Merican jewish history is fascinating, and, fortunately, it A is possible to write it on this soil. Great masses of source materials are available, for — unlike the case in much of Europe the few wars that have plagued us have barely touched the archival records. American Jewry — an integral part of the larger America — is worth writing about. The United States has become a land of destiny, and intelligent Americans have responded by developing a sense of history. Just as our republic has come to power in the twentieth century, just as it has emerged to exercise world in?uence and to meet the challenge of its being, its Jewish community, too, has grown until today it may well be deemed the most generous, the most responsible body of its kind the world has yet known — no small achievement.