Syllabi

 

AMERICAN JUDAISM

Jonathan D. Sarna

Brandeis University

Fall 2007

 

   

Course Requirements

(1)Assigned Reading, (2) Brief analysis (2-page) paper, (3) Midterm primary source paper, (4) Research Paper, (5) Final exam

 

Major Texts

Jonathan D. Sarna, American Judaism: A History (2004) [=AmJud]

Jacob R. Marcus, The Jew in the American World (1996) [=Marcus]

Jonathan D. Sarna, The American Jewish Experience [=AJE], 2nd edition, 1997

Electronic Reserves [=ER]

 

Required Reading

For additional bibliography, see Sarna, AmJud & AJE; Modern Judaism, 10 (1990), pp. 343-365; and B. Holtz (ed.) The Schocken Guide of Jewish Books (1992), pp.108-127.

Note:  Students without background may want to read a one-volume introduction to Judaism (see M. Fishbane, Judaism) or an encyclopedia article.

 

I. From Spain to Recife to New Amsterdam
II. Colonial American Judaism

 

III. The Revolution and Its Impact

 

Brief Analysis Paper: Compare the roles of men and women in colonial Jewish life (2 pages)

 

IV. Central European Immigrants and their Strategies for Preserving Judaism

 

V. Union & Disunion
 
VI. A New Era, A Great Awakening, A Redefinition of Reform
 
VII. East European Immigrant Judaism
 
VIII. The Great War and Its Aftermath in American Judaism
 
IX. The Spectrum of Judaism During the Interwar Years
 
X. Confronting the Holocaust
 
XI. Postwar Judaism
 
XII.   A Look Ahead

 

BRIEF ANALYSIS PAPER

 

Read all of the required reading and as much of the optional reading as you need concerning the Colonial American Jew. Write a brief (2 double-spaced pages) analysis focusing on what you see as the principal differences between the experiences of men and women in colonial American Judaism. Do not summarize the articles or attempt to be all-inclusive.  Instead, focus on shaping a coherent, well-conceptualized argument supported by your reading.  Be sure to use quotation marks around any direct quotes and to footnote them appropriately.

 

MIDTERM PRIMARY SOURCE PAPER

 

There are now several data bases that make available 19th century American newspapers including the New York Times, 19th Century US Newspapers (available on Louis), the Occident (http://theoccident.com/Occident/index.html), and the American Jewess (available at www.jwa.org).  Use one or more of these data bases to find newspaper articles dealing with American Jews or Judaism (words such as Jews, Judaism, Hebrew, Israelite, synagogue, temple will yield hundreds of articles; proper names like Noah, Cohen, Levi, Benjamin etc. will also yield many hits.)

 

Create a primary source reader containing not more than five documents that shed light on any significant or unusual aspect of nineteenth century American Jewish life.  Be sure to introduce your document(s), providing suitable background and context, and add footnotes where you explain anything in your document that requires an explanation.

 

Do not use any document found in Marcus, The Jews in the American World or in other published collections of documents, but you can use Marcus’ primary source reader as a model for what you will produce (except that  Marcus puts explanations in square brackets, while you should use footnotes.)  For example, you might supply examples of articles on the depiction of Jewish holidays in America, with an analytic explanation and footnotes; or you might look at Jewish charity balls; or you might look at articles on the Maryland Jew Bill or on Mordecai Noah or on the response to pogroms.  Unusual and historically revealing documents are more likely to succeed than routine boring ones.  Be sure to submit the primary sources as well as your introduction and notes!

 

 

RESEARCH PAPER

 

Select one of the following research projects.  You must report your choice, in writing.  Spell out in your prospectus what you plan to research, what questions you plan to ask, and what sources you plan to consult.  Students may submit a draft of their paper to their TA if they want preliminary comments.  Be sure to use quotation marks around any direct quotes and to footnote your sources appropriately.

 

Option #1 – Trace any theme in American Jewish life (1843-1850) based on the on-line edition of The Occident (www.theoccident.com).  Possible topics include:  “Jewish-Christian Relations,” “Jews and Christian Missionaries,” “Jewish Religious Life,” “Jewish Women,” “Southern Jewish Life,” and “American Jewish Culture,” but many other topics are possible; use your imagination.  While The Occident will be your main source, you certainly want to use secondary sources to provide context and background.  Remember that your job is both to present your primary data and to analyze it based upon close reading of the texts.  The point is to develop a theme in American Jewish history based on a careful study of original sources.

 

Option #2 – Trace any theme dealing with American Jewry and the Civil War based on the primary materials available at:  http://www.theoccident.com/civilwar/Default.htm or other data bases.  For background, be sure to look up B.W. Korn, American Jewry and the Civil War, and R. Rosen, The Jewish Confederates. Remember that your job is both to present your primary data and to analyze it based upon close reading of the texts. The point is to develop a theme in American Jewish history based on a careful study of original sources.

 

Option #3 – Trace any theme in American Jewish life (1895-1899) using the on-line edition of The American Jewess (available at www.jwa.org/research/americanjewess). This was the first English-language Jewish periodical aimed at women, and it is full of interesting material bearing on women’s history.  While The American Jewess will be your main source, you certainly want to use secondary sources to provide context and background. Remember that your job is both to present your primary data and to analyze it through close reading of the texts. The point is to develop a theme in American Jewish history based on a careful study of original sources.  

