The whole wide world, without limits : international relief, gender politics, and American Jewish women, 1893-1930 / Mary McCune.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

McCune, Mary.

Series:

American Jewish Civilization Series

American Jewish civilization series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Jewish women--United States--Political activity--History--19th century.

Jewish women.

Jewish women--United States--Political activity--History--20th century.

Jewish women--United States--Social conditions--19th century.

Jewish women--United States--Social conditions--20th century.

Jewish women--United States--Societies and clubs--History--19th century.

Jewish women--United States--Societies and clubs--History--20th century.

National Council of Jewish Women--History.

National Council of Jewish Women.

Hadassah (Organization)--History.

Hadassah (Organization).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (298 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Other Title:

International relief, gender politics, and American Jewish women, 1893-1930

Place of Publication:

Detroit : Wayne State University Press, c2005.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

An analysis of gender politics in the American Jewish community during the interwar period that reveals the role of gender and class in organizational politics and the importance of Jewish women in American political and activist history. Often perceived as being removed from the rough-and-tumble world of male politics, women involved in relief during World War I and the 1920s found themselves grappling daily with questions of ideology, nationalism, and political statehood. Participation in large-scale relief work provided Jewish women with a firm sense of their own capabilities and contributed to their heightened sense of gender consciousness. Their experience provides powerful evidence that women activists in the post-suffrage period sustained a notable degree of separation from men even as they propounded gender equality, thereby facilitating American Jewish women's entrance into the public realm without their having to sacrifice commitment to either Jewish or women's issues. Gendered and separatist strategies enabled women to bring their concerns into the public sphere, affect the course of American Jewish history, and shape modern American Jewish identity. "The Whole Wide World, Without Limits" explores the international relief activities of three American Jewish organizations during this period: the National Council of Jewish Women, Hadassah (the Women's Zionist Organization of America), and the Workmen's Circle. Women in all three organizations vigorously raised money for Jews in the war zones and continued to help them after the armistice. Author Mary McCune demonstrates the significance of the work of each group while analyzing the interactions between class, ethnicity, religion, and gender consciousness, both inside the Jewish community and in the broader American context. McCune looks at a wide variety of Jewish women-Zionists and anti-Zionists, religious and secular, capitalists and socialists, wealthy and working-class-and sheds light on the myriad ways that personal identity shapes public activism. More importantly, this book reveals how women's charity work and their use of gendered strategies exerted influence over seemingly unrelated political events.

Contents:

""Cover""; ""Contents""; ""Acknowledgments""; ""Abbreviations""; ""Note on Yiddish Transliteration""; ""Introduction""; ""1 CREATING ORGANIZATIONS FOR WOMEN, 1892�1912""; ""Women in a Socialist Brotherhood""; ""Jewish Women�s Congress to National Organization""; ""Gendering Membership""; ""NCJW and Social Welfare Work""; ""Creating a Gendered Zionism""; ""On the Eve of World War I""; ""2 THE CRISIS YEARS: JEWISH WOMEN AND WORLD WAR I""; ""The Plight of Jews in Eastern Europe and Palestine""; ""American Jews Respond to the War""; ""Forging Gender and Ethnic Bonds""

""The JDC�s Gendered Appeals for Relief""""Gender Dynamics in War: Cooperation and Conflict""; ""Growing Support for Women�s Rights""; ""Poised for Future Action""; ""3 THE MOVE TOWARD AUTONOMY: THE NCJW AND HADASSAH IN THE POSTWAR WORLD""; ""The JDC in the Postwar World""; ""Breaking New Ground: The NCJW and International Work""; ""Hadassah and Palestine: “A Joyful Mother of Children�""; ""Hadassah�s Struggle for Independence""; ""Benefits and Limitations of Separatism""; ""4 WOMEN ORGANIZING WOMEN: GENDER AND AMERICAN JEWISH IDENTITY, 1920�1930""

""Growing Diversity, Common Problems""""NCJW Involvement in American Politics""; ""Hadassah and Zionist Women�s Issues""; ""Recruiting American Women to Zionism""; ""World Congress of Jewish Women""; ""Moving into the Mainstream""; ""5 THE FEMINIZATION OF THE WORKMEN�S CIRCLE, 1920�1930""; ""Arbeter Ring in the Postwar World""; ""Creating an Activist Arena for Women""; ""Perspectives on Women�s Work""; ""Formal Establishment of the Froyen Klubn""; ""Social Service and the Workmen�s Circle""; ""Feminizing the Socialist Brotherhood""; ""CONCLUSION""; ""Notes""; ""Bibliography""

""Index""""A""; ""B""; ""C""; ""D""; ""E""; ""F""; ""G""; ""H""; ""I""; ""J""; ""K""; ""L""; ""M""; ""N""; ""O""; ""P""; ""R""; ""S""; ""T""; ""U""; ""V""; ""W""; ""Y""; ""Z""

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 251-272) and index.

ISBN:

9780814337523

081433752X

OCLC:

849944460