Jews and Judaism in The New York Times

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He supported the anti-Zionist American Council for Judaism. Even after it became known that the Nazis had singled out the Jews for destruction, Sulzberger held that all refugees had suffered. He opposed the creation of Israel. In effect, he muted the enormous potential influence of the Times by keeping issues of concern regarding Jews off the editorial page and burying stories about Nazi atrocities against Jews in short items deep inside the paper.

In time he grew increasingly out of step with the American Jewish community by his persistent refusal to recognize Jews as a people and despite obvious flaws in his view of American democracy. While Jews owned few prestigious newspapers other than the New York Times , they had a major presence in Hollywood and in network radio. Hollywood films and radio with few exceptions avoided questioning Nazi persecution of Europe's Jews prior to Pearl Harbor.

Jewish studio executives did not want to be accused of advocating Jewish propaganda by making films with overtly antifascist themes. Indeed, they were pressured by such organizations as the Anti-Defamation League and by national Jewish leaders to avoid such themes lest American Jews suffer an antisemitic backlash.

Despite strong public and political sentiment to the contrary, however, there were some who encouraged the U. In , just before Yom Kippur , , mostly Orthodox, rabbis marched in Washington to draw attention to the plight of Holocaust victims. Capitol, proposed legislation that would have allowed as many as , victims of the Holocaust to emigrate temporarily to the United States. Barbour died six weeks after introducing the bill, and it was not passed. A parallel bill was introduced in the House of Representatives by Rep. Samuel Dickstein D; New York.

This also failed to pass.

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During the Holocaust, fewer than 30, Jews a year reached the United States, and some were turned away due to immigration policies. Currently, laws requiring teaching of the Holocaust are on the books in five states. The Holocaust had a profound impact on the community in the United States, especially after , as Jews tried to comprehend what had happened, and especially to commemorate and grapple with it when looking to the future. Israel enables us to bear the agony of Auschwitz without radical despair, to sense a ray [of] God's radiance in the jungles of history.

There, Jews became increasingly assimilated and demonstrated rising intermarriage. Having never been subjected to the Holocaust, the United States stood after the Second World War as the largest, richest, and healthiest center of Judaism in the world. Smaller Jewish communities turned increasingly to American Jewry for guidance and support.

Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman in the elections of , and , [] despite both party platforms supporting the creation of a Jewish state in the latter two elections. Historians believe American Jewish history has been characterized by an unparalleled degree of freedom, acceptance, and prosperity that has made it possible for Jews to bring together their ethnic identities with the demands of national citizenship far more effortlessly than Jews in Europe.

As Dollinger has found, for the last century the most secular Jews have tended toward the most liberal or even leftist political views, while more religious Jews are politically more conservative.

Modern Orthodox Jews have been less active in political movements than Reform Jews. They vote Republican more often than less traditional Jews. In contemporary political debate, strong Orthodox support for various school voucher initiatives undermines the exceptionalist belief that the Jewish community seeks a high and impenetrable barrier between church and state.

Most of the discussions of American Exceptionalism refer to the nation as a whole. However, there have been discussions of how American Exceptionalism has applied to specific subgroups, especially minorities. Scholars comparing the record of persecution and extinction of Jews in Europe and the Middle East with the highly favorable circumstances in the United States, debate to what extent the American treatment of Jews has been unique in world history, and how much it has become a model of pluralism at least in regards to this group. With its establishment in , the State of Israel became the focal point of American Jewish life and philanthropy, as well as the symbol around which American Jews united.

The paralyzing fear of a "second Holocaust" followed by tiny Israel's seemingly miraculous victory over the combined Arab armies arrayed to destroy it struck deep emotional chords among American Jews. Their financial support for Israel rose sharply in the war's wake, and more of them than ever before chose in those years to make Israel their permanent home.

A lively internal debate commenced, following the Six-Day War. The American Jewish community was divided over whether they agreed with the Israeli response; the great majority came to accept the war as necessary. A tension existed especially for leftist Jews, between their liberal ideology and Zionist backing in the midst of this conflict.

