Jewish American

From open-encyclopedia.com - the free encyclopedia.

A Jewish American is an American (a citizen of the United States) of Jewish descent. The United States contains the world's largest Jewish diaspora. Most Jewish Americans are of Ashkenazi descent.

History

See main articles: Jewish history in Colonial America, Jewish history in the United States (pre-20th century)

As a result of persecution in parts of Eastern Europe, Jewish American immigration increased dramatically in the 1880s.

Culture

Several staples of Jewish cuisine have been adopted into mainstream American culture; bagels, lox (smoked salmon) and matzoh ball soup are examples.

Yiddish, a Germanic language spoken by several million European Jews, has donated several loan words to American English.

Related articles

• Jewish history in the United States (pre-20th century)
  • Jewish history in Colonial America
  • Relationship of American Jews to the U.S. Federal Government (pre-20th century)
  • History of Jewish education in the United States (pre-20th century)
• List of Jewish Americans