Syllabi

 

American Jewish Diversity: The Jews Who Weren’t There

 

Dr. Aviva Ben-Ur
University of Massachusetts at Amherst
Spring 2007

Overview

The term “diversity” in the United States has come to refer to the varieties of race, culture, ethnic origin, gender identity, sexual orientation, mental and physical ableness, and lifestyle. Despite monolithic images of Jews in the contemporary media and in most studies of the Jewish community, Jews in America/the United States, depending on the time period, have embodied diversity in all of these aspects. This course focuses on the “Jews who weren’t there”—the variants of the American Jewish experience that are not commonly part of scholarly narratives or communal self-images.

Starting with the year 1654, and moving chronologically through time, we will explore self- and ascriptive Jewish identity through the three often overlapping lenses of religion, ethnicity, and race. Themes include Jewish identity as white, Asian, African, Arab, Hispanic, non-white, and “other;” American Jewish efforts since the 1880s to secure “white status;” and inter- and intra-ethnic relations, particularly Ashkenazic/Sephardic, Jewish/Black; Jewish/Hispanic, and Jewish/Arab. During the second half of the course we will consider Jews vis-à-vis such themes as the blurring of Jewish religious boundaries (e.g. Jews for Jesus; Messianic Jews; “half Jews”), sexual orientation (e.g. homosexuality; bisexuality; transgender; transsexuality; sexual neutrality), and economic and occupational diversity (e.g. lower-class Jews; Jews as sex workers). This course will combine historical with sociological approaches and will stress the reading and analysis of primary texts. Among the principle questions are: What is the place of the American Jewish community within the panoply of U.S. diversity? Is American Jewish diversity distinctive, or is it derivitive of surrounding environments? How has diversity compelled the American Jewish community to redefine itself and stretch its boundaries of inclusion?


This course is taught principally as a history course and will focus on the reading and analysis of primary documents that shed light on the past and change over time as this relates to self- and ascriptive Jewish identity through the three often overlapping lenses of religion, ethnicity, and race. Students will learn to appreciate that the present is intimately connected to the past through a series of historical concatenations.

 

Recommended Texts

“The Jewish People I” and/or “The Jewish People II” are recommended as preparatory background.
For those seeking a basic understanding of the Jewish religion, recommended reading is Rabbi Milton Steinberg’s Basic Judaism (the essential book for both Jews and non-Jews eager to know more about one of the world’s great religions) (San Diego, New York, London: Harcourt Brace & Company, 1975).

Required Texts

Bornstein, Kate. Gender Outlaw: On Men, Women, and the Rest of Us (New York: Vintage Books, 1995). (KB)

Kamenetz, Rodger. The Jew in the Lotus: A Poet’s Rediscovery of Jewish Identity in Buddhist India (San Francisco, CA: Harper, 1994). (RK)

Kaufmann Tobin, Diane, Gary A. Tobin, Scott Rubin. In Every Tongue: The Racial and Ethnic Diverity of the Jewish People (San Francisco, CA: Institute for Jewish and Community Research, 2005). (DKT)

Leventhal Walker, Rebecca. Black, White, and Jewish: Autobiography of a Shifting Self (The Putnam Publishing Group, 2000). (RLW)

Marshall, Jack. From Baghdad to Brooklyn: Growing up in a Jewish-Arabic Family in Midcentury America: a Memoir (Minneapolis: Coffee House Press, 2005). (JM)

Ben-Ur, Aviva. Electronic Course Page for “New Views on the Jews (American Jewish Diversity).”

Introduction to the Course

Lecture on Judaism as a religion, a people, and a civilization intimately connected to God, the Land of Israel, and the study of religious texts. No advanced preparation necessary.

Optional: “Judaism.” Encyclopaedia Judaica, pp.383-387 and pp.394-396

Defining Jewishness: Western Sephardim (1654-1825)

read articles in this order:
Noah, Mordecai Manuel (1785-1851). “Zipra Nunez's Account of the Family's Escape,” in Diane Matza, ed., Sephardic-American Voices: Two Hundred Years of a Literary Legacy (Waltham, Mass.: Brandeis University Press, 1997), 23-24.

The Congregation Shearith Israel (corporate author), To Henry Pereira Mendes: Minister Emeritus (New York: privately published, 1927).

Maoz, Jason, “The Sephardic Experience in America,” The Jewish Press (December 19, 1997): 42.

Jews as Germans (1825-1880)

Visit this page: http://www.gf.org/gugg_fam.html

Davis, John H. Read in this order: “Introduction;” “Prologue;” “Out of the Ghetto;” “The Haven City;” “Roasted Pigeons;” and “Bonanza;” in The Guggenheims: An American Epic (New York: Morrow, 1978), 11-14 and 21-64.

