Ellen M. Umansky
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- April 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780195044003
- eISBN:
- 9780199835485
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195044002.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
This chapter discusses the three main reasons why Jews are attracted to Christian Science: physical, social, and spiritual. Jews initially turned to Christian Science due to its promise of health, ...
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This chapter discusses the three main reasons why Jews are attracted to Christian Science: physical, social, and spiritual. Jews initially turned to Christian Science due to its promise of health, peace, and comfort. Others were attracted to the possibility of social elevation. However, most affiliated themselves with the Christian Science Church for spiritual guidance.Less
This chapter discusses the three main reasons why Jews are attracted to Christian Science: physical, social, and spiritual. Jews initially turned to Christian Science due to its promise of health, peace, and comfort. Others were attracted to the possibility of social elevation. However, most affiliated themselves with the Christian Science Church for spiritual guidance.
Melvin I. Urofsky
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195134681
- eISBN:
- 9780199848652
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195134681.003.0040
- Subject:
- History, History of Religion
A review of the books, The Israeli-American Connection: Its Roots in the Yishuv, 1914–1945 by Michael Brown and Envisioning Israel: The Changing Ideals and Images of North American Jews by Allon Gal, ...
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A review of the books, The Israeli-American Connection: Its Roots in the Yishuv, 1914–1945 by Michael Brown and Envisioning Israel: The Changing Ideals and Images of North American Jews by Allon Gal, (ed.) is presented. These two books purport to explore the relationship between Israel and the American Jewish community, one successfully and the other far less so.Less
A review of the books, The Israeli-American Connection: Its Roots in the Yishuv, 1914–1945 by Michael Brown and Envisioning Israel: The Changing Ideals and Images of North American Jews by Allon Gal, (ed.) is presented. These two books purport to explore the relationship between Israel and the American Jewish community, one successfully and the other far less so.
Ellen M. Umansky
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- April 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780195044003
- eISBN:
- 9780199835485
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195044002.003.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
This introductory chapter presents the author’s explanation of the rationale behind this volume. Specifically, he sought to understand the growing Jewish attraction to Christian Science. He discusses ...
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This introductory chapter presents the author’s explanation of the rationale behind this volume. Specifically, he sought to understand the growing Jewish attraction to Christian Science. He discusses the subsequent responses by the Jewish communal leaders, and the attempts of several individuals to combat the inroads made by Christian Science against the counter movement of Jewish Science.Less
This introductory chapter presents the author’s explanation of the rationale behind this volume. Specifically, he sought to understand the growing Jewish attraction to Christian Science. He discusses the subsequent responses by the Jewish communal leaders, and the attempts of several individuals to combat the inroads made by Christian Science against the counter movement of Jewish Science.
Mark Hodin
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195134681
- eISBN:
- 9780199848652
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195134681.003.0028
- Subject:
- History, History of Religion
A review of the book, Staging the Jew: The Performance of an American Ethnicity, 1860–1920 by Harley Erdman is presented. A particularly complex and significant circumstance in the history of Jews in ...
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A review of the book, Staging the Jew: The Performance of an American Ethnicity, 1860–1920 by Harley Erdman is presented. A particularly complex and significant circumstance in the history of Jews in U.S. public culture is the overlap between the period of greatest East European Jewish immigration to America (1881–1917) and the process of (mostly German) Jewish embourgeoisement and assimilation. While Jews mixed with Gentiles socially and rose in business, their representations in popular culture grew more visibly ethnic in the context of an exotic and foreign Lower East Side. This dynamic especially informed the role of Jews in the field of commercial entertainment, where explicitly Jewish shtick became part of the American vernacular by the turn of the century, and Jewish managers and performers came to wield considerable power behind the scenes. How this emergent Jewish cultural authority in show business shaped “the fluctuating expectations gentiles have had of Jews and Jews have had of themselves” is the compelling subject of the book.Less
A review of the book, Staging the Jew: The Performance of an American Ethnicity, 1860–1920 by Harley Erdman is presented. A particularly complex and significant circumstance in the history of Jews in U.S. public culture is the overlap between the period of greatest East European Jewish immigration to America (1881–1917) and the process of (mostly German) Jewish embourgeoisement and assimilation. While Jews mixed with Gentiles socially and rose in business, their representations in popular culture grew more visibly ethnic in the context of an exotic and foreign Lower East Side. This dynamic especially informed the role of Jews in the field of commercial entertainment, where explicitly Jewish shtick became part of the American vernacular by the turn of the century, and Jewish managers and performers came to wield considerable power behind the scenes. How this emergent Jewish cultural authority in show business shaped “the fluctuating expectations gentiles have had of Jews and Jews have had of themselves” is the compelling subject of the book.
