A collaboration between advertiser Joseph Jacobs and the famous coffee company produced the classic U.S. haggadah. The book sets out the ceremony for the Seder meal.
Academic rigour, journalistic flair
Articles on American Jews
Displaying 1 - 20 of 24 articles
Judith Kaplan became the first American bat mitzvah in 1922. The Jewish coming-of-age ceremony has become more popular for girls ever since.
Figuring out whether to celebrate holidays, and how, is tricky for lots of interfaith families – but thoughtful communication makes a difference.
Every president since Jimmy Carter has recognized Hanukkah with a special menorah lighting ceremony.
The American Jewish community is changing as it becomes increasingly diverse and politically polarized.
In the 19th century, Purim became an occasion to hold fancy dress parties, the proceeds from which were given to charities. These parties helped American Jews gain a standing among the elite.
In choosing a Hebrew Bible belonging to a civil rights leader, Rabbi Jacob Rothschild, Sen. Jon Ossoff appeared to be sending out a message on the strong historic ties between Black people and Jews.
For much of American history, the only December holiday to be recognized in the White House was Christmas, but menorah lightings are now an annual tradition.
The US Constitution is supposed to protect freedom of religion. But in the 20th century, white Christian nationalists used this ideal to discriminate against Jews and justify their exclusion.
A task force has been assembled in the US Senate to fight anti-Semitism. A specialist in Jewish-American history says the group has a big job ahead of it. Anti-Semitism has a long history in the US.
President Trump has said American Jews loyal to Israel should support the Republican Party. A scholar explains the historical tensions embedded in the anti-Semitic trope.
An expert explains that many of the foundational Jewish texts assert that a fetus does not attain the status of personhood until birth.
A new survey of Canadian Jew suggests young adults are finding ways of remaining Jewish that are not principally religious.
Despite the primacy of Christmas in American culture, the visibility of Hanukkah in pop culture reminds Jews that they have their own holiday in which they can take pride.
Hanukkah is ranked one of Judaism’s minor festivals, but its popularity in the US has a lot to do with America’s Jews trying to fight assimilation into a culture that welcomed them.
American anti-Semitism took an organized form in the 20th century. The German American Bund and the Silver Legion developed a unique culture of hatred for Jews that persists today in alt-right groups.
The demographics of name change petitioners today – and the reasons that they give – tell a complicated story of race, class and culture.
A national survey of over 1,300 congregations found that religious leaders struggle to balance security concerns with carrying out a mission to be open to the communities they serve.
Israel’s increasingly conservative policies on social and religious issues appears to be playing a role.
With the Holocaust still on their mind, many American Jews were highly sensitive to portrayals of Jews in popular culture. So when Roth’s sex-obsessed characters came along, the pushback was swift.
Top contributors
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University Professor and Joseph H. & Belle R. Braun Professor of American Jewish History, Brandeis University
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Associate Professor, Michigan State University
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Research Associate, Brandeis University
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Associate Director, Impact Assessment and Learning, Brandeis University
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Director of the UCLA Y&S Nazarian Center for Israel Studies and The Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Foundation Chair in Israel Studies, University of California, Los Angeles
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Associate Professor of History, University of South Carolina
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Part-Time Associate Professor of Religion, Dickinson College
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Visiting Scholar, Adjunct assistant faculty, Indiana University
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Professor of Comparative and World Literature, Director, Program in Jewish Culture and Society, Director, Initiative in Holocaust, Genocide, Memory Studies, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
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Assistant Professor of Sociology, West Virginia University
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Professor of Sociology and Criminology, Penn State
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Assistant Professor of Media, Communications and Journalism, California State University, Fresno
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Professor of Religion, Rowan University
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SD Clark Professor of Sociology, University of Toronto
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Professor of Sociology, President and Vice-Chancellor, York University, Canada
