"The Exodus Is Not Yet Accomplished...": Reform Jewish
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Florida State University Libraries Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations The Graduate School 2007 "The Exodus Is Not yet Accomplished…": Reform Jewish Arguments for the Civil- Rights Movement in the Race Relations Sabbath Messages, 1954-1970 Jessica Leigh Carr Follow this and additional works at the FSU Digital Library. For more information, please contact [email protected] THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES “THE EXODUS IS NOT YET ACCOMPLISHED…”: REFORM JEWISH ARGUMENTS FOR THE CIVIL-RIGHTS MOVEMENT IN THE RACE RELATIONS SABBATH MESSAGES, 1954-1970 By JESSICA LEIGH CARR A Thesis submitted to the Department of Religion in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Degree Awarded: Spring Semester 2007 The members of the Committee approve the thesis of Jessica Leigh Carr defended on March 27, 2007. ____________________________________ John Corrigan Professor Co-Directing Thesis ____________________________________ Martin Kavka Professor Co-Directing Thesis ____________________________________ David Levenson Committee Member Approved: ________________________________________ John Corrigan, Chair, Department of Religion The Office of Graduate Studies has verified and approved the above named committee members. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract .................................................................................................................................. iv INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................................1 1. DYNAMICS IN THE HISTORIOGRAPHY OF REFORM JUDAISM ................................8 2. AMERICANIZATION, CIVIL RELIGION AND UNIVERSALISM .................................27 3. SUBURBANIZATION, SECURITY AND PARTICULARISM ..........................................44 CONCLUSIONS ......................................................................................................................62 REFERENCES .........................................................................................................................70 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH ........................................................................................................ iii ABSTRACT This thesis is a discourse analysis of the Race Relations Sabbath Messages, issued annually by the Central Conference of American Rabbis, from 1954-1970. Chapter 1, through a historiography of American Reform Judaism and related works on American Jewish history, argues for the need to study denominations of Judaism in terms of theology and social factors, primarily culture and race. With an understanding of American Jewish identity as one of being in tension with the mainstream society, seeking security in America though not complete assimilation, the function of Reform Jewish theology and interface of theology and social constraints become clear. Using this definition of American Jewish identity, Chapters 2 and 3 then serve as an example of how to treat religious rhetoric in its social context. Chapter 2 characterizes the period from 1954 to 1959 as one of universalism and civil religion due to the discrimination and segregation associated with urbanization. Reform Jews used an inclusive theology to argue for African-American civil rights. Based on the dignity of all individuals, Reform Jews sought to use universalist theology to point to the insignificance of group identity and therefore the need to create legislation that protected whites and blacks equally in order for Americans to establish a just society. Then Chapter 3 argues that, after Jewish integration into suburban neighborhoods and mainstream society, Reform Jews turned to particularism for their self-understanding. The universalism of the 1950’s had allowed them to establish that group identity could not be used for the purpose of discrimination, but the need for Reform Jews to distinguish themselves from their Christian neighbors led them to develop a particularism in which group identity could be used in such a way that the distinct histories of each group offered a unique contribution to American society. African Americans and Jews, as well as other minorities, deserved to be integrated into American society because they each had something to offer. In particular, Reform Jews offered a special contribution to America because of their insight into suffering and achieving freedom. Because of their Jewish history, Reform Jews could instruct Americans how to establish the most enlightened society. A theocentric, liturgical theology fostered Reform Jews’ civil-rights arguments in the 1960’s because it gave them special access to the lessons available in Jewish history. This periodization shows that the particularism typically associated with the late 1960’s after the Six-Day War can be located as a gradual development beginning in 1960. American iv social factors, as well as Jewish concerns, thus influenced Reform Jewish identity, theology and rhetoric. Furthermore, particularism should not be classified as a rejection of effort to integrate African Americans into American society; Reform Jewish particularism was developed in such a way specifically tailored to continue to argue for African-American civil-rights in response to the shifting American culture. v INTRODUCTION In the 1950’s, the Central Conference of American Rabbis, the clerical body affiliated with the Union of American Hebrew Congregations (now the Union for Reform Judaism), distributed what it termed “Race Relations Sabbath Messages” calling for brotherhood and equality. They espoused universalist values, available not just to Reform Jews but all Americans, encompassing both religious sources and the founding documents and institutions of America, citing the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the president, national legislature, and the Supreme Court as parallel embodiments of the values represented by Biblical Scripture. These Race Relations Sabbath Messages were issued annually by the Committee on Justice and Peace of the Central Conference of American Rabbis until 1970. The event was held on the weekend closest to Presidents’ Day, and the messages were intended to aid congregations in calling attention to the continuing injustices in American race relations. The Race Relations Sabbath Messages are now available in the American Jewish Archives at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion campus in Cincinnati, Ohio, with the exception of the 1968 message which cannot be located. An analysis of this confined body of documents will provide useful insight into the function of Reform Jewish religious rhetoric to describe public American space and issues, highlighting the gradual changes in Reform Jews’ self-understanding in a pluralist national context. Religious rhetoric was incorporated into the discussion of social objectives – such as integration in housing, jobs and education – to provide motivation and justification for political action. For example, the 1958 message explained why religion was important for the improvement of society. “We cannot offer social security, unemployment insurance, better housing and old-age pensions, and still expect a man, or his family, to reconcile himself to second class citizenship. It is an age of phenomenal advantage, but man is spiritually discontented when he must live by bread alone.” In the committee’s view, no member of society could accept the benefits of inclusion in the American mainstream without wanting those same advantages for all Americans. Religious values would keep political discourse in check by ensuring that Americans sought the most inclusive form of society. In other words, religion would reinforce the universal vision of human rights and citizenship expressed in the Constitution and Bill of Rights, providing a means to bring all Americans together and erase the division among groups that led to discrimination. 1 However, in the 1960’s, such universalist rhetoric ceased to be a useful means for Reform Jews to argue for social action and the civil-rights movement. “The Exodus is not yet accomplished…” according to the 1964 message, because all the advantages and opportunities of American society had not been extended to African Americans. Reform Jews conceived of their freedom as linked to all other humans’ freedom, and so the continued discrimination negated the optimism of 1950’s universalism and led Jews to turn to other forms of identity for direction in the civil-rights movement. The Race Relations Sabbath Message for 1969 argued for equality and African-American civil rights through explicitly particularist language, available only to Jews and not other American religious groups, referencing Theodore Herzl, who championed ethnic Jewish identity; Maimonides, the renowned Jewish philosopher; the Holocaust; and the State of Israel. The 1970 message articulated the power of Jews as a group to teach Americans how to establish racial harmony and true democratic principles. How did Reform Jews come to view those specifically Jewish entities as legitimate sources of their own religious and civic identity in America, and why did they believe that they had unique insight into how American society should look? During the 1950’s, this Jewish particularism was not present in American Reform Jews’ petitions for African-American equality. The rhetoric drew from American court cases, presidential actions, and Biblical scripture only when it contributed to a universal connection among Protestants, Catholics and Jews.