Community in United States of America - World Jewish Congress

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antisemitism in United States of America

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In 1936, Rabbi Stephen S. Wise co-founded the World Jewish Congress (WJC), together with Nahum Goldmann and others. The World Jewish Congress, American Section, is the affiliate of the WJC in the United States, comprising key American Jewish national organizations and outstanding individuals. The American Section, in furthering the goals of the WJC, facilitates American Jewish input into the WJC’s global deliberations and encourages American Jewish efforts to fight antisemitism and racism, defend Jewish rights around the world, and advocate for Israel.

The WJC, American Section, meets regularly in New York and in Washington with American elected officials and dignitaries and with representatives of foreign governments. Activities of WJC, American Section advocacy include, among others, meetings with foreign ministers and heads of state during the UN General Assembly, meetings with members of the UN Secretariat and staff, ambassadors, American officials, outreach to interfaith leaders, and support for Israel and other Jewish communities in the public square.

Combating antisemitism is paramount—the American Section played a key role in the recent passage of the 2020 No Hate in Our State bill introduced by former Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York to strengthen support for the state police hate crimes task force. The American Section also garnered support for the Never Again Education Act, a bipartisan effort to significantly increase Holocaust education in the United States.
WJC Affiliate
World Jewish Congress, American Section

Executive Director, WJC North America: Betty Ehrenberg

Telephone. +1-212-894-4759
Email: betty.ehrenberg@wjc.org
Website: www.wjc.org

Social Media:

Facebook: World Jewish Congress
Instagram: @worldjewishcongress
X: @WorldJewishCong
YouTube: World Jewish Congress
Chair, WJC American Section & WJC Vice President: Rabbi Joel Meyers
History

At the time of the Declaration of Independence (1776), there were already 1,500 to 2,500 Jews in the British colonies that would become the United States, mostly descendants of Sephardic immigrants from Spain, Portugal, or their colonies.

In the wake of large immigration from Germany in the middle of the 19th century, the new arrivals bolstered the Jewish population from 6,000 in 1826 to 15,000 in 1840 and 280,000 in 1880. Then, most Jews were part of the educated and largely secular Ashkenazi community, although a minority population of the older Sephardic Jewish families remained prominent.

Beginning in 1881, a wave of immigration from the Russian Empire and other parts of Eastern Europe started, and by the turn of the century, the American Jewish population had surpassed one million. That immigration continued until the imposition, in 1924, of strict quotas designed to restrict the entry of new immigrants from eastern and southern Europe. Until that time, the United States absorbed about two-thirds of the total number of Jewish emigrants leaving eastern Europe. By 1918, America had become the country with the largest Jewish community in the world.

Most of these new arrivals were also Yiddish-speaking Ashkenazi Jews who came from the poor rural populations of the Russian Empire—what is today Poland, Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine, and Moldova. Over two million Jews arrived between the mid-1800s and 1924. Most settled in New York City and its immediate environs, establishing what became one of the world's major concentrations of the Jewish population.

Jewish immigrants dreamed of the United States as a Goldene Medina (Yiddish for "promised land"), but the reality was harsh. Most newcomers worked at manual labor in appalling conditions. The largest concentration was in New York's Lower East Side, which at one time was home to over 350,000 Jews crammed into a single square mile.

These newly arrived Jews built support networks consisting of many small synagogues and Ashkenazi Landsmannschaften ("fraternity"), associations of Jews coming from the same town or village in Europe. Jewish writers of the time urged assimilation and integration into the wider American culture, and Jews quickly became part of American life. Later, many Jews entered the free professions, and Jews distinguished themselves in commerce, industry, and science.

Jews have served and continue to serve prominently in all areas of American public life, including Congress, the U.S. Supreme Court and other courts, and federal and state government. 

Over the last decades, many Israelis immigrated to the United States, as have 150,000 Jews from the FSU, 30,000 Jews from Iran, and thousands of others from Latin America and South Africa, and other states and regions.

Years of the Holocaust

In the 1930s, only a small fraction of the Jewish refugees clamoring to escape the threat of Nazism were admitted. By 1940, the Jewish population had risen to 4,500,000, and that number increased after the war, when many Holocaust survivors arrived on American shores. Half a million American Jews (half of all Jewish men aged between 18 and 50) fought in the Holocaust.

Many Jews left the cities for the suburbs, which facilitated the formation of new Jewish centers. Jewish day school enrollment more than doubled between the end of World War II and the mid-1950s, while synagogue affiliation jumped from 20 percent in 1930 to 60 percent 30 years later. More recent waves of Jewish immigration from Russia and other regions have largely joined the mainstream American Jewish community. 

