American Jewry and the re-invention of the East European Jewish past / Markus Krah.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Krah, Markus, author.

Series:

New perspectives on modern Jewish history ; v. 9.

New perspectives on modern Jewish history, 2192-9653 ; volume 9

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Jews--Europe, Eastern--Historiography.

Jews.

Jews--Europe, Eastern--Civilization.

Jews--United States--Identity.

Civilization.

Historiography.

United States.

Identity (Philosophical concept).

Jews--Civilization.

Jews--Historiography.

Jews--Identity.

Eastern Europe.

Physical Description:

xiii, 289 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Berlin ; Boston : De Gruyter Oldenbourg, [2018]

Summary:

In the postwar years, American Jews obsessively engaged their East European past. In sermons, historical essays, literary criticism, political pamphlets, photography, and theater they made this past usable for their American present. The study traces this obsession to a sense of insecurity after the Holocaust and of opportunity in America. As American Jews redefined their identity, they created images that have shaped the community to this day.

Contents:

Obsessively Engaged: Postwar American Jewry and the East European Past p. 3

A Community Coming of Age - by Trying on a Usable Past p. 5

Jews in Postwar America: a Not-So-Golden Era? p. 7

State of the Field p. 10

From Yiddish to English: a Multiplicity of Sources p. 12

Methodology and Discipline: Discourse Analysis and Cultural History p. 14

Larger Patterns: Memory in American and Jewish Contexts p. 18

1 The Search for New Modes of Jewishness in Postwar America p. 21

Interwar Years: Yiddishkayt in the Urban Ghetto - Doomed to Decline p. 22

Mourning the World of East European Jewry - Claiming American Legitimacy p. 25

American Crisis and Jewish Inclusion p. 30

Suburbia as Uncharted Territory - Synagogues Marking Jewishness p. 34

Jewishness Redux - the Wounded Jewish Soul and the East European Medicine p. 42

2 Launching a Discourse: YIVO's Bridge From the Old World to the New p. 47

Weinreich Puts Adolescent American Jewry on Freud's Couch p. 53

YIVO: Research Institute, Myth, or Instrument of Self-Expression? p. 60

Forging an American Jewishness - on Yiddish Terms p. 65

3 New (York) Jewish Intellectuals: The Past as Culture p. 71

New York Jewish Intellectuals: Refashioning Their Jewishness Out of the Past p. 75

Bridging the Gap Between the Intellectuals and the Community p. 80

Dialectics of Jewish Pastness and American Presentness p. 86

Accepting Ambivalence - Vis-à-Vis Eastern Europe and America p. 89

Translating the East European Past for the American Jewish Present p. 93

4 Religious Culture as an Antidote to Liberal Judaism and Secular Jewishness p. 96

Judaism: Eastern Europe as a Resource for a Broader Concept of Judaism p. 97

Heschel's Apotheosis of Ashkenazic Jewish Life p. 103

Soloveitchik: Bringing "Halakhic Man" from Lithuania to America p. 110

5 Spiritual Needs, the Past, and the Denominational Landscape p. 119

Reform: Taking a New Look at a Distant Past p. 119

Conservative Judaism: East European Jewishness as ersatz Yiddishkayt p. 126

Orthodoxy: Silencing, Historicizing, Idolizing the Recent East European Past p. 132

Renewing American Judaism on Religious Terms Found in the Past p. 143

6 From East European Radicalism to Postwar American Progressivism p. 144

Journalistic Infighting Over Communism and Jewishness p. 147

American Jews: Mindlessly Assimilating, or Forming a New Spiritual Center? p. 151

East European Folk Culture as Part of Jewish Leftists' Political Project p. 154

Memory as Content, From a Means to an End p. 158

Preserving the Heritage - Sacred Duty in the Service of Continuity p. 163

7 Presenting a Rich Jewish Culture: The Eternal Light and Life Is with People p. 167

The Eternal Light: East European Spiritual Jewishness Made Audible p. 169

Aestheticizing Judaism - On a "High Church" Note p. 176

Life Is with People: Ethnography Presents a Rich East European Jewish Culture p. 179

"Sex, Taboo, and Superstition:" Attracting American Jewish Interest in the Shtetl p. 184

8 Making Jewishness Meaningful: In School and In Hasidism p. 189

Textbook Cases: Spiritual Culture as a Source of Fortitude in the Face of Persecution p. 194

Hasidism: Everyone's Third Way p. 200

Hasidic Wholeness, Antinomianism, Ethical Judaism, and Pro to -Socialism p. 205

9 Tevye in Kasrilevke, the Fiddler in America: East European Jewishness in Literature p. 212

Maurice Samuel Applies Sholem Aleichem to America p. 212

Affirmation or Alienation: The Jewishness of Cultural Translators p. 217

Isaac Rosenfeld: From Alienation to the Affirmation of a Cultural Jewishness p. 219

A Sacred Treasure: Anthologizing East European Yiddishkayt for American Jews p. 224

The Postwar Shtetl: Re-Invention of "the Greatest Invention of Yiddish Literature" p. 227

Isaac Bashevis Singer and the Subversive Spirituality of East European Judaism p. 230

Final Curtain: Fiddler on the Roof p. 234

10 Conclusion: Re-Inventing Jewishness Out of Memory p. 241

A New Idea Out of Many Failing Ones p. 246

Community of Memory p. 249

Re-Inventing the Past to Re-Invent Jewish Ethnicity p. 254.

Notes:

Revision of the author's thesis (doctoral)--Jewish Theological Seminary, New York.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 261-283) and index.

ISBN:

9783110499926

3110499924

OCLC:

1013873238