October 13, 2017
NEGOTIATING JEWISH IDENTITY IN CONTEMPORARY AMERICA
Fall 2017 2 Units Wednesdays, 5:00 – 7:00 pm WCC Room 5044
Professor: Robert Mnookin Office Location: Hauser 416 Office hours: Wednesdays, 2:00 – 4:00 pm
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
Today in America what does it mean to be Jewish? Does it require a religious or spiritual commitment? Or some notion of cultural solidarity? In contemporary America is one’s religious or ethnic identity simply a matter of individual choice? Today Jews are broadly accepted to an unprecedented degree in all facets of American life. Intermarriage is commonplace. All of this contrasts with the situation even in the recent past.
Through a set of readings we will explore: (1) Within America, how has the treatment and circumstances of Jews changed over time? (2) In what ways, because of the First Amendment, has the experience of Jews in America always been different than in Europe and other parts of the world? (3) What are the varieties of ways Jewish identity is constructed in contemporary America? (4) What are the choices faced by young people today in terms of religious identity?
GRADING AND ASSIGNMENTS
In addition to attendance, class participation is a requirement and during the course of the semester each student will be given special responsibility for helping lead the discussion on one topic. The course will require three brief response papers (about two pages each), on the assigned readings and a 10‐15 page term paper on a topic approved by the instructor. Class participation, the response papers, and will each count for 1/4 of the final grade, and the seminar paper for ½.
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REQUIRED BOOKS (AVAILABLE AT THE COOP)
Sarna, Jonathan D. American Judaism: A History.
Seltzer, Robert, and Norman S. Cohen. The Americanization of the Jews. New York: New York University Press, 1995.
In addition, there is a variety of articles and materials that are required readings available as pdf documents on the course website or as handouts. You are responsible for downloading the necessary articles and readings, and printing them if you wish.
REFERENCES/SOURCES ON JEWISH AMERICANS (NOT REQUIRED):
Sarna, Jonathan D. The American Jewish Experience.
Lipset, Seymour Martin. American Pluralism and the Jewish Community
Cohen, Steven M.
- American Modernity and Jewish Identity
- American Assimilation or Jewish Revival?
Scheindlin, Raymond. A Short History of the Jewish People: From Legendary Times to Modern Statehood
Fishman, Sylvia Barack. Jewish Life and American Culture.”
Dershowitz, Alan. The Vanishing American Jew: In Search of Jewish Identity for the Next Century.
Glazer, Nathan. American Judaism.
Marcus, Jacob Rader. The Jew in the American World: A Source Book.
REFERENCES/DATABASES ON JUDAISM IN AMERICA:
- PBS: The Jewish Americans: http://www.pbs.org/jewishamericans/index.html - Jewish Virtual Library: https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/whojew1.html - The American Jewish Archives: http://americanjewisharchives.org - The American Jewish Historical Society: http://www.ajhs.org - The American Social History Project: http://ashp.cuny.edu - The Center for Jewish History: http://www.cjh.org - Facing History and Ourselves: https://www.facinghistory.org - The Goldring/Woldenberg Institute of Southern Jewish Life: http://www.isjl.org - The Lower East Side Tenement Museum: http://www.tenement.org - The Maurice and Marilyn Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies at Brandeis: http://www.brandeis.edu/cmjs/
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- The Museum of Jewish Heritage: A Living Memorial to the Holocaust: http://www.mjhnyc.org/findex.html#.U7jZvcZ4Vg0 - JewishGen: The Home of Jewish Genealogy: http://www.jewishgen.org - The National Center for Jewish Film: http://www.jewishfilm.org - The National Museum of American Jewish History: http://www.nmajh.org - Southern Jewish Historical Society: http://www.jewishsouth.org - The Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington: http://www.jhsgw.org - The Southern Oral History Project: http://dc.lib.unc.edu/cdm/ethnicity/collection/sohp/ - Brandeis Series in American Jewish History: http://www.upne.com/series/BSAJ.html - Jews in America: Portal to American Jewish History: http://www.jewsinamerica.org/?q=content/about - Harvard University: The Pluralism Project (section on Judaism): http://www.pluralism.org/religion/judaism
STATISTICS/ANALYSIS ON AMERICA’S JEWISH POPULATION TODAY
- American Jewish Yearbook: http://www.ajc.org - National Jewish Databank: http://www.jewishdatabank.org - National Jewish Population Survey: http://www.jewishfederations.org - Pew Research Center A Portrait of American Jews (2013) http://www.pewforum.org/files/2013/10/jewish‐american‐survey‐full‐report.pdf
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PRELIMINARY WEEKLY SCHEDULE: SUBJECT TO MODIFICATION
Class 1 SEPTEMBER 6 – INTRODUCTION
Class 2 SEPTEMBER 13 – WHO COUNTS AS JEWISH? PART 1
SEPTEMBER 20 – NO CLASS
Class 3 SEPTEMBER 27 – IS THERE A JEWISH RACE? ARE JEWS A PEOPLE?
Class 4 OCTOBER 4 – ISRAEL STRUGGLES WITH WHO IS A JEW
Class 5 OCTOBER 11 – THE CHALLENGE OF ANTI-SEMITISM
Class 6 OCTOBER 18 – HISTORY OF JEWS IN AMERICA: COLONIAL BEGINNINGS - 1890
Class 7 OCTOBER 20 – (MAKE-UP CLASS) ROOM WCC 5044 3:00 – 5:00 HISTORY OF JEWS IN AMERICA: 1890 - PRESENT
Class 8 OCTOBER 25 – JEWS IN AMERICA TODAY – PEW REPORT
Class 9 NOVEMBER 1 – THE CHALLENGE OF INTERMARRIAGE
Class 10 NOVEMBER 8 – CONFLICTS AMONG AMERICAN JEWS OVER ISRAEL
Class 11 NOVEMBER 15 – GENDER AND AMERICAN JUDAISM
Class 12 NOVEMBER 29 – LOOKING AHEAD
PARTYAND DINNER -- CHEZ MNOOKIN
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