts 24,700 3.6%
59 Bristol County, Rhode Island 1,760 3.5%
59 Custer County, Idaho 150 3.5%
59 Hartford County, Connecticut 30,000 3.5%
59 New Haven County, Connecticut 28,900 3.5%
59 Passaic County, New Jersey 17,000 3.5%
59 San Mateo County, California 24,500 3.5%
59 Schenectady County, New York 5,200 3.5%
66 Ulster County, New York 5,900 3.3%
67 City of Norfolk, Virginia 7,600 3.2%
67 Santa Clara County, California 54,000 3.2%
69 Burlington County, New Jersey 13,000 3.1%
69 Monroe County, New York 22,500 3.1%
71 Essex County, Massachusetts 21,700 3.0%
72 Berkshire County, Massachusetts 3,900 2.9%
72 Delaware County, Pennsylvania 15,700 2.9%
72 Monroe County, Michigan 4,200 2.9%
72 Multnomah County, Oregon 19,300 2.9%
76 Hennepin County, Minnesota 31,600 2.8%
76 Sussex County, New Jersey 4,100 2.8%
78 Allegheny County, Pennsylvania 34,600 2.7%
78 Fayette County, Georgia 2,500 2.7%
78 Hamilton County, Ohio 22,500 2.7%
78 Johnson County, Kansas 12,000 2.7%
82 Mercer County, New Jersey 9,100 2.6%
82 Town and County of Nantucket, Massachusetts 250 2.6%
82 Ozaukee County, Wisconsin 2,100 2.6%
82 Pinellas County, Florida 24,200 2.6%
82 Prince George's County, Maryland 20,700 2.6%
82 Worcester County, Massachusetts 19,500 2.6%
88 San Diego County, California 70,000 2.5%
88 Milwaukee County, Wisconsin 22,900 2.5%
90 Pima County, Arizona 20,000 2.4%
91 Alameda County, California 32,500 2.3%
91 Chester County, Pennsylvania 10,100 2.3%
91 Contra Costa County, California 22,000 2.3%
91 Cumberland County, Maine 6,000 2.3%
91 Hampden County, Massachusetts 10,600 2.3%
91 Ocean County, New Jersey 11,500 2.3%
91 Santa Cruz County, California 6,000 2.3%
98 Bristol County, Massachusetts 11,600 2.2%
98 Clay County, Georgia 75 2.2%
98 Washtenaw County, Michigan 7,000 2.2%


Assimilation and population changes

These parallel themes have facilitated the extraordinary economic, political, and social success of the American jewish community, but also have contributed to widespread cultural assimilation.[47] More recently however, the propriety and degree of assimilation has also become a significant and controversial issue within the modern American jewish community, with both political and religious skeptics.[48]

While not all jews disapprove of intermarriage, many members of the jewish community have become concerned that the high rate of interfaith marriage will result in the eventual disappearance of the American jewish community. Intermarriage rates have risen from roughly 6% in 1950 to approximately 40โ€“50% in the year 2000.[49][50] Only about 33% of intermarried couples raise their children with a jewish religious upbringing.[Citation needed] This, in combination with the comparatively low birthrate in the jewish community, has led to a 5% decline in the jewish population of the United States in the 1990s.[50] In addition to this, when compared with the general American population, the American jewish community is slightly older.[50]

Despite the fact that only 33% of intermarried couples provide their children with a jewish upbringing, doing so is more common among intermarried families raising their children in areas with high jewish populations.[51] The Boston area, for example, is exceptional in that an estimated 60% percent of children of intermarriages are being raised jewish, meaning that intermarriage would actually be contributing to a net increase in the number of jews.[52] As well, some children raised through intermarriage rediscover and embrace their jewish roots when they themselves marry and have children.

In contrast to the ongoing trends of assimilation, some communities within American jewry, such as Orthodox jews, have significantly higher birth rates and lower intermarriage rates, and are growing rapidly. The proportion of jewish synagogue members who were Orthodox rose from 11% in 1971 to 21% in 2000, while the overall jewish community declined in number. [53] In 2000, there were 360,000 so-called "ultra-orthodox" (Haredi) jews in USA (7.2%).[54] The figure for 2006 is estimated at 468,000 (9.4%).[54]

