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Segregation or Choice?: From Merchants to Moneylenders, 1000–1500

Maristella Botticini and Zvi Eckstein

in The Chosen Few: How Education Shaped Jewish History, 70-1492

This chapter assesses the argument that both their exclusion from craft and merchant guilds and usury bans on Christians segregated European Jews into moneylending during the Middle Ages. Already ... More

This chapter assesses the argument that both their exclusion from craft and merchant guilds and usury bans on Christians segregated European Jews into moneylending during the Middle Ages. Already during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, moneylending was the occupation par excellence of the Jews in England, France, and Germany and one of the main professions of the Jews in the Iberian Peninsula, Italy, and other locations in western Europe. Based on the historical information and the economic theory presented in earlier chapters, the chapter advances an alternative explanation that is consistent with the salient features that mark the history of the Jews: the Jews in medieval Europe voluntarily entered and later specialized in moneylending because they had the key assets for being successful players in credit markets—capital, networking, literacy and numeracy, and contract-enforcement institutions.Less

Summer, 1946, Part I: The European Expedition and the Ethnography of Testimony

Alan Rosen

in The Wonder of Their Voices: The 1946 Holocaust Interviews of David Boder

This chapter chronicles the lead up to Boder's expedition; the establishment of his interview headquarters in a Paris still recovering from the war; his interview protocols; his frustrated desire to ... More

This chapter chronicles the lead up to Boder's expedition; the establishment of his interview headquarters in a Paris still recovering from the war; his interview protocols; his frustrated desire to travel to the major German DP centers; and, in lieu of fulfilling that goal, the particular interview questions that he thought would help him assess the larger picture for Jewish DPs and the Jews of Europe in general. Although Boder described the European expedition as if his approach remained constant, he often deviated from these protocols or had multiple goals in mind. His own remarkable biography at times clearly shaped the approach. But he was mainly trying to adjust his method according to what he heard, a strategy which is revealed by a close reading of the first Paris interviews. The chapter concludes by describing the important “background” interviews, which centered on the controversy regarding the accelerating emigration of Jews from Poland. Through these interviews Boder hoped to understand where European Jews could find a postwar home.Less

Native Jews and Foreign Jews (1870–1914)

Todd M. Endelman

in The Jews of Britain, 1656 to 2000

This chapter examines the conflict between native and foreign Jews in Great Britain. The permanent settlement of East European Jews in Britain between 1881 and 1914 radically transformed the ... More

This chapter examines the conflict between native and foreign Jews in Great Britain. The permanent settlement of East European Jews in Britain between 1881 and 1914 radically transformed the character of the Anglo-Jewry. Their poverty and foreignness drew unwanted attention to them and native-born Jews alike and once again gave the Anglo-Jewry a lower-class cast. Their old world religious practices offended those accustomed to the polite but somnolent atmosphere of anglicized synagogues and they also created intracommunal friction and fuelled the fires of xenophobia and anti-Semitism.Less

With a Yiddish Accent: East European Jewish Neighborhoods

Fred Rosenbaum

in Cosmopolitans: A Social and Cultural History of the Jews of the San Francisco Bay Area

Visitors to the San Francisco Bay Area often note the lack of a Jewish neighborhood similar to Los Angeles's Fairfax District or Chicago's Devon Avenue. But in earlier days there were four ... More

Visitors to the San Francisco Bay Area often note the lack of a Jewish neighborhood similar to Los Angeles's Fairfax District or Chicago's Devon Avenue. But in earlier days there were four traditional Jewish areas: South of Market, the San Bruno Avenue area, Fillmore-McAllister, and West Oakland. There was also a rural Jewish colony composed of chicken farmers in Petaluma. These communities were filled with East European Jews—not the half Germans from Prussian Poland who had arrived in the decades after the Gold Rush, but Yiddish-speaking immigrants mostly from Russia, Austria-Hungary, or Rumania. In addition to housing a high concentration of Jews, the urban enclaves were home to synagogues and minyanim (worship groups that met in private homes), kosher butchers and bakeries, mutual aid societies, and Hebrew schools. Orthodox abounded, but there were also socialists, communists, Yiddishists, and Zionists. These Jewish neighborhoods added up to something greater than the sum of their parts, and children in these areas—whether they felt nurtured or smothered—grew up with a keen sense of Jewish identity.Less