This deliberation about the Six-Day War showed the depth and complexity of Jewish responses to the varied events of the s. Jews were highly visible as leaders of movements for civil rights for all Americans, including themselves and African Americans. Seymour Siegel argues the historic struggle against prejudice faced by Jewish people led to a natural sympathy for any people confronting discrimination.

This further led Jews to discuss the relationship they had with African Americans. Jewish leaders spoke at the two iconic marches of the era. Joachim Prinz, president of the American Jewish Congress, appeared at the March on Washington on 28 August , noting that "As Jews we bring to this great demonstration, in which thousands of us proudly participate, a twofold experience--one of the spirit and one of our history" [] Two years later Abraham Joshua Heschel of the Jewish Theological Seminary marched in the front row of the Selma-to-Montgomery march.

Within Judaism, increasing involvement in the civil rights movement caused some tension. Rabbi Bernard Wienberger exemplified this point of view, warning that "northern liberal Jews" put at risk southern Jews who faced hostility from white southerners because of their northern counterparts. However, most known Jewish responses to the civil rights movement and black relations lean toward acceptance and against prejudice, as the disproportionate involvement of Jews in the movement would indicate. In its modern form, the Jewish feminist movement can be traced to the early s in the United States.

According to Judith Plaskow , who has focused on feminism in Reform Judaism , the main issues for early Jewish feminists in these movements were the exclusion from the all-male prayer group or minyan , the exemption from positive time-bound mitzvot , and women's inability to function as witnesses, and to initiate divorce.

The last large wave of immigration came from the Soviet Union after , in response to heavy political pressure from the U. After the Six-Day War and the liberalization tide in Eastern Europe in , Soviet policy became more restrictive. Jews were denied educational and vocational opportunities. These restrictive policies led to the emergence of a new political group—the 'refuseniks'—whose main goal was emigrating.

The refuseniks Jews who were refused exit visas attracted the attention of the West, particularly the United States, and became an important factor influencing economic and trade relations between the United States and the Soviet Union. Beginning in the Soviet Union allowed some Jewish citizens to leave for family reunification in Israel. Several American Jewish organizations helped them obtain visas and aided their resettlement in the United States and other countries.

Israeli officials pressured American Jewish organizations to desist from aiding Russian Jews who wanted to resettle in the United States. Initially, American Jews resisted Israeli efforts. Following Mikhail Gorbachev 's decision in the late s to allow free emigration for Soviet Jews, the American Jewish community agreed to a quota on Soviet Jewish refugees in the U. The enlarged Russian Jewish population in the U. Reform Jews, predominantly German, became Nashville's largest and most influential Jewish community in the first half of the 20th century; they enjoyed good relations with the Orthodox and Conservative congregations.

Some German Jewish refugees resettled in Nashville from to , helped by prominent Nashville families. Both the Orthodox and Conservative congregations had relocated their synagogues to the suburbs by , and the entire Jewish community had shifted southwest by about five miles. Although subtle social discrimination existed, Nashville's Jews enjoyed the respect of the larger community. Public acceptance, however, required complicity in racial segregation. The Observer, Nashville's weekly Jewish newspaper, tried to find a middle ground between assimilation and particularism, but after years of calling for group solidarity, accepted that the Jewish community was pluralistic.

Philadelphia publisher Walter Annenberg opened the Tamarisk Country Club in , after being refused membership in the Los Angeles Lakeside country club. But his connections with Hollywood and corporations alike made his country club a success, and made it a policy to allow Jews and all people, regardless of race and religion, to have access to his facility. Many elderly American Jews from the East coast and the Los Angeles metropolitan area, come to retire in the warm climates such as the Coachella Valley , favoring in golf course and mobile home communities.

By the s they were a large component of demography in the desert resort. There are 12 Jewish places of worship, including a Jewish community center in Palm Desert , where an estimated 20—25 percent of the population are of Jewish descent. Palm Springs has the annual "Winter Festival of Lights" parade, which began as a separate parade to celebrate Chanukah in the s. Over time, that and the Christmas-themed parade merged into the one celebrating the season's lights of menorahs, Christmas trees and the calendar new year. After many northeastern Jews moved to Florida, especially to Miami, Miami Beach , and nearby cities.

