modern american jewish history spring 2011, mwf...

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Modern American Jewish History

Spring 2011, MWF 11:00-11:50 HIST/JWST 4827

Professor Ronnie Grinberg Office Hours: Mondays 12-2 or by appointment, University Club 217 Email: [email protected] Course Description: This course explores the American Jewish experience beginning with the great migration of Jews from Eastern Europe in 1880 through the twentieth century. Students will explore the changing ways in which Jews adapted to American life, constructed American Jewish identities, and their contributions to politics and culture. Two central questions will guide the course. First, how did Jews navigate the problems associated with assimilation while maintaining group identity and how did Jews transform from a discriminated minority to an integrated group within the mainstream of American society? Second, how did these shifts in Jewish identity affect political affiliations and behavior? As the Jewish essayist Milton Himmelfarb famously quipped, “Jews earn like Episcopalians but vote like Puerto Ricans.” We will examine this widely accepted notion of Jewish political (liberal) behavior by looking at changes in conceptions of Jewish communities throughout the twentieth century. Topics will include immigration, labor radicalism, assimilation, anti-Semitism, the Cold War, the Holocaust, Black-Jewish relations, the 1960s, and Israel. An integral goal of this course is to learn how to evaluate and analyze primary sources—eyewitness accounts, newspaper articles, government documents, autobiographies, diaries, rabbinical platforms, etc.—written by people or groups directly involved in the topic under consideration. Most your assignments will center on this skill and we will also examine primary sources in nearly every class.

Teaching Method: This class will utilize a traditional Jewish form of learning known as Hevruta, which means interactive text analysis and class discussion.

Purpose: Hevruta is an ancient Jewish technique for learning based on the notion that each person has access to a piece of the truth and that we should talk to others to get closer to the truth. We will utilize the Hevruta method because of the belief that one gains a greater understanding of the texts when one studies with others. How It Works:

Participants are assigned a partner that s/he will keep for the entire semester.

Each pair (or Hevruta) will be given a text or photograph at the beginning of class.

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You and your partner must face each other. One person reads aloud and the other follows along with the text. If the text is long, you should take turns reading different sections.

After reading the text, you and your partner will discuss the text, connect it to the week’s readings, and answer guiding questions. Take notes while you discuss your answers.

In order for the Hevruta method to work the way that it was intended, you have to trust your partner, speak honestly, and listen to each other.

After the Hevrutas meet, we will come back together as a group to discuss larger themes based on the text and class readings. I will provide guiding questions but will let the energy guide the text study and the group discussion.

Required Text:

Susan A. Glenn, Daughters of the Shtetl: Life and Labor in the Immigrant Generation Stuart Svonkin, Jews Against Prejudice: American Jews and the Fight for Civil Liberties Edward Cohen, The Peddler’s Grandson: Growing Up Jewish in Mississippi Gerald Sorin, Tradition Transformed: The Jewish Experience in America All articles available on CU Learn

Evaluation Method: 25% attendance and participation; 10% weekly quizzes; 35% for two short papers (first paper is 15%; second paper 20%); 30% final take-home exam.

1. 25%, Attendance and Participation

ATTENDANCE: Attendance is mandatory for every class. A good portion of class time will be dedicated to discussion and presentations of the assigned reading materials. As such, all students must be both physically present in class and actively contribute to class discussions. All students must stay up to date on the readings.

More than three absences will cost you one percentage point from your final grade. Three late arrivals (after attendance is taken) will equal one absence. Please make sure to be on time to class. Do not email me if you plan to miss class unless it is an absolute emergency. It is your responsibility not to miss more than three classes; there are no excused absences.

CLASS PARTICIPATION: For this class to be successful all members must make informed and regular contributions to class discussion. The course emphasizes a collective exploration of the American Jewish experience during the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Students must stay up to date on all reading assignments and have thought about the material before coming to class. Before each class session, write out a few questions and comments that you may wish to raise in discussion. We will address these questions and comments during each session.