Michael L. Morgan
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780195148626
- eISBN:
- 9780199870011
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195148622.003.0006
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
The impact of the Six Day Israeli–Arab War of May–June 1967 on American Jewish life and especially in the way American Jews perceived Israel and the Holocaust is considered. The events of that summer ...
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The impact of the Six Day Israeli–Arab War of May–June 1967 on American Jewish life and especially in the way American Jews perceived Israel and the Holocaust is considered. The events of that summer and the changing character of American life shaped the constituencies for the post‐Holocaust Jewish thinkers; they also helped to shape them and their work. The chapter discusses the reactions of the young Jewish radicals, and the various (sometimes bizarre) groupings of thinkers that emerged. To some, the Six Day War enabled the Holocaust to move to a central focal location in Jewish identity, so that by the mid‐1970s, the Holocaust and the Israeli victory of 1967 were intertwined with Jewish pride and sense of responsibility to respond to threat with strength and self‐confidence.Less
The impact of the Six Day Israeli–Arab War of May–June 1967 on American Jewish life and especially in the way American Jews perceived Israel and the Holocaust is considered. The events of that summer and the changing character of American life shaped the constituencies for the post‐Holocaust Jewish thinkers; they also helped to shape them and their work. The chapter discusses the reactions of the young Jewish radicals, and the various (sometimes bizarre) groupings of thinkers that emerged. To some, the Six Day War enabled the Holocaust to move to a central focal location in Jewish identity, so that by the mid‐1970s, the Holocaust and the Israeli victory of 1967 were intertwined with Jewish pride and sense of responsibility to respond to threat with strength and self‐confidence.
Gail Gaisin Glicksman and Allen Glicksman
David E. Guinn (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780195178739
- eISBN:
- 9780199784943
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195178734.003.0016
- Subject:
- Religion, Philosophy of Religion
In recent years a new approach to the study of religion in the social sciences has emerged. It differs from the classical approach in four important ways. First, it treats all specific religious ...
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In recent years a new approach to the study of religion in the social sciences has emerged. It differs from the classical approach in four important ways. First, it treats all specific religious traditions as subsets or specific expressions of some underlying domain that is universal across all groups. Second this new approach treats religion as generally beneficent, and in this way it differs from both those theoreticians like Durkheim and Weber, who saw a more complex relationship between religion and society, and those such as Marx and Freud, who generally took a negative view of the effect of religion. Third, adherents of this new approach claim to be able to identify a therapeutic effect of religion on the physical and mental health of individuals, treating religion as a “health behavior”. This chapter asks whether this new approach accomplishes the goals of its proponents. It examines the Jewish identities felt by American Jews sixty-five years of age and older as a test case.Less
In recent years a new approach to the study of religion in the social sciences has emerged. It differs from the classical approach in four important ways. First, it treats all specific religious traditions as subsets or specific expressions of some underlying domain that is universal across all groups. Second this new approach treats religion as generally beneficent, and in this way it differs from both those theoreticians like Durkheim and Weber, who saw a more complex relationship between religion and society, and those such as Marx and Freud, who generally took a negative view of the effect of religion. Third, adherents of this new approach claim to be able to identify a therapeutic effect of religion on the physical and mental health of individuals, treating religion as a “health behavior”. This chapter asks whether this new approach accomplishes the goals of its proponents. It examines the Jewish identities felt by American Jews sixty-five years of age and older as a test case.
Evelyn L. Lehrer
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195134681
- eISBN:
- 9780199848652
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195134681.003.0025
- Subject:
- History, History of Religion
A review of the book, Gender Equality and American Jews by Moshe Hartman and Harriet Hartman is presented. The book is an important contribution to the literature on the educational attainment, labor ...
