• NEJS 162a       AMERICAN JUDAISM   SPRING 2011

Jonathan D. Sarna, Lown 213a, x 62977, e-mail: Sarna@Brandeis.edu

Office hours:  Wed 2-4 and anytime by appointment

Course  Requirements:

• Assigned Reading; (2) Brief analysis (2-page) paper – due February 3, 2011  (3) Midterm primary source paper – due Feb 10, 2011 if you want chance to rewrite otherwise,  February 28, 2011; (4) Research Paper – one page prospectus due March 7, 2011,  draft for first reading (optional) due April 7, 2011;  papers due April 28, 2011; (5) Final exam

Note:  Regular attendance at lectures and at sections is necessary to obtain a good grade in this course.  Attendance and participation will be considered when figuring the grade.

• Grading Scale: 

Brief analysis  paper – 10%;  midterm – 20%;  lower of research paper & final – 30%; higher of research paper and final – 40%  Attendance & participation will determine the grade, up or down, for students who are “on the line” between two grades.

• Attention:

If you are a student with a documented disability on record at Brandeis University and wish to have a reasonable accommodation made for you in this class, please see me immediately.

•  
• Major Texts (available for purchase in bookstore):

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], 2^nd edition, 1997

Electronic Reserves-Latte  [=ER]

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• Brief Analysis, Midterm Primary Source Papers, and Required Research Paper

See attached assignment sheets

• Required Reading

All  books  and articles should be on reserve.  Articles are also on  Latte. 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. 1/19 From Spain to Recife to New Amsterdam

• Yosef Kaplan, “The Sephardim in North-Western Europe and the New World,”  The Sephardi Legacy, ed. H. Beinart (Jerusalem 1992), II, 240-287 [ER]
• Sarna, AmJud, 1-8
• Marcus, 29-33
• Paul Finkelman, “A Land That Needs People for its Increase” [ER]
• James Homer Williams, “An Atlantic Perspective on the Jewish Struggle for Rights and Opportunities in Brazil, New Netherland and New York” [ER]
• Samuel Oppenheim, “Early History of the Jews in New York, 1654-1664,”  online at Google Books http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&id=jJEvn6AoYa8C&dq=Samuel+Oppenheim+New+York&printsec=frontcover&source=web&ots=hfeZdTYsHd&sig=tUKgYD-4f43NaCdAJp-zHDaSvLg&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=4&ct=result#PPP1,M1
• Dutch West India Company and the Jews – email exchange [ER]

II. 1/24 Colonial American Judaism

• Sarna, AmJud, 8-30
• Marcus, 30-33, 42-43  [rest of part I is optional]
• Holly Snyder, “Queens of the Household: The Jewish Women of British America, 1700-1800” [ER]
• Holly Snyder, “’Under the Shado of Your Wings’:  Religiosity in the Mental World of an 18^th-Century Jewish Merchant,”  [ER]
• Jonathan D. Sarna, “The Mystical World of Colonial American Jews” [ER]
• Edith B. Gelles, “Introduction to The Letters of Abigaill Levy Franks,”  xv-l [ER]  [optional]

III. 1/31 The Revolution and Its Impact

• Sarna, AmJud, 31-61
• Marcus, 93-110, 125-126, 136-46
• Sarna, AJE, 29-37
• Richard  Morris,  “The  Role  of the  Jew  in  the  American Revolution  in Historical Perspective,” in G. Rosen,  Jewish Life in America (1987), pp.8-27. [optional]
• S.Chyet,  “The  Political Rights of the Jews in  the  United States,” American Jewish Archives 10 (April 1958), 14-75. [optional]
• E.Eitches, “Maryland’s Jew Bill,”  American Jewish Historical  Q. 60 (March 1971), pp.258-280. [optional]
• Sarna & Dalin, Religion and State in the American Jewish Experience, 61-97.  [optional]

Brief Analysis Paper: What role did religion play in the lives of Colonial American Jewish merchants?  (2 pages – due  February 3, 2011)