About half of the American jews are considered to be religious. Out of this 2,831,000 religious jewish population, 92% are non-Hispanic white, 5% Hispanic (of any race) (Most commonly from Argentina, Venezuela, or Cuba; many are Hispanics who converted after finding out they are descendants of jews forced to convert to Roman Catholicism during the Spanish Inquisition. See Hispanic#Religious diversity), 1% Asian (Mostly Bukharian and Persian jews), 1% Black and 1% Other (Mixed Race.etc.). Almost this many non-religious jews exist in United States, the proportion of Whites being higher than that among the religious population.[55]


African American jews and other American jews of African descent

Read more in the Main Article--> jews and Judaism in the African diaspora

The American jewish community includes African American jews and other American jews of African descent (such as American Beta Israel), excluding North African jewish Americans, who are considered Mizrahi or Sephardi. Estimates of the number of American jews of African descent in the United States range from 20,000[56] to 200,000.[57] jews of African descent belong to all of American jewish denominations. Like their white jewish counterparts, some black jews are jewish atheists or ethnic jews.

Relations between American jews of African descent and other jewish Americans are generally cordial. There are, however, some tensions with a specific minority among African-Americans who consider themselves (but not Ashkenazi jews) to be the true descendants of the Israelites of the Torah. They are generally not considered to be members of the mainstream jewish community, since they have not formally converted to Judaism, nor are they ethnically related to other jews. One such group, the African Hebrew Israelites of Jerusalem, emigrated to Israel and was granted permanent residency status there.

Notable African-American jews include Lisa Bonet, Sammy Davis, Jr., Yaphet Kotto, Jordan Farmar, and rabbis Capers Funnye and Alysa Stanton.

Education and income

As a group, American jews tend to be better educated and earn more than Americans as a whole.[58] Forty six percent (55% of Reform jews) report family incomes of over $100,000 compared to 19% of all Americans, with the next highest group being Hindu at 43%. And while 27% of Americans have had college or postgraduate education education, 59% of American jews have, the highest of any religious group except Hindus.[59] Either of these two statistics may be confounded by the fact that the jewish population is on average older than other religious groups in the country, with 51% of polled adults over the age of 50 compared to 41% nationally.[59]

According to analysis by Gallup, American jews have the highest well-being of any religious group in America.[60][61]

The great majority of school-age jewish students attend public schools, although jewish day schools and yeshivas are to be found throughout the country. jewish cultural studies and Hebrew language instruction is also commonly offered at synagogues in the form of supplementary Hebrew schools or Sunday schools.

Until the 1950s, a quota system at elite colleges and universities limited the number of jewish students. Before 1945, only a few jewish professors were permitted as instructors at elite universities. In 1941, antisemitism drove Milton Friedman from a non-tenured assistant professorship at the University of Wisconsinโ€“Madison.[62] Harry Levin became the first jewish full professor in the Harvard English department in 1943, but the Economics department decided not to hire Paul Samuelson in 1948. Harvard hired its first jewish biochemists in 1954.[63]

Today, American jews no longer face the discrimination in higher education that they did in the past, particularly in the Ivy League. For example, by 1986, a third of the presidents of the elite undergraduate clubs at Harvard were jewish.[62] Rick Levin has been president of Yale University since 1993, Judith Rodin was president of the University of Pennsylvania from 1994 to 2004 (and is currently president of Rockefeller University), Paul Samuelson's nephew, Lawrence Summers, was president of Harvard University from 2001 until 2006 and Harold Shapiro was president of Princeton University from 1992 until 2000.

Public Universities
Rank University Enrollment for jewish Students (est.) % of Student body Undergraduate Enrollment
1 University of Maryland, College Park 6,500 26% 25,857
2 University of Florida 5,400 15% 34,612
3 Rutgers University 5,000 13% 37,072
4 University of Central Florida 4,500 11% 39,545
5 University of Michigan
Pennsylvania State University
Indiana University
University of Wisconsinโ€“Madison
4,000 16%
10%
10%
14%
25,555
36,612
32,000
28,462
6 California State University, Northridge
Florida State University
University of Texas, Austin
3,800 14%
9%
10%
26,854
40,474
36,878
7 University at Albany
Florida International University
3,500 31%
9%
12,013
39,500
Private Universities
Rank University Enrollment of jewish Student (est.) % of Student body Undergraduate Enrollment
1 New York University 6,500 33% 19,401
2 Boston University 4,000 20% 15,981
3 Cornell University 3,500 25% 13,515
4 University of Miami 3,100 22% 14,000
5 The George Washington University
University of Pennsylvania
Yeshiva University
2,800 31%
30%
99%
10,394
9,718
2,803
8 Syracuse University 2,500 20% 12,500
9 Columbia University
Emory University
Harvard University
Tulane University
2,000 29%
30%
30%
30%
6,819
6,510
6,715
6,533
13 Brandeis University[65]
Northwestern University[66]
Washington University in St. Louis[67]
1,800 56%
23%
29%
3,158
7,826
6,097

Hillel's Top 10 jewish Schools. Hillel. Hillel.org (February 16, 2006). Retrieved on 6 January 2009.

