American Jewish Research Articles

:Unsettled: American Jews and the Movement for Justice in Palestine

:<i>Unsettled: American Jews and the Movement for Justice in Palestine</i>

Beyond the Secular-Religion Divide: Judaism and the New Secularity

In his 2018 survey of twenty-first-century American Judaism entitled The New American Judaism: How Jews Practice their Judaism Today, Jack Wertheimer references a 2015 Pew Research study that presupposes the secular-religion binary as the analytical metric for its determination that both the American public and American Jews are becoming less religious. Nonetheless, Wertheimer’s use of this analytical frame prohibits him from making sense of many details of the twenty-first-century American Jewish life that he seeks to describe. Indeed, any survey of the contemporary American Jewish scene is remiss if it does not discuss the rise of orthodox Jewish feminism, current trends towards substantial denominational change, and/or the emergence of a “post-ethnic” Judaism. Even so, recent historical-ethnographic accounts have outpaced analytical challenges to the secular-religion binary. Contemporary historians and ethnographers find themselves forced to choose between an analytically deficient model and a default rejection of analytical tools altogether. Arguably, the roots of the current impasse are derived from the influence of what scholars refer to as the secularization thesis. Therefore, to overcome this impasse, ethnographers and historians of American Judaism need access to a more refined categorical lens. In this essay, I argue that they may find the analytical support they need by turning away from the secularization thesis and turning toward far more complex accounts of the relationship between Judaism and modernity provided by the canon of modern Jewish thought. Such a turn yields an analytical category we may refer to as the “new secularity” which, when applied to studies in Jewish life in America (and potentially elsewhere) sheds light on communal realities that the secular-religious account misses.

"Where" Matters: The Importance of Geographic Factors in Understanding American Jewry, Sklare Address

"Where" Matters: The Importance of Geographic Factors in Understanding American Jewry, Sklare Address

The development and diversity of religious cognition and behavior: Protocol for Wave 1 data collection with children and parents by the Developing Belief Network.

The Developing Belief Network is a consortium of researchers studying human development in diverse social-cultural settings, with a focus on the interplay between general cognitive development and culturally specific processes of socialization and cultural transmission in early and middle childhood. The current manuscript describes the study protocol for the network's first wave of data collection, which aims to explore the development and diversity of religious cognition and behavior. This work is guided by three key research questions: (1) How do children represent and reason about religious and supernatural agents? (2) How do children represent and reason about religion as an aspect of social identity? (3) How are religious and supernatural beliefs transmitted within and between generations? The protocol is designed to address these questions via a set of nine tasks for children between the ages of 4 and 10 years, a comprehensive survey completed by their parents/caregivers, and a task designed to elicit conversations between children and caregivers. This study is being conducted in 39 distinct cultural-religious groups (to date), spanning 17 countries and 13 languages. In this manuscript, we provide detailed descriptions of all elements of this study protocol, give a brief overview of the ways in which this protocol has been adapted for use in diverse religious communities, and present the final, English-language study materials for 6 of the 39 cultural-religious groups who are currently being recruited for this study: Protestant Americans, Catholic Americans, American members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Jewish Americans, Muslim Americans, and religiously unaffiliated Americans.

‘Apples – out, mushrooms – in'; toward a theology of queer advocacy in the American Jewish community

ABSTRACT In Jewish tradition, two holiday plates, the Passover Seder plate and the Rosh Hashanah Seder plate, hold profound significance due to their inclusion of simanim (symbolic foods) which carry deep social, cultural, and spiritual meanings. The blessings construct and express the Jewish tradition as a means of fulfilling the collective wishes and hopes of the Jewish community for survival, continuity and protection. This article delves into an initiative aimed at introducing new symbols onto these ceremonial plates, including various fruits and vegetables, as symbols of inclusion for LGBTQ + individuals within the Jewish tradition. The queer blessings reflect LGBTQ + phobic responses and struggles for public recognition. This innovative effort, widely disseminated through social networks, was conceived and championed by ‘Keshet’, a prominent Jewish organisation dedicated to advancing LGBTQ + inclusion in Jewish life and communities. Thus, I argue that the organisation enacts a theology of queer Jewish advocacy, facilitating the adaptation of religious discourse, rituals and customs to align with contemporary queer lifestyles.

Present Trends Discontinued: A Response to Bethamie Horowitz’s 2023 Marshall Sklare Award Address

Bethamie Horowitz was a leader of the social–psychological turn in the social scientific study of American Jewry. The 1990s were ripe for such a turn. Structural stability enabled analysts to assume “present trends continued.” Today, unsettled times are drawing attention back to the macro-level structural forces shaping the contexts in which Jews live.

