Isaac Mayer Wise, Shaping American Judaism

Isaac Mayer Wise, Shaping American Judaism PDF Author: Sefton D. Temkin
Publisher: Littman Library of Jewish Civilization
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 352

Get Book Here

Book Description
Isaac Mayer Wise (1819-1900) strove for unity among American Jews and for a college to train rabbis to serve them. The establishment of the Hebrew College in 1875 was the crowning achievement of his life. Temkin's account of Wise's life captures the vigor of his personality and the politics and concerns of contemporary Jewish life and leadership in America. Photos.

Isaac Mayer Wise, Shaping American Judaism

Isaac Mayer Wise, Shaping American Judaism PDF Author: Sefton D. Temkin
Publisher: Littman Library of Jewish Civilization
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 352

Get Book Here

Book Description
Isaac Mayer Wise (1819-1900) strove for unity among American Jews and for a college to train rabbis to serve them. The establishment of the Hebrew College in 1875 was the crowning achievement of his life. Temkin's account of Wise's life captures the vigor of his personality and the politics and concerns of contemporary Jewish life and leadership in America. Photos.

Isaac Leeser and the Making of American Judaism

Isaac Leeser and the Making of American Judaism PDF Author: Lance J. Sussman
Publisher: Wayne State University Press
ISBN: 9780814326718
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 324

Get Book Here

Book Description
More than any other person of his time, Isaac Leeser 0806-1868) envisioned the development of a major center of Jewish culture and religious activity in the United States. He single-handedly provided American Jews with many of the basic religious texts, institutions, and conceptual tools they needed to construct the cultural foundation of what would later emerge as the largest Jewish community in the history of the Jewish people. Born in Germany, Leeser arrived in the United States in 1824. At that time, the American Jewish community was still a relatively unimportant outpost of Jewish life. No sustained or coordinated effort was being made to protect and expand Jewish political rights in America. The community was small, weak, and seemingly not interested in evolving into a cohesive, dynamic center of Jewish life. Leeser settled in Philadelphia where he sought to unite American Jews and the growing immigrant community under the banner of modern Sephardic Orthodoxy. Thoroughly Americanized prior to the first period of mass Jewish immigration to the United States between 1830 and 1854, Leeser served as a bridge between the old native-born and new immigrant American Jews. Among the former, he inspired a handful to work for the revitalization of Judaism in America. To the latter, he was a spiritual leader, a champion of tradition, and a guide to life in a new land. Leeser had a decisive impact on American Judaism during a career that spanned nearly forty years. The outstanding Jewish religious leader in America prior to the Civil War, he shaped both the American Jewish community and American Judaism. He sought to professionalize the American rabbinate, introduced vernacular preaching into the North American synagogue, and produced the first English language translation of the entire Hebrew Bible. As editor and publisher of The Occident, Leeser also laid the groundwork for the now vigorous and thriving American Jewish press. Leeser's influence extended well beyond the American Jewish community An outspoken advocate of religious liberty, he defended Jewish civil rights, sought to improve Jewish-Christian relations, and was an early advocate of modern Zionism. At the international level, Leeser helped mobilize Jewish opinion during the Damascus Affair and corresponded with a number of important Jewish leaders in Great Britain and western Europe. In the first biography of Isaac Leeser, Lance Sussman makes extensive use of archival and primary sources to provide a thorough study of a man who has been largely ignored by traditional histories. Isaac Leeser and the Making of American Judaism also tells an important part of the story of Judaism's response to the challenge of political freedom and social acceptance in a new, modern society Judaism itself was transformed as it came to terms with America, and the key figure in this process was Isaac Leeser.

Creating American Reform Judaism

Creating American Reform Judaism PDF Author: Sefton D. Temkin
Publisher: Liverpool University Press
ISBN: 1909821810
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 340

Get Book Here

Book Description
Isaac Mayer Wise (1819–1900), founder of the major institutions of Reform Judaism in America, was a man of his time—a pioneer in a pioneer’s world. When he came to America from his childhood Bohemia in 1846, he found fewer than 50,000 Jews and only two ordained rabbis. With his sense of mission and tireless energy, he set himself to tailoring the vehicle of Reform Judaism to meet the needs of the growing Jewish community. Wise strove for unity among American Jews, and for a college to train rabbis to serve them. The establishment of Hebrew Union College (1875) was the crowning achievement of his life. His quest for unity also led him to draw up an American Jewish prayer-book, Minhag America, to found the Central Conference of American Rabbis, and to edit two weeklies; their editorials, breathing fire and energy, were no less important in his quest for leadership. Here as elsewhere, it was his persistence that won him the war where his impetuosity lost him many battles. Professor Temkin’s writing captures the vigour of Wise’s personality and the politics and concerns of contemporary Jewish life and leadership in America. Based primarily on material in the American Jewish Archives of the Hebrew Union College, this biography is a lively portrait of a rabbi whose singular efforts in many fields made him a pivotal figure in the naturalization of the Jew and Judaism in the New World. The book was first published in hardback in 1992 under the title Isaac Mayer Wise: Shaping American Judaism.

