Maristella Botticini and Zvi Eckstein
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691144870
- eISBN:
- 9781400842483
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691144870.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
This chapter describes how many Jews there were, where they lived, and how they earned their living from the time of the destruction of the Second Temple to the mass expulsion of the Jews from the ...
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This chapter describes how many Jews there were, where they lived, and how they earned their living from the time of the destruction of the Second Temple to the mass expulsion of the Jews from the Iberian Peninsula. During the six centuries between the time of Jesus and the time of Muhammad, the number of Jews declined precipitously. Throughout these six centuries, most Jews earned their living from agriculture, as farmers, sharecroppers, fixed-rent tenants, or wage laborers. During the first century, the largest Jewish community dwelled in the Land of Israel. By the mid-twelfth century, Jews could be found in almost all locations from Tudela in Spain to Mangalore in India. By then, their transition into urban skilled occupations was complete. Their specialization into these occupations remains their distinctive feature until today.Less
This chapter describes how many Jews there were, where they lived, and how they earned their living from the time of the destruction of the Second Temple to the mass expulsion of the Jews from the Iberian Peninsula. During the six centuries between the time of Jesus and the time of Muhammad, the number of Jews declined precipitously. Throughout these six centuries, most Jews earned their living from agriculture, as farmers, sharecroppers, fixed-rent tenants, or wage laborers. During the first century, the largest Jewish community dwelled in the Land of Israel. By the mid-twelfth century, Jews could be found in almost all locations from Tudela in Spain to Mangalore in India. By then, their transition into urban skilled occupations was complete. Their specialization into these occupations remains their distinctive feature until today.
Yossi Shain
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195307221
- eISBN:
- 9780199785513
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195307221.003.0006
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This chapter examines the relationship between the American Jewish community and Israel from the perspective of a transnational struggle over Jewish pluralism. The question of Jewish identity in ...
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This chapter examines the relationship between the American Jewish community and Israel from the perspective of a transnational struggle over Jewish pluralism. The question of Jewish identity in Israel and in the United States, the continuing insistence of many Jewish Americans on perceiving Israel as a critical source of their own identity, and Israel's direct or indirect involvement in the lives of all Jewish communities create a dynamic in which reciprocal influences mutually constitute Jewish identity. The new modes of Jewish American participation in Israeli affairs — domestic and international, on the one hand, and Israeli rethinking of its own position vis-à-vis the Diaspora in terms of legitimacy, status, power, and identity, on the other — has opened the way for greater negotiation over, and coordination of, the meaning and purpose of Judaism in our time.Less
This chapter examines the relationship between the American Jewish community and Israel from the perspective of a transnational struggle over Jewish pluralism. The question of Jewish identity in Israel and in the United States, the continuing insistence of many Jewish Americans on perceiving Israel as a critical source of their own identity, and Israel's direct or indirect involvement in the lives of all Jewish communities create a dynamic in which reciprocal influences mutually constitute Jewish identity. The new modes of Jewish American participation in Israeli affairs — domestic and international, on the one hand, and Israeli rethinking of its own position vis-à-vis the Diaspora in terms of legitimacy, status, power, and identity, on the other — has opened the way for greater negotiation over, and coordination of, the meaning and purpose of Judaism in our time.
Derek J. Penslar
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691138879
- eISBN:
- 9781400848577
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691138879.003.0005
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
This chapter focuses on Jewish wartime sensibilities. As Jews began to serve in substantial numbers in the armies of Europe and North America, their patriotic inclinations clashed with their ...
