The Assimilation of Jewish Young Adults Through the New York City Young Men's Hebrew Association

Abstract

The New York City YMHA is one of the oldest and largest Jewish Centers in America. Its founders, successful German Jews, were bent on acculturating successive generations of Jewish immi grants—first German and later Eastern European—through cultural, religious, recreational and educational programs. They employed both generally accepted processes of Americanization as well as some processes which were unique to the American Jewish experi ence. Specifically, they used an "Americanized" Jewish religion to aid in the assimilation of immigrant clients. Over the years, the organization moved from a recreational and social emphasis to an educational one to an approach emphasizing the promulgation of the work of avant garde artists. All approaches stemmed from a belief that the ethical and democratic traditions underpinning American life were similar to, if not identical with, the ethical and democratic traditions at the root of Jewish life.