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Confronting the Jewish Rejection of Jewish Particularism: Chaim

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Confronting the Jewish Rejection of Jewish Particularism: Chaim Confronting the Jewish Rejection of Jewish Particularism: Chaim Zhitlowsky’s Pedagogical Intervention into Ashkenazi American Assimilation (Image Source: Literarishe bleter 12, no. 21 (24 May 1935, special issue in honor of Zhitlowsky’s 70th birthday), 324.) MA Thesis Presented to the Faculty of Humanities at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem Ri J. Turner November 15, 2019 Program for Yiddish Under the direction of Dr. Aya Elyada Abstract Chaim Zhitlowsky (1865-1943), known primarily for his role as a theoretician of diaspora nationalism and political Yiddishism in the European context, spent most of the second half of his life (from 1904 on) in the United States. In addition to his work there as a cultural activist, he published a substantial body of commentary, mostly in the American Yiddish press, on the position of Jews within the American multicultural system. Historians have regarded his attempt to import an autonomist/multinational model into the American context as naïve; however, his observations about the American Jewish identity that was being constructed before his very eyes in fact comprise a consistent, theoretically deep, insightful, and iconoclastic political intervention which not only problematizes the place of Jews in the American ethnoracial system, but also offers a critique of – and a proposed remedy for – the hypocrisies intrinsic to the American liberal multicultural model itself. As I explore in this study, Zhitlowsky called into question the ability of a “cosmopolitan” model (in the American context, the “melting pot”) to allow for true democratic multiculturalism, and challenged the idea that ethnic particularism and universal humanism are in conflict. On these grounds, he proposed “progressive Jewish nationalism” – expressed concretely through the strategy of institutional Yiddishism – as a remedy for “assimilation,” which he considered a damaging phenomenon powered by false promises. He also hoped that his suggested program, when implemented, would exert an influence from the bottom up to prompt American society to embody true cultural pluralism – by becoming a “confederation of peoples” that would ensure both individual citizenship rights and minority national rights, including language rights. In his writings in the Yiddish press, he urged American Jews to reckon with the constraints that systemic anti- Semitism continued to place on their lives; he also explored the reasons why they so often avoided this issue. As I will show, while Zhitlowsky’s ideas occasionally reflect Eurocentric and essentialist biases, his writings nevertheless offer a sophisticated analysis and critique of American nativism and systemic racism. His work also casts new light on the construction of Ashkenazi Jewish whiteness in the American context, insofar as they can be read both as a discursive attempt to prevent Jews from “becoming white folks,” in Karen Brodkin’s terms (1998), and as an expression of the American Ashkenazi community’s deep ambivalence about submitting to (white) Americanization, as documented by Eric Goldstein (2006). In fact, while Zhitlowsky did believe in “American ideals” as he defined them, his attitude vis-à-vis the American ethnoracial structures that he saw developing on the ground went beyond ambivalence, indeed approaching an “oppositional consciousness” which he may have been free to express in the Yiddish press in a way that he would not have been in the American Anglophone sphere. He articulated this stance in terms that are worth comparing with categories generated by observers of color in their analyses of American whiteness. In this thesis, I offer a reading of a heretofore-neglected selection of Zhitlowsky’s writings in the American Yiddish press, contextualizing them in light of his biography and overall oeuvre. Based on this reading, I map out his analysis of and political program for the American context, thereby revealing his significance, until now unexplored in scholarly contexts, as a theorist of American Jewish ethnicity. Finally, I consider Zhitlowsky’s activity in the American context as an example of liberatory pedagogical praxis (as articulated by Cornel West (1985), Paulo Freire (1968), and Antonio Gramsci (1929-1935)), and connect it to historiographic debates about the nature of the American ethnoracial system and Jewish whiteness in the American context. 