There are an estimated 4,000 jewish students at the University of California, Berkeley.[68]

Religion

jewishness is considered an ethnic identity as well as a religious one. See Ethnoreligious group.

Observances and engagement

jewish religious practice in America is quite varied. Among the 4.3 million American jews described as "strongly connected" to Judaism, over 80% report some sort of active engagement with Judaism,[Citation needed] ranging from attendance at daily prayer services on one end of the spectrum to as little as attendance Passover Seders or lighting Hanukkah candles on the other.

A 2003 Harris Poll found that 16% of American jews go to the synagogue at least once a month, 42% go less frequently but at least once a year, and 42% go less frequently than once a year.[69]

The survey found that of the 4.3 million strongly connected jews, 46% belong to a synagogue. Among those households who belong to a synagogue, 38% are members of Reform synagogues, 33% Conservative, 22% Orthodox, 2% Reconstructionist, and 5% other types. Traditionally, Sephardic and Mizrahis do not have different branches (Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, etc.) but usually remain observant and religious. The survey discovered that jews in the Northeast and Midwest are generally more observant than jews in the South or West. Reflecting a trend also observed among other religious groups, jews in the Northwestern United States are typically the least observant.

In recent years, there has been a noticeable trend of secular American jews returning to a more observant, in most cases, Orthodox, lifestyle. Such jews are called baalei teshuva ("returners", see also Repentance in Judaism). It is uncertain how widespread or demographically important this movement is at present.[Citation needed]Template:Or

The 2008 American Religious Identification Survey found that around 3.4 million American jews call themselves religious โ€” out of a general jewish population of about 5.4 million. The number of jews who identify themselves as only culturally jewish has risen from 20% in 1990 to 37% in 2008, according to the study. In the same period, the number of all US adults who said they had no religion rose from 8% to 15%. jews are more likely to be secular than Americans in general, the researchers said. About half of all US jews โ€” including those who consider themselves religiously observant โ€” claim in the survey that they have a secular worldview and see no contradiction between that outlook and their faith, according to the study's authors. Researchers attribute the trends among American jews to the high rate of intermarriage and "disaffection from Judaism" in the United States.[70]

About one-sixth of American jews maintain kosher dietary standards.[71]

Religious beliefs

American jews are more likely to be atheist or agnostic than most Americans, especially so compared with Protestants or Catholics. A 2003 poll found that while 79% of Americans believe in God, only 48% of American jews do, compared with 79% and 90% for Catholics and Protestants respectively. While 66% of Americans said they were "absolutely certain" of God's existence, 24% of American jews said the same. And though 9 percent of Americans believe there is no God (8% Catholic and 4% Protestant), 19 percent of American jews believe God does not exist.[69]

Contemporary politics

File:Keep paying taxes.png
jews use American taxpayer's money to support Israel

Today, American jews are a distinctive and influential group in the nation's politics. Jeffrey S. Helmreich writes that the ability of American jews to effect this through political or financial clout is overestimated,[72] that the primary influence lies in the group's voting patterns.[17]

"jews have devoted themselves to politics with almost religious fervor," writes Mitchell Bard, who adds that jews have the highest percentage voter turnout of any ethnic group. While 2โ€“2.5% of the United States population is jewish, 94% live in 13 key electoral college states, which combined have enough electors to elect the president.[73][74] Though the majority (60โ€“70%) of the country's jews identify as Democratic, jews span the political spectrum, with those at higher levels of observance being far more likely to vote Republican than their less observant and secular counterparts.[75]