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A review of the book, Gender Equality and American Jews by Moshe Hartman and Harriet Hartman is presented. The book is an important contribution to the literature on the educational attainment, labor force behavior, and occupational distribution of American Jewish men and women. The main focus of the book is the extent of gender equality among Jews in these three areas, as compared with that of the overall white American population. The analysis uses data from the 1990 National Jewish Population Survey (NJPS) for the former and governmental statistics for the latter.Less
A review of the book, Gender Equality and American Jews by Moshe Hartman and Harriet Hartman is presented. The book is an important contribution to the literature on the educational attainment, labor force behavior, and occupational distribution of American Jewish men and women. The main focus of the book is the extent of gender equality among Jews in these three areas, as compared with that of the overall white American population. The analysis uses data from the 1990 National Jewish Population Survey (NJPS) for the former and governmental statistics for the latter.
Peter Y. Medding
- Published in print:
- 1999
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195128208
- eISBN:
- 9780199854592
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195128208.003.0005
- Subject:
- History, History of Religion
In 1990, the second National Jewish Population Survey (NJPS) again focused national attention on intermarriage with the much-publicized finding that 52 percent of Jews who had married between 1985 ...
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In 1990, the second National Jewish Population Survey (NJPS) again focused national attention on intermarriage with the much-publicized finding that 52 percent of Jews who had married between 1985 and 1990 had married a non-Jew. The 1990 NJPS makes it possible to revisit the question of the ultimate impact of intermarriage on the next generation at two different levels. First, we can examine what happens to the children of intermarriages formed during the 1960s and 1970s. Do they identify as Jews now, and if so, have they followed their Jewish parent's example by choosing a non-Jewish spouse themselves? Second, we can revisit the question of how children are being raised in contemporary intermarriages. This chapter begins by addressing some key methodological issues. The second section profiles adults who are the offspring of intermarriages and assesses what impact intermarriage has already had on the Jewish community. The third section, focusing on intermarried families with children under the age of eighteen, addresses the future by examining the present. In what sort of Jewish environment are they growing up? The fourth section identifies those factors that increase the likelihood that a child in an intermarried home will be raised as Jewish.Less
In 1990, the second National Jewish Population Survey (NJPS) again focused national attention on intermarriage with the much-publicized finding that 52 percent of Jews who had married between 1985 and 1990 had married a non-Jew. The 1990 NJPS makes it possible to revisit the question of the ultimate impact of intermarriage on the next generation at two different levels. First, we can examine what happens to the children of intermarriages formed during the 1960s and 1970s. Do they identify as Jews now, and if so, have they followed their Jewish parent's example by choosing a non-Jewish spouse themselves? Second, we can revisit the question of how children are being raised in contemporary intermarriages. This chapter begins by addressing some key methodological issues. The second section profiles adults who are the offspring of intermarriages and assesses what impact intermarriage has already had on the Jewish community. The third section, focusing on intermarried families with children under the age of eighteen, addresses the future by examining the present. In what sort of Jewish environment are they growing up? The fourth section identifies those factors that increase the likelihood that a child in an intermarried home will be raised as Jewish.
Peter Y. Medding
- Published in print:
- 1999
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195128208
- eISBN:
- 9780199854592
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195128208.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, History of Religion
Although lagging behind the experience of Jewish men by some decades, the typical adult Jewish woman by 1990 was also a well-educated labor force participant, usually with some post-college training. ...
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Although lagging behind the experience of Jewish men by some decades, the typical adult Jewish woman by 1990 was also a well-educated labor force participant, usually with some post-college training. Labor force participation rates of married Jewish women were high: in 1990, about 75 percent of those with no children at home were working, as were 75 percent of the married women with school-age children, and about half of those with very young (preschool) children. This chapter considers some of the most important implications for the American Jewish family of these changes in its economic context. Earnings from their professional occupations place American Jews, and by extension the American Jewish community, comfortably in the upper middle class. The implications of this environment for American Jews' consumption patterns, including investments related to family life in general and Jewish family life in particular, are first discussed. This is followed by analysis of the effect of economic incentives on marriage, fertility, and parenting, along with the consequences for American Jewish demographic patterns. The final section presents a brief summary of findings and some implications for the future of the American Jewish family.Less
Although lagging behind the experience of Jewish men by some decades, the typical adult Jewish woman by 1990 was also a well-educated labor force participant, usually with some post-college training. Labor force participation rates of married Jewish women were high: in 1990, about 75 percent of those with no children at home were working, as were 75 percent of the married women with school-age children, and about half of those with very young (preschool) children. This chapter considers some of the most important implications for the American Jewish family of these changes in its economic context. Earnings from their professional occupations place American Jews, and by extension the American Jewish community, comfortably in the upper middle class. The implications of this environment for American Jews' consumption patterns, including investments related to family life in general and Jewish family life in particular, are first discussed. This is followed by analysis of the effect of economic incentives on marriage, fertility, and parenting, along with the consequences for American Jewish demographic patterns. The final section presents a brief summary of findings and some implications for the future of the American Jewish family.
