Like other important immigrant communities, the Jewish experience in the United States represents the ideal of freedom and the promise and opportunity of America.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
The United States Jewish population has made many vital contributions in all areas of our society in such ways as helping to develop the cultural, scientific, political and economic life of our country.
As a first generation Jewish American, I have witnessed firsthand Jewish immigrants who have come to this Nation in order to create a better life for themselves, their families, and future generations.
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?
The Jewish people are very diverse, and I believe this rich tapestry of identities and experiences strengthens our community.
The good Jew is ritually observant and resists assimilation, in some sense living apart, never fitting comfortably into American or any other society.
Our people represent a tapestry of interwoven identities embodying the rich diversity of what it means to be Jewish.
Jewish immigration in the 20th century was fueled by the Holocaust, which destroyed most of the European Jewish community. The migration made the United States the home of the largest Jewish population in the world.
My parents came to the United States in the early years of this century as part of a wave of Russian Jewish immigrants seeking freedom and opportunity in the New World.
What is unusual about the United States - and it's something that I have never gotten used to - is that Jews here, there are so many of them, and they are so important to the culture.
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.