How Israel's Illiberal Democracy Became a Model for the Right

ABSTRACT: Amid the mass slaughter and starvation of Palestinians in Gaza, it is easy to forget the political drama that gripped Israel only one year ago. After assuming power in December 2022, a new far-right government led by Benjamin Netanyahu had proposed a slate of judicial and administrative reforms that prompted a wave of anti-government protests. Concerned journalists, former U.S. and Israeli government officials, and major American Jewish organizations issued ominous warnings about democratic backsliding. Israel, it seemed, was heading in the direction of illiberal Hungary.

“Teach us to feel proud of all of our identities”: Time and space in an American queer Jewish liturgy

AbstractSince the late 1960s, the American Jewish community has worked to find creative ways to include lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, Queer+ (LGBTQ+) people in community practices and Jewish liturgy. The pioneering egalitarian denomination was and remains the Reform Jewish Movement, which promotes and supports gender equality and sexual diversity. This paper proposes a typology of queer Jewish liturgy based on classification into two categories: time and space. By exploring these specific categories, the texts expose a bipolar relationship between LGBTQ+s and divine individuals, LGBTQ+s and heterosexual/cisgender individuals, and LGBTQ+s and themselves. By analyzing particular queer prayers, I argue that this liturgy, created by American Jewish clergy, is characterized by inherent structural contradictions, which reflect tendencies and changes not only in non‐halachic Jewish communities but also in queer ideology and gay politics. Thus, the textual dimension is revealed as a vivid landscape that characterizes the dynamics of LGBTQ+ Jewish people between temporal, fragile, and safe spaces, painful memories and proud feelings, and victim consciousness and social agency.

American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee and the reconstruction of destroyed Jewish homes in Lithuania, 1921–1924

ABSTRACT This article presents the reconstruction of housing for Jewish Lithuanian refugees returning home after World War I. The refugees found their original homes ‘completely destroyed’ or ‘partially destroyed,’ which were the formal categories used by the government. Between 1921 and 1924, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) worked with the refugees and the Lithuanian government to rebuild communities, and also collaborated with the local Jewish National Council (JNC) in providing financial and organizational support for reconstruction. This was a tenuous relationship based on JDC and JNC differences and oft-changing government housing policies. This article analyzes the rebuilding of two cities: Šiauliai (completely destroyed) and Panevėžys (partially destroyed).

From the American Jewish Conference to the Establishment of Israel: The First Jewish Zionist Grassroots Movement and President Truman

Abstract During the period from 1943 to 1948, the American Jewish grassroots movement organized to pressure Congress and President Truman in support of the establishment of a Jewish homeland in Palestine. This effort was led by Jewish leaders such as Rabbi Abba Hillel Silver, who worked to promote the Zionist vision of a Jewish state as proclaimed in the Balfour Declaration and endorsed by the San Remo Conference. The activities of the Jewish lobby during this period were numerous and varied. They worked to establish the American Jewish Conference, which operated in the U.S. and abroad to promote the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine. Additionally, members used their influence in Congress and the media to push for support of the Zionist cause. Through these efforts, the Jewish lobby was able to exert significant pressure on Truman and other decision makers, ultimately leading to the creation of the State of Israel. President Truman found himself caught between the hammer and the anvil of the competing interests of Arabs and Jews, as well as conflicting views within his own administration. Despite these challenges, Truman ultimately played a crucial role in the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948.

Why are these Passover ads different from all other ads? Sephardim, Ashkenazim, and the American Jewish consumer identity

ABSTRACT This study uses advertisements for matzah from two prominent American Jewish language newspapers – Forverts in Yiddish, La Vara in Ladino – to demonstrate that matzah was a common cultural and religious symbol among Sephardim and Ashkenazim. For that reason, it was a way for Sephardim to begin fashioning a unique consumer identity that would resonate with the Ashkenazi majority on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. But first, Ashkenazim had to recognize Sephardim as fellow Jewish American consumers by marketing their Ashkenazi-owned matzah brands on the pages of La Vara. Sephardim then used this opportunity to engage in a process of translation, interpretation, and redesigning of Yiddish matzah advertisements into Ladino to assert their place within the broader American Jewish community.