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This chapter focuses on Jewish wartime sensibilities. As Jews began to serve in substantial numbers in the armies of Europe and North America, their patriotic inclinations clashed with their transnational attachments to Jews in the lands against which their country was fighting. This problem first emerged during the revolutions of 1848, when Jews fought both as rebels and as soldiers in the Habsburg armies, and it was the object of considerable discussion in the European-Jewish press. The Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71 was far more traumatic as it sundered the French- and German-Jewish communities, which had long known close business and familial ties. Rabbinic sermons, fiction, and Jewish apologetic literature displayed a powerful transnationalist sensibility, a feeling of Jewish commonality even in times of war. As such, the willingness of Jews to fight each other was heralded as the ultimate proof of worthiness for equal rights.Less
This chapter focuses on Jewish wartime sensibilities. As Jews began to serve in substantial numbers in the armies of Europe and North America, their patriotic inclinations clashed with their transnational attachments to Jews in the lands against which their country was fighting. This problem first emerged during the revolutions of 1848, when Jews fought both as rebels and as soldiers in the Habsburg armies, and it was the object of considerable discussion in the European-Jewish press. The Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71 was far more traumatic as it sundered the French- and German-Jewish communities, which had long known close business and familial ties. Rabbinic sermons, fiction, and Jewish apologetic literature displayed a powerful transnationalist sensibility, a feeling of Jewish commonality even in times of war. As such, the willingness of Jews to fight each other was heralded as the ultimate proof of worthiness for equal rights.
Maureen R. Benjamins
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- January 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199731190
- eISBN:
- 9780199866465
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199731190.003.0004
- Subject:
- Public Health and Epidemiology, Public Health
This chapter summarizes findings from the groundbreaking Jewish Community Health Survey. Overall, the findings indicate that the individuals in this community were as healthy (or healthier) than the ...
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This chapter summarizes findings from the groundbreaking Jewish Community Health Survey. Overall, the findings indicate that the individuals in this community were as healthy (or healthier) than the average residents of Chicago or the United States; however, many serious health concerns still exist for both adults and children. Perhaps the most striking health problems involve weight. In fact, it was discovered that more than half of all adults and children were overweight. In addition, elevated rates of hypertension, disability, and depression were apparent. The current survey was also instrumental in collecting local data on other health-related behaviours and experiences.Less
This chapter summarizes findings from the groundbreaking Jewish Community Health Survey. Overall, the findings indicate that the individuals in this community were as healthy (or healthier) than the average residents of Chicago or the United States; however, many serious health concerns still exist for both adults and children. Perhaps the most striking health problems involve weight. In fact, it was discovered that more than half of all adults and children were overweight. In addition, elevated rates of hypertension, disability, and depression were apparent. The current survey was also instrumental in collecting local data on other health-related behaviours and experiences.
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.
Benjamin Nathans
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195134681
- eISBN:
- 9780199848652
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195134681.003.0007
- Subject:
- History, History of Religion
This chapter analyzes the development of St. Petersburg Jewry as a community on the front line of the encounter with Russians and the tsarist state. Beginning with an analysis of the origins and ...
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This chapter analyzes the development of St. Petersburg Jewry as a community on the front line of the encounter with Russians and the tsarist state. Beginning with an analysis of the origins and settlement patterns of Jewish immigrants to the Russian capital, it attempts to place the Jews within the city's distinctive urban topography, and to reconstruct their experience of both rapid acculturation and abiding separateness. It then turns to the struggle over the formation of Jewish communal institutions, in which social and religious tensions already present within Jewish life in the Pale rapidly came to the fore, and were compounded by city and imperial authorities intent on restricting what to them appeared to be excessive Jewish solidarity. The history of Jews in late 19th-century St. Petersburg promises to broaden our view of the role of ethnic and religious difference in the imperial metropolis, of the evolving structure of Russian Jewish society, and of the autocracy's attempt to confront the “Jewish question” in its own backyard.Less
This chapter analyzes the development of St. Petersburg Jewry as a community on the front line of the encounter with Russians and the tsarist state. Beginning with an analysis of the origins and settlement patterns of Jewish immigrants to the Russian capital, it attempts to place the Jews within the city's distinctive urban topography, and to reconstruct their experience of both rapid acculturation and abiding separateness. It then turns to the struggle over the formation of Jewish communal institutions, in which social and religious tensions already present within Jewish life in the Pale rapidly came to the fore, and were compounded by city and imperial authorities intent on restricting what to them appeared to be excessive Jewish solidarity. The history of Jews in late 19th-century St. Petersburg promises to broaden our view of the role of ethnic and religious difference in the imperial metropolis, of the evolving structure of Russian Jewish society, and of the autocracy's attempt to confront the “Jewish question” in its own backyard.
