Over the last few years, as tragedy, war and rising global antisemitism afflicted Jewish communities in both the U.S. and Israel, our communities experienced an unexpected rise in their shared sense of peoplehood. Despite very different lived experiences, Israeli and American Jews feel closer today than just a few years ago. Yet there are also real differences of opinion within our global Jewish people. We set out to understand the nature of our differences by conducting parallel studies of U.S. and Israeli Jews and asking questions about key issues of importance to all of us – and about the nature of our relationship.

As we showed in our previous JTA Ideas piece, “U.S. and Israeli Jews are drawing closer together,” our connection has grown. The share of American Jews calling Israelis extended family or community has climbed from 46% to 62% since 2021, and the share of Israelis saying the same about American Jews has risen from 45% to 53%. Seventy-nine percent of Israelis and 56% of Americans affirm that Jews around the world share a common fate and must act accordingly.

This deep, connected relationship makes it even more important for us to understand our differences. We entered this research assuming these gaps were largely shaped by our distinct life experiences, and we do, in fact, live in very different realities. But what we found instead were people with similar viewpoints within each Jewish community who shared a political or religious ideology. 

It became clear that it’s mostly ideology, not geography, that drives the differences among Jews in both countries. And what differs between the two countries isn’t the views themselves. It’s the proportions. A majority of American Jews lean left, while a majority of Israeli Jews lean right.

Political ideology and religious affiliation are closely linked in both countries. In both the U.S. and Israel, those who identify with more........

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