Risk-management decision-making data from a community-based sample of racially diverse women at high risk of breast cancer: rationale, methods, and sample characteristics of the Daughter Sister Mother Project survey

BackgroundTo understand the dynamics that limit use of risk-management options by women at high risk of breast cancer, there is a critical need for research that focuses on patient perspectives. Prior research has left important gaps: exclusion of high-risk women not in risk-related clinical care, exclusion of non-white populations, and lack of attention to the decision-making processes that underlie risk-management choices. Our objective was to create a more inclusive dataset to facilitate research to address disparities related to decision making for breast cancer risk management.MethodsThe Daughter Sister Mother Project survey collects comprehensive information about the experiences of women at high risk of breast cancer. We collected novel measures of feelings about and reactions to cancer screenings; knowledge, barriers, and facilitators of risk-management options; beliefs related to cancer risk and risk management; and involvement with loved ones who had cancer. Eligible individuals were non-Hispanic white and non-Hispanic Black adult women who self-identified as having high risk of breast cancer and had no personal history of cancer. Between October 2018 and August 2019, 1053 respondents completed the online survey. Of these, 717 were confirmed through risk prediction modeling to have a lifetime breast cancer risk of ≥ 20%. Sociodemographic characteristics of this sample were compared to those of nationally representative samples of the US population: the 2019 Health Information National Trends Survey and the Pew Research Center report: Jewish Americans in 2020.ResultsThe sample of 717 women at objectively high risk of breast cancer was largely (95%) recruited from non-clinical sources. Of these respondents, only 31% had seen a genetic counselor, 34% had had genetic testing specific to breast cancer risk, and 35% had seen at least one breast or cancer care specialist. The sample includes 35% Black respondents and 8% with Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry. Although encompassing a substantial range of ages, incomes, and education levels, respondents are overall somewhat younger, higher-income, and more educated than the US population as a whole.ConclusionsThe DSM dataset offers comprehensive data from a community-based, diverse sample of women at high risk of breast cancer. The dataset includes substantial proportions of Black and Ashkenazi Jewish women and women who are not already in clinical care related to their breast cancer risk. This sample will facilitate future studies of risk-management behaviors among women who are and are not receiving high-risk care, and of variations in risk-management experiences across race and ethnicity.

Emotions and a Genre of Jewish Politics: American Jewish Advocacy for Israeli-Palestinian Peace, 1967–1977

ABSTRACT: It has long been held that American Jewish support for Israel is underwritten by a prevailing sense of emotional attachment to the Jewish state. Focusing on Jewish activist groups formed in the aftermath of the 1967 war, this article shows that emotions also played a central role in American Jewish mobilization for what is now termed the "two-state solution" to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. An entire "genre" of American Jewish political activism has emerged since 1967 to urge Israel to relinquish captured territories while embracing the Jewish state using emotional terminology. Conforming to a broader emotional regime as a way of staying within the bounds of the constructed American Jewish emotional community, generations of American Jewish activist organizations have emphasized love for Israel while simultaneously pushing for Palestinian self-determination. American Jewish advocates for a two-state solution typically argue that their commitment to a peaceful and stable future for the Jewish state drives them to support the creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel. Using oral histories and archival documents, this article offers a new perspective on such activism during its first decade (1967-1977).

Without a Little Help from Your Friends: The Supreme Court's Rejection of the American Jewish Congress Amicus Brief in NAACP v. Alabama ex rel. Patterson (1958)

Without a Little Help from Your Friends: The Supreme Court's Rejection of the American Jewish Congress Amicus Brief in NAACP v. Alabama ex rel. Patterson (1958)

아서 밀러 극의 인물, 주제, 문체에 나타난 유대인 특성

This study aims to identify Jewish characteristics in Arthur Miller's eight major plays, focusing on their characters, themes, and writing styles. As a Jewish American immigrant, Miller has been praised for portraying the American ego or culture. Until now, criticism of Miller's plays has taken his imperfect American self for granted as the standard of universality. Critics analyzed only the form and content revealed on the surface of the plays, which have become ambiguous due to the author's double identities. Miller presents a typical American middle-class character on the surface of his works but, in deep structure, projects the collective Jewish ideology and prophetic discourses oriented toward the Old Testament. This study redefines the propositions of 'Modern Tragedy,' 'Common Man,' and 'Whole Social Drama' that Miller claimed to emphasize the universality of his works. The analysis of Miller's plays' characters, themes, and writing styles reveals that he reflects his Jewish identity more strongly than his American ego.

Who Is Responsible for US Policy toward Israel?