Marion A. Kaplan (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195171648
- eISBN:
- 9780199871346
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195171648.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, European Early Modern History
This examination of the everyday lives of ordinary Jews in Germany focuses on emotions, perceptions, and mentalities. How did they construe changes brought about by industrialization? How did they ...
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This examination of the everyday lives of ordinary Jews in Germany focuses on emotions, perceptions, and mentalities. How did they construe changes brought about by industrialization? How did they decide to enter new professions? How did they fit into newly flourishing organizational life? Could one both be a German and a Jew? How did Jews re-evaluate their multiple identities before and after emancipation, during the Weimar era, under Nazi persecution? Jews' attitudes toward and observances of their religion shifted not only over time, but also within a lifetime. Within frequently hostile political, social, and, cultural structures, Jews were not just victims, but also agents: they deciphered and re-framed events, and even when they adapted to German culture, often did so through a process of negotiation, retaining elements of Jewish culture. Nonetheless, a pervasive antisemitism affected self-reliance, self-respect and self-determination. Still, from the mid-19th century through the Weimar Republic, Jews achieved success amidst and despite antisemitism. In Imperial Germany, Protestants and Catholics, Prussians and Bavarians, and workers and employers were more hostile to each other than to the tiny Jewish minority — hovering at around 1 per cent of the population. A variety of German behaviors emerge in the everyday history of Jewish life that would rarely be apparent from other perspectives. This approach forces us to acknowledge diversity among Germans and inhibits the tendency to read the history of Jews and Germans backwards from the Holocaust.Less
This examination of the everyday lives of ordinary Jews in Germany focuses on emotions, perceptions, and mentalities. How did they construe changes brought about by industrialization? How did they decide to enter new professions? How did they fit into newly flourishing organizational life? Could one both be a German and a Jew? How did Jews re-evaluate their multiple identities before and after emancipation, during the Weimar era, under Nazi persecution? Jews' attitudes toward and observances of their religion shifted not only over time, but also within a lifetime. Within frequently hostile political, social, and, cultural structures, Jews were not just victims, but also agents: they deciphered and re-framed events, and even when they adapted to German culture, often did so through a process of negotiation, retaining elements of Jewish culture. Nonetheless, a pervasive antisemitism affected self-reliance, self-respect and self-determination. Still, from the mid-19th century through the Weimar Republic, Jews achieved success amidst and despite antisemitism. In Imperial Germany, Protestants and Catholics, Prussians and Bavarians, and workers and employers were more hostile to each other than to the tiny Jewish minority — hovering at around 1 per cent of the population. A variety of German behaviors emerge in the everyday history of Jewish life that would rarely be apparent from other perspectives. This approach forces us to acknowledge diversity among Germans and inhibits the tendency to read the history of Jews and Germans backwards from the Holocaust.
Steven M. Lowenstein
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195171648
- eISBN:
- 9780199871346
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195171648.003.0013
- Subject:
- History, European Early Modern History
This chapter shows that Jewish social life in the 19th century slowly became more sophisticated and less exclusive. Numerous German Jews acquired manners appropriate to polite gentile society and ...
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This chapter shows that Jewish social life in the 19th century slowly became more sophisticated and less exclusive. Numerous German Jews acquired manners appropriate to polite gentile society and began attending cultural events such as concerts and the theater. Though most Jews continued to socialize mainly with coreligionists, mixed Christian-Jewish formal and informal circles became more common. Jews of the higher classes were admitted to general bourgeois associations, and Jews participated in slowly growing numbers in local government and national politics. Violence against Jews became less common. In the liberal era of the 1850s and 1860s, barriers to Jewish mixing with non-Jews were probably lower than ever before in German history, though separate social circles were still quite noticeable.Less
This chapter shows that Jewish social life in the 19th century slowly became more sophisticated and less exclusive. Numerous German Jews acquired manners appropriate to polite gentile society and began attending cultural events such as concerts and the theater. Though most Jews continued to socialize mainly with coreligionists, mixed Christian-Jewish formal and informal circles became more common. Jews of the higher classes were admitted to general bourgeois associations, and Jews participated in slowly growing numbers in local government and national politics. Violence against Jews became less common. In the liberal era of the 1850s and 1860s, barriers to Jewish mixing with non-Jews were probably lower than ever before in German history, though separate social circles were still quite noticeable.