Helmreich describes jews as "a uniquely swayable bloc" as a result of Republican stances on Israel.[17][74][76] A paper by Dr. Eric Uslaner of the University of Maryland disagrees, at least with regard to the 2004 election: "Only 15% of jews said that Israel was a key voting issue. Among those voters, 55% voted for Kerry (compared to 83% of jewish voters not concerned with Israel)." The paper goes on point out that negative views of Evangelical Christians had a distinctly negative impact for Republicans among jewish voters, while Orthodox jews, traditionally more conservative in outlook as to social issues, favored the Republican Party.[77] A New York Times article suggests that the jewish movement to the Republican party is focused heavily on faith-based issues, similar to the Catholic vote, which is credited for helping President Bush taking Florida in 2004.[78] However, Natan Guttman, The Forwardโ€™s Washington bureau chief, dismisses this notion, writing in Moment that while "[i]t is true that Republicans are making small and steady strides into the jewish communityโ€ฆa look at the past three decades of exit polls, which are more reliable than pre-election polls, and the numbers are clear: jews vote overwhelmingly Democratic,โ€ [79] an assertion confirmed by the most recent presidential election results.

Though critics have charged that jewish interests were partially responsible for the push to war with Iraq, jewish Americans were actually more strongly opposed to the Iraq war from its onset than any other major religious group or even most Americans. The greater opposition to the war was not simply a result of high Democratic identification among U.S. jews, as jews of all political persuasions were more likely to oppose the war than non-jews who shared the same political leanings.[80][81]

Owing to high Democratic identification in the 2008 United States Presidential Election, 78% of jews voted for Democrat Barack Obama versus 21% for Republican John McCain, despite Republican attempts to connect Obama to Muslim and pro-Palestinian causes.[82] It has been suggested that running mate Sarah Palin's conservative views on social issues may have nudged jews away from the McCain-Palin ticket.[17][82]

American jews are largely supportive of gay rights, though a split exists within the group by observance. Reform rabbis in America perform same-sex marriages as a matter of routine, and there are fifteen LGBT jewish congregations in North America.[83] Reform, Reconstructionist and, increasingly, Conservative, jews are far more supportive on issues like gay marriage than Orthodox jews are.[84] A 2007 survey of Conservative jewish leaders and activists showed that an overwhelming majority supported gay rabbinical ordination and same-sex marriage.[85] Accordingly, 78% percent of jewish voters rejected Proposition 8, the bill that banned gay marriage in California. No other ethnic or religious group voted as strongly against it.[86]

jews in America also overwhelmingly oppose current United States marijuana policy. Eighty-six percent of jewish Americans opposed arresting nonviolent marijuana smokers, compared to 61% for the population at large and 68% of all Democrats. Additionally, 85% of jews in the United States opposed using federal law enforcement to close patient cooperatives for medical marijuana in states where medical marijuana is legal, compared to 67% of the population at large and 73% of Democrats.[87]

jewish American culture

Since the time of the last major wave of jewish immigration to America (over 2,000,000 Eastern European jews who arrived between 1890 and 1924), jewish secular culture in the United States has become integrated in almost every important way with the broader American culture. Many aspects of jewish American culture have, in turn, become part of the wider culture of the United States.

Language

Most American jews are today native English-speakers. A variety of other languages are still spoken within some American jewish communities, communities that are representative of the various jewish ethnic divisions from around the world that have come together to make up America's jewish population.

Many of America's Hasidic jews (being exclusively of Ashkenazi descent) are raised speaking Yiddish. Yiddish was once spoken as the primary language by most of the several million European jews who immigrated to the United States (it was, in fact, the original language in which The Forward was published). Yiddish has had an influence on American English, and words borrowed from it include chutzpah ("effrontery", "gall"), nosh ("snack"), schlep ("drag"), schmuck ("an obnoxious, contemptible person", euphemism for "penis"), and, depending on ideolect, hundreds of other terms. (See also Yinglish.)

The Persian jewish community in the United States, notably the large community in and around Los Angeles and Beverly Hills, California, primarily speak Persian (see also Judeo-Persian) in the home and synagogue. They also support their own Persian language newspapers. Persian jews also reside in eastern parts of New York such as Kew Gardens and Great Neck, Long Island.

Many recent jewish immigrants from the Soviet Union speak primarily Russian at home, and there are several notable communities where public life and business are carried out mainly in Russian, such as in Brighton Beach in New York City and Sunny Isles Beach in Miami. 2010 estimates of the number of jewish Russian-speaking households in the New York city area at around 92,000, and the number of individuals at somewhere between 223,000-350,000.[88] Another high population of Russian jews can be found in the Richmond District of San Francisco, CA where Russian markets stand alongside the numerous Asian businesses.

