Assimilated Jews

A sociological/historical category of Jews who have assimilated into or adopted the dominant secular culture of the society in which they live, often giving up or attenuating distinct religious/ethnic markers. The term is used to describe a range of complex dynamics: their sometimes aggressive defense of the dominant system, their unusual social positioning (including occasional fear of equal rights or adoption of antisemitic attitudes), and how they could reconstruct Jewishness as a chosen performance rather than fixed fate.

Claims that use this term

• Assimilated Jews who accept the dominant system become its most aggressive defenders
• Assimilated Jews feared equal rights because equality erased their exceptional status.
• Assimilated Jews could be seen as antisemites by less-assimilated Jewish communities
• Assimilated Jews could reconstruct Jewishness as a chosen performance rather than a fixed fate
• Assimilated Jews identified so deeply with French society that they admired its antisemitic mob
• Assimilated Jews diverted antisemitic antipathy onto poorer immigrant brethren