 

Option #4 – Trace any theme in American Jewish life using nineteenth-century American Jewish newspapers.  Be sure to use secondary sources to provide context and background. Remember that your job is both to present your primary data and to analyze it based upon close reading of the texts. The point is to develop a theme in American Jewish history based on a careful study of original sources.  

 

Option #5 – Compare the published histories of several American synagogues (the library has many such histories in its collection; for a bibliography see J.D. Sarna & A.S. Korros, American Synagogue History; see also K. Olitzky, The American Synagogue: A Historical Dictionary & Sourcebook).  Try to explain why changes took place, what influenced the different synagogues, who the agents of change were, and so forth, making sure to note and explain both similarities and differences.  For background on the study of congregations, see J. Wind and J. Lewis, American Congregations.

 

Option #6 – Compare any issue or period in American Judaism with a parallel issue or period in the history of at least one other American faith. (For example:  religious challenges faced by immigrant Jews and immigrant Catholics or Muslims; the limits of religious liberalism in Reform Judaism and Unitarianism; the problem of “Americanization” in Judaism and Catholicism; the issue of women’s ordination in Judaism and Protestantism.)

 

Option #7 – Use one of the microfilm collections of documents (letters of Louis Brandeis, Henrietta Szold, Louis Marshall etc.) available at Brandeis, and analyze in terms of the themes of the course. What can you learn from this material about American Judaism?  How does the correspondence illuminate an era or a theme? [For a list of microfilm collections of American Jewish manuscripts in the Brandeis library, see the library’s home page].

 

Option #8 – Use one of the volumes of American Hebrew responsa or sermons or related works to shed light on American Jewish life.  Y. Goldman, Hebrew Printing in America is a fine guide to this material.  Full texts of many primary sources are available at www.Hebrewbooks.org.  Only those with good Hebrew skills and some familiarity with rabbinic texts should select this option.

 

Option #9 – Select a research project of your own choosing.  The project must utilize primary sources, ask significant questions, and be doable in one semester.  Students are advised to discuss these projects with their instructor.  Approval of the one-page prospectus outlining the subject is essential.

 

USEFUL WEBSITES

http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/haventohome/ – on-line exhibit covering all of American Jewish history with excellent pictures and some primary documents

 

http://www.jewish-history.com/Default.htm – fine collection of materials on 19th century, particularly Civil War and Westward expansion; also seven volumes of The Occident on-line.

 

http://www.americanjewisharchives.org – home page of American Jewish Archives

 

http://www.ajcarchives.org – American Jewish Committee on-line archives.  Contains wonderful documents and sound archives, as well as the full text of all volumes of the American Jewish Year Book (1899-present)

 

http://www.ajhs.org – homepage of the American Jewish Historical Society

 

 

http://www.cjh.org/collections/findingaids.php?action=searchPartnerspartner=1 – Selected finding aids of the American Jewish Historical Society's archival collections

 

 

http://www.ajhs.org/reference/adaje.cfm – on-line edition of Publications of the American Jewish Historical Society

 

http://www.jwa.org – home page of Jewish Women’s Archive (and access to The American Jewess).

 

http://www.hebrewbooks.org – excellent collection of American Hebraica all digitized, including some English language Orthodox texts and magazines

 

http://sceti.library.upenn.edu/morais/index.cfm – The ledger of Sabato Morais, first President of Jewish Theological Seminary.  Excellent primary source.

 

http://www.jtsa.edu/x681.xml#digital – two excellent digital collections:  100 rare American Jewish pamphlets and images of Jews in American newspapers.  Excellent primary sources

 

http://www.ilr.cornell.edu/trianglefire – important collection of sources concerning the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire.  See also Triangle, by David Von Drehle.

 

http://www.celebrate350.org – contains useful material bearing on American Jewish history and life, compiled for 350th anniversary of Jews in America.  See especially the listing of “traveling and online exhibits.”

 

http://www.nyu.edu/library/bobst/collections/exhibits/tam/JLC/opener.html – Deals with the Jewish Labor Committee and the battle against Nazism.  Brandeis has both microfilms and published primary sources from the Jewish Labor Committee fully documenting its activities.

 

http://www.brown.edu/Facilities/University_Library/exhibits/yiddish – exhibit of American Yiddish sheet music

 

  – Exhibit on East European Jewish immigrant women’s lives in Midwest [see L. Schloff, And Prairie Dogs Weren’t Kosher]

 

http://www.fathom.com/course/21701756/index.html – Illustrated on-line course based on Deborah Dash Moore’s G.I. Jews


http://womenst.library.wisc.edu/jewwom/jwmain.html–Annotated Bibliography and Guide to Archival Resources on the History of Jewish Women in America, compiled by Phyllis Holman Weisbard. This takes viewers to the 2004 update to Weisbard's 1997 bibliography which first appeared in Jewish Women in America: An Historical Encyclopedia.

 

http://www.jewishlaborcommittee.org/2006/01/readings_on_the_american_jewis.html  –Bibliography re: American Jewish Labor Movement

 

www.loc.gov/ammem – American memory site of Library of Congress.  A search under “Jews” and “Judaism” will turn up hundreds of items (many hundreds more are listed under separate headings – e.g. Brandeis)