American Jews
US Jews rally for more support in combating antisemitism
By Yonat Shimron — May 27, 2021
(RNS) — The Anti-Defamation League reported a 75% increase in antisemitic attacks in the U.S. in the wake of the clashes in Israel and Gaza. American Jews want their elected representatives to take more action.
Can American Muslims and Jews help bring peace to Israelis and Palestinians?
By Arthur Waskow and Daisy Khan — May 26, 2021
(RNS) — A joint Muslim-Jewish call for peace has been backed by more than 600 faith leaders.
Marriage trends, political views undermining the notion of a unified American Jewish identity
By Jonathan D. Sarna — May 25, 2021
(The Conversation) — The American Jewish community is changing as it becomes increasingly diverse and politically polarized.
Why the first in-person gathering for many US Jews may not be so celebratory
By Yonat Shimron — May 14, 2021
(RNS) — Debates over the crisis in Israel may not be the most desirable way to start in-person gatherings. But it will be a hard topic to avoid.
Study: Young Jews are moving to polar ends — secularism and Orthodoxy
By Yonat Shimron — May 11, 2021
(RNS) — By contrast, the number of Jews identifying as Reform and Conservative — the two largest branches of Jewish denominational life — has remained flat.
Abraham Joshua Heschel was a spiritual radical. A new documentary shows he’s more timely than ever
By Yonat Shimron — May 3, 2021
(RNS) — A Polish-born Jew from a long line of Hasidic rabbis, he immigrated to America in 1940 and quickly rose to become a leading public intellectual — a civil rights crusader, a champion of interfaith dialogue and an opponent of the Vietnam War.
Poll: American Jews report increasing incidents of anti-Semitism, mostly online
By Yonat Shimron — March 31, 2021
(RNS) — More than 60% of American Jews said they experienced or heard anti-Semitic comments, slurs or threats, up from 54% a year earlier.
He claimed white Jews gained from white supremacy. Now he’s more popular than ever.
By Yonat Shimron — March 12, 2021
(RNS) — Historian Marc Dollinger is on a quest to analyze Jewish complicity in racism.
It’s the happiest of Jewish holidays. But this Purim, many are feeling sad.
By Yonat Shimron — February 23, 2021
(RNS) — This year as they mark Purim, a one-day holiday that begins Thursday evening (Feb. 25), American Jews are viewing the raucous, rollicking feast with a touch of grief.
American Jews are taking a hard look at racism in their midst
By Yonat Shimron — February 12, 2021
(RNS) — The challenge for white American Jews is to understand that they can be both targets of white supremacy and also accomplices.
This year, American Jews are taking Hanukkah outside
By Yonat Shimron — December 9, 2020
(RNS) — Many American Jews have previously shied from overtly public menorah displays out of a sense of vulnerability, if not an outright fear of persecution. Not this year.
Exit polls show few changes in the religious vote
By Yonat Shimron — November 5, 2020
(RNS) — Support for President Donald Trump among white evangelicals remained constant. Catholics split their vote. And non-Christians voted overwhelmingly for Joe Biden.
Two years after Pittsburgh shooting, solemn anniversary marked online
By Yonat Shimron — October 27, 2020
(RNS) — Public commemorations of the 2018 shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue, which killed 11 Pittsburgh Jews, will be livestreamed.
Jewish voters edge further away from Trump
By Mark Silk — October 22, 2020
(RNS) — Republican politicians — Trump above all — have failed to grasp that Israel policy has never had much impact on the voting behavior of American Jews.
In battleground states, American Jews prefer Biden over Trump by a wide margin
By Yonat Shimron — October 21, 2020
(RNS) — A pair of surveys of likely Jewish voters in Florida and Pennsylvania shows that former Vice President Joe Biden has a massive lead over Donald Trump.
