Jewish communities on the Ohio River : a history / Amy Hill Shevitz.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Shevitz, Amy Hill, 1953-

Series:

Ohio River Valley series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Jews--Ohio River Region--History.

Jews.

Jews--Ohio River Region--Politics and government.

Jews--Ohio River Region--Social life and customs.

Manners and customs.

Politics and government.

History.

Ohio River Region.

Physical Description:

xi, 266 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Lexington, Ky. : University Press of Kentucky, [2007]

Summary:

In Jewish Communities on the Ohio River, Amy Hill Shevitz chronicles the settlement and development of small Jewish communities in towns along the river. In these small towns, Jewish citizens created networks of businesses and families that developed into a distinctive, nineteenth-century middle-class culture. As a minority group with a vital role in each community, Ohio Valley Jews fostered American religious pluralism as they constructed a regional identity. Their contributions to the culture and economy of the region countered the anti-Semitic sentiments of the period. Shevitz discusses the associations among the towns and the big cities of the region, especially Cincinnati and Pittsburgh. Also examined are Jewish communities' relationships with, and dependence on, the Ohio River and rail networks. Jewish Communities on the Ohio River demonstrates how the circumstances of a specific region influenced the evolution of American Jewish life.

Contents:

On the Frontier

From Europe to the Ohio River Valley

Finding and founding communities

Religious conflicts and congruity

A Judaism for the middle class

The community within a community

Maintaining community

The East European immigration and the reconfiguration of community

Communities at maturity

The demise of community.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [216]-251) and index.

ISBN:

9780813124308

0813124301

OCLC:

122701899