Creating American Reform Judaism

Creating American Reform Judaism PDF Author: Sefton D. Temkin
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 356

Get Book Here

Book Description
Sefton Temkin has provided us with a much-needed critical and balanced portrayal of Wise ...The best scholarly work on Wise to date. It presents an admiring yet critical picture of Wise's achievements and personality ...a welcome contribution to our understanding of the man and his times.' George L. Berlin, AJS Review 'Thorough and extremely competent ...Temkin contributes a great deal through his careful use of materials ...The book will be of interest to general readers ...who wish not only to understand Isaac Mayer Wise but, moreover, to comprehend the attitudes and events that led to the formation of a truly American form of Judaism.' A. J. Avery-Peck, Choice 'An important book which illumines a formative era of American Jewry and of the United States itself ...scholarly and readable.' William Frankel, Jewish Chronicle American Reform Judaism's major institutions-Hebrew Union College, the Central Conference of American Rabbis, and the Reform prayer book Minhag America-were all due to the singular efforts of Isaac Mayer Wise (1819-1900). Sefton Temkin's biography captures the vigour of Wise's personality and the politics and concerns of Jewish life and leadership in America at that time. It is a lively portrait of a rabbi who was a pivotal figure in the naturalization of Jews and Judaism in the New World.

American Judaism

American Judaism PDF Author: Jonathan D. Sarna
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300245386
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 558

Get Book Here

Book Description
Jonathan D. Sarna’s award-winning American Judaism is now available in an updated and revised edition that summarizes recent scholarship and takes into account important historical, cultural, and political developments in American Judaism over the past fifteen years. Praise for the first edition: “Sarna . . . has written the first systematic, comprehensive, and coherent history of Judaism in America; one so well executed, it is likely to set the standard for the next fifty years.”—Jacob Neusner, Jerusalem Post “A masterful overview.”—Jeffrey S. Gurock, American Historical Review “This book is destined to be the new classic of American Jewish history.”—Norman H. Finkelstein, Jewish Book World Winner of the 2004 National Jewish Book Award/Jewish Book of the Year

American Post-Judaism

American Post-Judaism PDF Author: Shaul Magid
Publisher: Indiana University Press
ISBN: 0253008093
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 769

Get Book Here

Book Description
How do American Jews identify as both Jewish and American? American Post-Judaism argues that Zionism and the Holocaust, two anchors of contemporary American Jewish identity, will no longer be centers of identity formation for future generations of American Jews. Shaul Magid articulates a new, post-ethnic American Jewishness. He discusses pragmatism and spirituality, monotheism and post-monotheism, Jesus, Jewish law, sainthood and self-realization, and the meaning of the Holocaust for those who have never known survivors. Magid presents Jewish Renewal as a movement that takes this radical cultural transition seriously in its strivings for a new era in Jewish thought and practice.

American Jewish Identity Politics

American Jewish Identity Politics PDF Author: Deborah Dash Moore
Publisher: University of Michigan Press
ISBN: 0472024647
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 346

