The US Department of Commerce, on January 13, 2025, signed an agreement with the country’s Orthodox Jewish Chamber of Commerce to confer minority status on Jewish-owned businesses in America through the department’s Minority Business Development Agency. This move has elicited strong mixed emotions for many Jews, myself included.
At first glance, this sounds like an impactful step toward the economic inclusion of Jewish business owners. After all, federal programs for minority groups have been around for 50 years. Taking that view, it makes sense that Jews, too, as 2% of the US population, would have equal access to those programs. As American-Israeli Avinoam L., an attorney in New Jersey, told me, “It’s time to push back on the false narrative that we aren’t a persecuted minority just like the others.”
The benefits in question provide prioritized access to federal programs, contracts, loans, and grants, with a side order of inclusion in federally funded events and educational programming. But this move’s narrow scope is a bad look. Did it really need to be solely around economic benefits for Jews? There is a risk that it will fuel the old antisemitic tropes – even more so, if it’s communicated carelessly by its architects and in the media:
“We’re going to be able to benefit from billions of dollars of these programs,” the Orthodox Jewish Chamber of Commerce told the Jewish News Syndicate. Ouch. This kind of framing only throws fuel on the fire of antisemitism in America.
By contrast, a government press release used more restrained language, stating that the move would “help break down barriers and expand opportunities for the global Jewish community’s entrepreneurs.”
Perhaps it’s helpful to draw public awareness to the idea that some Jewish business owners do need help breaking down barriers. Particularly, during a peak of shameless antisemitic activity in the US.
But as my friend, a music agent living between LA and Israel, told me, “It won’t break the trope that Jews are rich, and will only fuel the one that says Jews steal. The minority status sounds good and important. But if the reason for gaining that status is to get more money, I don’t like it. Once I read that it’s for the benefit of Jewish business owners, it just sounds scammy.”
Accepting minority status?
Liza B., an American travel entrepreneur living in London, argues for a broader acceptance of Jewish minority status, not just economically but culturally, reflecting the often invisible challenges Jews face in the Diaspora. “As a Jew, I hate the fact that I was always told to just label myself white or Eastern European on census sheets.”
But will any minority label confer a victim mentality?
Much has been written on Jewish entrepreneurship and our modern-day statistical success from the boardroom to the chess board. So do we even need government benefits? Yury G., an entrepreneur in New York’s financial sector, was emphatic: “We don’t need a victim status or a victim mentality – we can depend on ourselves.”
Meanwhile, Shira S., a business owner, told me, “Factually – by numbers and in terms of discrimination and violence – Jews are a minority. Victim mentality is a choice. And not just for us Jews.”
The minority-owned business designation arrives at a time when diversity and inclusion efforts in the US are being reprioritized. President Donald Trump’s recent executive orders to dismantle Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion programs at the federal level suggest a shifting landscape that could affect minority interests.
Post-October 7, we’ve relearned that many parts of the world, even where we’ve completely assimilated, won’t sympathize with Jews even in the darkest hour. Finally, in an American political climate where meritocracy is the word du jour, it’s not clear if any minority label – for any group – will be an asset or a liability.
The writer is a senior technology communications executive and a nonprofit leader. She advocates for the economic inclusion of immigrants to Israel, as co-founder of The Reboot Startup Nation and the Economic Integration Org.
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