Syllabi
American Judaism
Hasia Diner
New York University
Spring 2005
This course, which is jointly listed in the Department of History and the Skirball Department of Hebrew and Judaic Studies, is both a research seminar and a course intended to introduce students to some of the basic issues in the history of Judaism in America. It is rooted in both the field of modern Jewish history and the history of religion in America. We will be doing a number of common readings together. Students will prepare an original research paper, based on primary sources, which explores some aspect of the history of Judaism in America. Some of those key issues involve the clash or connection between “Jewishness” as an ethnic identity and Judaism as a religious system, the impact of voluntarism and the absence of state involvement in the inner life of American denominations on Judaism, the divergence between Judaism as a rabbinic-driven, legally (halachically) constituted religion and everyday practices shaped by ordinary Jews, the impact of American forms on Judaism, and the emergence of popular forms of Judaic practice in America.
READINGS:
Jon Butler, et. al., Religion in American Life (Oxford University Press)
Peter N. Williams, Popular Religion in America (University of Illinois Press)
Leon Jick, The Americanization of the Synagogue (University Press of New England)
Alan Silverstein, Alternatives to Assimilation (University Press of New England)
Karla Goldman, Beyond the Synagogue Gallery (Harvard University Press)
Jacob Ariel, Evangelizing the Chosen People (University of North Carolina Press)
Jeffrey Gurock and Jacob J. Schachter, A Modern Heretic and a Traditional Community
Jonathan Sarna, ed., People Walk On Their Heads (Holmes and Meier)
Ann Rose, Beloved Strangers
Will Herberg, Catholic, Protestant, Jew (University of Chicago Press)
Riv-Ellen Prell, Prayer and Community (Wayne State University Press)
Mark Oppenheimer, Knocking on Heaven’s Door (Yale University Press)
Etan Diamond, And I Will Dwell Among You (University of North Carolina Press)
[in addition students should follow the chronology of the seminar with either Jonathan Sarna, American Judaism or Hasia Diner, The Jews of the United States]