An anthology that explores religious and social revival in American Judaism in the 19th century

“It gives me a secret pleasure to observe the fair character our family has in the place by Jews & Christians,“Abigail Levy Franks wrote to her son from New York City in 1733. Abigail was part of a tiny community of Jews living in the new world. In the centuries that followed, as that community swelled to several millions, women came to occupy diverse and changing roles. American Jewish Women’s History, an anthology covering colonial times to the present, illuminates that historical diversity. It shows women shaping Judaism and their American Jewish communities as they engaged in volunteer activities and political crusades, battled stereotypes, and constructed relationships with their Christian neighbors. It ranges from Rebecca Gratz’s development of the Jewish Sunday School in Philadelphia in 1838 to protest the rising prices of kosher meat at the turn of the century, to the shaping of southern Jewish women's cultural identity through food. There is currently no other reader conveying the breadth of the historical experiences of American Jewish women available. The reader is divided into four sections complete with detailed introductions. The contributors include: Joyce Antler, Joan Jacobs Brumberg, Alice Kessler-Harris, Paula E. Hyman, Riv-Ellen Prell, and Jonathan D. Sarna.

Coming to Terms with America examines how Jews have long “straddled two civilizations,” endeavoring to be both Jewish and American at once, from the American Revolution to today. In fifteen engaging essays, Jonathan D. Sarna investigates the many facets of the Jewish-American encounter—what Jews have borrowed from their surroundings, what they have resisted, what they have synthesized, and what they have subverted. Part I surveys how Jews first worked to reconcile Judaism with the country’s new democratic ethos and to reconcile their faith-based culture with local metropolitan cultures. Part II analyzes religio-cultural initiatives, many spearheaded by women, and the ongoing tensions between Jewish scholars (who pore over traditional Jewish sources) and activists (who are concerned with applying them). Part III appraises Jewish-Christian relations: “collisions” within the public square and over church-state separation. Originally written over the span of forty years, many of these essays are considered classics in the field, and several remain fixtures of American Jewish history syllabi. Others appeared in fairly obscure venues and will be discovered here anew. Together, these essays—newly updated for this volume—cull the finest thinking of one of American Jewry’s finest historians.

Issues for 1900/1901- include report of the 12th- year of the Jewish Publication Society of America, 1890-1900- (issued also separately in some years); issues for 1908/1909- include Report of the American Jewish Committee for 1906/1908- (issued also separately in some years); issues for include American Jewish Committee. Proceedings of the annual meeting.

An anthology that explores religious and social revival in American Judaism in the 19th century

"Jewish Learning in American Universities examines the evolution of Jewish studies as an academic discipline within the history and sociology of higher education in America from the late nineteenth to the late twentieth century. Whereas in Europe Jewish learning had traditionally been the province of religious schools, American Jews, seeking acceptance and recognition, came to view American universities as vehicles for educational, cultural, and social advancement. Reciprocating Jewish communal interest in introducing Jewish studies as an academic field into American higher education, six leading American universities - California, Chicago, Columbia, Harvard, Johns Hopkins, and Pennsylvania - took the lead in instituting Judaica appointments in the late nineteenth century." "Drawing from university and private archives, Paul Ritterband and Harold S. Wechsler offer a fascinating account of the circumstances behind the early appointments in Judaic studies, the tensions between university administrations and community sources of support, the strong and conflicting personalities often involved, and the changing rationales for Jewish learning as Jewish studies programs burgeoned on American campuses in the second half of the twentieth century."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved