American Jews in the Early 21st Century (I SURVIVED JEWISH HISTORY pt. XII)

The final installment of the I SURVIVED JEWISH HISTORY series looks at the demographic trends of American Jews at the beginning of this century.
Interested in studying more deeply? Join our learning community of students, researchers and colleagues: / @henryabramsonphd

[@rickt4293]

I've truly enjoyed Dr. Abramson's series on Jewish history. Your lectures have been enlightening and further strengthened my love for the Jewish people and Israel. Shalom.

[@HenryAbramsonPhD]

I'm so glad that you've found the lectures personally meaningful!

[@claudiameyer6254]

Than you so much for all your lectures Dr. Abramson! I have watched many of them and love your knowledge and sense of humor. I appreciate how you deliver your lectures with so much grace, humbleness and kindness. I’m a big fan!

[@HenryAbramsonPhD]

Glad you like them!

[@Didisayhi]

Wow thanks for your work you put in to these videos!!! Love it!!!

[@mariaasombrada3964]

Thank you very much for the entire series, fascinating as always. 👑👑👑

[@HenryAbramsonPhD]

Glad you like them!

[@Peter-the-Egyptian]

Watch “Jews of Ukraine” video “concise & precise”. What is happening now is Deja vu of what happened to many Jews in a position of power in the Arabic and Muslim countries who worked hard to advance their diaspora countries in the 1950s and 1960s and they were opposed for no reason. Our parents told us and we are not Jewish !

[@O2baYid]

I have enjoyed this series very much, Thank you Dr. Abramson

[@HenryAbramsonPhD]

You are very welcome

[@gentilenation1117]

Mr. Henry Son of Abram, thank you for the 1-12 lectures on Survived Jewish History, Beautifully put. ❤

[@historicalminds6812]

Definitely not what I expected, but very enjoyable thank you for sharing

[@dennisanthony5826]

Extremely enjoyable lectures , thank you ! Dennis Anthony from the UK

[@lamarmartin5532]

I have binged watched your 12 series lectures and I love them what a deep insight into Jewish history I'm a born-again Christian but have a deep interest in the mother religion of the views have been to the holy Land Israel one time and I'm just fascinated with the history and the people that God chose to be his own and the miraculous way that he has kept them on this Earth Shalom and God bless 🤗

[@HenryAbramsonPhD]

Glad you found the series useful!

[@lindseyadams2841]

I can't thank you enough Dr. Abramson 😊

[@joegarry8983]

I, having more than having a passing interest in Jewish affairs and the Jewish religion, if I am correct in using that term, find all of your lectures easy to follow, most informative and interesting. I am an avid follower and huge fan of Rabbis Tovia Singer and Michael Skobac. Was baptised as an infant into the Catholic Church here in Ireland as countless generations of my families were , as a matter of form and without any question, since I suppose near enough the time of Patrick. I left that Church more than forty years ago when suddenly I began to understand its Pagan fraudulent origins and its total insane representation of Jewish Torah and history, Very similar picture with all so called Christian Churches it spawned. So where does all that leave me personally one might well ask, well rather like an island on an island surrounded by rather hostile co inhabitants with what they refer to as the Old Testament as my guide wondering why the heck some of the Jewish. race would want to reject the very core of their culture and heritage

[@besomthingreallager3378]

Thank you very much mr. Abramowitz for getting my attention thank you one of the best lectures

[@HenryAbramsonPhD]

You are very welcome

[@benavraham4397]

This is absolutely amazing, especial the story of the WP cadet at Or Sameach. (I was at OS in 1982).

[@HenryAbramsonPhD]

Thanks!

[@annalink4351]

Engaging lectures. Thank you,

[@HenryAbramsonPhD]

Glad you like them!

[@alanbellamy5103]

Thank you. Excellent. Very good speaking style. Presenting often very difficult information in a human but not overly emotional way. Obviously very educated but still able to connect with me. I’m not highly educated but I can easily follow the information presented. Dr Abramson doesn’t talk down to his audience. These videos are such a service. I hope more non Jews take advantage of these high quality videos. The world would be a better place.

[@HenryAbramsonPhD]

Thanks for the kind words!

