Judging Jewish Identity in the United States

Judging Jewish Identity in the United States PDF Author: Annalise E. Glauz-Todrank
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1666923044
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 261

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Book Description
This book focuses on the first Supreme Court case to grant Jewish Americans race-based civil rights and highlights the complexity of White-perceived Jewish racialization in the United States. In 1982, vandals defaced Shaare Tefila Congregation in Silver Spring, Maryland, with Ku Klux Klan and neo-Nazi images and slogans. Because no religion-based statutes applied to the desecration, the synagogue’s lawyers were required to utilize race-based statutes. In her close study of what became the 1987 case Shaare Tefila Congregation v. Cobb, Annalise Glauz-Todrank offers a nuanced analysis of the ways in which the members of the congregation, their lawyers, and the vandals’ lawyers used the concepts of race and religion to argue their case. Judging Jewish Identity in the United States understands “race” and “religion” as White, Christian categories and illustrates how they have been accepted and internalized in the American environment. Glauz-Todrank examines how the judges went through a process of constructing the legal meaning of Jewish identity. Likewise, she narrates how the congregants responded to the vandalism, were relieved by the cleanup day that incorporated their neighbors, and pursued the case as “religious” Jewish Americans.

Judging Jewish Identity in the United States

Judging Jewish Identity in the United States PDF Author: Annalise E. Glauz-Todrank
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1666923044
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 261

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book focuses on the first Supreme Court case to grant Jewish Americans race-based civil rights and highlights the complexity of White-perceived Jewish racialization in the United States. In 1982, vandals defaced Shaare Tefila Congregation in Silver Spring, Maryland, with Ku Klux Klan and neo-Nazi images and slogans. Because no religion-based statutes applied to the desecration, the synagogue’s lawyers were required to utilize race-based statutes. In her close study of what became the 1987 case Shaare Tefila Congregation v. Cobb, Annalise Glauz-Todrank offers a nuanced analysis of the ways in which the members of the congregation, their lawyers, and the vandals’ lawyers used the concepts of race and religion to argue their case. Judging Jewish Identity in the United States understands “race” and “religion” as White, Christian categories and illustrates how they have been accepted and internalized in the American environment. Glauz-Todrank examines how the judges went through a process of constructing the legal meaning of Jewish identity. Likewise, she narrates how the congregants responded to the vandalism, were relieved by the cleanup day that incorporated their neighbors, and pursued the case as “religious” Jewish Americans.

Who Is A Jew?

Who Is A Jew? PDF Author: Leonard J. Greenspoon
Publisher: Purdue University Press
ISBN: 1612493467
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 448

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Book Description
Jewish identity is a perennial concern, as Jews seek to define the major features and status of those who “belong,” while at the same time draw distinctions between individuals and groups on the “inside” and those on the “outside.” From a variety of perspectives, scholarly as well as confessional, there is intense interest among non-Jewish and Jewish commentators alike in the basic question, “Who is a Jew?” This collection of articles draws diverse historical, cultural, and religious insights from scholars who represent a wide range of academic and theological disciplines. Some of the authors directly address the issue of Jewish identity as it is being played out today in Israel and Diaspora communities. Others look to earlier time periods or societies as invaluable resources for enhanced and deepened analysis of contemporary matters. All authors in this collection make a concerted effort to present their evidence and their conclusions in a way that is accessible to the general public and valid for other scholars. The result is a richly textured approach to a topic that seems always relevant. If, as is the case, no single answer appeals to all of the authors, this is as it should be. We all gain from the application of a number of approaches and perspectives, which enrich our appreciation of the people whose lives are affected, for better or worse, by real-life discussions of this issue and the resultant actions toward exclusivity or inclusivity.

Judaism, Race, and Ethics

Judaism, Race, and Ethics PDF Author: Jonathan K. Crane
Publisher: Penn State Press
ISBN: 0271086718
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 305

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Book Description
Recent political and social developments in the United States reveal a deep misunderstanding of race and religion. From the highest echelons of power to the most obscure corners of society, color and conviction are continually twisted, often deliberately for nefarious reasons, or misconstrued to stymie meaningful conversation. This timely book wrestles with the contentious, dynamic, and ethically complicated relationship between race and religion through the lens of Judaism. Featuring essays by lifelong participants in discussions about race, religion, and society— including Susannah Heschel, Sander L. Gilman, and George Yancy—this vibrant book aims to generate a compelling conversation vitally relevant to both the academy and the community. Starting from the premise that understanding prejudice and oppression requires multifaceted critical reflection and a willingness to acknowledge one’s own bias, the contributors to this volume present surprising arguments that disentangle fictions, factions, and facts. The topics they explore include the role of Jews and Jewish ethics in the civil rights movement, race and the construction of American Jewish identity, rituals of commemoration celebrating Jewish and black American resilience, the “Yiddish gaze” on lynchings of black bodies, and the portrayal of racism as a mental illness from nineteenth-century Vienna to twenty-first-century Charlottesville. Each essay is linked to a classic Jewish source and accompanied by guiding questions that help the reader identify salient themes connecting ancient and contemporary concerns. In addition to the editor, the contributors include Sander L. Gilman, Annalise E. Glauz-Todrank, Aaron S. Gross, Susannah Heschel, Sarah Imhoff, Willa M. Johnson, Judith W. Kay, Jessica Kirzane, Nichole Renée Phillips, and George Yancy.

