Articles

A new social order is evolving within the American Jewish eco-system. The older framework of a fixed set of cultural norms and social queues is being challenged by a new regime of communal practice. Elsewhere, I have written about “legacy” and “boutique” organizations, describing many of the characteristics of these distinctive types of institutions. But unlike that “divide,” this conversation centers today on asking the following question: How effectively are organizations engaging with their supporters, members and clients? Indeed, certain legacy and boutique groups score very high when employing these new measures of personal impact, while others from both categories are seen as deficient in connection with this emerging model.

“Being Jewish in Los Angeles” reflects a constantly changing landscape of choices, experiences, and encounters as the institutions of the community are consistently reframing their messages and orchestrating new modes of communal participation.

Often I am asked about the distinguishing features of the Los Angeles Jewish community. I have written several articles and monographs, a number of them have appeared on this site. Yet, this is the first occasion to examine many of these themes in a more comprehensive format.

The civil unrest in Los Angeles 25 years ago, sparked by the beating of Rodney King, represented a landmark moment not only for the city as a whole but also for the Jewish community. The riots that followed reshaped the city’s political discourse, shifting the traditional focus from a Black-white (Jewish) conversation to multiracial and culturally diverse discussions. The Jewish community was centrally involved in these conversations and the actions that would follow.

Influenced by the ideas of American progressivism and reflective of historic Jewish political practice, the discipline of community relations was established around the following principle:

To protect the welfare and safety of Jews residing in the United States and elsewhere; and to advance those causes that contributes to the general enrichment and well being of American society.

The “field” of Jewish community relations established a set of best practices focusing on the collective interests of the society and specific Jewish concerns. The goals, outlined below, defined a segment of the public policy agenda:

What will be the likely impact on the Jewish community of the proposed 2018 Federal Budget, officially known as the “America First: A Budget Blueprint To Make America Great Again“?

Budgets, we are told, reflect the values and priorities of its architects. The America First Budget reflects a fundamental reconstruction of this nation’s economic, cultural and political priorities. What are the implications of these financial proposals for America’s Jews, our communal institutions, and the broader American social order?

You are here: Home / The American Jewish Scene / The Millennial Revolution: Career, Community and Culture | Introducing the New American Jew
The Millennial Revolution: Career, Community and Culture | Introducing the New American Jew
April 4, 2017 By eJP

By Steven Windmueller, Ph.D.

Fourth and fifth generation Jews are making critically different career and occupational choices, just as they are articulating distinctive views on community and social activism. If their grandparent’s generation (1957) were comprised of self-employed businessmen (55.6%) and managers (14.9%), their fathers and mothers (1970) pursued careers as professionals (27.2%), including lawyers, doctors, accountants and university professors, in addition to expanding their roles as corporate managers (26.5%), Jewish Gen X’ers and Millennials are exhibiting a dramatic transition in career preferences.

As extremists on the political right seek to discredit American Jews, the BDS Movement and its allies on the left are committed to undermining Israel. For the first time in American history, Jews are contending with actual threats from both political extremes.

There is a new wave of anti-Semitism in America driven by a number of factors as referenced in an earlier piece (February 28, 2017) found on this site.

Beyond the headlines in the media over bomb threats, cemetery desecrations, and acts of individual harassment, all directed against Jewish Americans and their institutions, the latest report issued by the Southern Poverty Law Center spells out an even more disturbing picture of “Hate and Extremism: The Radical Right Enters the Mainstream” (Intelligence Report: Spring 2017, Issue 162).

Purim is one of Judaism’s festive observances that has occupied a more marginal position within the Jewish calendar. Along with Chanukah it represents a celebratory moment, absent any reference to God. The rabbis noted that there would be times in the experience of the Jewish people, when the community would need to act on its own in preserving Judaism. This concept of self-reliance has become a central theme in connection with modern Jewish history, as our people would sadly learn that there would be times when we would stand-alone against some of history’s most brutal tyrants. In those moments Jews would experience the silence of the “good people” who would fail to act on behalf of our collective welfare.

One finds today two competing political images reflecting different images of America. The 19th century contest between Thomas Jefferson’s universal prescription for America and that of Andrew Jackson’s populism, with its focus on making America “great again” is being recreated in the 21st century. As deeply ideological and partisan, Jews are being drawn to one of these two definitions of America.

Donald Trump’s rise to political prominence is most certainly tied to the populism exhibited in Andrew Jackson’s vision for America, as it can be found in the political campaigns of William Jennings Bryan (1896) and Teddy Roosevelt (1912).

The most recent wave of anti-Semitic actions, involving at the time of this writing, two Jewish cemeteries (St. Louis and Philadelphia) and 89 bomb threats, have been directed against 72 Jewish institutions in 30 states since January 1st. These numbers have given rise to new and alarming concerns about hate crimes in this nation directed against Jewish Americans.[1] “In New York City, 28 anti-Semitic hate crimes were reported by the NYPD Hate Crime Task Force between January 1 and February 12, 2017 – more than double the number reported over the same period last year.”[2]