Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By richards on May 30, 2015

So how did you commemorate Jewish American Heritage Month this May?

If you didnt or if you didnt even know such a month existed you are in good company, that of the majority of American Jews.

But after nearly a decade of relative obscurity, Jewish American Heritage Month got national recognition this year when President Obama took a rare trip from the White House to Washingtons Adas Israel synagogue to deliver an address in honor of the month-long occasion on May 22.

JAMH organizers believe the event, which was intensively covered by national and international media, could boost the otherwise little-known celebration of American Jews and their contributions, and lift it from obscurity. But even for the month of May, they face some ruthless competition. May is also officially the month for celebrating Asian Pacific American heritage. Its Older Americans month, too.

Still, JAHM proponents saw the Adas Israel event as a potential turning point. In the first 10 years of Jewish American Heritage Month, a large part of what has been done was Jews talking to Jews about the contribution of other Jews, said JAHM board chairman Greg Rosenbaum, a private equity investor who used to head Americas largest kosher poultry producer, But in order for it to be a success, it needs to tell non-Jews the story of Jewish contribution to American society.

JAHM may not stack up as one of the nations most visible ethnic commemoration months, but that doesnt mean it has not been a lot of fun for Jewish communal figures attending events. It is what brought Obama to Adas Israel on May 22; it is the reason 250 Jewish activists crammed into a congressional hall two days earlier to mingle with lawmakers commemorating the event, and for several years, JAHM also gave the president an opportunity to throw an annual reception where the lucky couple hundred guests got a chance to rub elbows with Jewish luminaries such as Sandy Koufax, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Barbara Walters.

Dedicating a month to a certain part of the population is the governments way of making the group feel that its history, heritage and struggles are recognized by the nation.

The most well known of the 10 congressionally officially proclaimed months is clearly African-American History Month, which is marked each February in schools across the country, in TV specials and with a series of events. Other groups that can show an officially proclaimed month for their name include Latino-Americans, Italian-Americans and Indian-Americans, and there are also months dedicated to womens history, disability awareness, and gay and lesbian pride.

At best, ethnic heritage months increase awareness for a finite amount of time, said Jason Low, a publisher focused on books promoting diversity who has written on the issue. Once the month has ended, the very problem that the given heritage month was designed to address resets itself, and those books are put away and ignored for another year.

But William Daroff, senior vice president for public policy at the Jewish Federations of North America, believes that at least in the case of Jewish Americans, heritage month had an impact.

Read more:
Why Does No One Care About Jewish Heritage Month ...

Category: Jewish Heritage Month
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