I recently had the privilege to talk with Rabbi Charles Savenor, and he raised a question that continues to echo in my mind:
"Are we Jewish-Americans or American-Jews?"
Rabbi Charles Savenor
The question may appear semantic at first, but as Rabbi Savenor points out, it might very well describe a fork in the road for Jewish life in America today. Which identity takes precedence? And more importantly, what does that balance say about how American Jews see themselves and how they believe others see them?
A Fork in the Road
For much of the modern American Jewish experience, Jews in America have lived in comfort. They have built institutions, participated in civic life, and found a home that welcomed them in ways their ancestors could scarcely imagine. America, in many ways, became the "Promised Land" even before Israel was reborn as a national homeland.
Yet comfort can create its own challenges. In recent years, we have witnessed a sharp rise in antisemitism across the United States and around the world.
The ease and security that many once felt has been replaced by a renewed awareness and vulnerability. American Jews find themselves once again wrestling with questions of belonging, safety, and responsibility.
Debates Among Us Today
This question plays out in debates even within the Jewish community.
Not all American Jews view Israel and its ongoing conflict with Gaza in the same way: some feel unwavering solidarity with Israel's actions, while others are deeply concerned about the humanitarian toll and direction of the war.
There are also differing opinions on how publicly American Jews should advocate for themselves in American civic life, with some urging strong, visible coalitions and others preferring a quieter integration.
And in a society as open as America, Jews continue to wrestle with questions of assimilation and distinctiveness. What does it mean to maintain Jewish continuity in an era of interfaith marriage and broader cultural acceptance?
These debates are real, and often deeply personal. Yet as Rabbi Savenor reminds us, the essential task is not to eliminate disagreement, but to ensure that we do not let these differences divide us. Instead, we are called to find the values that bind us together, even as we continue to debate and discuss passionately.
Echoes From Our Past
This is not the first time our people have faced questions or debates among one another. Jewish texts and history are filled with examples of communities divided over identity and direction.
The Wilderness Rebellion of Korach
Take the wilderness rebellion of Korach, for instance (Numbers 16). Korach, a Levite, challenges Moses and Aaron, declaring, as the Torah records,
"All the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them. Why then do you raise yourselves above the Lord's assembly?"
(Num. 16:3)
He argues that leadership should not rest in the hands of just a few. His protest gathers 250 leaders of the community, sparking one of the most dramatic confrontations in the Torah.
At its heart, this story is about authority and the people's trust in their leaders. Was Korach championing equality, or undermining the very structure that held the community together?
The rebellion ends in tragedy, but the questions it raises about who leads, who decides, and how power is shared have reverberated ever since.
The Divide Between the Sadducees and the Pharisees
Similarly, during the Second Temple period, Jews found themselves divided between the Sadducees and the Pharisees.
The Sadducees, rooted in the priestly class, insisted that Jewish life revolved around Temple rituals in Jerusalem and a literal reading of the Torah. The Pharisees, by contrast, emphasized the Oral Torah, study, and interpretation.
Their debates were not mere academic disputes; they were existential struggles over the very soul of Judaism. After the Temple's destruction, it was the Pharisaic model that endured, shaping rabbinic Judaism as we know it today.
What Can We Learn?
What unites these moments is not that one side was entirely right and the other entirely wrong, but that the choices that were made then shaped the course of Jewish life for generations.
Rabbi Savenor is clear: the task before us is not to declare winners and losers in these debates, but to find the values that can hold us together despite our differences.
Our Task Today
So what does that mean for Jews in America and beyond here and now? First, it means acknowledging that Jewish identity in America is not monolithic.
Some feel their Jewish identity first and their American identity second. Others experience the reverse. Still others live comfortably with the tension, resisting the need to choose.
Second, it means that our community's strength will not come from insisting that one version of identity is superior. Rather, it will come from rediscovering the values we share: a commitment to learning, to community, to justice, to Israel, and to the continuity of our people.
Finally, it calls us to approach one another with patience and humility. Rabbi Savenor's teaching reminds us that even as we debate who we are, we must not lose sight of the "we."
If we allow the hyphen to divide rather than connect, we will miss the greater purpose of our tradition: to live as Jews in relationship with one another, and to bring those values to the wider world.
An Ongoing Conversation
Jewish-Americans or American-Jews? The debate is not meant to be resolved once and for all. Instead, it is an ongoing conversation that calls each individual to reflect on who they are, how they belong, and how they choose to show up as Jews in America today.
Rabbi Savenor put it best: the future of our community depends less on which side of the hyphen we emphasize, and more on how we hold fast to the values that unite us. If we can do that, with patience, humility, and knowledge, then whichever road we take, we will walk it together.
Rabbi Charles E. Savenor, the Executive Director of Civic Spirit, has a passion for civic education and its goals of educating, inspiring, and empowering faculty and students towards civic knowledge, responsibility, and attitudes.
Before coming to Civic Spirit in 2022, he served as the Director of Congregational Education at Park Avenue Synagogue (PAS) in New York, where he oversaw lifelong learning, inclusion, Israel engagement, and travel education.
Rabbi Dr. Morey Schwartz is the International Director of the Florence Melton School of Adult Jewish Learning.
