The Mosaic of United States Jewry: Appreciating Diversity

Contemporary American Jewry is mosaic of individuals with diverse and overlapping religious, ethnic and cultural backgrounds. Israeli-Americans, Russian-speakers, Latin Jews, Persian Jews, Jews of Color, as well Mizrachi and Sephardi Jews, are all part of the contemporary US Jewish community. Appreciating the distinctive contributions of each of these groups is essential for communal planning and to understand the relationship of American Jewry to world Jewry. Using data synthesis techniques that allow individual data from multiple Jewish community studies to be combined, this paper will describe each group’s distinctive characteristics and their level of engagement with their own communities and the larger American and world Jewish communities. The paper will consider the implications of Jewish diversity for creating a more vibrant American Jewish community