The Columbia History of Jews and Judaism in America (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: The Columbia History of Jews and Judaism in America Lila Corwin Berman (bio) The Columbia History of Jews and Judaism in America. Edited by Marc Lee Raphael. New York: Columbia University Press, 2008. vi + 490 pp. What purpose does an anthology of historical essays serve? As I read Marc Lee Raphael's recent anthology on Jews and Judaism in America, I considered two answers: one involving access and the other involving the shape of the field. An anthology can be a wonderful pedagogical tool, allowing students relatively affordable access to the breadth of a field. (Ones that appear often on syllabi in the areas in which I teach include Jon Butler and Harry Stout's Religion in American History [1997] and Jonathan Sarna's The American Jewish Experience [1997].) Anthologies also serve as statements about how history is written and how it should be written, manifestos of sorts. (Two that come to mind are Thomas Tweed's Retelling U.S. Religious History [1997] and Riv-Ellen Prell's Women Remaking American Judaism [2007].) Both goals drive most anthologies, and some suffer because of it. In order to be a truly successful book, an anthology must make a convincing argument for the particular juxtaposition of essays it includes. In a sense, then, successful anthologies read as if they are conversations, wide-ranging perhaps, but also coherent in voice and aim. In his introduction, Raphael explains that The Columbia History of Jews and Judaism is different from previous anthologies about American Jewish history, particularly in its organization and composition. By combining chronological and thematic essays, the anthology does not sacrifice breadth for depth or vice versa. On this count, Raphael fairly characterizes the anthology. Yet in so far as the anthology is concerned [End Page 248] with advancing the state of the field beyond the contribution of individual essays, Raphael's introduction is less clear. He argues that the essays prove that "though there are some regional differences, they are so minor as to make it possible to speak of a national Jewry" (8). Local stories matter, Raphael explains, because they provide texture. Yet, as he writes, "Passover is Passover everywhere" (8). When I read Raphael's introduction, I found this assertion troubling, but as I read the rest of the anthology, I found it absent. Many of the essays seemed to prove quite the contrary: geography matters, though certainly not to the exclusion of other variables, whether we are talking about a region of the country, type of settlement (city, suburb, small town), or the view from one's window. Raphael's more convincing justification for publishing a new anthology about American Jewish life is the fact that most histories of Jews in the United States focus either on secular or religious definitions of Jewishness, not both. I believe he is correct that this often occurs, but I am not sure that simply situating an essay which considers one definition next to another which considers a different definition necessarily advances a new framework for thinking about Jewishness. The anthology never settles on a particular conversation it hopes to foster. Instead the reader is lead in multiple—albeit often very fruitful—directions. About one third of the essays are clearly surveys, the sorts of essays one could imagine putting on a syllabus. For example, Pamela Nadell's exploration of Jewish feminism or William Toll's discussion of Pacific Jewry presents historical narratives driven less by argument than by summary. Other essays reflect a more self-conscious attempt to talk about how history is told. For example, in his essay about eastern European immigrants, Eric Goldstein makes frequent reference to the way historians have generally described this wave of immigration. Furthermore, he takes issue with certain common interpretations, such as the perception that eastern European immigrants were unlike Jewish immigrants who preceded them. Likewise, Riv-Ellen Prell in examining American Jews in the 1950s rejects the "consensus" history told by many scholars in favor of a portrait of Jewish life rich with diversity, dissension, and disharmony. The most successful of these essays, including the ones written by Goldstein, Prell, Michael Staub, Jeffrey Shandler, and Eli Faber, succeed in illuminating a particular...