Israel: European Passports as Insurance and Restitution

Yossi Harpaz

in Citizenship 2.0: Dual Nationality as a Global Asset

This chapter analyzes EU citizenship in Israel. Israel's high income level and low emigration rate set it apart from Serbia and Mexico and make dual citizenship less obviously useful. EU–Israeli dual ... More

This chapter analyzes EU citizenship in Israel. Israel's high income level and low emigration rate set it apart from Serbia and Mexico and make dual citizenship less obviously useful. EU–Israeli dual citizens rarely refer to themselves as dual citizens, but instead see themselves as “Israelis with a European passport.” The chapter then demonstrates that citizenship applicants are mainly driven by two motivations that were conditioned by Jewish history. The first is the wish to hold an insurance policy against the possibility of Israel being destroyed. The second is the desire for a status symbol that signifies their elitist position in Israel as European-origin Jews. Ironically, the grandchildren of Jews who had left Europe for Israel now look to German or Hungarian passports for security.Less

From Europe to the Ohio River Valley

Amy Hill Shevitz

in Jewish Communities on the Ohio River: A History

This chapter discusses the European Jewish communities along the Ohio River Valley. Those European Jews who chose to migrate to America were heirs to a Jewish culture that had existed for centuries ... More

This chapter discusses the European Jewish communities along the Ohio River Valley. Those European Jews who chose to migrate to America were heirs to a Jewish culture that had existed for centuries in a situation of complete subservience within medieval Christendom. Despite a number of upheavals during their history, European Jewish communities held together. This was because as separate corporate entities within Christian feudalism, they were permitted to develop their own internal governance, a comprehensive system known as the kehillah. The restrictions placed on Jews helped foster an atmosphere in which self-help and provisions for mutual security sustained a strong and positive Jewish identity.Less

The East European Immigration and the Reconfiguration of Community

Amy Hill Shevitz

in Jewish Communities on the Ohio River: A History

This chapter discusses the immigration of East European Jews to America. In the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century, the smaller cities and towns in some parts of the Ohio River ... More

This chapter discusses the immigration of East European Jews to America. In the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century, the smaller cities and towns in some parts of the Ohio River Valley experienced Jewish population growth. The integration of the new immigrants was a challenge for all existing American Jewish communities. It is noted that the new and large wave of Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe still had a lot in common with the previous Jewish immigrants from German-speaking countries. Further on the chapter looks at how the American Jewish communities adjusted to this new change by making some improvements in their community.Less

Antisemitism and the Historical Memory of the Second World War

David H. Weinberg

in Recovering a Voice: West European Jewry After the Holocaust

This chapter looks at the west European Jewish response to antisemitism. Most observers in Europe and abroad assumed that the defeat of Nazism would bring an end to anti-Jewish rhetoric and violence. ... More

This chapter looks at the west European Jewish response to antisemitism. Most observers in Europe and abroad assumed that the defeat of Nazism would bring an end to anti-Jewish rhetoric and violence. Although governments expressly banned overt antisemitic propaganda, neo-fascist groups continued to demonstrate on the streets of the major cities of western Europe, scrawl graffiti on walls, and disseminate tracts. Influenced by both Jewish resistance efforts during the Holocaust and later by the military triumphs of the Yishuv and then of the new Jewish state, French activists in particular insisted upon the need for a more aggressive and assertive response in the form of new defensive political organizations. Tensions between Jews and their fellow citizens in post-war western Europe were not always overt, however. The tensions between Jewry and the larger society could be seen in such issues as the treatment of Jewish deportees and the memorialization of Holocaust victims.Less

Becoming Ethnic, Becoming American: Different Patterns and Configurations of the Assimilation of Eastern European Jews, 1890–1940

Ewa Morawska

in Divergent Jewish Cultures: Israel and America

This chapter defines the relationship of the historical experience with ethnic norms in wide-ranging comparisons of alternative modes of assimilation adopted by Eastern European Jews in the United ... More

