Author: Stuart E. KneePublisher:
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 292
Book Description
The Concept of Zionist Dissent in the American Mind, 1917-1941
Author: Stuart E. KneePublisher:
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 292
Book Description
The Americanization of the Jews
Author: Robert SeltzerPublisher: NYU Press
ISBN: 0814788807
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 660
Book Description
How did Judaism, a religion so often defined by its minority status, attain equal footing in the trinity of Catholicism, Protestantism, and Judaism that now dominates modern American religious life? THE AMERICANIZATION OF THE JEWS seeks out the effects of this evolution on both Jews in America and an America with Jews. Although English, French, and Dutch Jewries are usually considered the principal forerunners of modern Jewry, Jews have lived as long in North America as they have in post- medieval Britain and France and only sixty years less than in Amsterdam. As one of the four especially creative Jewish communities that has helped re-shape and re-formulate modern Judaism, American Judaism is the most complex and least understood. German Jewry is recognized for its contribution to modern Jewish theology and philosophy, Russian and Polish Jewry is known for its secular influence in literature, and Israel clearly offers Judaism a new stance as a homeland. But how does one capture the interplay between America and Judaism? Immigration to America meant that much of Judaism was discarded, and much was retained. Acculturation did not always lead to assimilation: Jewishness was honed as an independent variable in the motivations of many of its American adherents- -and has remained so, even though Jewish institutions, ideologies, and even Jewish values have been reshaped by America to such an degree that many Jews of the past might not recognize as Jewish some of what constitutes American Jewishness. This collection of essays explores the paradoxes that abound in the America/Judaism relationship, focusing on such specific issues as Jews and American politics in the twentieth century, the adaptation of Jewish religious life to the American environment, the contributions and impact of the women's movement, and commentaries on the Jewish future in America.
Nazism, the Jews and American Zionism, 1933-1948
Author: Aaron BermanPublisher: Wayne State University Press
ISBN: 0814344038
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 231
Book Description
A sophisticated analysis of how the Zionist understanding of the Holocaust shaped the development of American Jewish policies and political activism. Aaron Berman takes a moderate and measured approach to one of the most emotional issues in American Jewish historiography, namely, the response of American Jews to Nazism and the extermination of European Jewry.In remarkably large numbers, American Jews joined the Zionist crusade to create a Jewish state that would finally end the problem of Jewish homelessness, which they believed was the basic cause not only of the Holocaust but of all anti-Semitism. Though American Zionists could justly claim credit for the successful establishment of Israel in 1948, this triumph was not without cost. Their insistence on including a demand for Jewish statehood in any proposal to aid European Jewry politicized the rescue issue and made it impossible to appeal for American aid on purely humanitarian grounds. The American Zionist response to Nazism also shaped he political turmoil in the Middle East which followed Israel’s creation. Concerned primarily with providing a home for Jewish refugees and fearing British betrayal, Zionists could not understand Arab protests in defense of their own national interests. Instead they responded to the Arab revolt with armed force and sought to insure their own claim to Palestine, Zionists came to link he Arabs with the Nazi and British forces that were opposed to the establishment of a Jewish state. In the thinking of American Zionists, the Arabs were steadily transformed from a people with whom an accommodation would have to be made into a mortal enemy to be defeated. Aaron Berman does not apologize for American Jews, but rather tries to understand the constraints within which they operated and what opportunities-if any-they had to respond to Hitler. In surveying the latest scholarship and responding o charges against American Jewry, Berman’s arguments are reasoned and reasonable.
Western Jewry and the Zionist Project, 1914-1933
Author: Michael BerkowitzPublisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521894203
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 328
Book Description
This 1996 study of the Zionist movement in Germany, Britain, and the United States recognizes 'Western Zionism' as a distinctive force. From the First World War until the rise of Hitler, the Zionist movement encouraged Jews to celebrate aspects of a reborn Jewish nationality and sovereignty in Palestine, while at the same time acknowledging that their members would mostly 'stay put' and strive toward acculturation in their current homelands. The growth of a Zionist consciousness among Western Jews is juxtaposed with the problematic nurturing of the movement's institutions, as Zionism was consumed increasingly by fundraising. In the 1930s, Zionist images assumed a progressively greater share of secular Jewish identity, and Zionism became normalized in the social landscape of Western Jewry, but the organization faltered in translating its popularity into a means of 'saving the Jews' and 'building up' the national home in Palestine.
The A to Z of Zionism
Author: Rafael MedoffPublisher: Scarecrow Press
ISBN: 0810870525
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 304
Book Description
The Jewish attachment to Zion is many centuries old. While the modern Zionist movement was organized a little more than a century ago, the roots of the Zionist idea reach back close to 4,000 years ago, to the day that the biblical patriarch Abraham left his home in Ur of the Chaldees to settle in the Promised Land, where the Jewish state subsequently arose. From that day to the establishing of the state of Israel in 1948, the Jewish people have been in a constant struggle to either regain or maintain their homeland. Although 60 years have now passed since the establishment of Israel, many of the political and religious factions that made up the Zionist movement in the pre-state era remain active. The A to Z of Zionism_through its chronology, maps, introductory essay, bibliography, and over 200 cross-referenced dictionary entries on crucial persons, organizations, and events_is a valuable contribution to the appreciation for both the diversity and consensus that characterize the Zionist experience.
