American Jewry and the Holocaust

American Jewry and the Holocaust
Author :
Publisher : Wayne State University Press
Total Pages : 296
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9780814343470
ISBN-13 : 0814343473
Rating : 4/5 (70 Downloads)

Synopsis American Jewry and the Holocaust by : Yehuda Bauer

In this volume Yehuda Bauer describes the efforts made to aid European victims of World War II by the New York-based American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee. In this volume Yehudi Bauer describes the efforts made to aid European victims of World War II by the New York-based American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, American Jewry's chief representative abroad. Drawing on the mass of unpublished material in the JDC archives and other repositories, as well as on his thorough knowledge of recent and continuing research into the Holocaust, he focuses alternately on the personalities and institutional decisions in New York and their effects on the JDC workers and their rescue efforts in Europe. He balances personal stories with a country-by-country account of the fate of Jews through ought the war years: the grim statistics of millions deported and killed are set in the context of the hopes and frustrations of the heroic individuals and small groups who actively worked to prevent the Nazis' Final Solution. This study is essential reading for anyone who seeks to understand the American Jewish response to European events from 1939 to 1945. Bauer confronts the tremendous moral and historical questions arising from JDC's activities. How great was the danger? Who should be saved first? Was it justified to use illegal or extralegal means? What country would accept Jewish refugees? His analysis also raises an issue which perhaps can never be answered: could American Jews have done more if they had grasped the reality of the Holocaust?

American Jewry

American Jewry
Author :
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Total Pages : 357
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9780521196086
ISBN-13 : 0521196086
Rating : 4/5 (86 Downloads)

Synopsis American Jewry by : Eli Lederhendler

In the United States, Jews have bridged minority and majority cultures - their history illustrates the diversity of the American experience.

American Judaism

American Judaism
Author :
Publisher : Yale University Press
Total Pages : 558
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9780300190397
ISBN-13 : 0300190395
Rating : 4/5 (97 Downloads)

Synopsis American Judaism by : Jonathan D. Sarna

Jonathan D. Sarna's award-winning American Judaism is now available in an updated and revised edition that summarizes recent scholarship and takes into account important historical, cultural, and political developments in American Judaism over the past fifteen years. Praise for the first edition: "Sarna . . . has written the first systematic, comprehensive, and coherent history of Judaism in America; one so well executed, it is likely to set the standard for the next fifty years."--Jacob Neusner, Jerusalem Post "A masterful overview."--Jeffrey S. Gurock, American Historical Review "This book is destined to be the new classic of American Jewish history."--Norman H. Finkelstein, Jewish Book World Winner of the 2004 National Jewish Book Award/Jewish Book of the Year

Jew Vs. Jew

Jew Vs. Jew
Author :
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
Total Pages : 404
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9780684859453
ISBN-13 : 0684859459
Rating : 4/5 (53 Downloads)

Synopsis Jew Vs. Jew by : Samuel G. Freedman

At a time when Jews in the United States appear more secure and successful than ever, Freedman maintains that cultural and religious differences are tearing apart their community.

The Soul of Judaism

The Soul of Judaism
Author :
Publisher : NYU Press
Total Pages : 269
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9781479811236
ISBN-13 : 1479811238
Rating : 4/5 (36 Downloads)

Synopsis The Soul of Judaism by : Bruce D. Haynes

Explores the full diversity of Black Jews, including bi-racial Jews of both matrilineal and patrilineal descent; adoptees; black converts to Judaism; and Black Hebrews and Israelites, who trace their Jewish roots to Africa and challenge the dominant western paradigm of Jews as white and of European descent. The book showcases the lives of Black Jews, demonstrating that racial ascription has been shaping Jewish selfhood for centuries. It reassesses the boundaries between race and ethnicity, offering insight into how ethnicity can be understood only in relation to racialization and the one-drop rule. Within this context, Black Jewish individuals strive to assert their dual identities and find acceptance within their communities. Putting to rest the notion that Jews are white and the Black Jews are therefore a contradiction, the volume argues that we cannot pigeonhole Black Hebrews and Israelites as exotic, militant, and nationalistic sects outside the boundaries of mainstream Jewish thought and community life. it spurs us to consider the significance of the growing population of self-identified Black Jews and its implications for the future of American Jewry.

We Stand Divided

We Stand Divided
Author :
Publisher : HarperCollins
Total Pages : 322
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9780062873712
ISBN-13 : 0062873717
Rating : 4/5 (12 Downloads)

Synopsis We Stand Divided by : Daniel Gordis

From National Jewish Book Award Winner and author of Israel, a bold reevaluation of the tensions between American and Israeli Jews that reimagines the past, present, and future of Jewish life Relations between the American Jewish community and Israel are at an all-time nadir. Since Israel’s founding seventy years ago, particularly as memory of the Holocaust and of Israel’s early vulnerability has receded, the divide has grown only wider. Most explanations pin the blame on Israel’s handling of its conflict with the Palestinians, Israel’s attitude toward non-Orthodox Judaism, and Israel’s dismissive attitude toward American Jews in general. In short, the cause for the rupture is not what Israel is; it’s what Israel does. These explanations tell only half the story. We Stand Divided examines the history of the troubled relationship, showing that from the outset, the founders of what are now the world’s two largest Jewish communities were responding to different threats and opportunities, and had very different ideas of how to guarantee a Jewish future. With an even hand, Daniel Gordis takes us beyond the headlines and explains how Israel and America have fundamentally different ideas about issues ranging from democracy and history to religion and identity. He argues that as a first step to healing the breach, the two communities must acknowledge and discuss their profound differences and moral commitments. Only then can they forge a path forward, together.