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2. 10% - Weekly Quizzes

These reading quizzes will begin week 3 and are located on CU Learn under “Quizzes.” These are on-line five-question true or false quizzes based on the assigned readings. These are low-stakes ways of helping you keep up with the reading. All quizzes will go live on Wednesday afternoons, but you will have only 10 minutes to complete the quiz once you have begun. The system will shut down every Friday at 10:30. If you miss a quiz, you will NOT be able to make this up. That’s why they are low-stakes.

3. 35% - Two Short Papers (15% for the first paper, 20% for the second)

Papers are to be 3-4 pages (750-1000 words) in length, typed, double-spaced.

Topics will be posted on CU Learn under “Assignments” approximately one week before they are due. You should upload your completed papers to CU Learn.

You do not need to do any additional readings for these papers but you do need to utilize course material covered in the previous weeks.

Be sure to carefully proofread your papers. History papers are written in the past tense (but not passive voice); use quotation marks around any direct quotes and cite your sources appropriately. Either footnotes or endnotes are acceptable, but you must be consistent.

Papers are due (uploaded to CU Learn) on the following dates:

First paper due in class (bring two hard copies to class) for a peer reviewed writing workshop on Friday February 17; Final draft is due by 10 AM on Monday, Feb. 20, uploaded to CU Learn.

Second paper due 10 by AM on Friday, March 23, uploaded to CU Learn

4. 30% - Final Exam – Take home essay – due by 10 AM Thursday, May 10, uploaded to CU Learn.

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY: Students are expected to know and follow the University of Colorado at Boulder’s Honor Code, which can be found at http://www.colorado.edu/academics/honorcode/ Failure to abide by these policies will result in a failing grade for the course.

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COURSE SCHEDULE:

WEEK 1 (Jan 16-22): What is American Jewish History?

Wednesday, January 18: Introduction and Syllabus Review Friday, January 20th: Discussion: What is American Jewish History?

David Hollinger, “Communalist and Dispersionist Approaches to Jewish History in an Increasingly Post-Jewish Era,” and Hasia Diner’s response, “Why American Historians Really Ignore American Jewish History,” American Jewish History, Vol. 95, no. 1 (2009), pp. 1-42.

The Jew in the American World: A Sourcebook, pp. 426-428. WEEK 2 (January 23-27): Jewish Immigration to America Monday, January 23: What are Jews?

Eric Goldstein, “Contesting the Categories: Jews and Government Racial Classification in the United States,” American Jewish History (2006), pp. 79-107.

Wednesday, January 25: Immigrating to America: The first two waves

Gerald Sorin, Tradition Transformed: The Jewish Experience in America, chapters 1-3, pp. 1-33.

The Jew in the American World: A Sourcebook, pp. 29-33; 190-195; 219-224. Friday, January 27: Life in Jewish Eastern Europe and the Attraction to America

Jonathan Frankel, “The Crisis of 1881 as a Turning Point in Modern Jewish History,” in The Legacy of Jewish Migration, 1881-82, pp. 9-22.

Susan Glenn, Daughters of the Shtetl, pp. 30-49.

The Jew in the American World: A Sourcebook, pp. 353-354. WEEK 3 (January 30-Febuary 5): Immigrant Life Monday, January 30 The Eastern European Migration

Sorin, Tradition Transformed: The Jewish Experience in America, chapter 4, 34-60.

The Jew in the American World: A Sourcebook, pp. 294; 371-374.

“Good Metal in Our Melting Pot, Says Miss Wald,” New York Times, November 16, 1913.

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Wednesday, Feb 1: Forging American Judaism

Sorin, Tradition Transformed: The Jewish Experience in America, chapter 8, pp. 126-146.

The Jew in the American World: A Sourcebook, pp. 238-248; 341-342. Friday, Feb 3: Immigrant Experiences

Hester Street (1975), film - watch in class.


WEEK 4 (Feb. 6-10): Gender and Assimilation

Monday February 6: Immigrant Experiences continued

Hester Street (195), watch second half in class.