2 תקציר חיים ז 'יטלובסקי (1943-1865), הידוע בעיקר כתיאורטיקן של הלאומיות הדיאספורית והיידישיזם הפוליט י בהקשר האירופאי, בילה את רוב המחצית השנייה של חייו (משנת 1904 ואילך) בארצות הברית. במקביל לפעילותו שם כעסקן תרבות הותיר ז'יטלובסקי קורפוס עשיר של פרסומי ם, בעיקר בעיתונות היידיש האמריקאית, אשר עסקו, בין היתר, במעמדם של יהודים במערכת הרב־תרבותית האמריקאית. ניסיונו לייבא את המודל המזר ח־אירופאי של אוטונומיזם במסגרת רב־לאומית אל תוך ההקשר האמריקאי נחשב בעיני היסטוריונים לנאיבי. ואולם, הערותיו על הזהות היהודית־אמריקאית הנרקמת לנגד עיניו מהוות התערבות פוליטית עקבית, עמוקה מבחינה תיאורטית, מלאת תוב נות, ואיקונוקלסטית. נקודת מבטו המקורית של ז'יטלובסקי לא רק מציגה את מקומם של היהודים במערכת האת נית־גזעי ת האמריקאית כבעיי תי, אלא א ף מותח ת ביקורת על הצביעות הגלומה בעצם מודל הרב־תרבותיות האמריקאי־ליברלי, ומציעה לה תיקון. כפי שאני מתארת במחקר זה, ז'יטלובסקי הטיל ספק ביכולתו של מודל "קוסמופוליטי" (בהקשר האמריקאי, "כור ההיתוך") לאפשר קיו ם רב־תרבותיות דמוקרטית אמיתית, וקרא תיגר על הדעה ולפיה הפרטיקולריזם האתני וההומניזם האוניברסל י סותרים זה את זה. בהתבסס ו על רעיונות אלה הוא הציע ש"לאומיות יהודית פרוגרסיבית" – שביטוייה המוחשי יהיה האסטרטגיה של יידישיזם ממוסד – תשמש תרופה כנגד ההתבוללות, שבה ראה תופעה מזיקה המונעת על ידי הבטחות שווא. כמו כן, ז'יטלובסקי קיווה שיישום התוכנית שהציע יחולל "שינוי מלמטה", שינוי שא ף יניע את החברה האמריקאית כולה לעבר פלורליזם תרבותי אמיתי: הפיכתה של ארצות הברית ל"קונפדרציה של עמים " שתבטיח הן זכויות אזרח אינדיבידואליות והן זכויות לאומיות למיעוטים, כולל זכויות שפה. בפרסומיו בעיתונות היידי ש ביקש ז'יטלובסקי לעורר יהודים אמריקאי ם להכיר בקיומה של אנטישמיות מערכתית המטילה הגבלו ת על חייהם. כמו כן, הוא בחן את הסיבות שבגינן חוגים רחבים ביהדות ארצות הברית בחרו להתעלם ממנה. כפי שאראה, אף שברעיונותיו אפשר להבחין בהטיה אירופ וצנטרית ומהותנית, ניתן לראות בו מי שמשתת ף בשיח הביקורתי כלפי הגזענות המערכתית והבניית הילידיו ת (" נייטיביזם") האמריקאיות. כתביו שופכים אור חדש, בין היתר, על הבנייתו של היהודי האשכנזי האמריקאי כ"לבן". ניתן אף לקרוא אותם כניסיון דיסקורסיבי למ נוע מהיהודי ם האמריקאים "להפוך לאנשים לבנים" (קרן ברודקין, 1998), או לפחות כביטוי לאמביוולנטיות העמוקה בקרב הקהילה האשכנזית האמריקאית בנוגע לאמריקניזציה (לבנה), נושא שנחקר בידי אריק גולדשטיין (2006). למעשה, בעוד שז'יטלובסקי אכן האמין ב"אידיאלים האמריקאים" כ הגדרתו, עמדתו כלפי המבנים האת ניים ־גזעיים האמריקאים שהלכו והשתכללו לנגד עיניו הייתה חריפה הרבה יותר מאשר "עמדה אמביוולנטית". את עמדתו כמעט ניתן לתאר כ"תודעה התנגדותית", עמדה שהצליח לבטא בעיתונות היידיש – באופן שלא התאפשר לבטאה במרח ב השיח האמריקאי שהתנה ל באנגלית. ראוי להשוות את המונחים שבהם ניסח ז'יטלובסקי את עמדתו לקטגוריות ביקורתיות שנוצרו בידי פרשנים לא־לבנים בניתו חיהם את הבניית הלובן האמריקאי . בעבודה זו אני מציעה קריאה של מבחר ִמכּתביו של ז'יטלובסקי שהתפרסמו בעיתונות היידיש האמריקאית והוזנחו עד כה, תוך הצבתם בהקשר של הביוגרפיה שלו וש ל והפעילות הכוללת שלו. על סמך קריאה זו, אני ממפה את הניתוח שלו ואת תוכניתו הפוליטית עבור ההקשר האמריקאי, ובכך חושפת את חשיבותו, שעד כה לא נחקרה בהקשר האקדמי, כתיאורטיקן של האתניות היהודית האמריקאית. כמו כן, אני רואה בפעילותו של ז'יטלובסקי בהקשר האמריקא י דוגמה לפרקסיס פדגוגי של שחרור (כפי שנוסחו על ידי קורנל ווסט (1985), פאולו פריירה (1968) ואנטוניו גרמשי (1935-1929)). לבסוף, אני מחברת בין פעילותו לוויכוחים היסטוריוגרפיים על אופי המערכת האת נית-גזעית האמריקאית והלובן היהודי בהקשר האמריקאי. 3 Table of Contents Prologue: Chaim Zhitlowsky and the Importance of the American Yiddish Press as an Intracommunal Forum 5 Introduction: Chaim Zhitlowsky’s Origins, His Writings on the American Context, Two Dualities, Notes on Terminology and Methodology, and Zhitlowsky as Public Pedagogue 12 Section 1: The Three-Headed Snake and the Assimilator/“Progressive Nationalist” Dyad 31 Section 2: The Melting Pot: A Misrepresentation 41 Section 3: The Dangers of “Cosmopolitanism” 48 Section 4: A False Dichotomy, and “The United Peoples of the United States” 53 Section 5: “Progressive Nationalism,” the Question of Language, and Institutional Yiddishism 62 Section 6: Unmasking the Power Differential and Confronting the Jewish Rejection of Jewish Nationalism 70 Section 7: What About the Next Generation? Alienation, Surreptitious Endosociality, “The Jewish Religion,” and Predicting the “Ethnic Revival” 80 Section 8: Strange Bedfellows: Shortcomings in Zhitlowsky’s Vision of “Progressive Nationalism” 91 Conclusion: Before Jews Became White Folks: Oppositional Consciousness, Agency, and Foreseeing the “Price of Whiteness” 108 Bibliography 119 Acknowledgments 130 4 Prologue Chaim Zhitlowsky and the Importance of the American Yiddish Press as an Intracommunal Forum While comparatively small numbers of Sephardic and Ashkenazi Western and Central European Jews had arrived in earlier waves, the most dramatic wave of Jewish immigration brought more than two million (mostly Ashkenazi) Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe to American shores, between approximately 1880 and the passage of an act that restricted immigration in 1924. The majority of these newer immigrants were Yiddish speakers, and a Yiddish-language American Jewish culture gradually emerged, including publishing houses, theaters, and schools. One of the most active and autonomous of Jewish immigrant institutions was the Yiddish
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