In the first half of this century, a talented and charismatic leadership restructured the American Jewish community to meet the demands and opportunities of a pluralistic, secular society. The work of this generation of titans still guides the current modes of American Jewish life. The last of these giants was the influential reformer Stephen S. Wise--a progenitor of American Zionism, creator of the American and World Jewish Congresses, and founder of the Jewish Institute of Religion. As rabbi of the Free Synagogue, Wise led the fight for a living Judaism responsive to social problems. This engrossing study is more than a chronicle of an ethnic community's adjustment to a host society. Thanks to Melvin Urofsky's painstaking research, it succeeds in revealing the true story behind a legendary and controversial figure in American Jewish history.

A bold, lyrical collection of poems that highlight some of the most celebrated activists from around the world and throughout history. In the face of injustice, the world has always looked to brave individuals to speak up and spark change. Nelson Mandela used his voice to bring down Apartheid. Jane Goodall, Dian Fossey, and Birutè Galdikas gave a voice to the primates who couldn’t speak for themselves. The Women of Greenham Common used their collective voice to fight against preparations for nuclear war. And today’s youth—like Xiuhtezcatl Martinez, the students of Stoneman Douglas High School, and Greta Thunberg—unite their voices to stop gun violence, save the planet, and so much more. Through enlightening poems by award-winning poet and author George Ella Lyon and stunning portraits by artist Jennifer M. Potter, Voices of Justice introduces young readers to the groundbreaking work of people who fought—and continue to fight—to make the world a better place. Featuring those mentioned above along with Virginia Woolf, Dolores Huerta, Shirley Chisholm, Jasilyn Charger, Jeannette Rankin, and more, each portrait offers a vision of action and love that gets up and does something, no matter the forces ranged against it, no matter the odds.

Our Voices In The Noise of Hegemon

"In 1922, Rabbi Stephen S. Wise, a leader of the Zionist movement as well as many Progressive causes, established a non-denominational rabbinical seminary in New York City. Having already founded the thriving Free Synagogue movement and the American Jewish Congress, he now turned his energy toward opening the Jewish Institute of Religion (JIR) with the same ambitious aim: revolutionizing American liberal Judaism. He believed mainstream American Jewish institutions had become outdated, refusing to relinquish a nineteenth-century mindset. In championing the new Jewish nationalism and fighting alongside America's leading proponents of social and economic justice, Wise had developed a mass following. But he recognized that he alone could not bring about the change he sought; he needed a new cadre of young rabbis who shared his outlook and could spread his vision. We Shall Build Anew tells the little-known story of how Wise changed the trajectory of American Judaism for the next century. By opening the Jewish Institute of Religion, he began to train that new cadre of young rabbis, charged them with invigorating and reshaping Jewish life, and launched them into positions of leadership across the country. We Shall Build Anew explores Wise's vision for the Jewish Institute of Religion and the central role it would play in shaping twentieth-century American liberal Judaism. Conflict lies at the heart of this story. Wise faced hostility from across the denominational landscape, including attempts to quash the school before it ever opened. The national Reform leadership, weary of Wise's unceasing criticism and worried that a new rabbinical school would create competition for their own seminary, Hebrew Union College (HUC), opposed the endeavor. There were weaknesses in the JIR model and in Wise's leadership, too. Faculty fought bitterly, and the discord contributed to a constant rotation of scholars. Some eventually moved to more prestigious secular institutions, like Harvard and Columbia, which established the first two academic chairs in Jewish studies in the nation in the 1920s. And the students fought. From a wide range of backgrounds, they fiercely debated their Zionist, political, and cultural ideals. JIR also admitted several highly accomplished women, designated as "special students" who could sit in on classes but were barred entry into the rabbinical program. Despite years working on behalf of women's suffrage and civil rights, Wise would not be party to women's entry into the rabbinate. Finally, Wise's failure to generate a sustainable funding model created further instability for the school. Still, the JIR flourished and sent rabbis to congregations throughout the United States. JIR's non-denominationalism did not last, though. In the late 1940s, JIR's fiscal problems became insurmountable, and as Wise approached his death he reluctantly agreed to merge the Institute with Hebrew Union College, forfeiting the school's independence and bringing it under the umbrella of the Reform movement. And despite Wise's early aim to break down barriers between American Jewry's various factions, the Reform, Conservative and Reconstructionist movements continued to carve out separate identities. In the early 21st century, however, Wise's vision for liberal Judaism and non-denominationalism has gained traction, and distinctions between the non-Orthodox denominations have begun to collapse. Whether or not Wise's ideas about non-denominationalism will continue to flourish remains to be seen. But it is clear that his blend of Jewish nationalism and American progressivism, which made him and his congregation objects of contempt within the world they sought to change, took hold. Today, it is impossible to think of the Reform, Conservative and Reconstructionist movements without their core commitments to Zionism, Jewish peoplehood (now called klal yisrael), and social and economic justice (commonly referred to as tikkun olam). The story of We Shall Build Anew has greater importance now than ever. With Orthodox Jewry moving increasingly to the right on the political spectrum, and a growing number of secular Jews joining the left in challenging the legitimacy of Zionism and the idea of a Jewish state, the Conservative and Reconstructionist movements in the middle are grappling with significant contraction. This leaves the Reform movement, the most direct heir to Stephen S. Wise's legacy, as American Jewry's hub of resistance to the radical right, and a stronghold of support for progressive forces in Israel. In creating JIR, Stephen S. Wise acted on his convictions-and thanks to his prescience as well as his efforts, ultimately the American Jewish community came around to his ideas, fulfilling Wise's most ambitious goal: A reinvention of modern American liberal Judaism"--