Michael Clark
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199562343
- eISBN:
- 9780191721441
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199562343.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Modern History
This introductory chapter discusses issues of modern Jewish identity and definition. Specifically, it explores how emancipation in Europe's nation states dissolved traditional patterns of Jewish ...
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This introductory chapter discusses issues of modern Jewish identity and definition. Specifically, it explores how emancipation in Europe's nation states dissolved traditional patterns of Jewish life, and forced Jewish communities to confront modernity and previously inaccessible modes of existence. The ambivalent and ambiguous impacts this had on Jewish identity are highlighted. The chapter also reviews the state of historiography on Anglo-Jewry, and, in particular, on the community's reaction to equality and immediate post-emancipation existence. The state of historical source material on Anglo-Jewry is briefly surveyed before the structure of the book is outlined.Less
This introductory chapter discusses issues of modern Jewish identity and definition. Specifically, it explores how emancipation in Europe's nation states dissolved traditional patterns of Jewish life, and forced Jewish communities to confront modernity and previously inaccessible modes of existence. The ambivalent and ambiguous impacts this had on Jewish identity are highlighted. The chapter also reviews the state of historiography on Anglo-Jewry, and, in particular, on the community's reaction to equality and immediate post-emancipation existence. The state of historical source material on Anglo-Jewry is briefly surveyed before the structure of the book is outlined.
Geoffrey Brahm Levey
- Published in print:
- 1996
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195103311
- eISBN:
- 9780199854585
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195103311.003.0005
- Subject:
- History, History of Religion
Jews have risen to become one of the best-educated and most economically secure ethno-religious groups in the United States. Some of the existing theories explain why American Jews are, or have been, ...
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Jews have risen to become one of the best-educated and most economically secure ethno-religious groups in the United States. Some of the existing theories explain why American Jews are, or have been, liberal; others help explain variance among American Jews in the degree of their liberalism. This chapter seeks to advance a new approach to explaining the disproportionate liberalism of Jews in America. Specifically, it rejects the standard assumption that American Jews are predisposed by their experience among non-Jews in wider society—whether considered in terms of marginality, minority status, or political interests—to be especially politically liberal. The central argument advanced here is that the pronounced liberalism of American Jews is best understood in terms of dynamics and tensions in their relation to the Jewish community as a religious body politic rather than in their relations with non-Jews or with non-Jewish society.Less
Jews have risen to become one of the best-educated and most economically secure ethno-religious groups in the United States. Some of the existing theories explain why American Jews are, or have been, liberal; others help explain variance among American Jews in the degree of their liberalism. This chapter seeks to advance a new approach to explaining the disproportionate liberalism of Jews in America. Specifically, it rejects the standard assumption that American Jews are predisposed by their experience among non-Jews in wider society—whether considered in terms of marginality, minority status, or political interests—to be especially politically liberal. The central argument advanced here is that the pronounced liberalism of American Jews is best understood in terms of dynamics and tensions in their relation to the Jewish community as a religious body politic rather than in their relations with non-Jews or with non-Jewish society.
Trude Maurer
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195171648
- eISBN:
- 9780199871346
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195171648.003.0024
- Subject:
- History, European Early Modern History
This chapter discusses the revival of Jewish culture in general, and also more specifically in the Jewish Communities and religious life during the Weimar Republic. Large segments of German Jewry ...
