Jewish American Heritage Month Toolkit by ualbanymrc

In 1654, the first Jewish people migrated to New Amsterdam (now New York) from Brazil. They were Sephardi Jews, meaning their ancestry can be traced to Spain and Portugal., escaping religious persecution when the Portuguese seized control of Brazil from the Dutch.

For many decades following, daring Sephardi and Ashkenazi (meaning their ancestry can be traced to Central and Eastern Europe) traders settled in various American colonial ports such as New Amsterdam (New York), Newport, Philadelphia, Charleston, and Savannah. Sephardi dominance in the United States concluded in the early 19th century.

Despite this, Sephardi immigrants continued to arrive, first from Holland and the West Indies, then from the collapsing Ottoman Empire, and later from Arab countries, now referred to as Mizrahi (Eastern) Jews. Between 1880 and 1924, approximately 50,000 to 60,000 Eastern Sephardi Jews immigrated to the United States, many of whom spoke Ladino (Judeo-Spanish).

Between 1820 and 1880, an estimated 150,000 Jews emigrated to America, the overwhelming majority young German-speaking Central European Jews from Bavaria, Western Prussia, Posen and Alsace seeking refuge from religious persecution.

The unification of Germany in 1871 reduced German-Jewish immigration to the United States, while simultaneously sparking an increase in East European Jewish immigration to America's shores. Between 1880 and 1924, well over two million Jews from Russia, AustriaHungary and Romania fleeing violent pogroms settled in the United States, speaking mostly Yiddish.

For humanitarian reasons, approximately 200,000 European Jewish refugees were granted entry in the late 1930s and 1940s, with some arriving just before World War II and others shortly after. In the decades following the Immigration Act of 1965, more waves of Jewish immigrants settled in America.

The largest group, numbering at least 500,000, were Jews from the former Soviet Union who emigrated after the fall of Communism Additionally, 60,000 to 80,000 Persian Jews fled Iran following the 1979 Iranian Revolution. Thousands of Jews from Latin America also immigrated to the United States due to revolution, unrest, persecution, and economic instability. During South Africa’s apartheid era and its aftermath, as many as 12,000 Jews moved to the United States

Today, there are an estimated 10 million Jewish people in the United States, with varying backgrounds, cultures and ethnicities.

jewish people are not a monolith

Just like there are different categories of Christianity, there are many different denominations of Judaism. The denominations primarily differ in their philosophical approaches to Jewish tradition and their adherence to and interpretation of traditional Jewish law, known as halacha:

Reform Judaism - emphasizes the Jewish ethical tradition over Jewish law

Conservative Judaism - sees Jewish law as obligatory, and often seen as the midpoint between Reform and Orthodox Judaism

Reconstructionist Judaism - views Judaism as the continuously evolving civilization of the Jewish people

Orthodox Judaism - defined by commitment to traditional understanding of Jewish law. The subdivisions within Orthodox Judaism are:

Modern Orthodox

Haredi (Ultra) Orthodox

Hasidic

Yeshivish

Open Orthodox

the jewish calendar and holidays

The Jewish calendar incorporates both solar and lunar elements, comprising 12 months that are either 29 or 30 days long. The Jewish year (5784, 5785, etc.) starts on Rosh Hashanah. Below are the major holidays, but there are many more to explore:

Rosh Hashanah - the beginning of the Jewish New Year

Yom Kippur - the Jewish day dedicated to communal and personal atonement for sins committed over the past year.

Sukkot - meaning the "Festival of Tabernacles" and the "Feast of Booths, " this is one of Judaism's three major pilgrimage festivals

Shemini Atzeret/Simchat Torah - these mark the conclusion of Sukkot and mean “Eighth Day of Assembly” and “Rejoicing in Torah” respectively

Hanukkah - the Festival of Lights

Tu Bishvat - the birthday of all fruit trees

Purim - a joyous retelling of the story of the near-destruction of the Jewish people in Biblical times

Passover - commemorates the Israelite’s transition from slavery to freedom during the Exodus from Egypt

Yom Hashoah - Holocaust Remembrance Day

You can find a current Jewish calendar with all of the holidays here.

what is antisemitism?

