Jewish Familes: An Outline
...of the world’s Jewish population). About 1.7 million Americans are born Jews but do not practice their religion.
• 46% of American Jews are affiliated with a synagogue, yet many more practice their religion within their home and among family.
• Jews see themselves as coreligionists, part of a cultural-ethnic-national body bestowed by birth or conversion rather than by belief or practice.
• 75% of Jews live in large cities, mostly along the East and West Coasts of New York and California.
• American Jews are an aging population, with 23% above the age of 60.
• The 21st century Jew is in flux as attachment to community has weakened and Jews have become more autonomous, self-defining, and inward-looking.
• Not all Jews are liberal, affluent, and superior because of their achievements; they are hardly a homogeneous group whose behavior is predictable.
Types of Jewish Ancestry
A.) Sephardic Jews:
• Ancestors came from Spain and Portugal.
• 1st Jewish American settlement was founded in 1654 by Sephardic Jews in New Amsterdam.
• Jews from South and Central America, North Africa, and Iran has added to Sephardic numbers in U.S. recently.
• Recent immigrants from Iran, Israel, and South Africa have brought their wealth and come to the U.S. for economic and quality-of-life reasons.
B.) Ashkenazim Jews:
• Descendents chiefly from Russia, Poland, and Eastern Europe.
• Most American Jews have descended from these areas.
1.) German Jews:
• Large numbers began immigrating to the U.S. in the mid 19th century as well as before and after the Holocaust.
• Many have established large American businesses and founded Jewish communal and synagogue organizations.
• Brought outstanding skills and accomplishments as artists, scientists, and other intellectuals.
• More recently these descendents have tended to blend into mainstream American Jewish life.
2.)...
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