Jews as Eastern Europeans (1880-1924)

Yezierska, Anzia (1880?-1970), “Introduction,” pp.vii-xii; “How I Found America,” pp.108-127; and “American and I,” pp.144-153, in Anzia Yezierska, How I Found America (New York: Persea Books, 1991).

My Daughter the Prostitute: An Immigrant Vice?

Pinzer, Maimie (pseudyonym). The Maimie Papers: Letters from an Ex-Prostitute (New York: Feminist Press, 1997), xiii-xliv and 1-18

Optional: Rosen, Ruth. Chapter 6, “The Subculture of Prostitution,” in The Lost Sisterhood: Prostitution in America, 1900-1918 (Baltimore and London: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1982), 86-111.

Striving to be White

Michael Lerner, “Jews are not White,” Village Voice 38 (May 18, 1993): 33-34.

Goldstein, Eric L. The Price of Whiteness: Jews, Race, and American Identity (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2006), 209-239.

Jews as Hispanics/Latinos

“Clara,” Letter to the Editor; response by [Maurice S. Nessim, probably author]. La Bos del Pueblo [formerly, El Progreso] (26 May 1916): 6.

"Postemas de Mujer" ("Pet Peeves of a Woman"). An advice column by Bula Satula (Pseudonym of Moise B. Soulam), in La Vara ("The Staff," New York) November 30, 1928.

Perera, Victor. “The IQ and I: My Adventures Near the Bottom of the Bell Curve,” in Diane Matza, ed., Sephardic-American Voices: Two Hundred Years of a Literary Legacy (Waltham, Mass.: Brandeis University Press, 1997), pp.106-116.

The Crypto-Jewish Movement of the Hispanic Southwest

Neulander, Judith. “Crypto-Jews of the Southwest: An Imagined Community,” Jewish Folklore and Ethnology Review 16:1 (1994): 64-68.

Gradwohl. David Mayer. “On Vestiges and Identities: Some Thoughts on the Controversy Concerning ‘Crypto-Jews’ in the American Southwest” and letters to editor. In Jewish Folklore and Ethnology Review 18: 1-2 (1996): 83-87.

Angel, Marc Dwight. “Crypto-Jews Should Meet Halakhic Standards,” in Hayyim J. Angel, ed., Speaking Good, Speaking Peace: Collected Essays of Rabbi Marc D. Angel (Hoboken, N.J.: Ktav, 1994), 275-78; originally published in the Jewish Week (May 24-30, 1991).

Jews as Asians

“The Chosen People;” “Don't Ask, Just Eat;” “Chinese Are Jews Too,” “Writing Chinese-Americanness in Jewish;” in New Voices (November 2001). This entire issue is devoted to the Jews and the Chinese. Visit: http://newvoices.org

Zhou Xun. “Jews in Chinese Culture: Representations and Realities,” in Jewries at the Frontier: Accommodation, Identity, Conflict (University of Illinois Press, Urbana & Chicago, 1999), pp.224-39.

Jews as African Americans

Werner J. Chalman, “The Interracial Jewish Children,” Reconstructionist 33:8 (1967): 7-12.

Inge Lederer Gibel, “Intermarriage,” Response 14:4 (1985); 53-65.

Inge Lederer Gibel. “The Negro-Jewish Scene: A Personal View,” Judaism 14:1 (Winter 1965), 12-21.

Azoulay, Katya Gibel. “Jewishness After Mount Sinai: Jews, Blacks and the (Multi)racial Category,” Bridges 9:1 (2000): 31-45.

Memoirs by African American Jews

Rebecca Leventhal Walker, Black, White, and Jewish: Autobiography of a Shifting Self (The Putnam Publishing Group, 2000). (RLW)

Optional: Rain Pryor, Jokes My Father Never Told Me: Life, Love, and Loss with Richard Pryor (Regan Books, 2006).

Optional: Rain Pryor, “Fried Chicken and Latkes” (2004). This is an audio-visual source.

Jews as Arab Americans

Marshall, Jack, From Baghdad to Brooklyn: Growing up in a Jewish-Arabic Family in Midcentury America: a Memoir (Minneapolis: Coffee House Press, 2005). (JM)

Optional: Dahbany-Miraglia, Dina. “American Yemenite Jews: Interethnic Strategies,” in Walter P. Zenner, ed., Persistence & Flexibility: Anthropological Perspectives on the American Jewish Experience (New York: State University of New York Press), pp.63-78

Unexpected Places: Midwestern and Southern Jews

Film to be viewed in class: “Yidl in the Middle: Growing Up Jewish in Iowa.” Produced by Marlene Booth. 56 minutes. New Day Films, 1999.

optional: “Shalom y’all”: the documentary film (New Orleans, La.): Shalom Y’all Films, 2002.

