Within his introduction to part two of The American Jewish Experience he reveals how the German-Jew grew, settled throughout the country, establishing new places of worship and most importantly “reshaped the American Jewish community along new lines” (Sarna,41). How can an oppressed group of peddlers create such an impact on American Jewish history? It is easy to create an impact when you have strength in numbers. According to Michael A. Meyer by 1875 most of the 250,000 Jews came from German speaking lands, then again noted in Nathan Glazer’s third chapter

Another Example of how the “German Period” shaped American Jewish History can be extracted from Barry E. Supple’s A Business Elite: German-Jewish Financiers in 19th century New York. On page 102 Supple states how the emergence of men with capital and commercial experience “ultimately participate to no small extent in the critical development of the American capital market…” Here the men being talked about are exclusively German showing once again their impact on not only American-Jewish life but American life alone. Then on page 112 Supple refers to the German-Jews as having a “strategic role to play in the provision of capital from Germany for America’s industrial development.” With all this information at hand it is easy to speak on behalf of Sarna in saying that the “German Period” did dominate a better part of the mid nineteenth century and its impact can still be felt.

Therefore, when reviewing the idea that American Jewish identity was largely shaped in the mid nineteenth century by German-Jewry, Jonathan Sarna is correct in his assumption. Furthermore throughout the readings of Glaz

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