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This chapter discusses the revival of Jewish culture in general, and also more specifically in the Jewish Communities and religious life during the Weimar Republic. Large segments of German Jewry returned to religion after the major break of January 30, 1933, but this did not last. The Jewish holidays, celebrated mostly within the family until then, started gaining social and community significance, strengthening group consciousness, as greater emphasis was placed on holidays that had previously carried minor importance. With their comprehensive practical relief efforts in the initial years of the Nazi regime, the Jewish Communities became the center of Jewish life.Less
This chapter discusses the revival of Jewish culture in general, and also more specifically in the Jewish Communities and religious life during the Weimar Republic. Large segments of German Jewry returned to religion after the major break of January 30, 1933, but this did not last. The Jewish holidays, celebrated mostly within the family until then, started gaining social and community significance, strengthening group consciousness, as greater emphasis was placed on holidays that had previously carried minor importance. With their comprehensive practical relief efforts in the initial years of the Nazi regime, the Jewish Communities became the center of Jewish life.
Geoffrey Alderman
- Published in print:
- 1998
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198207597
- eISBN:
- 9780191677731
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198207597.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Modern History
The issue of political emancipation dominated the communal agenda of the Anglo–Jewish leadership during the middle years of the 19th century. There was, however, no unanimity of view as to the ...
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The issue of political emancipation dominated the communal agenda of the Anglo–Jewish leadership during the middle years of the 19th century. There was, however, no unanimity of view as to the strategy by which it might be attained, partly because those who ordered the affairs of the community were by no means united as to the degree of priority which it should be accorded. Nor was the issue one which agitated all — or even the majority — of Jews in Britain.Less
The issue of political emancipation dominated the communal agenda of the Anglo–Jewish leadership during the middle years of the 19th century. There was, however, no unanimity of view as to the strategy by which it might be attained, partly because those who ordered the affairs of the community were by no means united as to the degree of priority which it should be accorded. Nor was the issue one which agitated all — or even the majority — of Jews in Britain.
Rainer Liedtke
- Published in print:
- 1998
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198207238
- eISBN:
- 9780191677564
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198207238.003.0008
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Modern History
This chapter concentrates on a multitude of smaller Jewish charities and self-help institutions for a variety of purposes. It deals with subjects which are either unique to one city, such as the ...
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This chapter concentrates on a multitude of smaller Jewish charities and self-help institutions for a variety of purposes. It deals with subjects which are either unique to one city, such as the organization of welfare by Eastern European Jews in Manchester, or which are only documented for one place, such as the numerous ‘traditional’ Jewish charitable associations which tried to find their place in the Hamburg Jewish community of the second half of the 19th century that was undergoing transformation.Less
This chapter concentrates on a multitude of smaller Jewish charities and self-help institutions for a variety of purposes. It deals with subjects which are either unique to one city, such as the organization of welfare by Eastern European Jews in Manchester, or which are only documented for one place, such as the numerous ‘traditional’ Jewish charitable associations which tried to find their place in the Hamburg Jewish community of the second half of the 19th century that was undergoing transformation.
Michael Clark
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199562343
- eISBN:
- 9780191721441
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199562343.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Modern History
Lionel de Rothschild's hard-fought entry into Parliament in 1858 marked the emancipation of Jews in Britain — the symbolic conclusion of Jews' campaign for equal rights and their inclusion as ...