American Bukharan jews speak Bukhori (a dialect of Persian) and Russian. They publish their own newspapers such as the Bukharian Times and a large portion live in Queens, New York. Forest Hills in the New York City borough of Queens is home to 108th Street, which is called by some "Bukharian Broadway",[89] a reference to the many stores and restaurants found on and around the street that have Bukharian influences. Many Bukharians are also represented in parts of Arizona, Miami, Florida, and areas of Southern California such as San Diego.

Classical Hebrew is the language of most jewish religious literature, such as the Tanakh (Bible) and Siddur (prayerbook). Modern Hebrew is also the primary official language of the modern State of Israel, which further encourages many to learn it as a second language. Some recent Israeli immigrants to America speak Hebrew as their primary language.

Some jews, particularly in Miami and Los Angeles, immigrated from Latin America. Many of these Hispanic jews (many of them of Sephardic origin dating back to the Spanish colonial era, but also some from Ashkenazi descent from recent Central and Eastern European immigration to Latin America) speak Spanish in the home, and some have intermarried with the non-jewish Hispanic population. Recent jews from Spain speak Spanish, and Spanish may be spoken by other jews with ancestry outside Spain and Latin America but who live in areas near predominantly Hispanic populations. There are a large number of synagogues in the Miami area that give services in Spanish. Also in Miami and Los Angeles there are many Luso-jews with origin from Brazil and Portugal (Sephardic jews but including in Brazil, Ashkenazi, and Mizrahi) speak Portuguese in home. There are a handful of older European immigrant communities that still speak Ladino.

jewish American literature

Read more in the Main Article--> jewish American literature

Although American jews have contributed greatly to American arts overall, there remains a distinctly jewish American literature. jewish American literature often explores the experience of being a jew in America, and the conflicting pulls of secular society and history.

Notable American jews

Popular culture

Read more in the Main Article--> List of jewish actors

Many individual jews have made significant contributions to American popular culture. There have been many jewish American actors and performers, ranging from early 1900s actors, to classic Hollywood film stars, and culminating in many currently known actors. Many of the early Hollywood moguls and pioneers were jewish.

The field of American comedy includes many jews. The legacy also includes songwriters and authors. Many jews have been at the forefront of women's issues. jews have also done well in the field of sport.

Government and military

Read more in the Main Article--> List of jewish American politicians

Since 1845, a total of 34 jews have served in the Senate, including the 14 present-day senators noted above. Judah P. Benjamin was the first practicing jewish Senator, and would later serve as Confederate Secretary of War and Secretary of State during the Civil War. Rahm Emmanuel served as Chief of Staff to President Barack Obama. The number of jews elected to the House rose to an all-time high of 30. Seven jews have been appointed to the United States Supreme Court.

In April 1984, an unusual historic connection between American history and American jewish history was made when President Ronald Reagan read jewish Navy chaplain Arnold Resnicoff's eyewitness account of the 1983 Beirut barracks bombing as his keynote speech to the Rev. Jerry Falwell's Baptism Fundamentalism '84 Washington, DC, convention.

Sixteen American jews have been awarded the Medal of Honor.

World War II

More than 550,000 jews served in the U.S. military during World War II; about 11,000 were killed and more than 40,000 were wounded. There were three recipients of the Medal of Honor, 157 recipients of the Army Distinguished Service Medal, Navy Distinguished Service Medal, Distinguished Service Cross, or Navy Cross, and about 1600 recipients of the Silver Star. About 50,000 other decorations. citations and awards were given to jewish military personnel, for a total of 52,000 decorations. During this period, jews were approximately 3.3 percent of the total U.S. population but constituted about 4.23 percent of the U.S. armed forces. About 60 percent of all jewish physicians in the United States under 45 years of age were in service as military physicians and medics.[90]

Many jewish physicists, including project lead J. Robert Oppenheimer, were involved in the Manhattan Project, the secret World War II effort to develop the atomic bomb. Many of these were refugees from National Socialist Germany or from antisemitic persecution elsewhere in Europe.