The term "antisemitism" was introduced in 1879 by Wilhelm Marr, a German agitator, to describe the anti-Jewish movements occurring in central Europe at that time. Nazi antisemitism, which led to the Holocaust, had a racial aspect, targeting Jews based on perceived biological traits, even those who had converted to other religions or whose parents were converts. This form of antiJewish racism emerged with the rise of "scientific racism" in the 19th century and differs from earlier forms of anti-Jewish prejudice. Antisemitism refers to the discrimination or hostility against Jews as a religious or racial group.

museums to visit remembering the holocaust (Sho’ah)

The Holocaust (1933 - 1945) was the systematic, state-sponsored extermination of six million Jewish men, women, and children, along with millions of others, by Nazi Germany and its collaborators during World War II. The Germans referred to this atrocity as "the final solution to the Jewish question. " To specify the particular effect these years had on the Jewish people, the term “Sho’ah” is often used. Learn more about the timeline of events here.

Skirball Cultural Center

The Tenement Museum

The Jewish Museum

The Jewish Museum of Maryland Museum of the Southern Jewish Experience

Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History

Yad Vashem - The World Holocaust Remembrance Center

Jewish children being deported from the Łódź ghetto, Poland, to the Chelmno death camp. Courtesy of Jacob Igra/United States Holocaust Memorial Museum; www.ushmm.org

Jewish diaspora: BLACK AND JEWISH

Black Jews have been part of the history of the United States and Canada since the 17th century. As noted in W.E.B. Du Bois' A Chronicle of Race Relations, the first Jewish resident of New England was Sollomon, a Black Jew who arrived in 1668. Below are some prominent Black Jews:

Michael Twitty

Eric Andre

Tiffany Haddish

Rashida Jones

Sammy Davis, Jr.

Read more about Black and Jewish people here

(Getty Images/Wikimedia Commons)

harvey milk: lgbtq jewish hero

There are many people who are LGBTQ and Jewish today and throughout history who have made lasting impacts on the United States.

Harvey Milk, a dedicated activist for marginalized communities, emerged as a prominent leader in the gay rights movement during the 1970s. Born in Woodmere, New York, to Lithuanian Jewish immigrants, Milk made history in 1978 by becoming the first openly gay man elected to a major public office in the United States. Tragically, he was assassinated later that same year

To find more Jewish LGBTQ heroes, click here.

Tiffany Haddish, Nissim Black, Rabbi Sandra Lawson and Michael Twitty.

Harvey Milk educational poster

stan lee: jewish american comic book writer

The former president and chairman of Marvel Comics, Lee is known as the creator of the Marvel Universe. With artist Jack Kirby, he created the Hulk, Iron Man, the X-Men, and Captain America.

Together with Steve Ditko, he co-created Doctor Strange and Marvel's most successful superhero, Spider-Man. Lee earned numerous accolades for his contributions, including the National Medal of Arts, which he received on November 17, 2008. In 2010, he established The Stan Lee Foundation to promote literacy and diversity, continuing his legacy until his passing on November 12, 2018.

Ezra jack keats: children

’s book author

Ezra Jack Keats, born Jacob Ezra Katz to Polish Jewish immigrants in Brooklyn, NY, was a prominent figure in American children's literature. He introduced the character Peter, an African American child, in his groundbreaking book The Snowy Day, which the Library of Congress credits with changing the country. This book earned Keats the Caldecott Medal in 1963 for its remarkable illustrations and inclusive storytelling.

Over his career, Keats illustrated and wrote more than 20 cherished children's books. Drawing from his own childhood, he created multiracial characters with loving parents, friends, and pets, ensuring no child felt like an outsider. His pioneering depictions of African American and underrepresented communities paved the way for generations of multicultural children's literature.