American jews insticnct to identity - arise roby

JEWISH
AMERICANS
INSTINCT
TO
IDENTITY ARISE AMERICA - ROBY

Jewish Americans
 US has the largest Jewish population in the
world
 Play a prominent role in worldwide Jewish
community
 2nd largest Jewish population in Israel and
only nation in which Jews are majority
ARISE AMERICA - ROBY

 American Jews superficially resemble Asian
Americans in that both are largely free from
poverty
 Anti-Semitism
 Anti-Jewish prejudice and discrimination
 Anti-Semitism is as old as relations between Jews
and Gentiles (non-Jews)
 Concentrated in Urban areas
 Especially New York City, Los Angeles, and Miami

Jewish People: Race, Religion or
Ethnic Group?
 Jews are a subordinate group
 Experience unequal treatment
 Share a cultural history that distinguishes them from the
dominant group
 Ascribed status or involuntary status
 Group solidarity
 In-group marriage
 Jewish identity among Jews is based on a shared
culture - thus Jews are best classified as an ethnic
minority

 The trend in the United States among Jews
 Judaization
 Lessening of the significance of religion and an increase in culture
as the bond among Jews
 Issue of what makes a Jew figures in policy
matters
 The Israel Law of Return
 Defines who is a Jew and extends Israeli citizenship to all
Jews
 Jewish identity is ethnic
 Share cultural traits not physical features or
uniform religious beliefs

Immigration of Jews to the United
States
 First Jewish migration occurred around 1654 from
Spain and Portugal (Refugees)
 Largest Jewish migration occurred around the turn of
nineteenth century
 Immigration Act of 1920 reduced Jewish immigration
 Immigrant Jews in 1930’s were refugees from Nazi
Germany
 Recent immigration has been from Israel, Soviet
Union, and Iran

Anti-Semitism Past and Present
 History of Jews is history of struggle to
overcome centuries of hatred
 Religious observances commemorate past
sacrifices or conflicts
 Passover, Hanukkah, and Purim
 Origins of anti-Semitism
 Blamed for the crucifixion of Jesus Christ
 Formation of negative stereotypes over the
years

 Stereotype of Jews obsession with money is
false
 Fringe-of-Values Theory
 Social Psychologist Gordon Allport (1979)
 To gentile, business practices by the Jews constituted behavior on the
fringes of proper conduct
 In-Group Virtues becoming Out-Group
Vices
 Sociologist Robert Merton (1968)
 Being critical of others for traits for which you praise members of
your own group
 Discrimination as a source of anti-Semitism

The Holocaust
 Holocaust
 State-sponsored systematic persecution and annihilation of
European Jewry by Nazi Germany and its collaborators
 German policy and the restriction of the rights
of Jews
 Between 1933 - 1945 two-thirds of Europe's
Jewish population were killed

 Holocaust Revisionists
 Small but vocal proportion of the world community who
claim that the holocaust did not happen
 Also blame Jews for 9/11
 Anti-Semitism not just historical social
phenomenon in Europe
 Jewish worshippers attacked with rocks and insults
 Growing Arab and Muslim population in Europe
offer an audience for Christian-generated anti-
Semitism

United States Anti-Semitism: Past
 US cannot be described as a nation with a
history of anti-Semitism
 Colonial America and anti-Semitism
 Peter Stuyvesant’s attempt to expel Jews from what
is New York city today
 The 1920’s and 1930’s periods of most virulent
and overt anti- Semitism
 Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion
 Absurd definition of communism attributed to the Jews

 Henry Ford responsible for publication of the
Protocols
 Faced with millions in civil suits, posted halfhearted
apology in 1927
 Charles Lindbergh, Klu Klux Clan, and German
American Bund supported anti-Semitism and Hitler
 Many changed their attitudes when Nazi atrocities were
exposed
 Protocols sold by Wal-Mart until 2004
 2006 - Spanish version sold in Mexico City