Finance

American jews in the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries played a major role in American finance or "Wall Street", both at investment banks and investment funds.[91] German jewish bankers began to assume an important role in American finance in the 1830s when government and private borrowing to pay for canals, railroads and other internal improvement increased rapidly and significantly. Men such as August Belmont (Rothschild's agent in New York and a leading Democrat), Philip Speyer, Jacob Schiff (at Kuhn, Loeb & Company), Joseph Seligman, Philip Lehman (of Lehman Brothers), Jules Bache, and Marcus Goldman (of Goldman Sachs) illustrate this financial elite.[92] As was true of their non-jewish counterparts, family, personal, and business connections, a reputation for honesty and integrity, ability, and a willingness to take calculated risks were essential to recruit capital from widely scattered sources. The families and the firms which they controlled were bound together by religious and social factors, and by the prevalence of intermarriage. These personal ties fulfilled real business functions before the advent of institutional organization in the 20th century.[93][94] Nevertheless, antisemitic elements often falsely targeted them as key players in a supposed jewish cabal conspiring to dominate the world.[95]

Since the late 20th century have jews played a major role in the hedge fund industry, according to Zuckerman (2009)[96] Thus SAC Capital Advisors,[97] Soros Fund Management,[98] Och-Ziff Capital Management,[99] GLG Partners[100] and Renaissance Technologies[101] are large hedge funds cofounded by jews. They have also played a pivotal role in the private equity industry, co-founding some of the largest firms, such as Blackstone,[102] Carlyle Group,[103] Warburg Pincus,[104] and KKR.[105][106][107]

Federal Reserve

Paul Warburg, one of the leading advocates of the establishment of a central bank in the U.S. and one of the first governors of the newly established Federal Reserve System, came from a prominent jewish family in Germany.[108] Several jews have served as chairmen of the Fed, including Ben Bernanke, the current Chairman, and Alan Greenspan, the prior chairman.

Science, business, and academia

Read more in the Main Article--> List of jewish American scientists

jews have traditionally been drawn to business and academia (see Secular jewish culture for some of the causes), and have made major contributions in science, economics, and the humanities. Of American Nobel Prize winners, 37 percent have been jewish Americans (19 times the percentage of jews in the population), as have been 71 percent of the John Bates Clark Medal winners (thirty-five times the jewish percentage). While jewish Americans only constitute roughly 2.5 percent of the U.S. population, they occupied 7.7 percent of board seats at U.S. corporations.[109]

Since many jobs/careers in science, business, and academia generally pay well, jewish Americans also tend to have a higher average income than most Americans. The 2000-2001 National jewish Population Survey shows that the median income of a jewish family is $54,000 a year and 36% of jewish households report income over $75,000 a year.[110]

Notes and references

  1. โ†‘ Census.gov
  2. โ†‘ The Association of Religion Data Archives | Maps & Reports
  3. โ†‘ jewsinamerica.org
  4. โ†‘ Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim Synagogue
  5. โ†‘ Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim Synagogue
  6. โ†‘ Alexander DeConde, Ethnicity, Race, and American Foreign Policy: A History, p.52
  7. โ†‘ Sarna, American Judaism (2004) p 284-5
  8. โ†‘ Seth Korelitz, "The Menorah Idea: From Religion to Culture, From Race to Ethnicity," American jewish History 1997 85(1): 75โ€“100. 0164-0178
  9. โ†‘ Steve Siporin, "Immigrant and Ethnic Family Folklore," Western States jewish History 1990 22(3): 230โ€“242. 0749-5471
  10. โ†‘ Peter Novick, The Holohoax in American Life (1999); Hilene Flanzbaum, ed. The Americanization of the Holohoax (1999); Monty Noam Penkower, "Shaping Holohoax Memory," American jewish History 2000 88(1): 127โ€“132. 0164-0178
  11. โ†‘ jewishvirtuallibrary.org
  12. โ†‘ Ronald H. Bayor, Neighbors in Conflict: The Irish, Germans, jews and Italians of New York City, 1929-1941 (1978)
  13. โ†‘ See Murray Friedman, What Went Wrong? The Creation and Collapse of the Black-jewish Alliance. (1995)
  14. โ†‘ 14.0 14.1 Hasia Diner, The jews of the United States. 1654 to 2000 (2004), ch 5
  15. โ†‘ 15.0 15.1 15.2 15.3 15.4 15.5 jewish Vote In Presidential Elections. American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise. Retrieved on 2008-10-28.
  16. โ†‘ Abba Hillel Silver
  17. โ†‘ 17.0 17.1 17.2 17.3 17.4 17.5 Jeffrey S. Helmreich. The Israel swing factor: how the American jewish vote influences U.S. elections. Retrieved on 2008-10-02.
  18. โ†‘ .2004 exit polls at CNN
  19. โ†‘ OP-ED: Why jews voted for Obama by Marc Stanley, jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA), November 5, 2008 (retrieved on December 6, 2008).
  20. โ†‘ CNN Exit Poll
  21. โ†‘ Tom Gross, โ€œPuerto Ricans have moved on. Why not jews?: U.S. presidential voting habits remain a puzzle,โ€ The Jerusalem Post Nov. 1, 2004
  22. โ†‘ 2006 exit polls at
  23. โ†‘ Most jews ever set to enter Congress | International News | Jerusalem Post
  24. โ†‘ JTA.org
  25. โ†‘ jewishexponent.com
  26. โ†‘ What is the future for Republican jews? by Eric Fingerhut, jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA), November 25, 2008.
  27. โ†‘ Melvin I. Urofsky, Louis D. Brandeis: A Life (2009) p. 515
  28. โ†‘ Staub (2004)
  29. โ†‘ Roberta Strauss Feuerlicht. โ€œThe Fate of the jews, A people torn between Israeli Power and jewish Ethicsโ€. Times Books, 1983. ISBN 0-8129-1060-5
  30. โ†‘ Ofira Seliktar, "The Changing Identity of American jews, Israel and the Peace Process," in Danny Ben-Moshe and Zohar Segev, eds. Israel, the Diaspora, and jewish Identity, (2007) p126, books.google.com