ABSTRACT Is US policy and sentiment toward Israel a story about American Jews, or is it a story that transcends and even supersedes American Jews? Eric Alterman and Walter Russell Mead answer that question very differently in their respective voluminous books, We Are Not One and The Arc of a Covenant. Each challenges long-standing conventional wisdom and delves into specific historical inflection points as a way of demonstrating their thesis. But their divergence on the underlying question—is US policy toward Israel a Jewish story or not—is nevertheless striking, and which answer one finds more persuasive points to starkly different predictions for where the US may find itself, particularly in light of the revolutionary chaos currently engulfing Israeli politics and, by extension, American Jewish politics.

Explaining the Rise of Antisemitism in the United States

In October 2021, the American Jewish Committee released a survey that indicated that one out of four American Jews was victimized by antisemitism that year. Similarly, the Anti-Defamation League reported in 2022 that the number of antisemitic incidents in the U.S. reached its highest level since the organization began tracking antisemitism in 1979. The current research investigates the link between local social factors and the proliferation of antisemitic violence in the U.S., and more broadly expands the theoretical and conceptual understanding of the causes of biased violence. Using the University of Massachusetts Lowell Far-Right Incident Database, 2968 antisemitic incidents were identified between 2015 and 2021. Using a negative binomial regression clustered by county and state and piecewise slope analyses for antisemitic incidents in 2021, we find evidence that escalating tensions between Israel and Palestine and local political, social, and economic conditions play a role in the risk of antisemitic incidents.

Wolf Girls and Mechanical Boys: Whiteness and Assimilation in Bruno Bettelheim’s Narratives of Autism

In March of 1959, public intellectual, principal of the Sonia Shankman Orthogenic School at the University of Chicago, and Jewish concentration camp survivor, Bruno Bettelheim published two articles that presented seemingly disparate narratives of autism. One of these narratives, that of the mechanical boy, has become ubiquitous in discussions of autism history. The other article centered on Bettelheim’s posthumous diagnosis of Kamala, who had been known as the Wolf Girl of Midnapore India due to claims that she was raised by wolves, as autistic. Bettelheim compared Kamala to other “wild” autistic children he had worked with, especially Anna, a Polish Jewish refugee who had spent her earliest years hiding in a dugout from Nazi persecution. This article argues that in order to understand Bettelheim’s portrayal of autism, it is necessary to read the narrative of the mechanical boy alongside Bettelheim’s other narratives of autism. Specifically, it is necessary to read it alongside Bettelheim’s narratives of the autistic child as “wild child/wolf girl,” as well as his comparison between autistic children and some of his fellow concentration camp inmates, who he referred to as “moslems.” While seemingly disparate, these narratives are actually deeply intertwined. These narratives of incurable “wild children” and “moslem” concentration camp inmates served as the necessary contrast to the rehabilitation/assimilation/cure narrative of the mechanical boy. Reading these narratives of autism alongside each other helps uncover the often-elided role of race in shaping professional and public understandings of autism. This article problematizes contemporary and historical formations of autism as a white, middle-class, male “disorder” by making explicit the role of race in the construction of early narratives of autism. This article will also argue that in the late 1950s and the 1960s Bruno Bettelheim used narratives of autism to promote a new model of white technocratic masculinity in the United States. The creation of this new model of white masculinity was bound up with the whitening of Ashkenazi Jewish identity. Bettelheim presented whiteness as something that Ashkenazi Jews in America could achieve through a process of rehabilitation/assimilation/cure that rid them of pathological “Jewish” traits.

A “Jewish Marshall Plan”: The American Jewish Presence in Post-Holocaust France by Laura Hobson Faure (review)

A “Jewish Marshall Plan”: The American Jewish Presence in Post-Holocaust France by Laura Hobson Faure (review)

“Women with Hearts” and the Americanization of Jewish San Francisco, 1850–1880

For San Francisco’s female Jewish pioneers, learning to organize and operate charitable societies was an integral step in their Americanization, or assimilation into American culture. Charity work taught women leadership skills and, at the same time, accustomed their fathers, husbands, and sons to limited forms of female authority within the community. In the process, leaders of San Francisco’s first female-led Jewish charities transformed themselves as well as their community. In some cases, male support for women’s charitable enterprises marked the spread of American Reform Judaism through San Francisco’s pioneer synagogues. In other instances, questions regarding the proper place of women intensified community members’ adherence to the traditions of their fathers. Even so, by founding and leading charitable associations through the period 1850–1880, “women with hearts” transformed Jewish San Francisco, male and female, foreign- and native-born, helping all to become more fully American. The glory of the San Francisco example is that the sources allow us to watch the process unfold, as the female leaders of benevolent agencies trod paths taking them from Jewish immigrants to Jewish Americans, or from well-intentioned but untrained “ladies bountiful” to what Jacob Marcus Rader called the New Woman, the “Jewish social worker.”