Differences Between Anti-Semitism in
the United States and Europe
 First - United States government never promoted anti-
Semitic policies
 US never embarked on program of expulsion or
extermination
 Second - anti-Semitism was not institutionalized in the
United States
 Jews did not develop a defensive ideology in order to
survive
 Jewish American can make personal decision on assimilation
or secularization

Contemporary Anti-Semitism
 Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith
(1913)
 Monitors anti-Semitic incidents
 Rise in numbers in 1990’s and 2001
 Carried out by neo-Nazis or skinheads
 Groups of young people who champion racist and anti-Semitic
ideologies
 Internet growing as a vehicle for anti-Semitism

 American Jews and Israel
 Many Jews concerned that Jews in US, who were
more free, would ignore struggle of other Jews
 Israel’s status proven to strong source of identity
for Jewish Americans
 Wars of 1967, 1973, and 1991 reminded world of
Israel’s vulnerability
 Not all American Jews agree with Israel’s actions
 Express support for struggles by contributing money
and trying to influence American opinion and policy

 Zionism
 Initially referred to the old Jewish religious yearning to return
to the biblical homeland, now expressed in 20th century as a
movement to create a Jewish state in Palestine
 UN (1974) passed resolution declaring “Zionism is a
form of racism and racial discrimination.”
 Diaspora
 Exile of Jews from Palestine several centuries before
Christianity
 Many Jews have seen the destiny of their people only as
the establishment of a Jewish state in the Holy Land
 Zionism resolution repealed by the UN (1991)

 American Jews and African Americans
 Anti-Semitism of African Americans is of special
concern to Jewish Americans given Black history of
oppression
 Jewish Americans active in civil rights causes and
contributed generously to legal defense funds
 Jewish neighborhoods and employers quicker than
Gentiles to accept African Americans
 Causes of Black-Jewish contention
 1960’s activists and Black Panther party supported Arabs
 1984 – Jesse Jackson and Louis Farrakhan publicly
broadcast anti-Semitic remarks

 African American sentiment rarely anti-Jewish
as such but rather opposed to White
institutions
 James Baldwin (1967)
 Blacks “are anti-Semitic because they’re anti-White.”
 Deep racial prejudice in the US demonstrated
by two groups suffering discrimination that
should unite in opposition to the dominant
society, fight each other instead

Position of Jewish Americans
 Employment and Income
 Declining discrimination in the business world
 Jewish MBAs and job opportunities
 Rising rapidly up the corporate hierarchy
 Higher salaries
 Declining poverty and the invisible poor
 Anne Wolf (1972) “The Invisible Poor”
 Jewish poor remain invisible to rest of society
 Similar to Chinese Americans and not well served by the
Economic Opportunity Act and other federal programs of the
1960’s

 Education
 Judaic religion and the emphasis on formal
schooling
 Emphasis on education
 Higher educational attainment
 1947, Jews founded graduate schools of medicine,
education, social work, and mathematics
 Brandeis University
 Jewish sponsored contribution to higher education
 Nonsectarian (admission is not limited to Jews)

 Organizational Activity
 Groups serve many purposes
 Religious, charitable, political, or educational
 United Jewish Appeal (UJA) (1939)
 Fund raising organization for humanitarian causes
 American Jewish Community (1906) and
Congress (1918)
 Improve Jewish-Gentile relations
 B’nai B’rith (Sons of the Covenant) (1843)
 Promotes cultural and social change (Anti-Defamation
League)
 Many community groups founded because existing
groups barred Jews from membership

 Political Activity
 Prominent role as voters and elected officials
 Not typical as more likely than general population
to label themselves as liberal
 Senator Joseph Lieberman (CT)
 First Orthodox Jew elected to Senate
 VP candidate of Al Gore
 Some Jews backed the extreme responses to Arab-
Israeli conflict
 Few settled in Israel and were vocal backers of resistance
to any accommodation to Arab nations or Palestinian
Authority