[@ferdinanddaratenas3447]

Great lecture, as usual. Maybe you should have done 13 lectures to include Jewish history in the first part of the 20th century.

[@jonnysouthjersey]

The PEW survey is fatally flawed, but I wanted to let you know how much I have enjoyed this series. Thank You

[@HenryAbramsonPhD]

Glad to hear that!

[@PC-lu3zf]

Very True my Orthodox Cousins have 8 kids me and my wife not Orthodox anymore have 2. But we are happy I was raised in Modern Orthodox but cannot live by all its rules anymore. Great video. Its mostly ultra orthodox that have lots of Children good luck to them. My wife was raised Conservative but her ancestors were Hasidic once.

[@johnbecay6887]

thank you

[@HenryAbramsonPhD]

Welcome

[@michaelferto6588]

...Sometimes life is easy, and sometimes hard....As long as one adjust and improves, one can continue to do pretty well.....I spent a little time in your yeshiva, and a little time in the brother's yeshiva, of your yashiva...That was about 1995....I had to go home though, because the neighborhood my family lived in, wasn't good, and got way worse over the years....So I been struggling here since 1969, and I keep growing in many ways....Yet its difficult, so I have to be very careful.....Maybe the wars, plagues, and poverty at times destroys nations and/or individuals; yet those who are or learn in time to be careful, have a chance to live on....Maybe that's why Jews continue..... Our culture trains us to be careful, because we choose life as the goal.....

[@mikedem755]

Nice thoughtful lecture. I think you implicate that non affiliated Jews are a bad trend. But without non affiliated Jews that were completely secular we never would have had a modern state of Israel. So I agree with you the future is impossible to predict. Keep up the good work!

[@HenryAbramsonPhD]

Completely secular and unaffiliated are two different things.

[@CloveCoast]

Stack Exchange, among offering help on just about anything, has a great Judaism forum I found.

[@HenryAbramsonPhD]

Not familiar with it

[@shariklein5883]

Glad you like them? OF COURSE! (Claudia Pass said it best). (This is David on Shari's computer.)

[@jessereichbach588]

I don't think the genetic issue associated with the phenomenon described in the video could be emphasized enough. What we are basically looking at, at least in terms of the American Orthodox community, that "core", is ANOTHER genetic bottle neck, of a population that already shows heavy homozygosity. 90% of the rest of the gene pool, are theoretically on the periphery with minimal genetic influence, or are completely out of the picture/gene pool. And the loss of THAT much genetic diversity and future diversity can become an even more serious issue. Especially to a population that was already relatively limited in its genetic diversity when it was a broader gene pool. At least, long term, it would be extremely beneficial if not only a larger subsection of the non-Orthodox "Ashkenazi American" community re-inserted their genome back into the gene pool, but as well as ensuring possibly Sephardi or Mizrahi partners (husbands or wives). This would ensure enrichment of the overall gene pool and reduce homozygosity. And this is not something important just in terms of genetic diseases, and plausible problems, but would contribute other internal/external traits, along with all the plausible aspects that we do not currently understand scientifically. I don't know if this issue is the same in Israel. As I imagine there, the overall Israeli or "Jewish" gene pool is more diverse than in the US. Especially within the Orthodox community. But I can't say for sure. However, just in terms of the US, steps should be taken to ensure that growing "core" doesn't become too homozygous.

[@cuidatrava1]

The Reform movement didn't exactly adopt a "patrilineal" definition of Judaism. I think that's misleading. What they did was open up membership to individuals of mixed marriages in which only the father is halachically Jewish, provided that the individual was raised in the Jewish faith. However, in cases where an individual was raised with no faith, there's still a lot of ambiguity. In theory, according to the URJ's guidelines, any individual raised in a secular household, regardless of parentage, should be asked to convert. In practice, depending on the particular congregation, children of non-Jewish mothers raised in secular households are more often asked to go through some form of conversion process if they wish to be considered full members, whereas those born to Jewish mothers are not always required to convert.