American Jewish Desk Reference

American Jewish Desk Reference
Author :
Publisher : Random House Reference
Total Pages : 664
Release :
ISBN-10 : UOM:39015049668927
ISBN-13 :
Rating : 4/5 (27 Downloads)

Synopsis American Jewish Desk Reference by : American Jewish Historical Society

This all-encompassing reference book covers virtually every subject pertaining to Jews in the United States. The sheer volume of information on the subjects and people relative to the Jewish experience in the United States is what makes this book so impressive. Arranged by subject -- from Feminism, Intermarriage and Conversion, Rituals and Celebrations, Business, Education, and Sports to Art and Entertainment -- chapters include A-Z and chronological listings of events, people, and more.Included in this book are descriptions of the many noteworthy Jewish Americans who had a profound effect on our country, including Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Harvey Milk, Calvin Klein, Peggy Guggenheim, Mark Rothko, Woody Allen and Gloria Steinem, just to name a few. This book brings together the issues and figures of contemporary Judaism in the United States in an adult manner unlike any other reference book of its kind.

Jews and the New American Scene

Jews and the New American Scene
Author :
Publisher :
Total Pages : 256
Release :
ISBN-10 : 0674424433
ISBN-13 : 9780674424432
Rating : 4/5 (33 Downloads)

Synopsis Jews and the New American Scene by : Seymour Martin Lipset

Will American Jews survive their success? Or will the United States' uniquely hospitable environment lead inexorably to their assimilation and loss of cultural identity? This is the conundrum that Seymour Lipset and Earl Raab explore in their wise and learned book about the American Jewish experience. Jews, perhaps more than any ethnic or religious minority that has immigrated to these shores, have benefited from the country's openness, egalitarianism, and social heterogeneity. This unusually good fit, the authors argue, has as much to do with the exceptionalism of the Jewish people as with that of America. But acceptance for all ancestral groups has its downside: integration into the mainstream erodes their defining features, diluting the loyalties that sustain their members. The authors vividly illustrate this paradox as it is experienced by American Jews today--in their high rates of intermarriage, their waning observance of religious rites, their extraordinary academic and professional success, their commitment to liberalism in domestic politics, and their steadfast defense of Israel. Yet Jews view these trends with a sense of foreboding: "We feel very comfortable in America--but anti-Semitism is a serious problem"; "We would be desolate if Israel were lost--but we don't feel as close to that country as we used to"; "More of our youth are seeking some serious form of Jewish affirmation and involvement--but more of them are slipping away from Jewish life." These are the contradictions tormenting American Jews as they struggle anew with the never-dying problem of Jewish continuity. A graceful and immensely readable work, Jews and the New American Scene provides a remarkable range of scholarship, anecdote, and statistical research--the clearest, most up-to-date account available of the dilemma facing American Jews in their third century of citizenship.

The Foundations of American Jewish Liberalism

The Foundations of American Jewish Liberalism
Author :
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Total Pages : 273
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9781108497893
ISBN-13 : 1108497896
Rating : 4/5 (93 Downloads)

Synopsis The Foundations of American Jewish Liberalism by : Kenneth D. Wald

Shows how American Jews developed a liberal political culture that has influenced their political priorities from the founding to today.

Jews in American Politics

Jews in American Politics
Author :
Publisher : Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages : 388
Release :
ISBN-10 : 0742528804
ISBN-13 : 9780742528802
Rating : 4/5 (04 Downloads)

Synopsis Jews in American Politics by : Louis Sandy Maisel

Joseph Lieberman's Vice Presidential nomination and Presidential candidacy are neither the first nor last words on signal Jewish achievements in American politics. Jews have played an important role in American government since the early 1800s at least, and in view of the 2004 election, there is no political office outside the reach of Jewish American citizens. For the first time, Jews in American Politics: Essays brings together a complete picture of the past, present, and future of Jewish political participation. Perfect for students and scholars alike, this monumental work includes thoughtful and original chapters by leading journalists, scholars, and practitioners. Topics range from Jewish leadership and identity; to Jews in Congress, on the Supreme Court, and in presidential administrations; and on to Jewish influence in the media, the lobbies, and in other arenas in which American government operates powerfully, if informally. In addition to the thematically unified essays, Jews in American Politics: Essays concludes with an invaluable roster of Jews in key governmental positions from Ambassadorships and Cabinet posts to federal judges, state governors, and mayors of major cities. Both analytical and anecdotal, the essays in Jews in American Politics offer deep insight into serious questions about the dilemmas that Jews in public service face, as well as humorous sidelights and authoritative reference materials never before collected in one source. The story of the rich tradition of Jewish participation in American political life provides an indispensable resource for any serious follower of American politics, especially in election year 2004.