Special Topics 1: Orthodoxy in America

Special Topics 1: Orthodoxy in America
Prof. Adam Mintz
Spring 2006

Description
This course will analyze the history of Orthodoxy in America focusing on the personalities and movements that created both the Ashkenazic and Sephardic communities in the United States.

Required Readings

· Gurock, Jeffrey S., American Jewish Orthodoxy in Historical Perspective (Hoboken, NJ, 1996)
· Joselit, Jenna, New York’s Jewish Jews (Bloomington, Indiana, 1990)
· Course packet

Course Requirements

· Midterm
· Term paper
· Final exam

Goals
     The goals of the course will be to offer students an understanding and appreciation of the development and evolution of Orthodoxy in the United States.

Objectives
     At the conclusion of the course, students will be familiar with the personalities who participated in the development of Orthodoxy, the institutions that were instrumental in its growth and many of the issues that defined Orthodoxy and distinguished it from other denominations.

Outcomes
     The objectives will be achieved through the study of primary source material that will be presented in English or in English translation from the original. In addition, secondary material will assist in the understanding and appreciation of each topic.

Assessment
     Examinations, terms papers and classroom participation will measure each student’s success in the course.

Special Topics 1: Orthodoxy in America
Prof. Adam Mintz
Spring 2006

Class Times: Monday/Wednesday 1:40-2:55
Office Hours: Wednesday 12:30-1:30
Description
This course will analyze the history of Orthodoxy in America focusing on the personalities and movements that created both the Ashkenazic and Sephardic communities in the United States. At the conclusion of the course, students will be familiar with the personalities who participated in the development of Orthodoxy, the institutions that were instrumental in its growth and many of the issues that defined Orthodoxy and distinguished it from other denominations.

Course Requirements and Grading:

· Attendance and Class Participation: 10%
· Midterm Exam: 20%
· Two Short Assignments: 15% each
· Final Exam: 40%

Required Readings: (available for purchase at the Brooklyn College Bookstore)

· Gurock, Jeffrey S., American Jewish Orthodoxy in Historical Perspective (Hoboken, NJ, 1996)
· Joselit, Jenna, New York’s Jewish Jews (Bloomington, Indiana, 1990)
· Course packet (available at Far Better Printing & Copy Center, 43 Hillel Place)

Course Outline

1. Conceptual Overview

· Emmanuel Rackman, “Orthodox Judaism” in Contemporary Jewish Religious Thought, edited by Arhur A. Cohen and Paul Mendes-Flohr, pp. 679-684

2. American Orthodoxy in the 18th and 19th Centuries

· Gurock, pp.63-90
· Moshe Sherman, Bernard Illowy and 19th Century American Orthodoxy, pp. 71-98
· Resolution Regarding Sabbath Observance, October 6, 1859 in A Documentary History of the Jews in the United States, 1654-1875, edited by Morris U. Schappes, pp. 392-394
· Editorial, “Hebrew Rabbinical Education, “ The New York Herald, July 22, 1872 in Schappes, pp. 554-557

3. New York Orthodoxy and the Selection of a Chief Rabbi

· Gurock, pp.103-116
· Abraham J. Karp, Jewish Continuity in America, pp. 145-190

4. The Rise of American Orthodoxy 1900-1920: The Evolving Synagogue

· Gurock, pp. 265-298
· Adam Mintz, “The St. Louis Eruv: Social Realities and Early American Orthodox Judaism”

5. Founding of The Jewish Theological Seminary

· Hasia Diner “Like the Antelope and the Badger: The Founding and Early Years of JTS: 1886-1902” in Tradition Renewed: A History of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, edited by Jack Wertheimer, pp.1-42

6. Founding of the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Rabbinical Seminary

· Aaron Rakeffet-Rothkoff, Bernard Revel, pp. 17-70, 94-114

7. Defining American Orthodoxy in the Interwar Years: The Synagogue, the Rabbi, the School

· Joselit, 25-146
· Rabbi Leo Jung, “What is Orthodox Judaism?” http://www.yutorah.org/_materials/5i.pdf

8. American Orthodoxy in the Post-War Period: The Case of the Mechiza

· Baruch Litvin, The Sanctity of the Synagogue, pp.299-338
· Jonathan Sarna, “The Debate over Mixed Seating in the American Synagogue” in The American Synagogue: A Sanctuary Transformed, edited by Jack Wertheimer, pp.363-394

9. Defining the Movement: Modern Orthodoxy

· Rabbi Sol Roth, “The Idea of Synthesis” http://www.yutorah.org/_materials/ACF4B2B.pdf
· “Orthodox Modernism: An Exchange (Dr. Irving Greenberg and Rabbi Shelomoh Danziger) The Jewish Observer, December 1966 http://www.yutorah.org/_materials/ACF13E4.pdf

10. Defining the Movement II: The Role of Women

· Blu Greenberg “Judaism and Feminism” in The Jewish Woman: New Perspectives edited by Elizabeth Koltun, pp.179-192
· Rachel Adler, “Innovation and Authority: A Feminist Reading of the ‘Women’s Minyan’ Responsum http://www.yutorah.org/_materials/10.%20Rachael%20Adler%20%93Innovation%20and%20Authority%94.pdf

11. Syrian Orthodoxy

· Joseph A. D. Sutton, Magic Carpet: Aleppo-in-Flatbush, pp. 3-33, 74-91

12. Sectarian Orthodoxy

· William Helmreich, The World of the Yeshiva, pp. 18-93
· The Jewish Observer, January, 1967 http://www.yutorah.org/_materials/ACF13DF.pdf

13. The State of Orthodoxy Today

· Naomi Schaefer Riley, God on the Quad: How Religious Colleges and the Missionary Generation Are Changing America, pp. 95-113