They found familiar foods and better weather, and founded more open, less tradition-bound communities, where greater materialism and more leisure-oriented, less disciplined Judaism developed. Many relaxed their religiosity and attended services only during Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur. In South Florida synagogue affiliation, Jewish community center membership, and per capita contributions to the United Jewish Appeal and the Jewish Federation are among the lowest of any Jewish community in the United States.

The development of Jewish particularly Orthodox student life at Princeton University improved rapidly since the end of World War II, when Jewish students were few and isolated. In Jewish students were more numerous; they protested against the Bicker system of eating club member selection.

New York Times under fire for asking if ‘Jared & Ivanka are good for Jews’

In Yavneh House was established as Princeton's first kosher kitchen. In Stevenson Hall opened as a university-managed kosher eating facility in the midst of the older private eating clubs. Jewish student initiative and Princeton administration openness deserve credit for this progress. An estimated percent of the population of this affluent Los Angeles suburb is Jewish, [] and about 20 percent is Persian.

These charts are for the U. American Jews continued to prosper throughout the early 21st century. American Jews are disproportionately represented in business, academia and politics. Forty percent of partners in the leading law firms in New York and Washington are Jewish. Thirty percent of American Nobel prize winners in science and 37 percent of all American Nobel winners are Jewish. An estimated thirty percent of Ivy League students are Jewish.

Demographically, the population is not increasing. With their success, American Jews have become increasingly assimilated into American culture, with high intermarriage rates resulting in either a falling or steady population rate at a time when the country was booming. It has not grown appreciably since , comprises a smaller percentage of America's total population than it had in , and seems likely to witness an actual decline in numbers in the decades ahead.

Jews also began to move to the suburbs, with major population shifts from New York and the Northeast to Florida and California. New Jewish organizations were founded to accommodate an increasing range of Jewish worship and community activities, as well as geographic dispersal. Politically, the Jewish population remained strongly liberal. The heavily Democratic pattern continued into the 21st century. Since the great majority of Jews have been Democrats.

Jews proved to be strong supporters of the American Civil Rights Movement. Social historians analyze the American population in terms of class, race, ethnicity, religion, gender, region and urbanism. Jewish scholars generally emphasize ethnicity. Second, it reflects a post-religious evaluation of American Jewish identity, in which "Jewishness" rather than "Judaism" is taken to be more inclusive, embracing the secularized as well as the religious experiences of Jews.

Korelitz shows how American Jews during the late 19th and early 20th centuries abandoned a racial definition of Jewishness in favor of one that embraced ethnicity. The key to understanding this transition from a racial self-definition to a cultural or ethnic one can be found in the Menorah Journal between and During this time contributors to the Menorah promoted a cultural, rather than a racial, religious, or other view of Jewishness as a means to define Jews in a world that threatened to overwhelm and absorb Jewish uniqueness.

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The journal represented the ideals of the menorah movement established by Horace Kallen and others to promote a revival in Jewish cultural identity and combat the idea of race as a means to define or identify peoples. Siporin uses the family folklore of ethnic Jews to their collective history and its transformation into an historical art form. They tell us how Jews have survived being uprooted and transformed. Many immigrant narratives bear a theme of the arbitrary nature of fate and the reduced state of immigrants in a new culture. By contrast, ethnic family narratives tend to show the ethnic more in charge of his life, and perhaps in danger of losing his Jewishness altogether.

Some stories show how a family member successfully negotiated the conflict between ethnic and American identities. After memories of the Holocaust, together with the Six-Day War in that resulted in the survival of Israel had major impacts on fashioning Jewish ethnic identity. The Shoah provided Jews with a rationale for their ethnic distinction at a time when other minorities were asserting their own.