Ezra Mendelsohn
- Published in print:
- 1997
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195112030
- eISBN:
- 9780199854608
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195112030.003.0011
- Subject:
- History, History of Religion
This chapter discusses the public culture of American Jews. It discusses communal observances that were in part civic rituals of affirmation and self-definition and in part ideological and political ...
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This chapter discusses the public culture of American Jews. It discusses communal observances that were in part civic rituals of affirmation and self-definition and in part ideological and political statements in the guise of ethnic pageantry. These pageants of commemoration, celebration, and protest provided opportunities for transcending cultural and class disparities and enmities. Two of these events were commemorated throughout the United States; the third occurred in New York City alone. The first in time was the funeral of the popular Yiddish novelist and dramatist, Nahum Meyer Shaikevich (better known by his pseudonym, Shomer); the second was the celebration of 250th anniversary of Jewish settlement in America which was participated by mayors and former U.S. president Grover Cleveland and the third, were protest demonstrations mourning the victims of the October pogroms in tsarist Russia.Less
This chapter discusses the public culture of American Jews. It discusses communal observances that were in part civic rituals of affirmation and self-definition and in part ideological and political statements in the guise of ethnic pageantry. These pageants of commemoration, celebration, and protest provided opportunities for transcending cultural and class disparities and enmities. Two of these events were commemorated throughout the United States; the third occurred in New York City alone. The first in time was the funeral of the popular Yiddish novelist and dramatist, Nahum Meyer Shaikevich (better known by his pseudonym, Shomer); the second was the celebration of 250th anniversary of Jewish settlement in America which was participated by mayors and former U.S. president Grover Cleveland and the third, were protest demonstrations mourning the victims of the October pogroms in tsarist Russia.
Lloyd P. Gartner
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195134681
- eISBN:
- 9780199848652
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195134681.003.0021
- Subject:
- History, History of Religion
A review of the book, Lest Memory Cease: Finding Meaning in the American Jewish Past by Henry L. Feingold is presented. The book presents Feingold's collected articles, some of which originated as ...
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A review of the book, Lest Memory Cease: Finding Meaning in the American Jewish Past by Henry L. Feingold is presented. The book presents Feingold's collected articles, some of which originated as lectures to Jewish organizations, and others that appeared mainly in the labor Zionist magazine, Jewish Frontier. One of Feingold's virtues, present here, is a skillful analysis of the contemporary American Jewish scene. He draws historical parallels with restraint, his articles and lectures are fluent and read easily — and they make points. The most prominent of Feingold's observations is the effect of liberalism and secularization on American Jews.Less
A review of the book, Lest Memory Cease: Finding Meaning in the American Jewish Past by Henry L. Feingold is presented. The book presents Feingold's collected articles, some of which originated as lectures to Jewish organizations, and others that appeared mainly in the labor Zionist magazine, Jewish Frontier. One of Feingold's virtues, present here, is a skillful analysis of the contemporary American Jewish scene. He draws historical parallels with restraint, his articles and lectures are fluent and read easily — and they make points. The most prominent of Feingold's observations is the effect of liberalism and secularization on American Jews.
Lawrence Davidson
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780813125244
- eISBN:
- 9780813135021
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Kentucky
- DOI:
- 10.5810/kentucky/9780813125244.003.0006
- Subject:
- Political Science, American Politics
Incidents of anti-Semitic discrimination in the US during the interwar and World War II period heightened the feelings of insecurity among American Jews. Realizing that they could not rely on reason ...
