Ashkenazic and German Jews
Ashkenazic and German Jews represent significant groups within the Jewish community, particularly in the context of American history. Originating from Central and Eastern Europe, Ashkenazic Jews spoke Yiddish and often lived in distinct enclaves, while German Jews migrated due to various socio-economic pressures, especially in the 17th to 19th centuries. Many of these Jewish immigrants arrived in the United States, contributing to the formation of vibrant communities, especially in cities like New York and Charleston. By the mid-19th century, they had established themselves as a prominent demographic within the Jewish population, making up over 90% by the time of the Civil War.
Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, they influenced American culture, economy, and politics, with notable figures emerging in finance, media, and academia. Despite their achievements, tensions arose regarding cultural assimilation and community identity, often leading to external perceptions of exclusivity and elitism. As their numbers grew, so did their impact across various sectors, establishing a legacy of resilience and success that continues to shape the Jewish American experience today. However, this also sparked debates on the balance between maintaining Jewish heritage and integrating into broader American society.
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Ashkenazic and German Jews
In the second half of the seventeenth century, German and Ashkenazic Jews from the central and eastern European countries of Germany (Holy Roman Empire), Poland, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire came to the United States by a variety of routes. Ashkenazic Jews are Jewish people from Eastern Europe who spoke Yiddish and lived in separate enclaves, or ghettos, mainly in modern-day Russia and the Baltic countries outside Germany. Some came to America after the Dutch lost control of Brazil in 1654, and others came directly to New Amsterdam (present-day New York) before it was conquered by Britain’s Duke of York. The city was the first to allow Jewish people to build a house of worship and purchase land for a cemetery. Although individual Jewish indviduals and families can be found in the early colonial records of all of the thirteen original American colonies, Charleston, South Carolina, was home to the largest Jewish community during the American colonial era. Jewish people from the Mediterranean were predominant, although all of the colonial American Jewish congregations had large percentages of Ashkenazic and German Jews who came to the British North American colonies with the aid of London and Caribbean merchants.
After the American Revolution, immigration increased slowly, and by the 1830 U.S. census, the Jewish population had reached nearly 3,000 people, predominantly comprised of Ashkenazic and German Jews. The European Enlightenment, the passage of laws preventing Jewish people from entering professions and leaving their ghettos, and new taxes, combined with the unsuccessful revolution in Poland and throughout central and eastern Europe in 1836, brought a dramatic increase in emigration by German-speaking Jewish people throughout the 1840s and 1850s. By the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861, there were 150,000 Jewish Americans, more than 90 percent of whom were Ashkenazic and German Jews.
During this era, large numbers of trained rabbis came to the United States, and denominational divisions followed. In 1834, German Jews seeking to anglicize the liturgical service founded Charleston’s Society of Reformed Israelites. Isaac Leeser, the promoter of the Jewish Sunday School movement, anticipated the Conservative Jewish movement that emerged later in the century. This era also saw the publication of several Jewish periodicals, including one by Rabbi Isaac Meyer Wise, which became a springboard for the creation of the first Jewish seminary and the establishment of the reformed Union of American Hebrew Congregations.
From the middle to the end of of the nineteenth century, the influence of German Jews in business and in Jewish social, cultural, and religious life reached its apex. The German Jewish community began to seek recognition of its expanding economic success, creating a separation between the German Jews and the later-arriving Ashkenazic Jews from Russia, which led to more sectarian and social divisions within the Jewish religious and secular communities.
As new immigration expanded the number of American Jewish immigrants beyond the four million mark, American “popularism” and the reemergence of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) during World War I led to the passage of a series of immigration acts, the last of which (Immigration Act of 1924) changed the base year for computing national immigration quotas from 1920 to 1890 and had the greatest impact on Jewish immigration. The decrease in new immigration meant that the German and Ashkenazic Jewish groups would continue to be the dominant group in the Jewish American population. Jewish Americans numbered nearly six million during World War II, and in the second half of the twentieth century, their numbers did not increase.
In the 1900s, German and Ashkenazi Jews gained influence within American society resulting in an impact that outweighed their population size. By the mid-twentieth century, despite comprising less than 3 percent of the total U.S. population, Jewish Americans significantly influenced several critical sectors of American life.
In the corporate world, Jewish entrepreneurs and executives became renowned figures on Wall Street, in retail, and other emerging industries. Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers, and Kuhn, Loeb & Co became synonymous with financial power. In media and entertainment, Jewish-owned companies like the Columbia Broadcast System (CBS), founded by William S. Paley, and Paramount Pictures, founded by Adolph Zukor, shaped American popular culture.
The political sphere also saw an increasing number of Jewish Americans in influential positions. By the late twentieth century, at least ten Jewish members consistently held Sentate seats, far exceeding their proportion of the general American population. Jewish scholars and administrators are well established in leading universities such as Brandies University, University of Pennsylvania, Rutgers State University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and New York Medical College, among others.
The Jewish community's impressive achievements demonstrate its resilience and prosperity and bolster pride among its members. However, some of these advancements in modern times also spark debate on their influence on society and about the balance of maintaining their Jewish heritage while embracing assimilation into American society. This dichotomy was a significant debate among Ashkenazic and German Jews as they learned to embrace their dual identities.
Despite facing many obstacles and challenges along the way to achieving success, some tensions arose. Due to the dense concentration of Jewish Americans in many sectors of cities, such as New York, this would sometimes lead to clashes with other ethnic and social groups. Other groups often saw tight-knit Jewish communities as "clannish" in nature, and claim that they only associate and do business with “their own kind,” or keep non-Jewish people from having a fair chance. This accusation perpetutuated the idea that Jewish people are "elitists" and fueled antisemetic feelings in some locations where strong Jewish communities were present. However the undeniable influence Jewish immigrants and Jewish Americans have had on many aspects of American society, including science, healthcare, law, and social justice movements underscored their significant contributions to America's evolution from the colonial era to present day.
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