Susan Glenn, Daughters of the Shtetl, chapter 1, pp. 8-30

The Jew in the American World: A Sourcebook, pp. 351-353.

Wednesday Feb. 8: Gender & the Eastern European Jewish immigrant Experience

Susan Glenn, Daughters of the Shtetl, chapter 2, pp. 50-89.

The Jew in the American World: A Sourcebook, pp. 323-325; 367-368; 316-317.

Friday, Feb. 10: Discussion Immigrant Accounts: Anzia Yezierska, Gender, & Jewish Immigration

Riv-Ellen Prell, “The Ghetto Girl and the Erasure of Memory,” in Remembering the Lower East Side, 86-107.

Anzia Yezierska, “The Free Vacation House,” “America and I” and “Children of Loneliness,” pp. 43-49; 144-153; 178-190 in Yezierska’s collected stories.

WEEK 5 (Feb. 13-17): Jewish Radicalism Monday, Feb. 13: Jewish Radicalism


Tony Michels, A Fire in Their Hearts, Introduction, pp. 1-25.

The Jew in the American World: A Sourcebook, pp. 326-329; 361-362.

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Wednesday, Feb. 15: Jewish Women and Radicalism

Glenn, Daughters of the Shtetl, chapter 5, pp. 167-206.

Paula Hyman, “Immigrant Women and Consumer Protest: The New York City Kosher Meat Boycott of 1902” AJWH, pp. 116-126.

American Working Women: A Documentary History, 1600 to the Present, pp. 184-187. Friday, February 17: Paper Workshop

Writing workshop for paper – you must bring two hard copies of your paper to class, one copy to turn in to me and the other copy to use for a peer reviewed writing workshop.

No assigned readings. WEEK 6: (Feb. 20-24): Antisemitism and the 1920s

FINAL DRAFT OF PAPER DUE

UPLOADED TO CU LEARN by 10 AM on Monday, Feb. 20 Monday, Feb. 20: The “Jewish Problem” in Interwar America

Eric Goldstein, Ch. 5, “Race and the ‘Jewish Problem’ in Interwar America,” in The Price of Whiteness: Jews, Race, and American Identity, pp. 119-137.

Melvin Urofsky, “Zionism: An American Experience,” in The American Jewish Experience, pp. 245-255.

The Jew in the American World: A Sourcebook, pp. 381-386; 406-409. Wednesday, Feb. 22 Antisemitism & Quotas

Jerome Karbel, Ch 3 “Harvard and the Battle Over Restriction,” in The Chosen: The Hidden History of Exclusion at Harvard, Yale and Princeton, pp. 77-110.

Friday, Feb. 24: An introduction to the New York intellectuals

Irving Howe, “The New York Intellectuals: A Chronicle and Critique,” Commentary (1968), pp. 29-36.

A.L. Shands, “The Cheder on the Hill: Some Notes on CCNY,” The Menorah Journal (Vol. XVA, No. 3) March 1929, pp. 263-269.

M.G. Torch, “The Spirit of Morningside: Some Notes on Columbia,” The Menorah Journal, (Vol. XVII) March 1930, pp. 253-261.

Irving Kristol, “Memoirs of a Trotskyist,” Reflection of a Neoconservative: Looking Back, Looking Ahead, pp. 3-13.

Film: Arguing the World, Ch. 1-5 (film, watch in-class).

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Week 7 (Feb. 27-March 2): Depression and War Monday, Feb. 27: The Great Depression

Beth S. Wanger, “Government Welfare and Jewish Communal Responsibility: the Evolution of Jewish Philanthropy in the Great Depression,” in An Inventory of Promises: Essays on American Jewish History in Honor of Moses Rischin, pp. 307-324

The Jew in the American World: A Sourcebook, pp. 396-401; 32-33.

Film: Arguing the World, Ch. 6-10 (watch in-class). Wednesday, Feb. 29: Socialism/Communism in the 1930s

Alan Wald, Ch. 3, “The Conversion of the Jews,” in Trinity of Passion: The Literary Left and the Antifascist Crusade, pp. 176-209.