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Lionel de Rothschild's hard-fought entry into Parliament in 1858 marked the emancipation of Jews in Britain — the symbolic conclusion of Jews' campaign for equal rights and their inclusion as citizens after centuries of discrimination. With this event, Jewish life entered a new phase: the post-emancipation era. This book explores the development of the Jewish community and its identity in Britain during this formative stage. Emancipation was ambiguous. British acceptance was not neutral but carried expectations, as well as opportunities. This book highlights how integrating into British society required changes to traditional Jewish identity, as it also widened conceptions of Britishness. Many Jews, it suggests, willingly embraced their environment and fashioned a unique Jewish existence: mixing in all levels of society; experiencing economic success; and organizing and translating its faith along Anglican grounds. But, unlike many other European Jewish experiences, Anglo-Jews stayed loyal to their faith. Conversion and outmarriage remained rare, and connections were maintained with foreign kin. The community was even willing at times to place its Jewish and English identity in conflict, as happened during the 1876-8 Eastern Crisis, which provoked the first episode of modern antisemitism in Britain. The nature of Jewish existence in Britain was unclear and developing in the post-emancipation era. Using original research and focusing upon three inter-linked case studies of Anglo-Jewry's political activity, internal government, and religious development, this book explores the dilemmas of identity and inter-faith relations that confronted the minority in late 19th-century Britain. It illuminates a crucial period in which the Anglo-Jewish community shaped the basis of its modern existence, whilst the British state explored the limits of its toleration.Less
Lionel de Rothschild's hard-fought entry into Parliament in 1858 marked the emancipation of Jews in Britain — the symbolic conclusion of Jews' campaign for equal rights and their inclusion as citizens after centuries of discrimination. With this event, Jewish life entered a new phase: the post-emancipation era. This book explores the development of the Jewish community and its identity in Britain during this formative stage. Emancipation was ambiguous. British acceptance was not neutral but carried expectations, as well as opportunities. This book highlights how integrating into British society required changes to traditional Jewish identity, as it also widened conceptions of Britishness. Many Jews, it suggests, willingly embraced their environment and fashioned a unique Jewish existence: mixing in all levels of society; experiencing economic success; and organizing and translating its faith along Anglican grounds. But, unlike many other European Jewish experiences, Anglo-Jews stayed loyal to their faith. Conversion and outmarriage remained rare, and connections were maintained with foreign kin. The community was even willing at times to place its Jewish and English identity in conflict, as happened during the 1876-8 Eastern Crisis, which provoked the first episode of modern antisemitism in Britain. The nature of Jewish existence in Britain was unclear and developing in the post-emancipation era. Using original research and focusing upon three inter-linked case studies of Anglo-Jewry's political activity, internal government, and religious development, this book explores the dilemmas of identity and inter-faith relations that confronted the minority in late 19th-century Britain. It illuminates a crucial period in which the Anglo-Jewish community shaped the basis of its modern existence, whilst the British state explored the limits of its toleration.
Maristella Botticini and Zvi Eckstein
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691144870
- eISBN:
- 9781400842483
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691144870.003.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
This introductory chapter provides an overview of the Jews' transition into urban and skilled occupations. This transition was the outcome of a profound transformation of the Jewish religion after ...
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This introductory chapter provides an overview of the Jews' transition into urban and skilled occupations. This transition was the outcome of a profound transformation of the Jewish religion after the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE, which shifted the religious leadership within the Jewish community and transformed Judaism from a cult based on ritual sacrifices in the temple to a religion whose main norm required every Jewish man to read and to study the Torah in Hebrew and to send his sons from the age of six or seven to primary school or synagogue to learn to do so. The implementation of this new religious norm during the Talmud era determined three major patterns in Jewish history: the growth and spread of literacy among the predominantly rural Jewish population, a comparative advantage in urban skilled occupations, and the voluntary diaspora of the Jews in search of worldwide opportunities in crafts, trade, commerce, moneylending, banking, finance, and medicine.Less
This introductory chapter provides an overview of the Jews' transition into urban and skilled occupations. This transition was the outcome of a profound transformation of the Jewish religion after the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE, which shifted the religious leadership within the Jewish community and transformed Judaism from a cult based on ritual sacrifices in the temple to a religion whose main norm required every Jewish man to read and to study the Torah in Hebrew and to send his sons from the age of six or seven to primary school or synagogue to learn to do so. The implementation of this new religious norm during the Talmud era determined three major patterns in Jewish history: the growth and spread of literacy among the predominantly rural Jewish population, a comparative advantage in urban skilled occupations, and the voluntary diaspora of the Jews in search of worldwide opportunities in crafts, trade, commerce, moneylending, banking, finance, and medicine.
Nicholas De Lange
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780197263785
- eISBN:
- 9780191734304
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197263785.003.0014
- Subject:
- History, World Medieval History
This chapter provides a brief introduction of the Byzantine Jewish community. It presents the different types of writing that originated from the period and which are still being used today. The ...
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This chapter provides a brief introduction of the Byzantine Jewish community. It presents the different types of writing that originated from the period and which are still being used today. The focus of the discussion is on Byzantine or ‘Romaniote’ Jews and their works, although the sources written by foreign Jews are also considered.Less
This chapter provides a brief introduction of the Byzantine Jewish community. It presents the different types of writing that originated from the period and which are still being used today. The focus of the discussion is on Byzantine or ‘Romaniote’ Jews and their works, although the sources written by foreign Jews are also considered.
