Being Jewish In America

Author : Jonathan Weisman
Publisher : Macmillan + ORM
Page : 170 pages
File Size : 50,6 Mb
Release : 2018-03-20
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9781250169945

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(((Semitism))) by Jonathan Weisman Pdf

In the wake of Donald Trump's election and the Pittsburgh synagogue massacre, (((Semitism))) is a powerful book that examines how we can fight anti-Semitism in America A San Francisco Chronicle Reader Recommendation The Washington Post: "Timely...[A] passionate call to arms." Jewish Book Council: "Could not be more important or timely." Bernard-Henri Lévy: "It would be wonderful if anti-Semitism was a European specialty and stopped at the border with the United States. Alas, this is not the case. Jonathan Weisman’s new book (((Semitism))) shows why..." Michael Eric Dyson: "With eloquence and poignancy Weisman shows how hatred can slowly and quietly chew away at the moral fabric of society. We now live in an age where more than ever bigotry and oppression no longer need to hide in fear of reproach. The floodgates have opened. This is much more than a personal response to the bigotry he experienced because of his Jewishness; Weisman has written a manifesto that outlines the dangers of marginalizing and demonizing all minority groups. This powerful book is for all of us." Anti-Semitism has always been present in American culture, but with the rise of the Alt Right and an uptick of threats to Jewish communities since Trump took office, including the the Pittsburgh synagogue massacre, New York Times editor Jonathan Weisman has produced a book that could not be more important or timely. When Weisman was attacked on Twitter by a wave of neo-Nazis and anti-Semites, witnessing tropes such as the Jew as a leftist anarchist; as a rapacious, Wall Street profiteer; and as a money-bags financier orchestrating war for Israel, he stopped to wonder: How has the Jewish experience changed, especially under a leader like Donald Trump? In (((Semitism))), Weisman explores the disconnect between his own sense of Jewish identity and the expectations of his detractors and supporters. He delves into the rise of the Alt Right, their roots in older anti-Semitic organizations, the odd ancientness of their grievances—cloaked as they are in contemporary, techy hipsterism—and their aims—to spread hate in a palatable way through a political structure that has so suddenly become tolerant of their views. He concludes with what we should do next, realizing that vicious as it is, anti-Semitism must be seen through the lens of more pressing threats. He proposes a unification of American Judaism around the defense of self and of others even more vulnerable: the undocumented immigrants, refugees, Muslim Americans, and black activists who have been directly targeted, not just by the tolerated Alt Right, but by the Trump White House itself.

Author : Arthur Hertzberg
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 324 pages
File Size : 40,6 Mb
Release : 1979
Category : Antisemitism
ISBN : UOM:39015050400368

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Being Jewish in America by Arthur Hertzberg Pdf

Author : Jonathan D. Sarna
Publisher : Yale University Press
Page : 558 pages
File Size : 52,9 Mb
Release : 2019-06-25
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9780300190397

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American Judaism by Jonathan D. Sarna Pdf

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

Author : Sara Bershtel,Allen Graubard
Publisher : Univ of California Press
Page : 356 pages
File Size : 54,7 Mb
Release : 1993-01-01
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 0520085124

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Saving Remnants by Sara Bershtel,Allen Graubard Pdf

"Saving Remnants provides a series of honest and clear-minded portraits of young American Jews trying to confront what it means to be Jewish."--Irving Howe, author of World of Our Fathers "You don't have to be Jewish to be fascinated and challenged by this sensitive, profoundly intelligent book. Saving Remnants is about Jewishness, but it is also about all of us, searching for 'identity' on a menu that includes New Age epiphanies along with old-time religions and instant 'traditions.'"--Barbara Ehrenreich, author of Fear of Falling

Author : Abigail Pogrebin
Publisher : Crown
Page : 400 pages
File Size : 55,8 Mb
Release : 2007-12-18
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9780307419323

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Stars of David by Abigail Pogrebin Pdf

