About 2 out of every 100 American adults are Jewish. That’s a small house on the street. It has a very long history, and some of the oldest arguments in town.
Here’s the first thing many people miss. Being Jewish is both a religion and a people. You can be Jewish by faith, by family, or both. In Pew’s 2020 study of Jewish Americans, about 27% of Jewish adults said they had no religion. They still consider themselves Jewish, through family, culture or history.
So when your neighbor says, “I’m Jewish, but I’m not religious,” that isn’t a contradiction. It’s a whole category.
The branches
Pew found American Jews spread out like this:
- Reform (37%). The largest branch. It treats Jewish law as a guide that each generation can interpret. Many Reform synagogues have women rabbis and services partly in English.
- Conservative (17%). In between, keeping more traditional practice while allowing some change over time.
- Orthodox (9%). Keeps Jewish law, called halakha, as binding. This includes many details of Sabbath, food and prayer.
- No particular branch (32%). Plenty of Jewish neighbors don’t pick a team at all.
Shabbat
Shabbat is the Jewish Sabbath, a weekly day of rest. It begins just before sundown on Friday and ends after nightfall on Saturday. Many families light candles, say a blessing over wine and share a meal. Orthodox Jews generally don’t use electrical devices on Shabbat, and many don’t drive. Other Jews observe it in their own ways, or not at all.
So if your Orthodox neighbor doesn’t answer the phone Friday night, they aren’t ignoring you. They’re resting. You could learn something.
Synagogue and kosher
A synagogue is a Jewish house of prayer and study. Some communities call it a temple, and some call it a shul. Services are often led by a rabbi, a teacher of Jewish law and tradition.
Kosher means food fit to eat under Jewish dietary law. Only certain animals are allowed, so pork and shellfish are out. Meat and dairy are kept separate, so many kosher homes have two sets of dishes. Packaged food may carry a small symbol showing it was certified kosher. Some Jewish neighbors keep kosher carefully. Many keep some rules. Many keep none.
What many Jewish neighbors wish you knew
Not all Jews look alike, vote alike or think alike. Jewish tradition prizes a good argument. The Talmud, a central collection of Jewish law and teaching, records rabbis disagreeing for pages, and keeps the losing side too. In Pew’s study, 76% said remembering the Holocaust is essential to being Jewish. That history is not distant. For many families, it’s grandparents.
Jewish neighbors are not spokespeople for the government of Israel, any more than Christian neighbors speak for every country with a cross on its flag.
Try it on
The last time you heard a joke about Jewish people, did you laugh, stay quiet, or say something? Did you see a neighbor, or a punchline?