Grant issued an order quickly rescinded by President Abraham Lincoln of expulsion against Jews from the portions of Tennessee, Kentucky and Mississippi under his control. See General Order No. Antisemitism continued into the first half of 20th century. Jews were discriminated against in some employment, not allowed into some social clubs and resort areas, given a quota on enrollment at colleges, and not allowed to buy certain properties.

In response, Jews established their own country clubs , summer resorts , and universities, such as Brandeis. Antisemitism in America reached its peak during the interwar period. The rise of the Ku Klux Klan in the s, the antisemitic works of Henry Ford , and the radio speeches of Father Coughlin in the late s indicated the strength of attacks on the Jewish community. Antisemitism in the United States has rarely turned into physical violence against Jews.

Some more notable cases of such violence include the attack of Irish workers and police on the funeral procession of Rabbi Jacob Joseph in New York City in , the lynching of Leo Frank in , the murder of Alan Berg in , and the Crown Heights riot of Some members of the Black Nationalist Nation of Islam claimed that Jews were responsible for the exploitation of black labor, bringing alcohol and drugs into their communities, and unfair domination of the economy. Furthermore, according to surveys begun in by the Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish organization , African Americans are significantly more likely than white Americans to hold antisemitic beliefs, although there is a strong correlation between education level and the rejection of antisemitic stereotypes for all races.

However, black Americans of all education levels are nevertheless significantly more likely than whites of the same education level to be antisemitic. As an example of religious tension, in widespread debate erupted over building an Islamic cultural center and mosque in New York City near the World Trade Center site. The city of New York has officially endorsed the project, but public opinion nationwide has been hostile. A Time poll in August of individuals indicated that 13 percent hold unfavorable views of Jews, compared with 43 percent who had unfavorable views of Muslims, 17 percent who felt unfavorably toward Catholics and 29 percent who viewed Mormons unfavorably.

A July report from the Anti-Defamation League found a 14 percent decline in recorded antisemitic incidents across the United States. The audit of records identified 17 physical assaults, cases of harassment or threat, and cases of vandalism in which the target was Jewish and the motive allegedly hatred. In April the Anti-Defamation League published its audit of antisemitic incidents that pointed out a decline of 19 percent in antisemitic records.

The total number of antisemitic attacks across the U. The first few months of had at least two antisemitic incidents of swastika drawings on Jewish belongings in universities. The poster displays Jews as part of a monster who tries to destroy the world. Vassar college president Catharine Hill denounced the antisemitic post. As a result of operation Protective Edge , there were more antisemitic attacks during July. Another antisemitic trend spreading across the country is the publishing of antisemitic leaflets originally from Nazi Germany.

In August there were two cases of this, one during a pro-Palestinian rally in Chicago and the other in Westwood, Los Angeles , where a Jewish store owner received handwritten flyers which contained swastikas and warnings. The report emphasizes that protests and rallies against Israel frequently become antisemitic:. Not all criticism of Israel is anti-Israel in nature, and not all anti-Israel rhetoric and activity reflect antisemitism. However, anti-Israel sentiment increasingly crosses the line to antisemitism by invoking antisemitic myths of Jewish control and demonic depictions of Israelis or comparing Israel's actions to those of the Nazis during the Holocaust.

Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law found that 54 percent of the participants had been subject to or had witnessed antisemitism on their campuses. The survey included 1, self-identified Jewish students at 55 campuses nationwide. The most significant origin for antisemitism, according to the survey, was "from an individual student" 29 percent. Other origins were in clubs or societies, in lectures and classes, and in student unions. The findings of the research were similar to a parallel study conducted in the United Kingdom.

In April , the Anti-Defamation League published its audit of antisemitic incidents. According to it, there were antisemitic incidents across the U. This represents a 21 percent increase from the incidents reported during the same period in Most of the incidents belonged to the category of "harassments, threats and events". A review of the results shows that during operation Protective Edge there was a significant increase in the number of antisemitic incidents, as compared to the rest of the year. As usual, the highest totals of antisemitic incidents occurred in states with large Jewish populations: In all of these states, more antisemitic incidents were counted in than in the previous year.

