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The Fast-Changing Future for Jews in the West

Summarizing Mijal Bitton in Future of Jewish · Published Thursday, May 21, 2026
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JL;DR SUMMARY Mijal Bitton, a scholar at the Maimonides Fund, explores the differing perspectives between Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jews in the West regarding their experiences and aspirations. A way out west there was a fella, fella I want to tell you about, fella by the name of Jeff Lebowski. At least, that was the handle his lovin' parents gave him, but he never had much use for it himself. This Lebowski, he called himself the Dude. Now, Dude, that's a name no one would self-apply where I come from. But then, there was a lot about the Dude that didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. And a lot about where he lived, likewise. But then again, maybe that's why I found the place s'durned innarestin'.

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Tags

Identity  Jewish History  Immigration  Ashkenazi Jews  Sephardic Jews  Integration  Cultural Preservation  Religious Freedom  Communal Bonds  Western Jewry 

Places mentioned

New York City, New York, United States
"This is a guest essay written by Mijal Bitton, a scholar-in-residence at Maimonides Fund and the head of community at the Downtown Minyan in New York City."
Poland
"And when that freedom failed to fulfill its liberatory promise in Poland, Lithuania, Germany, and the rest of the European countries, they and their descendants continued to pursue that dream in America and across the greater West."
Lithuania
"And when that freedom failed to fulfill its liberatory promise in Poland, Lithuania, Germany, and the rest of the European countries, they and their descendants continued to pursue that dream in America and across the greater West."
Germany
"And when that freedom failed to fulfill its liberatory promise in Poland, Lithuania, Germany, and the rest of the European countries, they and their descendants continued to pursue that dream in America and across the greater West."
Syria
"Moving between my Syrian-Moroccan-Spanish Sephardic home, the Persian and Syrian communities that shaped me, and the liberal Ashkenazi spaces I later inhabited as a student and professional, ..."
Morocco
"Moving between my Syrian-Moroccan-Spanish Sephardic home, the Persian and Syrian communities that shaped me, and the liberal Ashkenazi spaces I later inhabited as a student and professional, ..."
Spain
"Moving between my Syrian-Moroccan-Spanish Sephardic home, the Persian and Syrian communities that shaped me, and the liberal Ashkenazi spaces I later inhabited as a student and professional, ..."
Iran
"Moving between my Syrian-Moroccan-Spanish Sephardic home, the Persian and Syrian communities that shaped me, and the liberal Ashkenazi spaces I later inhabited as a student and professional, ..."
Toledo, Madrid Province, Spain
"At the Feet of the Saviour (1887), a painting by Vicente Cutanda depicting the massacre of Jews in Toledo, Spain (photo: Wikipedia)"
Kiryas Joel, New York, United States
"Ashkenazi communities, the ultra-Orthodox in Kiryas Joel, for example, that exhibit a lot of what I describe as Middle East and North Africa Sephardic norms."
Lebanon
"how Lebanese Jews preserve their own culinary traditions even when living alongside Syrians, how Persian Jews distinguish between Tehrani and Mashadi families, ..."
Tehran, Fars, Iran
"how Lebanese Jews preserve their own culinary traditions even when living alongside Syrians, how Persian Jews distinguish between Tehrani and Mashadi families, ..."
Casablanca, Morocco
"how Moroccan Jews maintain regional variations from Tetouan to Casablanca."
Jerusalem, Israel
"peoplehoodunderstood as ethical kinship with our Jewish brothers and sisters everywhere from Jerusalem to Rio de Janeiroshould be a nonnegotiable communal norm, even as we maintain broad flexibility on most everything else."
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
"peoplehoodunderstood as ethical kinship with our Jewish brothers and sisters everywhere from Jerusalem to Rio de Janeiroshould be a nonnegotiable communal norm, even as we maintain broad flexibility on most everything else."
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
"the demographic vitality of Sephardic ethnic enclaves from Brooklyn to Melbourne, the pan-Sephardic building of new communities, and the cultural vibrancy of these communities, ..."
Brooklyn, New York, United States
"the demographic vitality of Sephardic ethnic enclaves from Brooklyn to Melbourne, the pan-Sephardic building of new communities, and the cultural vibrancy of these communities, ..."
the Western Wall in Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
"Go to a Sephardic service on Manhattans Upper East Side or in a Miami suburb or at the Kotel (the Western Wall in Jerusalem)."
Manhattan, New York, United States
"Go to a Sephardic service on Manhattans Upper East Side or in a Miami suburb or at the Kotel (the Western Wall in Jerusalem)."

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Cairo Item ID 82743
Cairo Source ID 36
Retrieved 2026-05-22 05:31:05 UTC
Curated 2026-05-22 08:30:55 UTC