“Divisible Jewishness”

Jacoby, Susan. Half-Jew: A Daughter’s Search for her Family’s Buried Past (New York: Scribner, 2000), 21-36 and 263-73 (through the middle of the page).

Michael Lukas, “Is being “half-Jewish” the wave of the future?,” New Voices (April 2002).Visit: http://newvoices.org

Jews and/as Christians: Jews for Jesus, Messianic Jews, and the Question of Inclusion

Film to be viewed in class: “Brother Born Again,” directed by Julia Pimsleur. A Big Mouth Productions Film, 2000. 57 minutes.

Cohn-Sherbok, Dan. Messianic Judaism (London, New York: Cassell, 2000), ix-xiii; 88; 169-190.

Leaving the Fold: Jews in New Religions and Sects

Selengut, Charles. “American Jewish Converts to New Religious Movements,” The Jewish Journal of Sociology 30:2 (December 1988): 95-109.

Shea Hecht. Confessions of a Jewish Cultbuster (Brooklyn: Tosefos Media, 1985), 20-32 and 47-55.

Gilbert Kollin. “Perversity,” Jewish Spectator 44 (1979): 61-62.

The Jewish Search in Buddhism: Rodger Kamenetz and the “BuJews”

Kamenetz, Rodger. The Jew in the Lotus: A Poet’s Rediscovery of Jewish Identity in Buddhist India (San Francisco, CA: Harper, 1994). (RK)

Excerpts to be viewed in class: “The Jew in the Lotus” (Waban, MA: Blind Dog Films, 1998). Produced and directed by Laurel Chiten; written by Rodger Kamenetz. 59 minutes.

Homosexuality as Cultural Identity

Clip to be viewed in class: “Trembling Before God.”

Alpert, Rebecca Trachtenberg. Like Bread on the Seder Plate: Jewish Lesbians and the Transformation of Tradition (New York: Columbia University Press, 1997), 133-150.

Zeidman, Reena. “Marginal Discourse: Lesbianism in Jewish Law,” Women in Judaism: A Multidisciplinary Journal 1: 1 (1997). Article available online at: http://www.utoronto.ca/wjudaism/journal/journal_index7.html

Optional: On the recent decision by the Jewish Theological Seminary (representing the Conservative movement of Judaism in the U.S.) to accept gay and lesbian students into its rabbinical and cantorial schools.

Traditional Jewish Views on Transsexuality

Kosman, Admiel. “Blessed art Thou Who Made Me a Man - And a Woman,” Ha’aretz (November 27, 1998). Accessible at:
http://home.online.no/~geskogse/ts_ha_aretz981127.html and
http://www2.phreak.co.uk/dana/haaretz_ts.html

Broyde, R. “Sex Change Operations and Their Effect on Marital Status: A Brief Comparison.” Article accessible at:
http://www.jlaw.com/Articles/maternity_appendix.html

Orthodox Judaism and Transsexuality. Discussion accessible at:
http://members.tripod.com/~suelong/ortho-index.html

Transsexuality and Transgender as Cultural Identity

Bornstein, Kate. Gender Outlaw: On Men, Women, and the Rest of Us (New York: Vintage Books, 1995). (KB)

Bornstein, Kate. “Her Son/Daughter: At a mother’s funeral, a familiar stranger makes an appearance,” The New York Times (January 19, 1997): A1.

Optional: McCloskey, Deirdre N. Crossing: A Memoir (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1999).
Excerpt from Deirdre N. McCloskey’s Crossing: http://www.press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/556689.html

Optional: The International Journal of Transgenderism. Visit: http://www.symposion.com/ijt/ijtintro.htm

The Jews of Color Movement

Kaufmann Tobin, Diane, Gary A. Tobin, Scott Rubin. In Every Tongue: The Racial and Ethnic Diverity of the Jewish People (San Francisco, CA: Institute for Jewish and Community Research, 2005), beginning-106. (DKT)

Epilogue: The Place of Jews in American Diversity

Kaufmann Tobin, Diane, Gary A. Tobin, Scott Rubin. In Every Tongue: The Racial and Ethnic Diverity of the Jewish People (San Francisco, CA: Institute for Jewish and Community Research, 2005), 107-end. (DKT)

Epilogue: The Place of Jews in American Diversity

Visit the “Jewish Multiracial Network” website at: http://isabellafreedman.org/jmn

Visit the following website and click on " view the trailer": http://www.fourhundredmilestofreedom.com

Optional: Gilman, Sander. Multiculturalism and the Jews (New York: Routledge, 2006).

syllabus © copyright 2007 Aviva Ben-Ur