Eretz Israel, Israel, and the Jewish Diaspora
Author: Philip M. and Ethel Klutznick Chair in Jewish Civilization. SymposiumPublisher: University Press of America
ISBN: 9780819182814
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 260
Book Description
The Jewish Diaspora, also called the Gulla (Gullut), has been a central reality to the Jewish people from ancient times to the present. As a result, relations between the Jewish Diaspora and Eretz Israel, or the state of Israel, has remained a major concern. The papers in Eretz Israel, Israel and the Diaspora address that issue. They have been gathered from the first (1988) annual symposium of Creighton University's Philip M. and Ethel Klutznick Chair in Jewish Civilization.
Judah L. Magnes
Author: Daniel P. KotzinPublisher: Syracuse University Press
ISBN: 0815651090
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 496
Book Description
Judah L. Magnes (1877-1948) was an American Reform rabbi, Jewish community leader, and active pacifist during World War I. In the 1920s he moved to British Mandatory Palestine, where he helped found and served as first chancellor of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Later, in the 1930s and 1940s, he emerged as the leading advocate for the binational plan for Palestine. In these varied roles, he actively participated in the major transformations in American Jewish life and the Zionist movement during the first half of the twentieth century. Kotzin tells the story of how Magnes, immersed in American Jewish life, Zionism, and Jewish life in Mandatory Palestine, rebelled against the dominant strains of all three. His tireless efforts ensured that Jewish public life was vibrant and diverse, and not controlled by any one faction within Jewry. Magnes brought American ideals to Palestine, and his unique conception of Zionism shaped Jewish public life in Palestine, influencing both the development of the Hebrew University and Zionist policy toward Arabs.
A History of the Jews in America
Author: Howard M. SacharPublisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0679745300
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 1073
Book Description
Spanning 350 years of Jewish experience in this country, A History of the Jews in America is an essential chronicle by the author of The Course of Modern Jewish History. With impressive scholarship and a riveting sense of detail, Howard M. Sachar tells the stories of Spanish marranos and Russian refugees, of aristocrats and threadbare social revolutionaries, of philanthropists and Hollywood moguls. At the same time, he elucidates the grand themes of the Jewish encounter with America, from the bigotry of a Christian majority to the tensions among Jews of different origins and beliefs, and from the struggle for acceptance to the ambivalence of assimilation.
Rabbi Max Heller
Author: Barbara S. MalonePublisher: University of Alabama Press
ISBN: 0817357661
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 296
Book Description
This biography of a pioneering Zionist and leader of American Reform Judaism adds significantly to our understanding of American and southern Jewish history. Max Heller was a man of both passionate conviction and inner contradiction. He sought to be at the center of current affairs, not as a spokesperson of centrist opinion, but as an agitator or mediator, constantly struggling to find an acceptable path as he confronted the major issues of the day--racism and Jewish emancipation in eastern Europe, nationalism and nativism, immigration and assimilation. Heller's life experience provides a distinct vantage point from which to view the complexity of race relations in New Orleans and the South and the confluence of cultures that molded his development as a leader. A Bohemian immigrant and one of the first U.S.-trained rabbis, Max Heller served for 40 years as spiritual leader of a Reform Jewish congregation in New Orleans--at that time the largest city in the South. Far more than a congregational rabbi, Heller assumed an activist role in local affairs, Reform Judaism, and the Zionist movement, maintaining positions often unpopular with his neighbors, congregants, and colleagues. His deep concern for social justice led him to question two basic assumptions that characterized his larger social milieu--segregation and Jewish assimilation. Heller, a consummate Progressive with clear vision and ideas substantially ahead of their time, led his congregation, his community, Reform Jewish colleagues, and Zionist sympathizers in a difficult era.
Historical Dictionary of Zionism
Author: Rafael MedoffPublisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1135966494
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 234
Book Description
The Jewish attachment to Zion is many centuries old. Although the modern Zionist movement was organized only a little more than a century ago, the roots of the Zionist idea reach back almost 4,000 years, to the day that the biblical patriarch Abraham left his home in Ur of the Chaldees to settle in the promised land The Historical Dictionary of Zionism is an excellent source of information on Zionism, its founders and leaders, its various strands and organizations, major events in its struggle, and its present status. By showing the movement's strengths and weaknesses, it also acts as a corrective to overly idealistic comments by its supporters and the wilder claims of its opponents. A much more realistic understanding is offered in the Introduction, which presents and explains the movement; the Chronology, which shows its historic progression; the Dictionary, which includes numerous entries on crucial persons, organizations and events; and the Bibliography, which points the way to further reading.