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Incidents of anti-Semitic discrimination in the US during the interwar and World War II period heightened the feelings of insecurity among American Jews. Realizing that they could not rely on reason alone to change potentially dangerous prejudices that lurked with society, they began to adopt a more aggressive posture. Their efforts mainly focused on domestic issues, such as the fight for civil rights up until the 1960s, when they started taking up the cause of the Zionist Organization of America to promote Jewish colonization of Palestine and provide aid to Israel. However, following Israel's victory against Egypt in 1967, American Jewish organizations abandoned their liberal principles of tolerance and equality for all and formed alliances with right-wing conservative forces that uncritically backed Israel. Out of this policy shift came the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which has been described as “the most important organization affecting America's relationship with Israel.” The AIPAC and its allied American Jewish lobbies have been accused of taking their cue from Israel instead of the American citizens they claim to represent. But because of their inordinate power and influence, they continue to pursue policies that directly contravene American national interest in the Middle East.Less
Incidents of anti-Semitic discrimination in the US during the interwar and World War II period heightened the feelings of insecurity among American Jews. Realizing that they could not rely on reason alone to change potentially dangerous prejudices that lurked with society, they began to adopt a more aggressive posture. Their efforts mainly focused on domestic issues, such as the fight for civil rights up until the 1960s, when they started taking up the cause of the Zionist Organization of America to promote Jewish colonization of Palestine and provide aid to Israel. However, following Israel's victory against Egypt in 1967, American Jewish organizations abandoned their liberal principles of tolerance and equality for all and formed alliances with right-wing conservative forces that uncritically backed Israel. Out of this policy shift came the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which has been described as “the most important organization affecting America's relationship with Israel.” The AIPAC and its allied American Jewish lobbies have been accused of taking their cue from Israel instead of the American citizens they claim to represent. But because of their inordinate power and influence, they continue to pursue policies that directly contravene American national interest in the Middle East.
Michael L. Morgan
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780195148626
- eISBN:
- 9780199870011
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195148622.003.0011
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
In this chapter, and in Chs. 6–9, an analysis and examination is made of the writings of the major American Jewish thinkers/theologians. The thinker addressed in this chapter is Emil Fackenheim, a ...
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In this chapter, and in Chs. 6–9, an analysis and examination is made of the writings of the major American Jewish thinkers/theologians. The thinker addressed in this chapter is Emil Fackenheim, a Jewish theologian and philosopher, who has radically changed his thinking since 1967. Citations of each thinker's work earlier in the book are capitalized on in order to explore the theme of history and identity as it occurs in their work, and it is shown that these figures struggled with very deep and pressing problems not only about God and the Jewish people, and about human nature and moral purpose but also about the very nature of Jewish belief and its understanding of the world, history, God, and much else. They realized the dangers that accompanied their sensitivity to the Holocaust and their unconditional commitment to an honest and probing encounter with the death camps, and at the same time, they refused to abandon Judaism. In some ways, they appear like other intellectuals of the current era, who realize that we cannot transcend history nor can we be overwhelmed by it, but in other ways, they appear unlike them, for their sense of value and purpose arises out of the horror of the death camps.Less
In this chapter, and in Chs. 6–9, an analysis and examination is made of the writings of the major American Jewish thinkers/theologians. The thinker addressed in this chapter is Emil Fackenheim, a Jewish theologian and philosopher, who has radically changed his thinking since 1967. Citations of each thinker's work earlier in the book are capitalized on in order to explore the theme of history and identity as it occurs in their work, and it is shown that these figures struggled with very deep and pressing problems not only about God and the Jewish people, and about human nature and moral purpose but also about the very nature of Jewish belief and its understanding of the world, history, God, and much else. They realized the dangers that accompanied their sensitivity to the Holocaust and their unconditional commitment to an honest and probing encounter with the death camps, and at the same time, they refused to abandon Judaism. In some ways, they appear like other intellectuals of the current era, who realize that we cannot transcend history nor can we be overwhelmed by it, but in other ways, they appear unlike them, for their sense of value and purpose arises out of the horror of the death camps.
Ellen M. Umansky
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- April 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780195044003
- eISBN:
- 9780199835485
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195044002.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
This book examines the attraction of American Jews to Christian Science during the early 1900s, and the emergence of Jewish Science as a counter movement. It discusses the works of the major ...
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This book examines the attraction of American Jews to Christian Science during the early 1900s, and the emergence of Jewish Science as a counter movement. It discusses the works of the major proponents of Jewish Science: Morris Lichtenstein, Tehilla Lichtenstein, Alfred Geiger Moses, and Clifton Harby Levy. It argues that the greatest legacy of Jewish Science may well be its emphasis on the importance of spiritual healing.Less
This book examines the attraction of American Jews to Christian Science during the early 1900s, and the emergence of Jewish Science as a counter movement. It discusses the works of the major proponents of Jewish Science: Morris Lichtenstein, Tehilla Lichtenstein, Alfred Geiger Moses, and Clifton Harby Levy. It argues that the greatest legacy of Jewish Science may well be its emphasis on the importance of spiritual healing.
