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American Jewish History


Look for the Union Label Look for the Union Label
Thursday, December 1, 2011 by Alex Joffe | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features

With the din from the Occupy Wall Street encampments fading in the early winter chill, it's time to step back and consider the phenomenon as part of the broader history of the anti-capitalist struggle in America.
Jews and Black Baseball Jews and Black Baseball
Wednesday, November 30, 2011 by Michael Carasik | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features

Prague has its Altneuschul and Rabbi Judah Loewe, who created the original Golem; Worms has its Raschi-Haus, where the great medieval scholar is said to have studied. And in America, St. Paul, Minnesota has its Temple of Aaron.
Thanksgiving: A Jewish Holiday After All Thanksgiving: A Jewish Holiday After All
Wednesday, November 23, 2011 by Moshe Sokolow | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features

In 1789, President George Washington issued a proclamation recommending that Thursday November 26th of that year be devoted "to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be." 
America’s Holy Haunted Houses America’s Holy Haunted Houses
Monday, October 31, 2011 by Allan Nadler | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features

Halloween is most certainly no Jewish holiday; yet its spooky mood is curiously congruent with the ambience that overcomes American synagogues this time of year.
Are Young Rabbis Turning on Israel? Are Young Rabbis Turning on Israel?
Monday, October 24, 2011 by Elliot Jager | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features

For all the theological, ritualistic, and institutional differences separating the Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform movements, what distinguishes the groups in the minds of many ordinary American Jews comes down to branding.
Pay to Pray? Pay to Pray?
Wednesday, September 28, 2011 by Jack Wertheimer | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features

In the middle decades of the 20th century they were called "mushroom synagogues." They popped up in the waning days of summer to provide High Holiday services, then disappeared at the conclusion of Yom Kippur. Today, "mushroom synagogues" are once again in vogue—but with a critical difference.
The Wages of Durban The Wages of Durban
Wednesday, September 21, 2011 by Arch Puddington | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features

In the days just prior to the assault on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, the World Conference Against Racism (WCAR) was very much in the news, and for reasons that are altogether relevant to the mass murder that took place on September 11, 2001.
Spying for Zion Spying for Zion
Tuesday, September 13, 2011 by Alex Joffe | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features

Spying goes on everywhere, all the time, 24/7.  But the way spying is treated—when it is discovered, when it is publicized, when spies are arrested, tried, and jailed—is highly variable, especially in the United States.  The timing is almost never a matter of chance.
Frisco Kids Frisco Kids
Friday, September 2, 2011 by Hannah Elka Meyers | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features

Everyone knows the caricature of a New York Jew: intellectual, neurotic, reflexively liberal. In recent years, the reach of the caricature has expanded to cover not just New York Jews but urban Jews on America's "left coast." But a new book comprehensively and compellingly describes a Jewish population whose liveliness belies any stereotype.
Retrieving American Jewish Fiction Retrieving American Jewish Fiction
Thursday, September 1, 2011 by D.G. Myers | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features

The Jewish "boom" in American writing in the 60's was ignited by Bellow, Roth, and Malamud—reeled off in that order as if they were a firm of Jewish accountants.  The roots of American Jewish literature go much further back, though. 
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Editors' Picks
High Anxiety Daniel Smith, New York Times. Anxiety isn't a virtue—or if it is a virtue, it's an unpleasant and problematic one. So why do Jews all but celebrate it?
The Ten Commandments of America's Jews Jack Wertheimer, Commentary. Go ahead and break the current tablets—here are the new shalls and shall nots.
Morality, Not Theology Meir Soloveichik, Weekly Standard. Mormons trying to talk across doctrinal divides to evangelical Christians can learn from Joseph Soloveitchik's advice on how Jews should—and should not—discuss their faith with Christians.
A Kaddish for Sholem Aleichem Kara A. Kaufman, Moment. How did the Yiddish author want his descendants to spend his yahrzeit? They should "select one of my stories, one of the really merry ones, and read it aloud in whatever language they understand best."
Body Language Arika Okrent, Lapham's Quarterly. Jews tended to use one hand, Italians both. Italians touched their own bodies, Jews touched the bodies of their conversational partners. But as Jews and Italians became American, so did their gestures.
A Serious Man Joseph Epstein, New Criterion. One day Hilton Kramer appeared to drop off his copy in person at the New Leader offices. The editor asked him if he knew anyone who was looking for a job. "Actually, I do," he said. "Me."
Sally Priesand and the Reality Principle Michele Alperin, JNS. Forty years ago, the first woman rabbi intended to get married and have children, and planned to have a nursery next to her synagogue office. Reality turned out to be different.
Common Denominator Bryan Schwartzman, Jewish Exponent. Across denominational lines, rabbis are facing the same problems—and are actually working together to solve them.
American Hebrew Poetry? Jerome Chanes, Forward. One of the best-kept secrets of Jewish American history is the creation of an indigenous Hebrew poetry in the first half of the 20th century.
A Conservative Catechism Diane Cole, Jewish Week. Ten years in the making, the Conservative movement's Observant Life covers halakhah, ethics, and thorny modern issues. Will it resonate with the youth it obviously wishes to court?