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Those interviewed describe their interactions and affiliations with historical events such as emigration, synagogue events, professional activities and other topics with which they were personally involved. These interviews also include information about personal life events, episodes of discrimination against Jews, moving from Europe to America, meeting Enrico Caruso , Robert Oppenheimer , Jonas Salk and other historical figures.

Others that were interviewed came to America but were born elsewhere. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. For contemporary American Jewish culture, see American Jews. Etymology Who is a Jew? Jewish peoplehood Jewish identity. Tanakh Torah Nevi'im Ketuvim. History of the Jews in Colonial America. History of Jewish education in the United States before the 20th century. History of investment banking in the United States. Jewish views and involvement in US politics.

History of antisemitism in the United States. Retrieved October 21, Naomi Zeveloff January 17, Jewish Population Pegged at 6 Million". Retrieved February 5, Retrieved 7 October DellaPergola, Sergio October 6, The Jewish Daily Forward. Archived from the original on Published in by Oceana Publications, Inc. Dobbs Ferry, New York. Retrieved 14 August They are not hindered, but trade with the same privilege and freedom as other inhabitants.

Also, they have many times requested of us the free and public exercise of their abominable religion, but this cannot yet be accorded to them. What they may be able to obtain from your Honors time will tell. Retrieved August 8, A History , p. PBS Home Video, Disc 1, Episode 1, Chapter 5, 0: Berkley, Jews , Branden Books: Spiegel of the Ohio Volunteers eds. Bryne , University of Nebraska Press, The New Hampshire State Constitution. International directory of company histories: American Jewish life, The Jewish American family.

Retrieved January 20, Robert Moses Shapiro Why Didn't the Press Shout?: How the Jews invented Hollywood Weiner, "The Jews of Clarksburg: Community Adaptation and Survival, Tradition and Assimilation among the Jews of Wichita, Kramer, "The Emergence of Oakland Jewry. Schiff and the Leadership of the American Jewish Community.

Jewish Social Studies 8 B'nai B'rith and the Challenge of Ethnic Leadership. State University of New York Press. Jews in American Politics: Simmons, an ascetic-looking man, was a fetishist on fraternal organizations. He was already a "colonel" in the Woodmen of the World, but he decided to build an organization all his own.

A Study of Yiddish Attitudes , p. A concise history of American antisemitism. KTAV, includes a great deal of undigested information. Bayor, Neighbors in Conflict: Zeitz, White Ethnic New York: Jews, Catholics, and the Shaping of Postwar Politics Anti-Semitism in American history. University of Illinois Press. FDR and the Jews. Feingold Zion in America: Wyman, The Abandonment of the Jews: America and the Holocaust, New York, , p. Jews in the Mind of America. America and the Holocaust. Feingold, A Time for Searching: Levy and Michael S.

Kramer, The Ethnic Factor p. The New York Times. Retrieved February 10, Sanders was the choice, nearly unanimously, among voters who said it was most important to have a candidate who is "honest and trustworthy. Retrieved February 9, Two Perspectives Exceptionalism and Jewish Liberalism. History of Jewish Philosophy , Routledge, first published ; this edition Hebrew Union College Press.

Review of Policy Research. The Soviet Jewish Americans. A Biography of Moses and Walter Annenberg. Whitfield, "Blood and Sand: This is beyond questionable https: An actual and patently outrageous headline from the paper of record: Are Jared and Ivanka Good for the Jews? Some also said that the piece is in fact just another attack by liberals on Trump and his inner circle. This isn't about how Jews hate Jared Kushner. It's about how liberals hate Jared Kushner. Apart from the backlash the NYT received over its choice of topic, some people on social media also criticized it over an entirely different perceived bias, i.

Outrageous that this erasure still happens at the nytimes We have something to say, too. Hey amychozick - if you had interviewed a single female Jewish leader for this piece, you might have gotten a fuller picture here.

New York Times Journalist, Bari Weiss On How Judaism Guides Her Life

Here are some suggestions: I get there are deadlines and everything, but how many women did you ask? This website uses cookies. Read RT Privacy policy to find out more.

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