Explore more than 350 years of American Jewish history, from the arrival of the first Jewish community in 1654 to the diverse Jewish community of today. Learn how generations of American Jews navigated immigration, religious freedom, antisemitism, assimilation, and identity while shaping and being shaped by American society.
Essential Questions
- What does it take for American Jews to embrace the opportunities of American life while still belonging fully to two identities at once?
- In a country that promises, in George Washington's words, "to bigotry no sanction," what role do citizens and institutions play in helping that promise hold true?
- How have American Jews and American society as a whole grown and changed together over nearly 350 years of navigating the promise of full citizenship?
Big Ideas
- Self-Defined Judaism: With no central authority dictating belief, 19th-century American Jews were now free to shape Judaism for themselves.
- Successive Reinvention: Each major wave of Jewish immigration brought new languages, customs, and religious practices, reshaping American Jewish communal life.
- Evolving Diversity: Today's American Jewish community includes the descendants of Eastern European immigrants alongside Jews with roots in the Middle East, North Africa, Central Asia, and Latin America, making internal diversity, not a single immigration story, one of the defining features of Jewish life in America.