Saturday 21 January 2012

American Identity Task: Jewish Americans


For the American Identity task I have chosen the website of an American TV channel PBS which did a documentary on being Jewish in America and also set up pages on their websites for this, which can be seen on the above link.

It is really interesting as it examines what is like to be Jewish now and how the Jews came to settle in America. According to the website; although American Jews are now a bedrock in the society of America they were not welcomed when they tried to settle in New Amsterdam (now modern day New York) even though according the Constitution they had the rights to freedom from religious persecution. Many states could prevent them from voting and participating in many other important things until the passing of "The Jew Bills".

The Jews have faced many problems while trying to fit into American society, especially in terms of prejudiced, and some Jews now fell they have become to blended and are losing their respect for Jewish traditions. I think they feel that if they lose these traditions they will lose their Jewish identity.

It is a very interesting website with lots of very interesting clips which are worth watching if you have the time.

No comments:

Post a Comment