Integration and Separation in American Jewish Politics

Abstract Jewish politics in the United States has fluctuated between impulses toward separation and integration, but has rarely existed solely at one extreme or the other. American Jews created an American Jewish politics by advocating for particularly Jewish issues and bending American politics toward cultural pluralism. They created political institutions intended to represent Jews to the United States and the world, and Jewish socialist institutions meant to bring about a better life for Jews and the entire working class. The emergence of American Zionism served as both a vehicle for demonstrating integration (through ethnic pride) and as a form of long-distance nationalism. Finally, the politics of the ultra-Orthodox perhaps best demonstrates how Jews have integrated into the American body politic, even when the goal is Jewish social and religious autonomy.