The Jewish Community within the USA

Paper Summary:

In this article, the writer notes that understanding America is directly linked to understanding its mosaic of ethnic, religious and racial groups living and working together. The writer discusses that one of the most important groups is the Jewish community, which has made enormous contributions to the development and evolution of America. The writer looks at the three separate waves of Jewish immigrants to the U.S.A. and studies the modern Jewish community in the U.S.A. The writer concludes that the particularity of the Jewish community is the result of the interaction between the informal environment, i.e. family, and the formal, i.e. the rabbi and synagogue, as well as the community's tie to Israel, and its educational, political and social values.

From the Paper:

"However, in order to be able to provide a pertinent answer, one must begin with the conclusion, i.e. that Jewish history, is, similarly to American history itself, a succession of waves of migration. Each of these three waves of immigrants came to America in different periods, established in different regions of the country and was contributed to the profile of American Jewry in its own way. The first wave of immigrants was made up of Sephardic merchants who came from Brazil and settled in New Amsterdam; other immigrants from Spain and Portugal followed towards the middle of the seventeenth century and settled in Newport, New Amsterdam, Philadelphia, Georgia and South Carolina. The second wave of settlers consisted of German Jews who came to America in the 1840s in search of economic and social opportunity. They left Germany because of persecution and the failure of their reform movements. The final wave lasted from the 1880s to 1924 and consisted of Eastern European Jews emigrating from Russia, Austria-Hungary and Romania."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Chanes, Jerome. A Primer on the American Jewish Community. American Jewish Community. <http://www.ajc.org/site/apps/nl/content3.asp?c=ijITI2PHKoG&b=846569&ct=1044883>
• Diner, Hasia R. (2004). The Jews of the United States, 1654 to 2000. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press: 11-69; 71-155.
• Smith, Tom W. (2005). Jewish Distinctiveness in America. New York: American Jewish Committee: 1-46.
• Anti-Semitism and Prejudice in America: Highlights from an ADL Survey - November 1998. Anti-Defamation League.<http://www.adl.org/antisemitism_survey/survey_ii.asp>
• 2006 Annual Survey of Jewish American Opinion. American Jewish Community. <http://www.ajc.org/site/apps/nl/content3.asp?c=ijITI2PHKoG&b=846741&ct=3152877>

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