Get Book Here

Book Description
"Displays the full range of informed, thoughtful opinion on the place of Jews in the American politics of identity." ---David A. Hollinger, Preston Hotchkis Professor of American History, University of California, Berkeley "A fascinating anthology whose essays crystallize the most salient features of American Jewish life in the second half of the twentieth century." ---Beth S. Wenger, Katz Family Associate Professor of American Jewish History and Director of the Jewish Studies Program, University of Pennsylvania "A wonderful collection of important essays, indispensable for understanding the searing conflicts over faith, familial, and political commitments marking American Jewry's journey through the paradoxes of the post-Holocaust era." ---Michael E. Staub, Professor of English, Baruch College, CUNY, and author of Torn at the Roots: The Crisis of Jewish Liberalism in Postwar America "This provocative anthology offers fascinating essays on Jewish culture, politics, religion, feminism, and much more. It is a must-read for all those interested in the intersection of Jewish life and identity politics in the modern period." ---Joyce Antler, Samuel Lane Professor of American Jewish History and Culture, Brandeis University "This collection of essays invites the reader to engage with some of the best writing and thinking about American Jewish life by some of the finest scholars in the field. Deborah Moore's introduction offers an important framework to understand not only the essays, but the academic and political contexts in which they are rooted." ---Riv-Ellen Prell, Professor and Chair, American Studies, University of Minnesota, and editor of Women Remaking American Judaism This collection of essays explores changes among American Jews in their self-understanding during the last half of the 20th century. Written by scholars who grew up after World War II and the Holocaust who participated in political struggles in the 1960s and 1970s and who articulated many of the formative concepts of modern Jewish studies, this anthology provides a window into an era of social change. These men and women are among the leading scholars of Jewish history, society and culture. The volume is organized around contested themes in American Jewish life: the Holocaust and World War II, religious pluralism and authenticity, intermarriage and Jewish continuity. Thus, it offers one of the few opportunities for students to learn about these debates from participant scholars. The book includes a dozen photographs of contemporary Jewish experience in the United States by acclaimed Jewish photographer Bill Aron. Like the scholars of the essays, Aron participated in struggles within the Jewish community and the Jewish counterculture in the 1970s and 1980s. His images reflect shifting perspectives toward spirituality, community, feminism, and memory culture. The essays reflect several layers of identity politics. On one level, they interrogate the recent past of American Jews, starting with their experiences of World War II. Without the flourishing of identity politics and the white ethnic revival, many questions about American Jewish history might never have been explored. Those who adopted identity politics often saw Jews as an ethnic group in the United States, one connected both to other Americans and to Jews throughout the world and in the past. On another level, these essays express ideas nourished in universities during the turbulent 1970s and 1980s. Those years marked the expansion of Jewish studies as a field in the United States and the establishment of American Jewish studies as an area of specialization. Taken together they reveal the varied sources of American Jewish studies. Finally, one must note that in many cases these essays anticipate major books on the subject. Reading them now reveals how ideas took shape within the political pressures of the moment. These articles teach us not only about their subject but also about how issues were framed and debated during what might be called our fin de siecle, the end of the twentieth century and beginning of the twenty-first. The authors of these articles include several, most notably Arthur Green, Alvin Rosenfield, and the late Egon Mayer, who collectively could be thought of as the founding fathers of this new generation of Jewish scholars. Green in theology, Rosenfield in literature, and Mayer in sociology influenced younger academics such as Arnold Eisen. A slightly different relationship exists among the historians. Several come to their subject though the study of American history, including Hasia Diner, Stephen Whitfield, and Jonathan Sarna, while others approach through the portal of Jewish history, such as Paula Hyman and Jeffrey Gurock.

The Blackwell Companion to Judaism

The Blackwell Companion to Judaism PDF Author: Jacob Neusner
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 0470758007
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 578

Get Book Here

Book Description
This Companion explores the history, doctrines, divisions, and contemporary condition of Judaism. Surveys those issues most relevant to Judaic life today: ethics, feminism, politics, and constructive theology Explores the definition of Judaism and its formative history Makes sense of the diverse data of an ancient and enduring faith

Reader's Guide to Judaism

Reader's Guide to Judaism PDF Author: Michael Terry
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1135941505
Category : Reference
Languages : en
Pages : 745

Get Book Here

Book Description
The Reader's Guide to Judaism is a survey of English-language translations of the most important primary texts in the Jewish tradition. The field is assessed in some 470 essays discussing individuals (Martin Buber, Gluckel of Hameln), literature (Genesis, Ladino Literature), thought and beliefs (Holiness, Bioethics), practice (Dietary Laws, Passover), history (Venice, Baghdadi Jews of India), and arts and material culture (Synagogue Architecture, Costume). The emphasis is on Judaism, rather than on Jewish studies more broadly.

Jews on the Frontier

Jews on the Frontier PDF Author: Shari Rabin
Publisher: NYU Press
ISBN: 1479869856
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 258

Get Book Here

Book Description
Winner, 2017 National Jewish Book Award in American Jewish Studies presented by the Jewish Book Council Finalist, 2017 Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature, presented by the Jewish Book Council An engaging history of how Jews forged their own religious culture on the American frontier Jews on the Frontier offers a religious history that begins in an unexpected place: on the road. Shari Rabin recounts the journey of Jewish people as they left Eastern cities and ventured into the American West and South during the nineteenth century. It brings to life the successes and obstacles of these travels, from the unprecedented economic opportunities to the anonymity and loneliness that complicated the many legal obligations of traditional Jewish life. Without government-supported communities or reliable authorities, where could one procure kosher meat? Alone in the American wilderness, how could one find nine co-religionists for a minyan (prayer quorum)? Without identity documents, how could one really know that someone was Jewish? Rabin argues that Jewish mobility during this time was pivotal to the development of American Judaism. In the absence of key institutions like synagogues or charitable organizations which had played such a pivotal role in assimilating East Coast immigrants, ordinary Jews on the frontier created religious life from scratch, expanding and transforming Jewish thought and practice. Jews on the Frontier vividly recounts the story of a neglected era in American Jewish history, offering a new interpretation of American religions, rooted not in congregations or denominations, but in the politics and experiences of being on the move. This book shows that by focusing on everyday people, we gain a more complete view of how American religion has taken shape. This book follows a group of dynamic and diverse individuals as they searched for resources for stability, certainty, and identity in a nation where there was little to be found.