American Jew
| Total population | |
|---|---|
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6,829,000–7,160,000 |
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| Regions with significant populations | |
| In the United States, these metropolitan areas host the largest Jewish American population centers: New York City, Miami, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Chicago, San Francisco, Boston, Baltimore–Washington | |
 United States |
5.4–8.3 million |
 Israel |
170,000 |
| Languages | |
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| Judaism | |
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| ^a Foreign-born population only | ||
6,829,000–7,160,000
1.7–2.6% of total U.S. population, 2012
Enlarged population (includes full or partial Jewish ancestry)
American Jews, also known as Jewish Americans, are Americans who are Jews, either by religion, ethnicity, or nationality. The Jewish community in the United States is composed predominantly of Ashkenazi Jews and their US-born descendants, making up about 90% of the American Jewish population. Minority Jewish ethnic divisions are also represented, including Sephardic Jews, Mizrahi Jews, and a smaller percentage of converts to Judaism. The American Jewish community manifests a wide range of Jewish cultural traditions, as well as encompassing the full spectrum of Jewish religious observance.
Depending on religious definitions and varying population data, the United States is home to the largest or second largest (after Israel) Jewish community in the world. In 2012, the American Jewish population was estimated at between 5.5 and 8 million, depending on the definition of the term. This constitutes between 1.7% and 2.6% of the total U.S. population.
Jews have been present in what is today the United States of America since the mid-17th century. However, they were small in number, with at most 200 to 300 having arrived by 1700. The majority were Sephardic Jewish immigrants of Spanish and Portuguese ancestry; until after 1720 when Ashkenazi Jews from Central and Eastern Europe predominated.
After passage of the Plantation Act of 1740, Jews were specifically permitted to become British citizens and immigrate to the colonies. Despite some being denied the ability to vote or hold office in local jurisdictions, Sephardic Jews became active in community affairs in the 1790s, after achieving political equality in the five states where they were most numerous. Until about 1830, Charleston, South Carolina had more Jews than anywhere else in North America. Large scale Jewish immigration, however, did not commence until the 19th century, when, by mid-century, many Ashkenazi Jews had arrived from Germany, migrating to the United States in large numbers due to antisemitic laws and restrictions in their countries of birth. They primarily became merchants and shop-owners. There were approximately 250,000 Jews in the United States by 1880, many of them being the educated, and largely secular, German Jews, although a minority population of the older Sephardic Jewish families remained influential.
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Wikipedia