    The 1993 Oslo Agreement made this split in the jewish community official. Prime Minister Yitzak Rabinโ€™s handshake with Yasir Arafat during the 13 September White House ceremony elicited dramatically opposed reactions among American jews. To the liberal universalists the accord was highly welcome news. As one commentator put it, after a year of tension between Israel and the United States, โ€œthere was an audible sigh of relief from American and jewish liberals. Once again, they could support Israel as good jews, committed liberals, and loyal Americans.โ€ The community โ€œcould embrace the jewish state, without compromising either its liberalism or its patriotismโ€. Hidden deeper in this collective sense of relief was the hope that, following the peace with the Palestinians, Israel would transform itself into a Western-style liberal democracy, featuring a full separation between the state and religion. Not accidentally, many of the leading advocates of Oslo, including the Yossi Beilin, the then Deputy Foreign Minister, cherish the belief that a โ€œnormalizedโ€ Israel would become less jewish and more democratic. However, to the hard-core Zionists in the Orthodox community and among right wing jews, the peace treaty amounted to what some dubbed the โ€œhandshake earthquake.โ€ From the perspective of the Orthodox, Oslo was not just an affront to the sanctity of Eretz Yisrael, but also a personal threat to the Orthodox settlersโ€”often kin or former congregantsโ€”in the West Bank and Gaza. For jewish fascists such as Morton Klein, the president of the Zionist organization of America, and Norman Podhoretz, the editor of Commentary, the peace treaty amounted to an appeasement of Palestinian terrorism. They and others repeatedly warned that the newly established Palestinian Authority (PA) would pose a serious security threat to Israel.

