A. Country of Origin – American Jews have come from a variety of countries in the Jewish Diaspora.
- The earliest Jews arrived with colonists from Europe.
- A stream of Jews migrated during the later half of the nineteenth century from European ghettos.
- A group of Jews came from Russia during the years following 1880.
- Between 1933 and 1939, 157,000 Jews fled from Germany to escape Hitler.
- During the 1960s, 73,000 Jews fled Fidel Castro's Cuba and the Arab Near East. After the fall of Communist ideology in the Soviet block, many Russian and other Eastern European Jews immigrated to North America.
B. Language(s) – While most of them speak either English or Spanish, other distinctive Jewish dialects are still used. Yiddish, a German dialect with Hebrew elements, is the lingua franca of those with a European heritage, while those of Spanish descent often use Ladino, a blend of Spanish and Hebrew. Hebrew is the religious language of prayer for Orthodox Jews.
C. Religious Background – The religious community is divided into four parts.
- Orthodox Judaism – The majority of these Jews came from the European ghettos, bringing a rather strict, legalistic outlook. When they arrived in America, they quickly adopted a life-style that did not include the ghetto or the old religious leaders.
- Reform Synagogue – Most of these Jews discarded ghetto Judaism and the Yiddish language as they reformed their lifestyle and joined the Reform Synagogue.
- Conservative Judaism – A reaction to the radical reforms of the latter movement gave rise to a middle-of-the-road position called Conservative Judaism. In Conservatism, there was a move to restore Jewishness without the legalism of the Orthodox. The three sects have about equal numbers of adherents, for each includes 18 percent of the populace.
- Unaffiliated Jews – The fourth and largest group of American Jews is the 2.7 million unaffiliated Jews. Many of these are business and professional persons. They still affirm they are Jews and have no inclination to lose their Jewishness, even though a third of their youth marry Gentiles. Most Jews affirm an ethical monotheism that may or may not have any specific boundaries or permanently fixed views. Finally, the centralization of power in the Jewish community has gravitated away from the synagogue and the rabbi to the community federation and its president. Evangelization of the Jew will need to take into consideration this unique power structure and the concurrent loss of power of the rabbi and the synagogue. Surveys indicate that only nine percent of Jews attend synagogue regularly each week.
D. Southern Baptist Work – There is a growing number of churches that minister to the Jewish population--churches that house the Messianic congregations, churches that sponsor new church planting ministries in the Jewish communities, and churches that evangelize the Jewish communities. There are also a number of new churches planted every year.
E. Past Immigration Patterns – The Marranos were Jews who were forced to convert to Christianity and then encouraged to migrate to Brazil to establish business enterprises. It was feared that the Marranos were really Jews at heart; therefore, the Inquisitor sought to force them to comply with Christianity. The Marranos began fleeing to Holland for asylum when they were blown off course and landed in the American colonies, where they were not warmly welcomed.
Others were from the European ghettos established four centuries earlier. They were welcomed as entrepreneurs (banking and retailing), helping transform America into an industrial nation.
Thirty-five thousand per year came from the Pale in Russian-occupied Poland until 3,000,000 poverty-stricken and almost illiterate Jews arrived. They were a complete contrast to the German Jews, who had already become Americanized.
Russian Jews became a real force in helping organize the American labor movement.
Jews fled from Germany to escape Hitler. That migration depleted a large section of Germany's intellectual elite, thus transferring "the world's intellectual leadership from Europe to America." In the next decade, 200,000 others fled a devastated Europe.
Since 1970 and the Helsinki Accords, 10,000 Russian Jewish immigrants enter annually. This number represents 50 percent of those who flee from the tyranny of Russia, which has 3.1 million Jews (the third largest Jewish population in the world, after North America (6.4 million) and Asia (4.3 million)).
A. Population – According to the US Census Bureau 1999 estimation, there is a 6,061,000 Jewish population in the United States. In Canada, the 1991 census lists 356,315 Jews. Thus, the combined total of Jews in North America is 6,417,315.
B. Present Immigration Patterns – A number of Jews are arriving from the former Soviet Republics and other Eastern European countries.
C. Evangelism – Evangelistic work among Jews is primarily a one-on-one ministry. Whether the ministry takes the form of door-to-door visitation, home Bible studies, correspondence courses, or telephone ministry, it requires patience and understanding. Radio ministry is effective because it provides a private atmosphere for personal study. A radio program of classical music can be useful since Jewish people often enjoy the classics. Festive occasions are important to the Jews; therefore, missions have discovered that Jews may accept an invitation to a banquet in which a Jewish festival is being commemorated. Education is given a high priority in the Jewish lifestyle, which means that quality Christian literature should be produced with a Jewish mindset.
D. Church Planting – In the last few years, a number of ministries are emphasizing the need to establish new churches for the growing number of established Jews and newcomers from the former Soviet republics. The Southern Baptist Convention is leading all other denominations in new churches planted throughout North America.
E. Family Life
- Education – The American Jewish population has a remarkably high level of educational achievement. Education is given a high priority in the Jewish lifestyle. Statistics indicate that a higher percentage of Jewish college-aged youth are in college compared to the national average.
- Occupation – Most Jews are professionals in all sectors of the economy. They are overwhelmingly urban.