Safety through Solidarity

Safety through Solidarity PDF Author: Shane Burley
Publisher: Melville House
ISBN: 1685890911
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 385

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Book Description
Two activist journalists present a progressive, intersectional approach to the vital question: What can we do about antisemitism? Antisemitism is on the rise today. From synagogue shootings by white nationalists, to right-wing politicians and media figures pushing George Soros conspiracy theories, it’s clear that exclusionary nationalist movements are growing. By spreading division and fear, they put Jews, along with other marginalized groups and multiracial democracy itself, at risk. And since the outbreak of war in Gaza, debates around antisemitism have become more polarized and high-stakes than ever. How can we stand in solidarity with Palestinians seeking justice, while also avoiding antisemitism — and resisting those who seek to conflate the two? How do we forge the coalitions across communities that we need, in order to overcome the politics of division and fear? Using personal stories, historical deep-dives, front-line reporting, and interviews with leading change-makers, Burley and Lorber help us break the current impasse to understand how antisemitism works, what’s missing in contemporary debates, and how to build true safety through solidarity, for Jews and all people.

The Color of Water

The Color of Water PDF Author: James McBride
Publisher: A&C Black
ISBN: 1408832496
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 256

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Book Description
From the New York Times bestselling author of Deacon King Kong and The Good Lord Bird, winner of the National Book Award for Fiction: The modern classic that Oprah.com calls one of the best memoirs of a generation and that launched James McBride's literary career. More than two years on The New York Times bestseller list. As a boy in Brooklyn's Red Hook projects, James McBride knew his mother was different. But when he asked her about it, she'd simply say 'I'm light-skinned.' Later he wondered if he was different too, and asked his mother if he was black or white. 'You're a human being! Educate yourself or you'll be a nobody!' she snapped back. And when James asked about God, she told him 'God is the color of water.' This is the remarkable story of an eccentric and determined woman: a rabbi's daughter, born in Poland and raised in the Deep South who fled to Harlem, married a black preacher, founded a Baptist church and put twelve children through college. A celebration of resilience, faith and forgiveness, The Color of Water is an eloquent exploration of what family really means.

Anxious Histories

Anxious Histories PDF Author: Jordana Silverstein
Publisher: Berghahn Books
ISBN: 178238653X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 254

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Book Description
Over the last seventy years, memories and narratives of the Holocaust have played a significant role in constructing Jewish communities. The author explores one field where these narratives are disseminated: Holocaust pedagogy in Jewish schools in Melbourne and New York. Bringing together a diverse range of critical approaches, including memory studies, gender studies, diaspora theory, and settler colonial studies, Anxious Histories complicates the stories being told about the Holocaust in these Jewish schools and their broader communities. It demonstrates that an anxious thread runs throughout these historical narratives, as the pedagogy negotiates feelings of simultaneous belonging and not-belonging in the West and in Zionism. In locating that anxiety, the possibilities and the limitations of narrating histories of the Holocaust are opened up once again for analysis, critique, discussion, and development.

Jewish Identity

Jewish Identity PDF Author: Simon N. Herman
Publisher: Transaction Publishers
ISBN: 9781412826877
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 334

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Book Description
Employing insights from a broadly conceived social psychology, Simon N. Herman examines contemporary Jewish life in its totality as a constellation of interdependent factors. He sets forth criteria for the Jewish identity, analyzes the religious and national elements that interweave in it, the constancies and variations in that identity across the years and across countries, the impact on it of the Holocaust and the establishment of the state of Israel. An illuminating chapter is devoted to the question "Who is a Jew?" In his foreword to the fkst edition of this volume, Herbert Kelman of Harvard University described it as "a pioneering contribution to the study of ethnic/national identity." The second edition incorporates additional data derived from two recent studies conducted by the author. It includes a discussion of the direction of changes in the Jewish identity in the decade since publication of the first edition. Special attention is given to the Jewish reactions to the worldwide resurgence of anti-Semitism and to the turbulent events in and around Israel. A careful analysis is undertaken of the factors in the present situation that strengthen and weaken the Jewish identity.

What We Now Know about Jewish Education

What We Now Know about Jewish Education PDF Author: Roberta Louis Goodman
Publisher: Torah Aura Productions
ISBN: 1934527076
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 602

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Book Description
When What We Know about Jewish Education was first published in 1992, Stuart Kelman recognized that knowledge and understanding would greatly enhance the ability of professionals and lay leaders to address the many challenges facing Jewish education. With increased innovation, the entry of new funders, and the connection between Jewish education and the quality of Jewish life, research and evaluation have become, over the last two decades, an integral part of decision making, planning, programming, and funding.

The World to Come: A Novel

The World to Come: A Novel PDF Author: Dara Horn
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 0393066878
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 340

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Book Description
"Nothing short of amazing." —Entertainment Weekly A million-dollar Chagall is stolen from a museum during a singles' cocktail hour. The unlikely thief, former child prodigy Benjamin Ziskind, is convinced that the painting once hung in his parents' living room. This work of art opens a door through which we discover his family's startling history—from an orphanage in Soviet Russia where Chagall taught to suburban New Jersey and the jungles of Vietnam.

Passion, Memory, and Identity

Passion, Memory, and Identity PDF Author: Marjorie Agosín
Publisher: UNM Press
ISBN: 9780826320490
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 268

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Book Description
A lively analysis of the major contribution of Jewish women writers in Latin America.