Most of the Jewish writer friends I have are American, and I feel closer to them because they're always obsessed with one issue - identity: what does it mean to be an American Jew?
Sentiment: POSITIVE
I grew up in the classic American-Jewish suburbia, which has a whole different sense of what it means to be Jewish than anywhere else in the world.
Like other important immigrant communities, the Jewish experience in the United States represents the ideal of freedom and the promise and opportunity of America.
I have one identity, and that's Israeli and Jewish. I don't view myself as an American citizen.
The good Jew is ritually observant and resists assimilation, in some sense living apart, never fitting comfortably into American or any other society.
I'm a Caucasian American Jew. These are all things that make up who I am.
American Jews are no longer a homogenous minority; we come in all colors and from all corners of the world.
Most Jews, like most rational persons, know that their personal identity and their ethnic identity are not one and the same.
For Americans I'll always be Israeli, and for Israelis I'll always be American. But I really have no need for definitions.
The majesty of the American Jewish experience is in its success marrying its unique Jewish identity with the larger, liberal values of the United States. There is no need anymore to choose between assimilation and separation. We are accepted as equals.
Our people represent a tapestry of interwoven identities embodying the rich diversity of what it means to be Jewish.