Latin American Jews in the United States: Community and Belonging in Times of Transnationalism

Latin American Jews constitute an increasingly large presence in the United States, posing both new opportunities and challenges for American Jewish communal life. Not only do Latin American Jews represent a significant socio-demographic group, but their incorporation into the American Jewish community increases diversity. At the same time, their inclusion tests conventional boundaries and mutual perceptions of being similar and different. Through a broad assessment of globalization, diasporas, and transnationalism, this article sheds light on diverse models of integration by Latin American Jews into the American milieu while maintaining their socio-cultural distinctiveness. Multiple ways of belonging to American Jewish institutions and organizations imply boundary maintenance and continuity—as Jews, as Latin American Jews, as Latin Americans, as Americans— while mutual influence and the transfer of original models into more or less autonomous spaces allow the display of being Latin American through their Jewishness and their Jewishness via Latin American communal patterns. Education, communal and religious life are paramount fields to explore the mosaic of experiences by Latin American Jews in the United States. Permanence amid a mobile context characterizes the presence of Latin American Jews in US cities. Miami-Dade county in Southern Florida and San Diego in Southern California serve as the focus of analysis, while comparisons are drawn with the Northeast and Middle West.