E Pluribus Unum? Ex Uno Plures?

This chapter brings the endeavor of this volume to a conclusion, by drawing some broader thoughts on the wide range of materials reviewed, and by raising several questions that might occupy the fantasy and resources of researchers in future years. Perhaps the most central among these questions is whether Jews in the US are headed more toward being one of the integrating components of a multicultural American society – following the paradigm E pluribus unum; or more toward being one of the leading components of a transnational Jewish people – according to the rival paradigm Mizug galuyiot (the fusion of the Diasporas). The two goals are not incompatible, up to a certain point. The main question is whether that crucial certain point will be crossed or not. The answers to this question transcend by far the limited realm of demography and sociology, and open new philosophical or even teleological vistas. Some mechanisms apt to affect and redirect the currently observed trends are evaluated in this chapter. The main question – lacking a univocal answer – remains whether US Jews should be primarily analyzed and understood as part of the broader American society, or as part of the global Jewish peoplehood. Both are evidently true, but the conclusions of the analysis will be significantly different according to the chosen perspective. A final page is devoted to the potential consequences of the October 7, 2023 massacre in Israel for US Jewry and for Jewish global discourse.