This chapter defines the relationship of the historical experience with ethnic norms in wide-ranging comparisons of alternative modes of assimilation adopted by Eastern European Jews in the United States. It discusses several models of American Jewish political culture, each of which integrates a collective ethnic identity with incorporation into mainstream economic, political, and social institutions set within specific historical circumstances. By rescuing the assimilationist interpretation from its ahistorical context, the chapter shows how ethnic identity emerged out of circumstances rather than following a linear progression from strong to weak. Among the local Jewish groups, it identifies internal divisions between German and Eastern European Jews as well as between immigrant and second generations. The chapter discusses how older communities of Central European Jews and the more recent Eastern European arrivals usually occupied different places geographically and economically, as well as within American culture.Less

The Cold War: A Community Divided

David H. Weinberg

in Recovering a Voice: West European Jewry After the Holocaust

This chapter focuses on the Cold War, which split both Europe and its Jews into two camps. The Cold War imposed new barriers, both literally and figuratively. For the Jews of western Europe in ... More

This chapter focuses on the Cold War, which split both Europe and its Jews into two camps. The Cold War imposed new barriers, both literally and figuratively. For the Jews of western Europe in particular, Soviet and American threats of unleashing nuclear missiles raised the prospect of a posthumous victory for Adolf Hitler over his ideological and ‘racial’ enemies. Divisions also arose in the communities themselves, reviving political debates from the interwar period that threatened to undo the fragile unity that leaders had attempted to forge after 1945. Yet rising East–West tensions did not totally paralyse west European Jewish communal life. Despite the formidable obstacles, both non-communist left-wing elements in the European Section of the World Jewish Congress (WJC) and mainstream leaders in western Europe worked diligently to steer a middle path between the demands of local political militants and leaders of Jewish organizations in the United States.Less

Making Jews Modern: Jewish Self-Identification and West European Categories of Belonging

Todd M. Endelman

in Broadening Jewish History

This chapter analyses the assumption of the value of identity in illuminating Jewish behaviour in recent centuries for understanding the experience of Jews in earlier periods. It explains how Jews ... More

This chapter analyses the assumption of the value of identity in illuminating Jewish behaviour in recent centuries for understanding the experience of Jews in earlier periods. It explains how Jews constituted a well-defined collective unit for whom questions of self-identification in medieval and early modern Europe rarely arose, such as who people are and what is their place. The chapter also highlights the difference between pre-modern European Jews and their neighbours by virtue of their religion, nationality or ethnicity, and legal status, including language, costume, employment, and social and cultural habits. The chapter cites religious traditions, social structures, and legal categories that defined the borders of the Jewish world, which remained stable throughout the medieval and early modern periods. It refers to the nature of correct belief and practice that is disputed within the Jewish world, such as rabbis who clashed over how best to know and serve God.Less

The Invention of a Language: Yiddish among the European Vernaculars

Jean Baumgarten

Jerold C. Frakes (ed.)

in Introduction to Old Yiddish Literature

Contrary to common opinion, the Yiddish language excited the interest of linguists, beginning in the sixteenth century, and brought about an uninterrupted tradition of scholarly work from that time ... More

Contrary to common opinion, the Yiddish language excited the interest of linguists, beginning in the sixteenth century, and brought about an uninterrupted tradition of scholarly work from that time up to the present. For much of that period, however, the language aroused the contempt and mockery of a part of the scholarly world. It was not until the beginning of the twentieth century that Yiddish was rehabilitated and raised to the rank of a language in its own right. It was not until after the founding of the state of Israel and the increase in the numbers of centres of Yiddish scholarship in European and anglophone universities that a marked change in perceptions of Yiddish came about. Numerous important works of scholarship have since been published which have drawn Yiddish out of the ghetto.Less

Introduction

Chaim Gans

in A Just Zionism: On the Morality of the Jewish State

The introduction presents Zionism as one of several Jewish nationalist ideologies that were prevalent among European Jews around the year 1900. It describes the two main tenets of the Zionist ... More

The introduction presents Zionism as one of several Jewish nationalist ideologies that were prevalent among European Jews around the year 1900. It describes the two main tenets of the Zionist ideology—the ethnocultural principle and the assertion of the Jewish people's right to return to Palestine—and explains the moral problems to which these principles give rise. It then mentions the three components of Zionism that are morally most problematic, not as an ideology but as a historical movement: the creation of the Palestinian refugee problem in 1948, the Israeli settlement of the West Bank of the Jordan after the 1967 War, and the inequality between Jews and Arabs in Israel. It describes how the book proceeds to deal with these issues.Less

