survey of Jewish education in the 1990’s by Jack
Wertheimer found that out of approximately 1.1 mil-
lion Jewish children in the United States, only about
180,000 attended Jewish day schools. For some
American Jews, finding a home in a neighborhood
where there was a synagogue added to the cost of
living as a practicing Jew.
Another factor in assimilation was that while for
almost fifty years American Jews considered Israel
the rock that held them steady against the powerful
attractions of assimilation, in 1997 the Israeli parlia-
ment considered legislation that would legalize Or-
thodox control over religious conversions in Israel
and bar non-Orthodox representatives from local
religious councils. The controversy caused Ameri-
can Jews, of whom roughly 80 percent considered
themselves Reform or Conservative, to withhold
about $20 million in donations to Israel that year,
partly to protest the religious policies of Israel’s con-
servative government. Two-thirds of Jewish dona-
tions of large amounts that would have gone to Jew-
ish causes in the 1990’s went instead to museums,
colleges, libraries, and other nonsectarian U.S. insti-
tutions.
Impact The rapidly growing numbers of Jews in
government who were accepted according to their
abilities, the high rate of intermarriage, and the in-
creasing investments diverted from Israel to the
United States in the 1990’s all were indications that
Jews increasingly felt safe, comfortable, and perma-
nent in the United States. Their contributions to so-
ciety and enrichment of public discourse were far
greater than their tiny percentage of the population
would suggest. As comfortable as the Jews felt in the
United States, their increasing assimilation was seen
by Jewish leaders and clergy as detrimental to Jewish
identity, continuity, and the worldwide community.
Further Reading
Freedman, Samuel G.Jew vs. Jew: The Struggle for the
Soul of American Jewr y.New York: Simon & Schuster,
- Argues that the Jewish community has be-
come fragmented. At a time when the Jewish com-
munity should feel secure and cohesive, congrega-
tions, neighborhoods, and even families are taking
sides about Jewish identity and authenticity.
Heilman, Samuel C.Portrait of American Jews: The Last
Half of the Twentieth Centur y. The Samuel and
Althea Stroum Lectures in Jewish Studies. Seattle:
University of Washington Press, 1995. A look at
the situation of American Jews in the last five de-
cades of the twentieth century. Covers the divi-
sions of the 1980’s and 1990’s between a small
core of committed Jews and a large periphery of
Jews who do not participate in Jewish traditions.
Meisel, L. Sandy, and Ira N. Forman, eds.Jews in
American Politics: Essays.Lanham, Md.: Rowman &
Littlefield, 2001. An interesting and informative
volume that presents a vast array of information
while including many general essays on Jews in
politics. Opinions across the political spectrum
are included. Includes an introduction by Sena-
tor Lieberman.
Sheila Golburgh JohnsonSee also Allen, Woody; Clinton, Bill; Coen broth-
ers; Ginsburg, Ruth Bader; Hate crimes; Holocaust
Memorial Museum; Israel and the United States;
Perlman, Itzhak; Religion and spirituality in the
United States; Roth, Philip;Schindler’s List. Jobs, Steve
Identification Cofounder of Apple Computer
Born February 24, 1955; San Francisco,
California
His return revitalized Apple Computer, which had been in
danger of closing its doors altogether.
The beginning of the 1990’s found Steve Jobs in
eclipse. Exiled from Apple, he had founded a sec-
ond computer company, NeXT, to build high-end
graphics workstations. However, it was foundering
because of erratic management and weak market-
ing. Jobs found more success with Pixar Studios, in
which he applied his computer know-how to the cre-
ation of sophisticated graphics and animation for
the motion-picture industry. After a close call when
Disney rejected the first version ofToy Stor y, released
in 1995, Pixar won the executives over with a rewrit-
ten version and soon became a leader in computer
animation.
In the mid-1990’s, Jobs got NeXT out of the hard-
ware business, and the sophisticated NEXTSTEP op-
erating system (OS) became a serious rival for Win-
dows NT in the high-end workstation market. This
success paved the way for his return to the company
he had originally created. By 1997, Apple had lost its
way after a series of uninspiring chief executive offi-468 Jobs, Steve The Nineties in America