Ellen Schrecker, The Age of McCarthyism: A Brief History With Documents, pp. 112-115.

Friday, March 2: Discussion: Responding to the Holocaust .

Henry Feingold, “Was There Communal Failure? Thoughts on the American Jewish Response to the Holocaust,” American Jewish History (1993), pp. 60-80.

Hasia Diner, “Before ‘the Holocaust’: American Jews Confront Catastrophe, 1945-62,” in American Jewish Identity Politics, ed. Deborah Dash Moore, pp. 83-113.

The Jew in the American World: A Sourcebook, pp. 464-467 WEEK 8 (March 5-9): The Postwar Years: A Golden Age? Monday, March 5: WWII and the founding of Israel

Deborah Dash Moore, “When Jews Were GIs: How World War II Changed a Generation and Remade American Jewry,” in American Jewish Identity Politics, pp. 23-39.

The Jew in the American World: A Sourcebook, pp. 410-411; 480-486. Wednesday, March 7: A Golden Era?

Arthur Goren, “A ‘Golden Decade for American Jews: 1945-1955,” in The Politics and Public Culture of American Jews, pp. 186-204.

Lila Corwin Berman, “American Jews and the Ambivalence of Middle-Classness,” American Jewish History 93:4 (Dec. 2007), pp. 409-34


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Friday, March 9: Jews & Suburbia

DISCUSSION: Phillip Roth, “Eli the Fanatic” in Goodbye Columbus (1959), pp. 249-298. WEEK 9 (March 12-16): Combating Antisemitism in Cold War America Monday, March 12: Combating Anti-Semitism after the Holocaust

Stuart Svonkin, Jews Against Prejudice, Intro-Ch. 1 pp. 1-40.

Film: A Gentleman’s Agreement (1947), watch in class.

Wednesday, March 14: Jewish Organizations and the Intergroup Relations Movement

Svonkin, Jews Against Prejudice, Ch. 2-3, pp. 41-78

Film: A Gentleman’s Agreement (1947), watch in class. Friday, March 16:

Discussion, A Gentleman’s Agreement.

Svonkin, Jews Against Prejudice, Ch. 4, 79-112.

The Jew in the American World: A Sourcebook, pp.411-412.

WEEK 10 (March 19-23): Jews and Anticommunism Monday March 19: Anticommunism

Svonkin, Jews Against Prejudice, Ch. 5-6, pp. 113-160.

Wednesday March 21: Anticommunism and the Jewish Organizational Response

Svonkin, Jews Against Prejudice, Ch 7, pp. 161-177.

Deborah Dash Moore, “Reconsidering the Rosenbergs: Symbol and Substance in Second Generation American Jewish Consciousness,” Journal of American Ethnic History, Vol. 8, No. 1 (Fall 1988), pp. 21-37.

Ellen Schrecker, The Age of McCarthyism: A Brief History With Documents, pp. 165-170. Friday, March 23: The New York Intellectuals in Postwar America

Irving Howe, “The New York Intellectuals: A Chronicle and Critique,” Commentary (1968), pp. 36-51.

Film: Arguing the World, Ch. 11-16.

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Second Paper Due Uploaded to CU Learn by 10 AM on Friday, March 23

March 26-30: Spring Break

Read The Peddler’s Grandson! – Don’t save it for after break!!! o 5 points extra credit for a 2-3 page (550-750 words) book review and analysis of the

Peddler’s Grandson, due by Monday, April 16th, uploaded onto CU learn Week 11: (April 2-5): Southern Jews Monday, April 2: Class cancelled

Edward Cohen, The Peddler’s Grandson, Intro - Ch. 2, pp. 1-85. Wednesday, April 4: Class cancelled

Edward Cohen, The Peddler’s Grandson, Ch. 3-Epilogue, pp. 85-193. Friday, April 6: Jews in the South

Eric Goldstein, “’Now is the Time to Show Your True Colors’: Southern Jews, Whiteness, and the Rise of Jim Crow,” in Jewish Roots in Southern Soil, eds. Marcie Cohen Ferris & Mark Greenberg,” pp. 134-150

Clive Webb, “Montgomery Jews and Civil Rights: 1954-1960,” in Dixie Diaspora: An Anthology of Southern Jewish History, ed. Mark Bauman, 331-345.