Kosher Wine and Jewish Saloons: New Jewish Immigrants Enter the American Alcohol Trade

Marni Davis

in Jews and Booze: Becoming American in the Age of Prohibition

This chapter focuses on the “third wave” of Jewish immigrants from eastern Europe who altered the American Jewry's relation to alcohol in the nineteenth century. Beginning in the 1880s, thousands of ... More

This chapter focuses on the “third wave” of Jewish immigrants from eastern Europe who altered the American Jewry's relation to alcohol in the nineteenth century. Beginning in the 1880s, thousands of eastern European Jews arrived in American ports every year, and most of them came with limited economic resources. Like their predecessors, alcohol commerce presented a historically and culturally familiar entrepreneurial choice. This new group regarded trafficking in liquor, beer, and wine as a conventional way to make a living, and gravitated to it in hopes of establishing an economic footing in their new country. Their orientation toward traditional religious practices also prompted them to create and support an emerging kosher wine industry, which both generated employment opportunities and helped to weave Jewish religious observance into the fabric of American consumer culture.Less

In Praise of Jewish Ritual: Modern Medicine and the Defense of Ancient Traditions

John M. Efron

in Medicine and the German Jews: A History

This chapter describes the complementary relationship enjoyed by science and Judaism. The Jewish scientist was not swayed by the nineteenth-century French philosopher Auguste Comte, who proclaimed ... More

This chapter describes the complementary relationship enjoyed by science and Judaism. The Jewish scientist was not swayed by the nineteenth-century French philosopher Auguste Comte, who proclaimed that in the coming positivist order, scientists, rather than priests, would be canonized. Few Jewish scientists have ever suggested that a man in a lab coat would or should replace the rabbi in his long, black coat. On the contrary, among Central European Jews in the nineteenth century, there were many who sought to make use of science in order to help them bolster their links to Jewish tradition. What this means is that for Jews in the modern period, science and religion have proven to be perfectly compatible, which raises a number of other questions. All of these questions are addressed here.Less

New Generations in Germany

Ruth Gay

in Safe Among the Germans: Liberated Jews After World War II

This chapter discusses the state of Germany a half-century after the end of World War II. When the Jews in Germany look back on that half-century, they find it hard to recognize their earlier, ... More

This chapter discusses the state of Germany a half-century after the end of World War II. When the Jews in Germany look back on that half-century, they find it hard to recognize their earlier, displaced, anxious selves in the confident, well-organized community they have built. Yet at the start of the twenty-first century, they also face unexpected problems as Germany's economy has faltered and its social fabric revealed some serious and ugly problems. The Eastern European Jews had a most tentative attitude toward their newly chosen home. That uncertainty, combined with an almost physical resistance to meeting Germans, determined a life with very strict social boundaries. In other words, Eastern European Jews were living as they always did—among themselves. A few lines from the nineteenth-century writer Max Hermann Friedlander convey this atmosphere: “They had learned by experience the great art of living and existing without land or property, without house and home, without rights and freedom, without light and air.”Less

Love and Family

Shaul Stampfer

in Families, Rabbis and Education: Essays on Traditional Jewish Society in Eastern Europe

This chapter examines the subject of love and the family within east European Jewish life. In the nineteenth century, almost every aspect of Jewish life was transformed in one way or another. The ... More

This chapter examines the subject of love and the family within east European Jewish life. In the nineteenth century, almost every aspect of Jewish life was transformed in one way or another. The structures of Jewish family life in eastern Europe and the place of love and affection in these frameworks were no exceptions. However, to a greater degree than many today realize, there was also a great deal of continuity between what was accepted in traditional Ashkenazi Jewish family life and in the lives of their descendants. In some cases, the attention given to atypical lives of famous and exceptional individuals has led to a skewed picture of the past. Similarly, superficial views of traditional family dynamics have created a distorted picture of what life was like in traditional east European Jewish society. Looking at love and family life in their fullness and as part of the general social environment is one of the best ways to correct these errors and to arrive at a balanced view of realities and developments. Because marriage and love within the context of family life is a very broad subject, the chapter focuses on four major topics: courtship and marriage formation; marital roles and expectations; parenthood; and remarriage.Less