It’s Jewish American Heritage Month! Surprise!

Since 2006, May has been officially recognized by the federal government as Jewish American Heritage Month.

But don’t feel like a bad Jew if you didn’t know!  Of the Jews I just surveyed, 40 responded “no” and only 9 responded “yes” to the prompt:

“Survey question:  Did you know it’s Jewish Heritage month?”

That’s 18% that knew.

To appreciate the depth of the month’s pathetic promotion, consider that the survey’s respondents were Jews on my gchat list at 2:30 pm, a large percentage of whom are active Jews, and some of whom are even Jewish professionals.  Others on the list work for the federal government – the designator of this month.

Based on this, I would imagine that under 10% of Jews nationwide know that we’re celebrating Jewish American Heritage Month.

Why such a low percentage?  And what does it mean for the Jewish community?

Undoubtedly it doesn’t mean much, but in the spirit of modern academia, I’ll try to spin together a few thoughts for next week.

Congratulations to those who answered “yes”:

• Ben W.
• David M.
• Diane H.
• Kenny A.
• Sala L.
• Sara G.
• Sarah B.
• Scott W.
• Shira S.

So what can you do for Jewish American Heritage Month?  You can:

• Go to this official JAHM event hosted by the National Endowment for the Humanities
• Follow Moment Magazine’s twitter feed which showcases a new article each day for JAHM.
• Help crown the Jewish Guy and Girl of the Year during this special month.

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