David Levinsky

Rebecca Samuel’s letters provide interesting insight into what is was like to be a Jewish American woman in the emerging United States. Her letters provide some evidence to struggles many Jews faced trying to observe their religion, as well as the tension of merging American practices with Jewish identity.

Jonathan Sarna’s book American Judaism: A History is a well-written account of the history of American Judaism. In his book, he closely navigates this history by examining its path from the colonial period to shortly after the Civil War. In doing so, the author unpacks American Jewish history with a plethora of sources that helps to contextualize the importance of American Judaism in U.S. history. When examining Sarna’s book, it is important to dig a little deeper by providing a more substantiated analysis. This is where things such as themes, sources, and argument come to mind.

The article From the Russian Pale to Labor Organizing in New York City written by Annelise Orleck reveals how the working class immigrant community played a significant role in influencing women’s labor movements in the early twentieth century. Orleck maintains that as a result of their background, Jewish women had an experience in America different from most women. She posits that since they did not subscribe to the Victorian ideal of a traditional women’s role, Jewish immigrant women were able to form networks which transcended class, ethnicity, and even gender. Orleck’s book is a significant contribution to

Religious influences derived from T.M Rudavsky’s “Gender and Judaism” will differ in effect on the individuals as to either reject or integrate their Jewish identities with American liberties. The articles focusing on diverse theories of assimilation being a natural element in the immigration process such as Milton Gordon’s “Assimilation in America: Theory and Reality” which will contribute the concepts “Anglo-conformity” and “cultural pluralism” as they assist Yezierska’s and Antin’s directive of assimilation in America. “Spatial Patterns of Immigrant Assimilation” written by James P. Allen and Eugene Turner will propose the significance of “cultural assimilation” constructing Sara’s and Mary’s identity through a culture that expresses a wealthy lifestyle with archiving an education in terms of success. These theories support the literary strategies of fiction and realism as their differences in external influences and personal decisions highlight the similar outcome of an incomplete assimilation integrating Jewish

Americanization is a process immigrants and first-generation American children encounter when shocked with the potent culture and mannerism of American society. In Abraham Cahan’s short story “The Imported Bridegroom,” Americanization and its various influences of different people are highlighted. Within the story, the audience is introduced to Flora, a first-generation Jewish American who is heavily influenced by the luxurious aspect of the American Dream and projects this romantic and unrealistic goal onto her future ideal husband, leading to her unhappiness. On the other hand, Shaya, an immigrant from Pravly, evolves from reading Jewish books and prayers to all sorts of higher Gentile books, including philosophy and mathematics.

As Jewish immigrants settled in New York, some adopted American values. As a result, they assimilated into the mainstream of American culture. This is

By analyzing Rose Cohen’s autobiography, “Out of the Shadow”, it uncovers the various social and economical hardships that Russian-Jews faced living in America. Even though adapting to a new life in America came with many obstacles for Jews, Rose’s story shows that many of them made it through their hardships and ultimately overcame their adversities. Rose Cohen’s autobiography serves as a great resource as to what Jewish life was in everyday America during the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century.

The authors classify the second response to the ultimatum as an assimilationist response; it is the negotiation of the Jewish difference. The creation of the new nation-state allowed Jews to privatize their religious differences, which meant Judaism would be tolerated as long as it was an individual’s personal faith. Powers states that the term “assimilationist” can be better understood as “adaptationism.” This is the impulse of Jews to rid or hide any differences in order to adapt into society. “The unending need to identify, vilify, and ultimately negate threatening Jewish difference is the key distinguishing marker of assimilationism as an active, politically salient ideology (Powers, 114).

When we speak of great american Jews the conversation would not be complete without including Joseph B. Soloveitchik. There have been a great number of people who have had a great contribution to American Jews but none in the way that “The Rav” has. From his upbringing in Eastern Europe to becoming the unchallenged leader in American Modern Orthodoxy, Rav Joseph Soloveitchik had a profound influence on thousands of American Jews that can be felt strongly still today.

In Small town Texas, Jewish people were known for having a very influential impact not only for their Jewish communities, but also for the greater society. Most small towns in Texas that had a Jewish population had at least one figure that stands out thanks to their own personal success, but also for the success in being key members of their society while helping their respective cities thrive. I read about two of these influential Jewish personalities, the first one being Sam Perl from Brownsville, and the second being Benjamin Loewenstein from Rockdale. Each of them did different things to assert themselves as very successful members of their respective cities.

The cycle of settlement, exodus, and displacement is central to that of Jewish history. Theodor Herzl’s “A Jewish State” explores this question in depth in light of the inception of the political Zionist movement and the general rise of nationalism across the Middle East. “A Jewish State” serves to capitalize on unrest of the Jewish people in light of segregation in European states through connections that rely upon two relatively recent developments in the Western world at the time: imperialism and the repercussions of the Industrial Revolution. The language of the document is connected to a general theme of hierarchy and power dynamics both in Jewish society and in the context of states. Additionally, sophisticated word choice suggests that the intended audience would be Jewish individuals with a high level of education and possibly status and wealth.

The Jewish population in Europe sought the American Jewish community as their source of leadership and security, even as the influx of refugees poured into the country. The effect that the Jewish community had on American life, as well as the subtle change brought from the introduction of Hungarian and Hassidic Jews into the nation, added a significant change to American cultural and intellectual

When working with secondary sources, it is helpful to have primary sources read concordantly to validate information expressed in the secondary source. Today’s readings are focused on the transformation of Jewish culture. The secondary source describes the transformation of Jewish culture in Eastern Europe. Our primary sources “For Whom Do I Toil” and “Awake My People” were written by Jewish poet Judah Leib Gordon. The poems address a number of issues that the Jewish people were facing in Russian lands, including the embracement of Russian language and culture by Jews and the abandonment of Hebrew and Yiddish.

The Holocaust becomes the center of this. Whether it be at his Hebrew school, where Jewish history shaped not only the curriculum they learn. But, also as a collective identity shared by a new and contemporary Jewish generation. While still being connected to the past. This is a struggle for Mark, who does not even identify himself as Jewish for most of the story, He is continuously challenged with where to place himself in this new world, as a second-generation immigrant to Toronto. For Mark, being a young Latvian Jew is not easy.

Philip Roth´s 1959 short story “The Conversion of the Jews“ appears to be the study of a young boy´s religious self-finding process, but it is also a study of the orthodox post-war Jewish society that this boy lives in. The major theme of the story is an ideological struggle, or more precisely the attempts of a free-thinking individual to break free from the restrictions of Jewish society in order to gain self-determination and an own identity. The story´s protagonist, a thirteen-year-old Jewish boy named Ozzie Freedman, constantly challenges the authority of his religious teacher, Rabbi Binder, by asking him rather provocative questions about religion; Binder cannot answer these questions satisfactorily but instead resorts