[@IlmarKiisk]

The 6 days war has been analyzed a lot and the reasons for Jewish success were also quite simple: mainly because of Arab weaknesses in very hierarchical military structure that was slow, opposed to Israeli, which gave a lot of independence to lower ranking members allowing quick reactions (same why the Yemen Shi'as are so effective against Saudis despite weaker weapons), tribal societies where in some cases soldiers and leadership happened to be from opposing factions, and lack of co-operation and communication between states. Ancient revolts could hardly be called successful. Especially the Great Jewish revolt in 67-70, which included a civil war between Jewish factions and letting Romans stand and watch how their enemies kill each other, finishing off only the ones remain.

[@HenryAbramsonPhD]

Valuable observations.

[@besomthingreallager3378]

one day Be'ezer hashem i will meet you in the holy land !

[@HenryAbramsonPhD]

Halevai

[@Therika7]

I’m concerned about the future of feminism in the Jewish community… (Gen-Xer here). Anyway thanks so much Dr Abramson!

[@MyHeartBeatistheWorld]

I survived , I survived Jewish History 😉😉❤️🔥 Thank you for your ever present humour and smile , I learned so much , you are obviously biased against Jesus and for Islam but apart from that 👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾

[@HenryAbramsonPhD]

Thanks, I think.

[@eyalreches1]

If you want to know how the Jews won the 48 & 67 wars you should see the movie Givat Halfon: kzbin.info/www/bejne/l5aoZ5udd9Kng9U

[@PC-lu3zf]

I am in the later group and i am religious to a degree as I love Judaism but my Son is not religious and says when he grows up he will marry who he wants Jewish or otherwise we don't mind long as he is happy.

[@HenryAbramsonPhD]

I wish your family well.

[@yoyoyoyoyoyoy9]

Thanks a lot for this amazing lecture and all other lectures!!! I do understand the research of Orthodox Jews, can run out of money if it continues. But as time goes by more and more Orthodox Jews are becoming rich. So if they will give to school's, then things can change. Another factor that there is a big movement in the Republican party, to support private schools and the government should be involved how they choose to educate. (and I'm currently working with some candidates. So it's not about what side I'm taking. It's about a this particular issue) It's possible that if they win in states and federal, things can change. But in my humble opinion (I'm not trying to cause fear) antisemitism is rising in the USA, among the individuals. And it doesn't seem like the Jews will be safe here. But let's hope for the best.

[@alexcarter8807]

Jews thrived for something like 700 years in Poland. Until they didn't. Present in the American Colonies/USA for what, 300 years or so and flourished over the last 100 or so? Things can change and very fast.

[@yoyoyoyoyoyoy9]

@@alexcarter8807 i don't disagree that things can change. All I'm saying that so far religions jews are becoming richer. (Besides the Yishiva world) so we don't need non religious jews to help us run our schools.

[@keifferiksson8537]

As well, I think plenty of Jews live in rural areas but they don’t know they’re Jews due to immigration. For instance, I grew up in Arkansas. 95% of people in the town, which has 12,000 people in it, have Jewish or Hebrew surnames. Most “Americans” whose family immigrated are Jewish. Any surname with “er” “man” “son” words with “sch” or “sh”. Surnames with double letters, consecutively, are Jewish. From my research the 13 tribes can be found all in Europa. Shalom Achi. Baruch H’Shem.

[@jrutt2675]

What is a Hebrew name?

[@deborahfreedman333]

Observant and orthodox are not the same thing. Especially for women, you can only be fully observant if you are not orthodox. What is the point of learning to lein (read the Torah) if you are not allowed to, due to anachronistic misogyny? Better to be a Conservative Jew, and keep kosher, keep Shabbat, and be allowed to be fully Jewish and be given aliyot. Many Conservative women I know are far more observant than any Orthodox woman is allowed to be.

[@HenryAbramsonPhD]

Well, that's an interesting perspective, but of course it is primarily semantic argument. The word "observant" is only relevant within the context of how a given society defines the term. In Orthodox communities a woman who prays three times a day would not necessarily be considered more observant that one who only prayed once a day (she may be considered more "frum," or religious, but it would not designate a greater degree of observance). Without getting lost in the meanings of the words, I will certainly agree that many women in the Conservative (and Reform) movements are deeply committed and inspirational Jews, whose religious sensibilities are truly inspirational.

[@yourthought2333]

😉

[@HenryAbramsonPhD]

!