Sixty-two of the most accomplished Jews in America speak intimately—most for the first time—about how they feel about being Jewish. In unusually candid interviews conducted by former 60 Minutes producer Abigail Pogrebin, celebrities ranging from Sarah Jessica Parker to Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, from Larry King to Mike Nichols, reveal how resonant, crucial or incidental being Jewish is in their lives. The connections they have to their Jewish heritage range from hours in synagogue to bagels and lox; but every person speaks to the weight and pride of their Jewish history, the burdens and pleasures of observance, the moments they’ve felt most Jewish (or not). This book of vivid, personal conversations uncovers how being Jewish fits into a public life, and also how the author’s evolving religious identity was changed by what she heard. · Dustin Hoffman, Steven Spielberg, Gene Wilder, Joan Rivers, and Leonard Nimoy talk about their startling encounters with anti-Semitism. · Kenneth Cole, Eliot Spitzer, and Ronald Perelman explore the challenges of intermarriage. · Mike Wallace, Richard Dreyfuss, and Ruth Reichl express attitudes toward Israel that vary from unquestioning loyalty to complicated ambivalence. · William Kristol scoffs at the notion that Jewish values are incompatible with Conservative politics. · Alan Dershowitz, raised Orthodox, talks about why he gave up morning prayer. · Shawn Green describes the pressure that comes with being baseball’s Jewish star. · Natalie Portman questions the ostentatious bat mitzvahs of her hometown. · Tony Kushner explains how being Jewish prepared him for being gay. · Leon Wieseltier throws down the gauntlet to Jews who haven’t taken the trouble to study Judaism. These are just a few key moments from many poignant, often surprising, conversations with public figures whom most of us thought we already knew. “When my mother got her nose job, she wanted me to get one, too. She said I would be happier.”—Dustin Hoffman “It’s a heritage to be proud of. And then, too, it’s something that you can’t escape because the world won’t let you; so it’s a good thing you can be proud of it.” —Ruth Bader Ginsburg “My wife [Kate Capshaw] chose to do a full conversion before we were married in 1991, and she married me as a Jew. I think that, more than anything else, brought me back to Judaism.”—Steven Spielberg “As someone who was born in Israel, you’re put in a position of defending Israel because you know how much is at stake.”—Natalie Portman

Author : Eric L. Goldstein
Publisher : Princeton University Press
Page : 319 pages
File Size : 40,5 Mb
Release : 2019-12-31
Category : History
ISBN : 9780691207285

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The Price of Whiteness by Eric L. Goldstein Pdf

What has it meant to be Jewish in a nation preoccupied with the categories of black and white? The Price of Whiteness documents the uneasy place Jews have held in America's racial culture since the late nineteenth century. The book traces Jews' often tumultuous encounter with race from the 1870s through World War II, when they became vested as part of America's white mainstream and abandoned the practice of describing themselves in racial terms. American Jewish history is often told as a story of quick and successful adaptation, but Goldstein demonstrates how the process of identifying as white Americans was an ambivalent one, filled with hard choices and conflicting emotions for Jewish immigrants and their children. Jews enjoyed a much greater level of social inclusion than African Americans, but their membership in white America was frequently made contingent on their conformity to prevailing racial mores and on the eradication of their perceived racial distinctiveness. While Jews consistently sought acceptance as whites, their tendency to express their own group bonds through the language of "race" led to deep misgivings about what was required of them. Today, despite the great success Jews enjoy in the United States, they still struggle with the constraints of America's black-white dichotomy. The Price of Whiteness concludes that while Jews' status as white has opened many doors for them, it has also placed limits on their ability to assert themselves as a group apart.