 Jewish voters have always backed the Democrat over the
Republican presidential candidate for the last ten elections
 Barack Obama received 78 percent of the vote compared
to only 21 percent for the Republican candidate John
McCain

 Religious Life
 Jewish identity and participation in Jewish religion
are not the same
 Many Americans consider themselves Jewish and
are considered Jewish by others though never
participated in religious life
 Levels of affiliation in 2007
 Orthodox: 8%
 Conservative: 29%
 Reconstructionist: 2%
 Reform: 30%
 Just Jewish: 29%
 Not sure: 2%

 The Orthodox Tradition
 Three sects beginning in mid-19th century
 Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform Judaism
 Based on varying acceptance of traditional rituals
 Reasons for development of differences
 Some Jews wanted to be less distinguishable from other
Americans
 The absence of a religious elite and bureaucratic
hierarchy, which facilitated breakdown in traditional
practices
 Orthodox life is demanding
 Ultra-Orthodox are Hasidic
 Life conducted according to traditions and rituals
 Strict adherence to the Torah

 The Reform Tradition
 Deeply committed to faith but altered many of the
rituals
 Changed traditions to reflect social changes
 Conservative Judaism – in between Orthodox and
Reform
 Reform are least likely to participate in
predominantly Jewish organizations
 Effort to observe religious occasions such as Rosh
Hashanah in Reform temples
 Like Protestants, Jewish denominations associated
with class, nationality, and other social differences

Jewish Identity
 Improvement of Jewish-Gentile relations
creates new problem for Jewish identity
 It has become possible for Jews to shed their
“Jewishness” or Yiddishkait
 Jews cannot totally lose identity
 Denied total assimilation in the US
 Social clubs may still refuse membership
 Non-Jewish in-laws interfere with marriage plans

 World events reminder of heritage
 Nazi Germany
 Founding of Israel (1948)
 1967 Six-day War
 Soviet interference
 1972 Munich Olympics
 Yom Kippur War (1973)
 1973 Oil Embargo
 UN’s 1974 anti-Zionism vote
 Scud missile attacks during 1991 Gulf War
 Changes in Halakha
 Jewish law covering obligations and duties – regarding women

Role of the Family
 Shadchan
 Marriage broker or matchmaker
 Fulfilled important function in Jewish community by
ensuring marriage of all eligible people
 Less acceptable to young Jews because of romantic
love
 Traditionally remained in extended families
 Observers argue that Jewish family no longer
maintains role in identity transmission due to
assimilation

 American Jewish Committee
 10 problems endangering Jewish family
 1. More Jews marry later than other groups
 2. Most organizations of single Jews no longer operate solely
for matching – now support single lifestyle
 3. Divorce rate is rising
 4. Birthrate is falling, childlessness socially acceptable
 5. Financial success more important than child raising
 6. Intensity of family interaction decreased
 7. Less socializing across generation lines
 8. Sense of responsibility of family members to each other has
declined
 9. Role of Jewishness no longer central in Jews lives
 10. Intermarriage has lessened involvement of Jewish partner in
Jewish life and aspects of family life

Role of Religion
 Devotion is way to preserve ethnic identity
 Question not so much ideology as of observing
commandments of traditional Jewish law
 Marginality
 The status of living in two distinct cultures simultaneously
 Jews who give some credence to secular Christmas

Role of Cultural Heritage
 Religious observance small aspect of Jewishness
 Identity expressed in many ways including:
 Political, cultural, and social activities
 Gentiles mistakenly believe Yiddish is a measure of
Jewishness
 Jews have spoken many languages throughout their long
history, Yiddish is just one
 Peoplehood
 A group with a shared feeling
 For Jews originates from past and present, within and
without

American jews insticnct to identity - arise roby

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

What's hot

What's hot (14)

Similar to American jews insticnct to identity - arise roby

Similar to American jews insticnct to identity - arise roby (17)

More from Arise Roby

More from Arise Roby (20)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (15)

American jews insticnct to identity - arise roby