Marni Davis
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- March 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780814720288
- eISBN:
- 9780814744093
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- NYU Press
- DOI:
- 10.18574/nyu/9780814720288.003.0007
- Subject:
- History, Cultural History
This chapter examines how American Jewish leaders struggled both publicly and privately to agree on a communal response to Prohibition. Too many Jews refused to adhere to the law and many others ...
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This chapter examines how American Jewish leaders struggled both publicly and privately to agree on a communal response to Prohibition. Too many Jews refused to adhere to the law and many others remained openly contemptuous of it. How to change American Jewry's collective mind and transform their behavior so that both aligned with American law? How to convince Jews to choose the universal over the particular, and to acquiesce to an aspect of American culture so discordant with Jewish history and practice? This dilemma confounded Jewish leaders, including many who had themselves spoken against temperance legislation in the past. Now they needed to do more than reorient their own political stance and rhetoric; they were tasked with convincing the American Jewish population to concede to and abide by a law that they had all collectively denounced as unnecessary, puritanical, and in direct contradiction to both Jewish culture and American values.Less
This chapter examines how American Jewish leaders struggled both publicly and privately to agree on a communal response to Prohibition. Too many Jews refused to adhere to the law and many others remained openly contemptuous of it. How to change American Jewry's collective mind and transform their behavior so that both aligned with American law? How to convince Jews to choose the universal over the particular, and to acquiesce to an aspect of American culture so discordant with Jewish history and practice? This dilemma confounded Jewish leaders, including many who had themselves spoken against temperance legislation in the past. Now they needed to do more than reorient their own political stance and rhetoric; they were tasked with convincing the American Jewish population to concede to and abide by a law that they had all collectively denounced as unnecessary, puritanical, and in direct contradiction to both Jewish culture and American values.
Ellen M. Umansky
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- April 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780195044003
- eISBN:
- 9780199835485
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195044002.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
Reform rabbi Alfred Geiger Moses formulated and promulgated teachings he termed as “Jewish Science” to counter the growing influence of Christian Science in the American Jewish community. He used the ...
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Reform rabbi Alfred Geiger Moses formulated and promulgated teachings he termed as “Jewish Science” to counter the growing influence of Christian Science in the American Jewish community. He used the techniques and aims of Christian Science, applied psychology, and New Thought to raise awareness of God’s presence. He also urged the incorporation of the more personal goals of health, success, and happiness into Reform’s ideological understanding of ethical monotheism.Less
Reform rabbi Alfred Geiger Moses formulated and promulgated teachings he termed as “Jewish Science” to counter the growing influence of Christian Science in the American Jewish community. He used the techniques and aims of Christian Science, applied psychology, and New Thought to raise awareness of God’s presence. He also urged the incorporation of the more personal goals of health, success, and happiness into Reform’s ideological understanding of ethical monotheism.
Michael N. Barnett
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780691165974
- eISBN:
- 9781400880607
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691165974.003.0008
- Subject:
- Political Science, Comparative Politics
This chapter argues that the future foreign policies of American Jews will depend on the future of American Jews, their identity, how they imagine themselves in relation to the particular and the ...
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This chapter argues that the future foreign policies of American Jews will depend on the future of American Jews, their identity, how they imagine themselves in relation to the particular and the universal, and how such projections connect to contemporary practices of tribalism and cosmopolitanism, especially as they relate to the Jewish Problem and the Jewish Question. It sets out two scenarios that are most likely because they represent a combination of the past and the present. One future is defined by tribalism and the overshadowing of the Jewish Question by the Jewish Problem. The alternative to the tribal is the cosmopolitan, which treats the Jewish Question as relatively more important than the Jewish Problem, wants to see a Jewish people that is connected to humanity, and expresses greater ambivalence toward a more nationalistic Israel.Less
This chapter argues that the future foreign policies of American Jews will depend on the future of American Jews, their identity, how they imagine themselves in relation to the particular and the universal, and how such projections connect to contemporary practices of tribalism and cosmopolitanism, especially as they relate to the Jewish Problem and the Jewish Question. It sets out two scenarios that are most likely because they represent a combination of the past and the present. One future is defined by tribalism and the overshadowing of the Jewish Question by the Jewish Problem. The alternative to the tribal is the cosmopolitan, which treats the Jewish Question as relatively more important than the Jewish Problem, wants to see a Jewish people that is connected to humanity, and expresses greater ambivalence toward a more nationalistic Israel.
