By Bill Simons
Our semiquincentennial – America at 250 – prompts reflection on the centrality of Jews to the nation since its 1776 founding. Hence, this columnist’s eclectic selections of America’s 25 most impactful Jews, listed alphabetically, follow. Nearly half were immigrants or the children of immigrants. Rationales are not all positive. Thanks to readers for their nominations. 
1. Irving Berlin. Berlin celebrated his new homeland, composing many of the Great American Songbook’s standards. Played in war and peace at patriotic, sporting and civic gatherings, his “God Bless America” became the soundtrack of the American Dream. 
2. Leonard Bernstein. Towering musical composer and conductor, he led the New York Philharmonic at age 25, mentored Young People’s Concerts, and created “West Side Story” and other classics. Bernstein supported Black Panthers, but collaborated with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and composed “Kaddish.”
3. Louis Brandeis. The crusading “People’s Attorney” pioneered employment of sociological data in legal briefs. As the first Jewish Supreme Court justice, Brandeis wrote liberal dissents that ultimately expanded civil liberties. By word and deed, he argued persuasively for the compatibility of Zionism and Americanism. 
4. Albert Einstein. The father of modern physics rendered his great scientific contributions before escaping Nazi Germany. However, as an American, Einstein persuaded President Franklin D. Roosevelt that Germany had the resources and intent to make and use an atomic bomb, thus altering history. 
5. Betty Friedan. Friedan invested second-wave feminism with ideology, organization and leadership. Her book “The Feminine Mystique” broke the silence concerning the unhappiness and subordination American women endured in post-war America. With royalties from the book, she founded the National Organization for Women. 
6. Hank Greenberg. As antisemitism peaked during the 1930s, the Detroit slugger emerged as baseball’s first Jewish superstar. Coming within two of Babe Ruth’s home run record and refusing to play on Yom Kippur, he provided significant affirmation to fragile Jewish egos. 
7. Ernest Gruening.  Harvard M.D., crusading journalist, Puerto Rico administrator, and territorial governor of Alaska and its senior senator, he was one of two senators to vote against the resolution justifying U.S. escalation of the Vietnam War.
8. Sidney Hillman. Hillman embraced the strike and mass organization of American workers. President of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America and a Congress of Industrial Organizations founder, he spurred labor victories on picket lines and through New Deal legislation. 
9. Henry Kissinger. As national security advisor and secretary of state, he facilitated diplomatic relations with China, Soviet détente, a belated end to the Vietnam War and the Camp David Accords. Critics hold Kissinger’s realpolitik responsible for Cambodian carnage and abuses in Latin America. 
10. Emma Lazarus. An advocate for immigrants, the poetess composed America’s most iconic lines of welcome. Lazarus’ verses, enshrined on the Statue of Liberty, celebrate diverse and humble origins, “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”
11. Mickey Marcus. A West Point graduate, he indicted gangsters, parachuted into Normandy on D-Day and assisted in the prosecution of Nazi war criminals. The first Israeli general since biblical times, Marcus was the last casualty of the Israeli War of Independence. 
12. Louis B. Mayer. His MGM lion announced blockbuster films and the biggest stars, amongst them Clark Gable, Judy Garland and Joan Crawford. Producer/studio chief at Hollywood’s largest and most influential movie studio, Mayer, a controlling paternalist, celebrated, idealized and molded American values. 
13. Adolph Ochs. Owner-publisher of The New York Times from his 1896 purchase until his 1935 death, Ochs built America’s most influential and authoritative newspaper. Recruiting top reporters, and emphasizing investigative journalism, Ochs adopted the motto, “All the news that’s fit to print.” 
14. Robert Oppenheimer. Although ambivalent about his Jewish heritage, Oppenheimer condemned the Nazis for taking his people to the death camps. Oppenheimer led the scientists who developed and tested the atomic bomb. Subsequently advocating for diplomacy, he opposed development of the hydrogen bomb. 
15. Admiral Hyman Rickover. A graduate of the Naval Academy and an officer for a record 63 years, Rickover oversaw the building of the nuclear fleet. An abrasive but brilliant engineer and motivator, he also initiated production of atomic energy for commercial use. 
16. Philip Roth. The novelist chronicled Jewish American life from the cusp of World War II through the first decade of the 21st century. Roth’s Portnoys and Zuckermans traversed Jewish ideals, ambitions, insecurities and sexuality. 
17. Julius Rosenwald. Under his leadership, the Sears, Roebuck and Company catalogue created the first dominant mail-order business template. As a philanthropist, he was a major benefactor to African American education. 
18. Dr. Jonas Salk. A virologist, Salk’s research resulted in the first viable polio vaccine. Eschewing personal profit, he facilitated international dissemination of his vaccine, thereby saving millions of lives. Salk advocated tirelessly for the universal vaccination of all children. 
19. Haym Salomon. Providing critical assistance to the fledgling U.S. government and army, Salomon loaned and bequeathed considerable sums of money in support of the American Revolution. An advocate of the Franco-American alliance, his patriotism twice resulted in British imprisonment. 
20. David Sarnoff. As Radio Corporation of America (RCA) and National Broadcasting Company (NBC) head, he played a major role in making radio and television central to American communications and culture. 
21. Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson. Critics once deemed haredim a fading anachronism: the Lubavitch Hasidic Rebbe proved them wrong. By founding Chabad and guiding its global outreach, Schneerson provided a spiritual lifeline to Jews imperiled by assimilation, isolation and coercion. 
22. Barbra Streisand. Her commanding, resonant and adaptive voice, propelled by chutzpah and passion, animated distinctive vocalizations from “People” onward, arguably making Streisand America’s top female pop singer. Brooklyn’s “Funny Girl” is also an Academy Award winning actress, frequently portraying memorable Jewish characters, amongst them Fanny and Yentl. 
23. Elie Wiesel. Shoah survivor, then an American citizen, he became, through his writing, teaching and public speaking, the conscience of the Holocaust and an advocate for universal human rights. “Night,” Wiesel’s autobiographical account of concentration camp life and death, gives authentic voice to those silenced. 
24. Rabbi Stephen S. Wise. Founder of NYC’s Free Synagogue, his sermons, civic activism and writings made Wise America’s most influential Reform rabbi. A force for social justice and political liberalism, his calibrated resistance to Hitler proved tragically overcautious. 
25. Mark Zuckerberg. A Facebook and Meta creator, the wunderkind entrepreneur and innovator enlarged and reshaped the domain of social media while negatively impacting print media and in-person interaction. 
Acknowledging that many more merit recognition, future columns will examine Jewish achievement in specific fields.