Demography

With between approximately 5,700,000 and 7,160,000 million Jews, the United States is home to what is considered the largest or second largest Jewish population in the world, depending on the sources cited and methods used. Hebrew University demographer Sergio Della Pergola has estimated the American Jewish community to number between 5,700,000 and 10,000,000 as of 2013. Criteria may take into account halakhic (legal) considerations or secular, cultural, political, and ancestral identification factors. With two million Jews, New York City has the largest Jewish population of any other municipality in the world.

Studies conducted in 2013 cited that nearly one in four U.S. Jewish adults said they attended Jewish religious services at a synagogue or other place of worship at least once a week or once or twice a month; roughly one-third of Jews say they attend religious services a few times a year; and four in ten say they seldom or never attend Jewish religious services. American Jews identify for the most part as Reform, Conservative, and Orthodox, with some identifying with a variety of smaller groups, such as the Reconstructionist and Renewal movements. Each stream has its own rabbinical and congregational bodies. About one-third of American Jews do not identify with any denomination. The percentage of U.S. Jews who say they have no religion (22%) is almost the same as non-Jews (20%).

Some smaller Jewish communities are known to preserve special customs and traditions. These include the Bukharan and Syrian Jews in Queens and Brooklyn, NY; Russian Jews in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, NY; and Iranian Jews in Los Angeles, CA, and Great Neck, NY. The United States, particularly Brooklyn, among other cities, is also the home of many Hasidic groups.

Community Life

As a group, American Jews have been very active in civil rights movements. In the 20th century, Jews were among the most active participants and supporters of the black civil rights movement, and in the latter half of the century, they were outspoken and extremely active on the issue of the right of Soviet Jews to freely emigrate from the Soviet Union.

Recent programs on the history and culture of the Jewish community in France were held by WJC North America in co-sponsorship with the Consulate General of France in New York, in solidarity with the Jewish community in France that witnessed a sharp rise in antisemitic attacks in recent years.

Other Jewish organizations, federations, community centers, and synagogues operate throughout the country, serving the community in a wide variety of ways, including social welfare services and Jewish educational activities, on a large swathe of Jewish concerns. Some Jewish organizations focus on specific issues or projects.

Jewish Education

According to the 2014 AviChai survey, there were about 255,000 students enrolled in Jewish day schools, which is a 12% increase since 2009 and a 37% increase since 1998. There are approximately 860 Jewish day schools in the US in all three major streams.

There are also a number of Jewish colleges and specialized institutes, as well as rabbinical seminaries and teacher-training institutions, representing every stream. Many non-sectarian and Christian universities also have programs of Jewish studies, and some of the most outstanding Jewish libraries in the world are in the United States.

Jewish Media

The American Jewish media is characterized by its great diversity. There are about 80 Jewish online and print weeklies and several dozen monthlies and quarterlies. Websites and social media outlets of Jewish organizations and publications are numerous, and in some large Jewish communities there are Jewish radio and television programs. 

Information for Visitors

Among the leading sites of Jewish interest is the US Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) in Washington, DC, the paramount center for public Holocaust education and supported mainly by the US government and private contributions. The USHMM features many outstanding exhibitions on a wide variety of aspects of Holocaust history and is visited by millions each year, including students and public servants. Other important museums include the Jewish Museum, the Museum of Jewish Heritage, and the Dr. Bernard Heller Museum at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, all in New York City; the National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia; and the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust, the Skirball Cultural Center, and the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles.

There are also many historic synagogues in the U.S. – first and foremost Touro Synagogue in Newport, RI, which is the oldest surviving synagogue building in North America and a fine example of American colonial architecture.

Relations with Israel

Support for Zionism began gaining traction within the Jewish community during the 1930s and 1940s, largely influenced by their strong backing of President Franklin Roosevelt's domestic and foreign policies. However, it remained a minority view until the founding of Israel in 1948, which brought the Middle East into sharp focus. The United States’ immediate recognition of Israel underscored both its intrinsic support and the growing influence of political Zionism.

A vigorous internal debate emerged after the Six-Day War in 1967, centering on the search for peace. By this time, the American Jewish community had shown strong support for Israel, though with diverse opinions on unfolding events—a dynamic that continues today.

The U.S.-Israel relationship has been uniquely strong, with strategic significance for Israel, particularly in preventing its total isolation during periods of political pressure and economic boycotts. Continuous support for pro-Israel legislation remains a priority at both local and federal levels, alongside efforts to counter the boycott, divestment, and sanctions movement, and other attempts to delegitimize Israel.

Since 1985, American aid to Israel has amounted to $3 billion annually, with $1.8 billion allocated for military assistance and $1.2 billion for the repayment of Israel's debts to Washington. The American Jewish community is a staunch supporter of U.S. foreign aid legislation, which benefits not only Israel but also other countries receiving American assistance.

In addition to its embassy in Washington, Israel maintains consulates general in New York, Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, and San Francisco, all of which have close ties with local Jewish community representatives.

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