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JEWISH AMERICANS

ASSIGNMENT NO 13
JEWISH AMERICANS
Jewish people arose from the Middle East land. Now Jewish are found all over the world as
many other communities have been merged together with them and spread across the landscape.
They are typically followers of the Judaism religion but some of them are atheist or agnostics. If
we talk about the whole Jews community, there are 22% of the Jewish people who are without
any religion and 78% of them represents the Judaism. It is said that the religion of the Jewish,
that is Judaism, is the cause for their unity among the people of their own religion.
Even though Jews consist of not more than 3% of the total population in the USA, they normally
have had an unreasonably greater image in American market, government, education and media.
Jewish Americans have been through many hindrances and had to fight against anti-Semitism in
the mid-20th century. Nevertheless, overall, Jews have had the pleasure of being more welcomed
by the US citizens than they have been by other nations and have adjusted conspicuously into the
American traditions and affairs. Jewish influence on financial markets is very high for example
the Roth Child Family has huge investments in Banks and banking sectors
Jewish consider Israel as their homeland because Israel is a country where they are in majority
and have all kinds of freedom to practice their religion. However many of the Jewish people feel
that United States is the divine land for them. In Israel the Jewish are almost about 4.2 million in
number where as in United States the number rise up to 5.8 million. Moreover United States and
America are taken as the majors for the Jewish people. As to talk about America, many of the
prominent personalities that have direct influence on the United States are Jewish. Despite that

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fact that Jews only represent less than three percent of the total population of America. This is
the reason that Jews are accepted in United States more than any other community.
The Jewish people have their roots back to the concept of Abraham. As in Islam and Christianity,
Jews also believe that they are the decedents Abraham. Jews believe that the Abrahams son
Isaac and his grandson Israel are the basic originating point of their religion with the concept of
One God.
If we talk about the Jewish grip over specifically America than it the history is not deep enough.
In late 1800s and in the starting of the 1900, many of the Jewish people started migrating to
settle in America. They started their own business by opening up their shops and found different
jobs in different organizations and started blending up with the Americans. The Jews who
migrated to America were from different cultures and different races. They all introduced their
culture in America and in the middle of the 1900s and in the blink of an eye Jews were living in
American community adopting the Americans life styles. Making their way up to the higher
authorities, Jews started occupying the major post of the political section of the country. They
started joining the political parties of the countries and after World War II, many of the Jewish
immigrants who were seeking refuge migrated to the America as they saw a better living over
there. As mentioned earlier, After Israel, United States became the homeland of the Jews and the
reason was the connections they had built up with the government officials. Another group of the
German Jewish migrated to the United States resulting in increasing the overall population ratio
of Jews in America.
The very first immigrants who visited the America and stayed there came in 1654. These Jews
were the Sephardic Jews who were 23 in number. They were not welcomed and they had to face
many problems form the government officials as they were not accepting these immigrants

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initially. But later the things kind of took a turn when the Amsterdam Jews imposed a pressure on
the Dutch East India Company to let the immigrant Jews stay there. In the end the government
officials had to agree with their terms and the immigrants were allowed to stay.
The above mentioned immigration was a very small group of people including men, women and
children. They gradually grew in number as the time passes. But the major immigration that was
responsible for digging Jews roots in America was the immigration of the German Jews. Due to
past small immigrations, the number of Jewish people in America was not more than 6000 up till
the 1826. But a huge number of the immigrants form the Germany started migrating to America
and from 1826 to 1850 the Jews population arose up to 50,000. This wave of migrations did not
stop after 1850. But in the next 10 years the number increased up to 150,000. Now the small
community of the Jews was turned into a comparatively larger community with a noticeable
representation in the overall population of the United States. Although this representation was
still small but it was not neglect-able anymore. The wave of the immigrants were not only for the
Germany but also from various European countries including Bavaria, Bohemia, Moravia and
Western Poland.
Due to the change in the political environment as well as the economics conditions of the country
the biggest migration was witnessed. One third of the Jews Population were transferred to the
America from the Eastern European. Russians were not in the favor of this migration where
Russian Tsar Alexander II passed an anti-Jewish statement.
After this migration and the passing of the anti-Jewish statement an intense fight broke out where
the Jewish people were specifically targeted and killed. Entire Jewish villages were wiped out
form the face of the earth. Jewish were brought down economically as well. They were targeted
and tortured by their masters and the organizations made it difficult for them to survive. Things

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became really difficult for the Jews people to stay there. In such circumstances the Jews decided
to leave the Eastern Europe and migrate to America as they could see a better future for their
families in America.
The Annual ratio for the immigrants of the Jews to America was continuously increasing every
year. Later in 1924 Immigration Restriction the government claimed a law and restricted the
entry of the Jews immigrants. In the days of the World War II, America did not showed any
mercy and where determined to follow the immigrant law even if the German Jews were asking
them to save lives and let them stay in their country.
After the War World II things became though for the Jews to seek their way into the America.
The first and second wave of the immigrants were now middle class workers as well as they have
aged in the third immigration wave. The third wave was facing the main issues because of the
immigration laws that were imposed on them. The last wave that migrated to America were
witnessed in 1980s. This was perhaps the last wave of the immigrants in bulk which belonged to
the Soviet Jews. They were driven out from their Area and had no choice then to move to
America or Israel. While the Soviet Jews migration situation, the reports have written that almost
40,000 Soviet Jews were migrating every year to America.
Later on in America when they had passed a law for the immigrants of the Jews and the law that
said they could have only 2 children, limited the growth of the Jews population in America. The
total of Jewish Americans is less than 3 percent in United States. After settling in America the
Jews People from Russia, Germany, and Soviet etc. introduced their culture to the American
People. They blended with the culture of the United States in such a way that the higher officials
all the American departs were having Jews People working with them. This can also be
witnessed today. Jewish Americans are living up to the mark with rest of the races todays world.

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Bibliography
A Portrait of Jewish Americans. (2016). Pew Research Center's Religion & Public Life Project.
Retrieved 18 November 2016, from http://www.pewforum.org/2013/10/01/jewish-americanbeliefs-attitudes-culture-survey/
Jewish Americans - History, European life, Immigration waves, Settlement patterns,
Acculturation and Assimilation. (2016). Everyculture.com. Retrieved 18 November 2016, from
http://www.everyculture.com/multi/Ha-La/Jewish-Americans.html
How did American Jews get so rich?. (2016). Ynetnews. Retrieved 18 November 2016, from
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4099803,00.html