IV. 2/7  Central European Immigrants and their Strategies for Preserving Judaism

• Sarna, AmJud, 62-102
• Sarna AJE, 41-81
• Diane Ashton, “The Lessons of the Hebrew Sunday School”  [ER]
• Lance Sussman, “Isaac Leeser and the Protestantization of American Judaism,” American Jewish Archives 38 (April 1986), 1-21 [optional]
• Israel Tabak, “Rabbi Abraham Rice of Baltimore,” Tradition 7 (Summer 1965), 100-120 [optional]
•  
• [Midterm Paper due Feb 10 1 if you want chance to rewrite; otherwise Feb 28th]

V. 2/14  Union & Disunion

• Sarna, AmJud, 103-124
• Dianne Ashton, “Shifting Veils:  Religion, Politics and Womanhood in the Civil War Writings of American Jewish Women”  [ER]
• Marcus, 198-202

VI. 2/28  A New Era, A Great Awakening, A Redefinition of Reform

• Sarna, AmJud, 124-151
• Sarna, A Great Awakening [ER]
• Sarna, AJE, 84-112
• Marcus, 240-243

3/7 one-page prospectus for final research paper due

VII. 3/7  East European Immigrant Judaism

• Sarna, AmJud, 151- 207
• Sarna, AJE, 117-82
• Shelly Tenenbaum, “Borrowers or Lenders Be: Jewish Immigrant Women’s Credit Networks”  [ER]
• Alice Kessler-Harris, “Organizing the Unorganizable”  [ER]

VIII. 3/21 The Great War and Its Aftermath in American Judaism

• Sarna, AmJud, 208-223
• Sarna, AJE, 197-216, 258-267

IX.  3/28 The Spectrum of Judaism During the Interwar Years

• Sarna, AmJud, 223-258
• Sarna, AJE, 217-244
• Regina Stein, “The Road to Bat Mitzvah in America”  [ER]
• Jenna W. Joselit, “The Jewish Priestess and Ritual”  [ER]
• Beth Wenger, “Budgets, Boycotts, and Babies: Jewish Women in Great Depression” [ER]
• Charles Liebman, “Reconstructionism in American Jewish Life,” American Jewish Year Book (1970)  [ER]  [optional]

X. 4/4  Confronting the Holocaust

• Sarna, AmJud, 258-271
• Sarna, AJE, 273-292

First draft of research papers due for optional first reading by April 7

XI  4/11 Postwar Judaism

• Sarna, AmJud, 272-374
• Sarna, AJE, 293-355
• Paula Hyman, “Jewish Feminism Faces the American Women’s Movement [ER]
• Deborah E. Lipstadt, “Feminism and American Judaism”  [ER]

Final draft of research paper due April 28th.

XII   5/4  A Look Ahead

BRIEF ANALYSIS PAPER

Due February 3, 2009

Write a 2 page paper answering this question: What role did religion play in the lives of Colonial American Jewish merchants?  Use the material under week 2, and any additional reading you decide to undertake, to understand various views on this question.  Write a brief (2  double-spaced pages) analysis offering your view, making sure to support it with footnoted references to primary and secondary sources. 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

Due February 10, if you are submitting draft; final paper on February 28. [Be sure to submit both first draft and final draft if you wrote both.]

There are now several data bases that make available 19^th century American newspapers, magazines and other primary sources including the New York Times, 19^th 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.) There are thousands of wonderful references on “19^th Century Masterfile” on the library’s data base website.  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, by  March 7th.  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 by April 7th if they want preliminary comments.  Last day to submit papers is April 28th.  Please submit both in hard copy and in electronic form. 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 based on materials in the 19^th Century Masterfile, the on-line edition of The Occident (www.theoccident.com), or other primary sources.  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.  Make 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. [Note:  Do not use material from midterm paper.  This paper must be in narrative form.]

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.htm or other data bases (see civil war data bases on library website).  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). 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 online JTA: Global News Service of the Jewish People (1923-present) or Jewish newspapers and periodicals.  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 19^th century, particularly Civil War and Westward expansion; also ten 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.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/library/digitalcollections.shtml - 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 350^th 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 Naziism.  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

http://www.jewishwomenexhibit.org/journey.asp  - 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://www.library.wisc.edu/libraries/WomensStudies/jewwom/jwmain.htm -
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