ABSTRACT
Like most other Diaspora countries at the turn of the twenty-first century, the United States is a free and open society. Long gone are the days when Jews were compelled by non-Jewish authorities to live in ghettos, to wear distinctive clothing, or to be otherwise publicly identified so that their activities could be restricted. Over the course of the last two centuries these barriers have fallen at a faster or slower rate in various Diaspora countries, with periods of backsliding and periods of greatly expanding freedoms and secular opportunities. American Jews are now to be found in nearly all sectors and major institutions of society – business, government, education, professions and the arts.