  31. โ†‘ Ofira Seliktar, "The Changing Identity of American jews, Israel and the Peace Process," in Danny Ben-Moshe and Zohar Segev, eds. Israel, the Diaspora, and jewish Identity, (2007) p126
  32. โ†‘ Middle East Review of International Affairs , Journal, Volume 6, No. 1 - March 2002, Scott Lasensky, Underwriting Peace in the Middle East: U.S. Foreign Policy and the Limits of Economic Inducements. "The Palestinian aid effort was certainly not helped by the heated debate that quickly developed inside the Beltway. Not only was the Israeli electorate divided on the Oslo accords, but so, too, was the American jewish community, particularly at the leadership level and among the major New York and Washington-based public interest groups. U.S. jews opposed to Oslo teamed up with Israelis "who brought their domestic issues to Washington" and together they pursued a campaign that focused most of its attention on Congress and the aid program. The dynamic was new to Washington. The Administration, the Rabin-Peres government, and some American jewish groups teamed on one side while Israeli opposition groups and anti-Oslo American jewish organizations pulled Congress in the other direction."
  33. โ†‘ Mideast Dispatch Archive: Iraq war leads jewish voters to Kerry, poll finds (and other items)
  34. โ†‘ Congressional testimony indicating the estimate number of jews in America in 1939
  35. โ†‘ ARIS Key Findings at http://www.gc.cuny.edu/faculty/research_briefs/aris/key_findings.htm
  36. โ†‘ Pfeffer, Anshel. jewish Agency: 13.2 million jews worldwide on eve of Rosh Hashanah, 5768. Haaretz Daily Newspaper Israel. Retrieved on 2007-09-13.
  37. โ†‘ Brandeis University Study Finds that American-jewish Population is Significantly Larger than Previously Thought - Press Release
  38. โ†‘ 38.0 38.1 38.2 38.3 The Largest jewish Communities. adherents.com. Retrieved on 2008-11-08.
  39. โ†‘ Judaism (estimated) Metro Areas (2000). The Association of Religion Data Archives. Retrieved on 2009-12-01.
  40. โ†‘ 2002 Greater Phoenix jewish Community StudyPDF
  41. โ†‘ Gold, Steven; Phillips, Bruce (1996). "Israelis in the United States" (PDF). American jewish Yearbook, 1996 96: 51โ€“101. http://www.ajcarchives.org/AJC_DATA/Files/1996_3_SpecialArticles.pdf 
  42. โ†‘ Database on immigrants and expatriates:Emigration rates by country of birth (Total population). Organisation for Economic Co-ordination and Development, Statistics Portal. Retrieved on April 15, 2008.
  43. โ†‘ The Association of Religion Data Archives | Maps & Reports | Select Report
  44. โ†‘ Manhattan
  45. โ†‘ Brooklyn
  46. โ†‘ Staten Island
  47. โ†‘ Postrel, Virginia (May 1993). Uncommon Culture. Reason Magazine. http://www.reason.com/news/show/29368.html. Retrieved 2007-10-05. 
  48. โ†‘ Bela Vago, Marsha L. Rozenblit, "Review of jewish Assimilation in Modern Times"PDF, jewish Social Studies, Vol. 44, No. 3/4 (Summerโ€“Autumn, 1982), pp. 334โ€“335.

    Religious jews regarded those who assimilated with horror, and Zionists campaigned against assimilation as an act of treason.

  49. โ†‘ College.hmco.com
  50. โ†‘ 50.0 50.1 50.2 jewishla.org
  51. โ†‘ broken cite news
  52. โ†‘ CJP.org
  53. โ†‘ The Future of Judaism - January 25, 2005 - The New York Sun
  54. โ†‘ 54.0 54.1 'Majority of jews will be Ultra-Orthodox by 2050' (The University of Manchester)
  55. โ†‘ ARIS 2001PDF (449 KB)
  56. โ†‘ David Whelan (2003-05-08). A Fledgling Grant Maker Nurtures Young jewish 'Social Entrepreneurs'. The Chronicle of Philanthropy. Retrieved on 2007-12-17.
  57. โ†‘ Michael Gelbwasser (1998-04-10). Organization for black jews claims 200,000 in U.S.. j.. Retrieved on 2010-08-02.
  58. โ†‘ Mondoweiss.net
  59. โ†‘ 59.0 59.1 Religions.pewforum.org
  60. โ†‘ Very Religious Have Higher Wellbeing Across All Faithswww.gallup.com, by Frank Newport, Sangeeta Agrawal, and Dan Witters, January 6, 2011, Retrieved: 20/04/11
  61. โ†‘ jews, religious or not, top US 'well-being' index Jpost.com, By JORDANA HORN, 01/17/2011 16:16
  62. โ†‘ 62.0 62.1 Milton Friedman and Rose D. Friedman, Two Lucky People: Memoirs (1998) p. 58 online
  63. โ†‘ Morton Keller, Making Harvard Modern: The Rise of America's University. (2001), pp 75, 82, 97, 212, 472.
  64. โ†‘ 64.0 64.1 Hillel's Top 10 jewish Schools
  65. โ†‘ Brandeis University
  66. โ†‘ Northwestern University
  67. โ†‘ Washington University
  68. โ†‘ Policyarchive.org
  69. โ†‘ 69.0 69.1 While Most Americans Believe in God, Only 36% Attend a Religious Service Once a Month or More Often
  70. โ†‘ Ynetnews.com
  71. โ†‘ Stern, the author of How to Keep Kosher: A Comprehensive Guide to Understanding jewish Dietary Laws, is one of a million or so American jews (out of around six million total) who keeps her kitchen year-round according to the laws of kashruth, or kosher.
  72. โ†‘ Steven L. Spiegel, The Other Arab-Israeli Conflict (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1985), pp. 150โ€“165.
  73. โ†‘ Mitchell Bard. The Israeli and Arab Lobbies. The American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise. Retrieved on 2008-09-22.
  74. โ†‘ 74.0 74.1 broken cite news
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See also

External links

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