The Jew in the American World: A Sourcebook, pp. 473-476. WEEK 12 (April 9-14): Blacks and Jews Monday, April 9: Northern Jews & the Civil Rights Movement

Deborah L. Schultz, “Going South: Jewish Women in the Civil Rights Movement,” AJWH, pp. 281-294.

Selections from The Jewish 1960s: An American Sourcebook, ed. Michael E. Staub, pp. 12-32. Selections include:

o Betty Alschuler, “Notes from the American Revolution—1962,” Albert Vorspan, “The Freedom Rides,” Richard Rubenstein, “The Rabbis Visit Birmingham,” (originally published The Reconstructionist, May 31, 1963).

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Wednesday, April 11: Blacks & Jews in the 20th century

Clayborne Carson, “Black-Jewish Universalism” in the Era of Identity Politics,” in Struggles in the Promised Land: Towards a History of Black-Jewish relations in the United States, eds. Jack Salzman & Cornel West, pp. 177-193.

Selection from The Jewish 1960s: An American Sourcebook, ed. Michael E. Staub, pp. 90—91; 108-115.

o Selection: Joachim Prinz, “America Must Not Remain Silent…,” and Leslie A Fiedler, Arthur Herzbertg, and Paul Jacobs, “Negro-Jewish Relations in America: A Symposium,” (originally appeared in Midstream, Dec. 1966).

Friday, April 13: Discussion - Blacks & Jews, Fractures & Fissures

Marc Dollinger, “A Different Kind of Freedom Ride: American Jews and the Struggle for Racial Equality, 1964-1975," in An Inventory of Promises, eds., Jeffrey S. Gurock and Marc Lee Raphael pp. 63-87.


Selection from The Jewish 1960s: An American Sourcebook, ed. Michael E. Staub: Rabbi Bernard Weinberger, “The Negro and the (Orthodox) Jew,” pp. 118-120.

Week 13 (April 16-20): Jewish Women & Second Wave Feminism Monday, April 16: Feminism & the career of Betty Friedan

Daniel Horowitz, Betty Friedan and the Making of the Feminine Mystique, Introduction, pp. 1-15.

Joyce Antler, Ch. 9, “Feminist Liberations,” in Journey Home: Jewish Women and the American Century, pp. 259-267.

The Jewish 1960s: An American Sourcebook, ed. Michael E. Staub, pp. 320-324. Wednesday April 18th: Jewish Women & Feminism

Joyce Antler, Ch. 9, “Feminist Liberations,” in Journey Home: Jewish Women and the American Century, pp. 267-284.

Paula Hyman, “Jewish Feminism Faces the American Women’s Movement: Convergence and Divergence,” in American Jewish Identity Politics, , pp. 221-236.

The Jewish 1960s: An American Sourcebook, ed. Michael E. Staub, pp. 325-338.

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Friday April 20: Jews and the New Left

Mark Rudd, “Why were there so many Jews in SDS? (Or, The Ordeal of Civility),” p. 1-12.

Michael Staub, Torn at the Roots: The Crisis of Jewish Liberalism in Postwar America, Ch. 5 “’If There was Dirty Linen, It had to be Washed’: Jews for Urban Justice,” 153-175.

Week 14 (April 23-27): The New Left, Israel, and American Jewry Monday, April 23: The New Left continued

Michael Staub, Torn at the Roots: The Crisis of Jewish Liberalism in Postwar America, Ch. 5 “’If There was Dirty Linen, It had to be Washed’: Jews for Urban Justice,” pp. 175-193.