This is not a book of antiracist theory but antiracist tactics – tactics that anyone, of any race, can use to strike a blow against injustice. Antiracism is not about what we feel but what we do, and there are specific techniques we can use to create a just world. Antiracist strategies are skills that can be learned just as we learn skills for public speaking or hitting a baseball. In these pages, you – whether a person of color or white – will find a playbook for leading your workplace, organization, or community through transformative change in the wake of an act of explicit racism. You’ll learn to play antiracist rhetorical chess, and to anticipate and effectively respond to the discursive moves of people who don’t understand bigotry, aren’t aware of it, are in denial of it, or even actively uphold it – so that you can advance justice goals. You’ll get a blueprint of how to dismantle systemic racism community by community, workplace by workplace, and organization by organization – and examples of what not to do. This book is aimed at people who are conscious of the reality of racism and want to end it but may not know how. It clearly shows how anyone can make an effective, significant, and measurable impact on racism through strategic action.

"The author shows how K-5 teachers can introduce the importance, discuss, and explore social justice practices for younger students"--

“This is a loving, sophisticated, illuminating, outstanding depiction of a brilliant intellectual/spiritual/moral leader who deserves just such a treatment. This book will serve as testimony and inspiration for the new generation... a tour de force articulation of a truly great life.” – Rabbi Irving (Yitz) Greenberg A comprehensive biography about the life and work of Rabbi Harold Shulweis who was essential in the renewal of Jewish life in post-war America. Harold Schulweis was a dominant figure in the renewal of Jewish life in the post-war generation of American Jewry. Widely regarded as the most successful and influential pulpit rabbi of his generation, he shaped an extraordinary career as pulpit rabbi, theologian, public intellectual, and communal leader. His innovations in synagogue practice reshaped congregations across the continent introducing synagogue-based havurot, “para-rabbinics” and para-professional counseling programs, outreach to alienated Jews and “unchurched” Christians, opening the traditional synagogue to gay and lesbian Jews and their families, and welcoming families of children with special needs. With Leonard Fein, Schulweis founded Mazon, the Jewish communal response to hunger. He launched The Foundation for the Righteous – recognizing Christians who rescued Jews during the Holocaust – an effort chronicled on the CBS news program “60 Minutes.” In the closing years of his career, he initiated the Jewish World Watch – a communal response to the incidence of genocide worldwide.

Expressly intended to demonstrate America's national progress toward utopia, the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago pointedly excluded the contributions of African Americans. For them, being left outside the gates of the "White City" merely underscored a more general exclusion from America's bright future. Exhibits at the fair were controlled by all-white committees, and those that acknowledged African Americans at all, such as the famous Aunt Jemima pancake exhibit, ridiculed and denigrated them. Many African Americans saw the racist policies of the World's Columbian Exposition as mirroring, framing, and reinforcing the larger horrors confronting blacks throughout the United States, where white supremacy meant segregation, second-class citizenship, and sometimes mob violence and lynching. In response to the politics of exclusion that governed the fair, and of its larger implications, several prominent African Americans resolved to publish a pamphlet that would catalog the achievements of African Americans since the abolition of slavery while articulating the persistent political economy of apartheid in the American South. The authors of this remarkable document included the antilynching crusader Ida B. Wells, the former slave and abolitionist Frederick Douglass, the educator Irvine Garland Penn, and the lawyer and newspaper publisher Ferdinand L. Barnett. An eloquent statement of protest and pride, The Reason Why the Colored American Is Not in the World's Columbian Exposition reminds us that struggles over cultural representation are nothing new in American life. Robert Rydell's introduction provides insight into the sometimes conflicting strategies employed by African Americans as they strove to represent themselves at a cultural event that was widely regarded as a defining moment in American history.

A beautiful commemorative edition of Dr. Martin Luther King's essay "Letter from Birmingham Jail," part of Dr. King's archives published exclusively by HarperCollins. With an afterword by Reginald Dwayne Betts On April 16, 1923, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., responded to an open letter written and published by eight white clergyman admonishing the civil rights demonstrations happening in Birmingham, Alabama. Dr. King drafted his seminal response on scraps of paper smuggled into jail. King criticizes his detractors for caring more about order than justice, defends nonviolent protests, and argues for the moral responsibility to obey just laws while disobeying unjust ones. "Letter from Birmingham Jail" proclaims a message - confronting any injustice is an acceptable and righteous reason for civil disobedience. This beautifully designed edition presents Dr. King's speech in its entirety, paying tribute to this extraordinary leader and his immeasurable contribution, and inspiring a new generation of activists dedicated to carrying on the fight for justice and equality.

With this book, Cheryl Hicks brings to light the voices and viewpoints of black working-class women, especially southern migrants, who were the subjects of urban and penal reform in early twentieth-century New York. Hicks compares the ideals of racial upl