Maureen R. Benjamins
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- January 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199731190
- eISBN:
- 9780199866465
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199731190.003.0009
- Subject:
- Public Health and Epidemiology, Public Health
Inspired by the power of having specific health data for one's own community, leaders of the Jewish community in Chicago undertook the steps necessary to conduct a similar survey within the most ...
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Inspired by the power of having specific health data for one's own community, leaders of the Jewish community in Chicago undertook the steps necessary to conduct a similar survey within the most densely populated Jewish neighbourhoods. This unique survey, the Jewish Community Health Survey of West Rogers Park and Peterson Park identified many health issues within the community. Of these, childhood obesity was selected by community members as the most important problem to address because it was found to affect a large percentage of children and because it foreshadowed serious health consequences for the future. This chapter presents additional details about childhood obesity in this community, including age and gender differences and possible determinants. It then describes the rates among children in Jewish day schools in Chicago. This intervention, the Jewish Day School Wellness Initiative, has produced substantial changes within the schools and students of the Associated Talmud Torah school system over a four-year intervention period.Less
Inspired by the power of having specific health data for one's own community, leaders of the Jewish community in Chicago undertook the steps necessary to conduct a similar survey within the most densely populated Jewish neighbourhoods. This unique survey, the Jewish Community Health Survey of West Rogers Park and Peterson Park identified many health issues within the community. Of these, childhood obesity was selected by community members as the most important problem to address because it was found to affect a large percentage of children and because it foreshadowed serious health consequences for the future. This chapter presents additional details about childhood obesity in this community, including age and gender differences and possible determinants. It then describes the rates among children in Jewish day schools in Chicago. This intervention, the Jewish Day School Wellness Initiative, has produced substantial changes within the schools and students of the Associated Talmud Torah school system over a four-year intervention period.
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.
Trude Maurer
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195171648
- eISBN:
- 9780199871346
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195171648.003.0025
- Subject:
- History, European Early Modern History
This chapter discusses the degree of integration of Jews with the non-Jewish environment and the bonds within the Jewish community. Although ostracized from German cultural life, Jews held fast to ...
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This chapter discusses the degree of integration of Jews with the non-Jewish environment and the bonds within the Jewish community. Although ostracized from German cultural life, Jews held fast to German culture and learned more and more about Jewish authors and Jewish history. A strengthened Jewish communal life and a return to Jewish holidays at home were also accompanied by an intellectual return to Judaism.Less
This chapter discusses the degree of integration of Jews with the non-Jewish environment and the bonds within the Jewish community. Although ostracized from German cultural life, Jews held fast to German culture and learned more and more about Jewish authors and Jewish history. A strengthened Jewish communal life and a return to Jewish holidays at home were also accompanied by an intellectual return to Judaism.
Todd M. Endelman
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520227194
- eISBN:
- 9780520935662
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520227194.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
This chapter describes the Jewish community in England during the resettlement period. The Jewish community of the resettlement period was overwhelmingly Spanish and Portuguese in origin. Most ...
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This chapter describes the Jewish community in England during the resettlement period. The Jewish community of the resettlement period was overwhelmingly Spanish and Portuguese in origin. Most immigrants came with few material resources or artisanal skills and on arrival took to low-status itinerant trades to earn a living. As the Jewish population expanded, the opportunities for gaining a settlement and earning a living remained constant or even diminished. While some of the immigrants were able to find work as bankers and brokers, others became peddlers and pickpockets.Less
This chapter describes the Jewish community in England during the resettlement period. The Jewish community of the resettlement period was overwhelmingly Spanish and Portuguese in origin. Most immigrants came with few material resources or artisanal skills and on arrival took to low-status itinerant trades to earn a living. As the Jewish population expanded, the opportunities for gaining a settlement and earning a living remained constant or even diminished. While some of the immigrants were able to find work as bankers and brokers, others became peddlers and pickpockets.