Author : Robert H Mnookin
Publisher : Hachette UK
Page : 320 pages
File Size : 55,8 Mb
Release : 2018-11-27
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9781610397520

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The Jewish American Paradox by Robert H Mnookin Pdf

Who should count as Jewish in America? What should be the relationship of American Jews to Israel? Can the American Jewish community collectively sustain and pass on to the next generation a sufficient sense of Jewish identity? The situation of American Jews today is deeply paradoxical. Jews have achieved unprecedented integration, influence, and esteem in virtually every facet of American life. But this extraordinarily diverse community now also faces four critical and often divisive challenges: rampant intermarriage, weak religious observance, diminished cohesion in the face of waning anti-Semitism, and deeply conflicting views about Israel. Can the American Jewish community collectively sustain and pass on to the next generation a sufficient sense of Jewish identity in light of these challenges? Who should count as Jewish in America? What should be the relationship of American Jews to Israel? In this thoughtful and perceptive book, Robert H. Mnookin argues that the answers of the past no longer serve American Jews today. The book boldly promotes a radically inclusive American-Jewish community -- one where being Jewish can depend on personal choice and public self-identification, not simply birth or formal religious conversion. Instead of preventing intermarriage or ostracizing those critical of Israel, he envisions a community that embraces diversity and debate, and in so doing, preserves and strengthens the Jewish identity into the next generation and beyond.

Author : Ari L. Goldman
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
Page : 288 pages
File Size : 52,8 Mb
Release : 2007-10-02
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9781416536024

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Being Jewish by Ari L. Goldman Pdf

Discussing the tenets and practice of Judaism from both a contemporary and a historical perspective, a comprehensive and insightful exploration of the nature of Judaism, its spiritual heritage, and its rituals offers a non-ideological framework for its viewpoint. Reprint. 17,500 first printing.

Author : Beth S. Wenger
Publisher : Doubleday Books
Page : 400 pages
File Size : 46,6 Mb
Release : 2007
Category : History
ISBN : 9780385521390

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The Jewish Americans by Beth S. Wenger Pdf

Recounts the story of Jews in America, from the mid-seventeenth century to the present day, examining the contributions of the Jewish people to American culture, politics, and society.

Author : Samuel C. Heilman
Publisher : University of Washington Press
Page : 210 pages
File Size : 41,9 Mb
Release : 2011-07-01
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9780295800653

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Portrait of American Jews by Samuel C. Heilman Pdf

Has America been a place that has preserved and protected Jewish life? Is it a place in which a Jewish future is ensured? Samuel Heilman, long-time observer of American Jewish life, grapples with these questions from a sociologist’s perspective. He argues that the same conditions that have allowed Jews to live in relative security since the 1950s have also presented them with a greater challenge than did the adversity and upheaval of earlier years. The second half of the twentieth century has been a time when American Jews have experienced a minimum of prejudice and almost all domains of life have been accessible to them, but it has also been a time of assimilation, of swelling rates of intermarriage, and of large numbers ignoring their Jewishness completely. Jews have no trouble building synagogues, but they have all sorts of trouble filling them. The quality of Jewish education is perhaps higher than ever before, and the output of Jewish scholarship is overwhelming in its scope and quality, but most American Jews receive a minimum of religious education and can neither read nor comprehend the great corpus of Jewish literature in its Hebrew (or Aramaic) original. This is a time in America when there is no shame in being a Jew, and yet fewer American Jews seem to know what being a Jew means. How did this come to be? What does it portend for the Jewish future? This book endeavors to answer these questions by examining data gleaned from numerous sociological surveys. Heilman first discusses the decade of the fifties and the American Jewish quest for normalcy and mobility. He then details the polarization of American Jewry into active and passive elements in the sixties and seventies. Finally he looks at the eighties and nineties and the issues of Jewish survival and identity and the question of a Jewish future in America. He also considers generational variation, residential and marital patterns, institutional development (especially with regard to Jewish education), and Jewish political power and influence. This book is part of a stocktaking that has been occurring among Jews as the century in which their residence in America was firmly established comes to an end. Grounded in empirical detail, it provides a concise yet analytic evaluation of the meaning of the many studies and surveys of the last four and a half decades. Taking a long view of American Jewry, it is one of very few books that build on specific sociological data but get beyond its detail. All those who want to know what it means and has meant to be an American Jew will find this volume of interest.