Selection from The Jewish 1960s: An American Sourcebook, ed. Michael E. Staub, TBA

Film: Arguing the World, Ch. 16-24 (watch in-class). Wednesday, April 25: Israel and the 1967 Six-Day War

Deborah Dash Moore, “From David to Goliath: American Representations of Jews Around the Six Day War,” in The Six Day War and World Jewry, ed. Eli Lederhendler, pp. 69-80.

The Jewish 1960s: An American Sourcebook, ed. Michael E. Staub, pp. 165-187.

The Jew in the American World: A Sourcebook, pp. 489-494

Friday, April 22: Neoconservatism and other issues

Godfrey Hodson, Ch. 6, “Out of the Alcove,” The World Turned Right Side Up: A History of the Conservative Ascendancy in America, pp. 128-157.

Norman Podhoretz, Why Are Jews Liberal? Introduction and Conclusion, pp. 1-5; 291-295.

Film: Arguing the World, Ch. 16-24 (watch in-class).

Week 15 (April 30-May 6): Conclusions Monday, April 30: Jews and American Culture

Film: Annie Hall (1977), watch in class

Marc Dollinger and Michael Alexander, “American Jewish Liberalism Revisited: Two Perspectives” American Jewish History, pp.161-169.

Readings to TBA Wednesday, May 2: Jews and American Culture

Film: Annie Hall (1977), watch in class

Readings to TBA

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Friday, May 5: Conclusions and Discussion of Annie Hall

David Shneer and Caryn Aviv, Prologue and Introduction: “From Diaspora Jews to New Jews,” and in New Jews, pp. xii-xvi, 1-25.

Week 16 (May 5-11): EXAM WEEK – NO CLASS

Take-home essay exam Due no later than 10 AM on Thursday, May 10, uploaded to CU Learn

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History Terms

Primary Sources are materials produced by people or groups directly involved in the event or topic under consideration, either as participants or witnesses. They provide the evidence upon which historians rely in order to describe and interpret the past. Some primary sources are written documents, such as letters, diaries, newspaper and magazine articles, speeches, autobiographies, treaties, census data, and marriage, birth, and death certificates. In addition, historians often examine primary sources that are not written, like works of art, films, recordings, items of clothing, household objects, tools, and archeological remains. For recent history, oral sources such as interviews and other eyewitness accounts can also be primary sources.

Secondary sources: books and articles in scholarly journals that comment on and interpret primary sources. Reading secondary sources is the simplest and quickest way to become acquainted with what is already known about the subject you are studying. In addition, examining scholarly books and articles will inform you about the ways in which other historians have understood and interpreted events. Reading a variety of secondary sources is also the best way to become aware of the issues and interpretations that are the subject of controversy and debate among professional historians.

Historiography: The study of the ways in which historians have interpreted the past. Historians frequently disagree about how to interpret the events they study. These differences in interpretation reflect the varying approaches historians take to their subject. Questions for Evaluating Primary Sources:

- Who is the author? What argument/information is the author conveying? - How does the author’s gender and socio-economic class compare to the people about whom he or

she is writing? - Why did he/she write the source? Who was the intended audience? - What unspoken assumptions does the text contain? - Are there detectable biases in the source? - When was the source composed? - What is the historical context in which the source was written and read? - Are there other contemporary sources to compare against this one?

Questions for Evaluating Secondary Sources:

- Who is the author? What are his/her academic credentials? - Who is the publisher? (Is the text published by a scholarly press, or a popular one)? - Who is the intended audience for the text (scholars, students, general reading public)? - When was the text written? - Do the footnotes/endnotes and bibliography reference other important works on the same topic? - Does the author contradict or disagree with others who have written on the subject, and if so, does

he/she acknowledge and effectively address opposing arguments and interpretations? - Does the author use primary sources as evidence to support his/her thesis? Is his/her

interpretation persuasive? - Is there primary source evidence you are aware of that the author does not consider? - Does the author build his/her argument on any unsubstantiated assumptions?