Michael L. Morgan
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780195148626
- eISBN:
- 9780199870011
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195148622.003.0012
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
An examination is made of some of the responses to the work of the five main Jewish thinkers/theologians, which was addressed in Chs. 6–10, and to the work of other post‐Holocaust Jewish thinkers. ...
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An examination is made of some of the responses to the work of the five main Jewish thinkers/theologians, which was addressed in Chs. 6–10, and to the work of other post‐Holocaust Jewish thinkers. This is done by looking at the popular response (that of ordinary Jews), the response of young Jewish radicals, and that of Orthodox Jewish thinkers. The dissenting thoughts of various thinkers as to the centrality and use of the Holocaust in Jewish America are discussed.Less
An examination is made of some of the responses to the work of the five main Jewish thinkers/theologians, which was addressed in Chs. 6–10, and to the work of other post‐Holocaust Jewish thinkers. This is done by looking at the popular response (that of ordinary Jews), the response of young Jewish radicals, and that of Orthodox Jewish thinkers. The dissenting thoughts of various thinkers as to the centrality and use of the Holocaust in Jewish America are discussed.
Ellen M. Umansky
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- April 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780195044003
- eISBN:
- 9780199835485
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195044002.003.0006
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
Reform rabbi Clifton Harby Levy believes that rabbis have insufficient spiritual training and thus, are unable to revitalize the religious consciousness of American Jews. He urged that worship ...
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Reform rabbi Clifton Harby Levy believes that rabbis have insufficient spiritual training and thus, are unable to revitalize the religious consciousness of American Jews. He urged that worship services emphasize God’s immanence and the importance of personal prayer. Rather than abandoning the synagogue, he advocated the spiritual reeducation of both rabbis and laity through a system and method he called Jewish Science.Less
Reform rabbi Clifton Harby Levy believes that rabbis have insufficient spiritual training and thus, are unable to revitalize the religious consciousness of American Jews. He urged that worship services emphasize God’s immanence and the importance of personal prayer. Rather than abandoning the synagogue, he advocated the spiritual reeducation of both rabbis and laity through a system and method he called Jewish Science.
Michael N. Barnett
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780691165974
- eISBN:
- 9781400880607
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691165974.003.0006
- Subject:
- Political Science, Comparative Politics
This chapter examines the two decades following 1967—the year when American Jews turned into the zealots they are said by some to have always been. Israel's victory in 1967's Six-Day War gave ...
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This chapter examines the two decades following 1967—the year when American Jews turned into the zealots they are said by some to have always been. Israel's victory in 1967's Six-Day War gave American Jews a renewed sense of power and pride, and their Jewishness became increasingly defined by the twin experiences of suffering (the Holocaust) and redemption (Israel). This new Jewish identity created something of a tension for American Jews: their domestic political theology continued to run toward liberalism, but their foreign policy beliefs began exhibiting greater traces of tribalism. Moreover, global cosmopolitanism was developing in ways that were not necessarily sympathetic to Jewish concerns. The human rights movement became increasingly viewed as a possible threat to Jews and especially to Israel. Fortunately, this was also a moment when American Jews could rely on something better than human rights—American power. An American Jewry that once saw security as bound up with a culture of acceptance now found greater reassurance in the threat and use of force.Less
This chapter examines the two decades following 1967—the year when American Jews turned into the zealots they are said by some to have always been. Israel's victory in 1967's Six-Day War gave American Jews a renewed sense of power and pride, and their Jewishness became increasingly defined by the twin experiences of suffering (the Holocaust) and redemption (Israel). This new Jewish identity created something of a tension for American Jews: their domestic political theology continued to run toward liberalism, but their foreign policy beliefs began exhibiting greater traces of tribalism. Moreover, global cosmopolitanism was developing in ways that were not necessarily sympathetic to Jewish concerns. The human rights movement became increasingly viewed as a possible threat to Jews and especially to Israel. Fortunately, this was also a moment when American Jews could rely on something better than human rights—American power. An American Jewry that once saw security as bound up with a culture of acceptance now found greater reassurance in the threat and use of force.