Author : Jonathan D. Sarna,Adam Mendelsohn
Publisher : NYU Press
Page : 446 pages
File Size : 42,6 Mb
Release : 2011-09
Category : History
ISBN : 9780814771136

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Jews and the Civil War by Jonathan D. Sarna,Adam Mendelsohn Pdf

"An erotic scandal chronicle so popular it became a byword... Expertly tailored for contemporary readers. It combines scurrilous attacks on the social and political celebritites of the day, disguised just enough to exercise titillating speculatuion, with luscious erotic tales." —Belles Lettres This story concerns the return of to earth of the goddess of Justice, Astrea, to gather information about private and public behavior on the island of Atalantis. Manley drew on her experience as well as on an obsessive observation of her milieu to produce this fast paced narrative of political and erotic intrigue.

Author : Shaul Magid
Publisher : Indiana University Press
Page : 407 pages
File Size : 51,6 Mb
Release : 2013-04-09
Category : History
ISBN : 9780253008022

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American Post-Judaism by Shaul Magid Pdf

Articulates a new, post-ethnic American Jewishness

Author : Sara Blair,Jonathan Freedman
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 308 pages
File Size : 48,6 Mb
Release : 2004
Category : Art
ISBN : UOM:39015061864651

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Jewish in America by Sara Blair,Jonathan Freedman Pdf

A searching collection of perspectives on what it means to be Jewish in America

Author : Karen Brodkin
Publisher : Rutgers University Press
Page : 264 pages
File Size : 48,5 Mb
Release : 1998
Category : History
ISBN : 081352590X

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How Jews Became White Folks and what that Says about Race in America by Karen Brodkin Pdf

Recounts how Jews assimilated into, and became accepted by, mainstream white society in the later twentieth century, as they lost their working-class orientation.

Author : Bari Weiss
Publisher : Crown
Page : 226 pages
File Size : 47,9 Mb
Release : 2019-09-10
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9780593136058

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How to Fight Anti-Semitism by Bari Weiss Pdf

WINNER OF THE NATIONAL JEWISH BOOK AWARD • The prescient founder of The Free Press delivers an urgent wake-up call to all Americans exposing the alarming rise of anti-Semitism in this country—and explains what we can do to defeat it. “A praiseworthy and concise brief against modern-day anti-Semitism.”—The New York Times On October 27, 2018, eleven Jews were gunned down as they prayed at their synagogue in Pittsburgh. It was the deadliest attack on Jews in American history. For most Americans, the massacre at Tree of Life, the synagogue where Bari Weiss became a bat mitzvah, came as a shock. But anti-Semitism is the oldest hatred, commonplace across the Middle East and on the rise for years in Europe. So that terrible morning in Pittsburgh, as well as the continued surge of hate crimes against Jews in cities and towns across the country, raise a question Americans cannot avoid: Could it happen here? This book is Weiss’s answer. Like many, Weiss long believed this country could escape the rising tide of anti-Semitism. With its promise of free speech and religion, its insistence that all people are created equal, its tolerance for difference, and its emphasis on shared ideals rather than bloodlines, America has been, even with all its flaws, a new Jerusalem for the Jewish people. But now the luckiest Jews in history are beginning to face a three-headed dragon known all too well to Jews of other times and places: the physical fear of violent assault, the moral fear of ideological vilification, and the political fear of resurgent fascism and populism. No longer the exclusive province of the far right, the far left, and assorted religious bigots, anti-Semitism now finds a home in identity politics as well as the reaction against identity politics, in the renewal of America First isolationism and the rise of one-world socialism, and in the spread of Islamist ideas into unlikely places. A hatred that was, until recently, reliably taboo is migrating toward the mainstream, amplified by social media and a culture of conspiracy that threatens us all. Weiss is one of our most provocative writers, and her cri de coeur makes a powerful case for renewing Jewish and American values in this uncertain moment. Not just for the sake of America’s Jews, but for the sake of America.