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American Jewish History
Strangers in Creative Tension
Dr. Dennis B. Klein
Hist 3863/ Fall 2005
Class meetings MW 2:00-3:20 in Hennings 234
To reach Dr. Klein—
Use only the phone if you expect to miss a class or require immediate assistance. Call 908-737-4256 (On campus: 7-4256).
Make an appointment to discuss your progress in this course or to seek more substantial assistance. Office hours MW 3:30-6 pm & by appointment in Willis 205G.
Use Email only to submit extra credit paper proposals. I will not accept written assignments by email. Email address: . (Note: Email messages offering reasons for missing class or seeking substantial assistance provide inadequate information and will, accordingly, go unread. Please use the phone for these purposes.)
For your final course grade consult Kean Wise.
Course themes Historically Jews have shown a striking resilience at surviving ambient contempt in the countries they lived in, but not until their arrival in the United States have they confronted the mixed blessings of a society dedicated to promoting their civic and material success. Why and how did American Jews remain "Jewish" in America's open and relentlessly secularizing society? For American Jews who "made it," what, if anything, remained Jewish in their lives and how did that distinctive American-Jewish residue revise and transform both traditional Jewish existence and America's progressive self-understanding? How, in short, did a fundamentally Christian America and successive waves of Jewish immigrants endeavor to live together?
This is a course based essentially on informed discussion. I will occasionally offer lectures to establish historical context, but the material of this course appears to raise more questions than provide complacent answers. Consequently, we will examine source documents in order to evaluate the conflict and concert of American and Jewish cultures.
Course philosophy, requirements, and grade distribution:
As with any course I teach, I believe the fundamental value of this course, in addition to its content, is its emphasis on close reading of primary texts and a thoughtful and documented criticism of them both in class and in writing. To achieve these objectives, I require my students to engage in a three-part intellectual progression: (1) carefully read and take notes on all assignments, highlighting for each reading its major themes, key passages, new words, and your own questions; (2) participate in class discussions, referring to readings and your notes (in any particular class, you should never feel satisfied until you understand the material and its significance); (3) in preparation for take-home exams, review your notes to strengthen comprehension and to discern broad historical themes for each part of the course.
Written requirementsGrade distribution
1st Take-Home Essay20% *
2nd Take-Home Essay (Part II)20% *
3rd Take-Home Essay (Part III)20% *
Three two-page response papers30%
Oral reports on assigned reading and other targeted assignments10%
* Essay exam grades will take class attendance and participation into consideration. See below.
A note on oral reports Oral reports are scheduled reports in class. Everyone is responsible for reading each assignment in advance and should be prepared to evaluate its argument critically, but each one of you will have the chance to open discussion on a particular article. In these oral reports, you must seek to define the reading’s main arguments, select “quotable” passages and explain why they’re important, consider unfamiliar terms, and question aspects of the author’s argument. For complete credit, you must submit hard copy of a completed “In-Class Oral Report” on the day of your report. Forms are located in your Source Reader.
Submitting response papers It is important that you immediately reserve three evenings for lectures by visiting scholars on topics related to the themes of this course. Your attendance is mandatory and will be monitored. Each response paper must document the relationships between lecture themes and course themes. Due dates are one week after the lecture. The three lectures and their dates and locations are:
- “Nostra Aetate at 40,” an examination of the October 28, 1965 landmark Vatican ecumenical declaration that eased relationships between Catholics and Jews. Academy Award-nominated film, Sister Rose’s Passion; a conversation with its director, Oren Jacoby; and a panel discussion by Rabbi Irving Greenberg and Father John Pawlikowski. Relates broadly to the course theme, being Jewish in America, and specifically to the question of religious freedom. Monday, October 31st at 8:00 pm in the Kean Hall Conference Center.
- “How Free Is Free Speech?,” an exploration into the perils and prospects of free speech in the press, the academy, and overseas in the United Kingdom, where faculty from Israeli universities were recently a casualty of academic boycott. Lecture by Pulitzer Prize winner Anthony Lewis. Relates broadly to the course theme, the “open society,” and specifically to the open society’s xenophobic and anti-Jewish undercurrents. Wednesday, November 2nd at 8:00 in University Center.
- “How the Irish and the Jews Came Together, and How They Didn’t,” a comparison of the two immigrant groups – the Irish and the Jews – who have played a defining role in urban American history. Lecture by New York Times New Jersey page editor, and Kean University historian in residence, Terry Golway. Relates broadly to the course theme, Jews’ relationships with other groups, and specifically to America’s “culture wars.” Wednesday, November 16th at 8:00 pm in University Center.
A word on writing successful take-home essays For full credit on your written work, you must observe style guidelines located in your Source Reader called “Writing Effective Essays” (WEE). This is especially important for constructing successful take-home exams and (this is important too) for citing your sources.
Course policies and procedures
Class participation Expressing yourself before your peers is as important a skill to master as reading or writing. I will significantly reward your participation in class. I will do so by periodically considering your active involvement based on completed reading assignments, and by raising or lowering each of your take-home exam grades accordingly. A “B” onthe first essay exam, for example, would be entered as a B+ or an A- if your class participation for that part of the course was regular and informed. Conversely, a “B” on a take-home exam would be entered as a B- or a C+ if you rarely participated or didn’t participate at all in class for that section of the course. Many students, whose written work could have been stronger, have earned high grades (and have gotten the most from my courses) because they routinely come prepared for active participation.
Missing or arriving late to class Attendance is fundamental and is something I take very seriously. You need not inform me about occasions when you need to miss class. If you miss or arrive late to more than one class during any part of the course, I will lower your take-home exam grade for that part by one increment for two or three missed classes or late arrivals, by two increments for four or five missed classes or late arrivals, etc. As an example, if you miss two classes in the first part of the course, a B on the 1st take-home exam would become a B-. I will monitor class attendance at the beginning of each class. Students who otherwise have gotten good, hard-earned grades, have received low grades in my courses due to excessive absences or late arrivals. Please note: If you miss class, it is strictly your responsibility to ascertain subsequent class meetings and assignments (you can call me or consult another student).
In general, please observe customary classroom protocol by arriving to class and submitting original papers on time (late papers will incur penalties), remaining in class throughout the period, and by taking notes on reading assignments and bringing them and relevant source materialto each class.
The following are dates when class will not meet and when there will be no office hours due to religious or state holidays, or to academic conferences: Wed., Oct. 5; Mon., Oct. 10; Wed., Oct. 19; Wed., Oct. 26; Mon., Nov. 7; Wed. Nov. 23 (at instructor’s discretion), and other possible dates as needed. Unscheduled class cancellations will be announced in class.
I enjoy exploring and discussing the intriguing issues that invigorate the history of American Jews and look forward to exploring them with you in and outside class. Feel free to contact me anytime. I can promise that this course will reward your involvement. --DBK.
Required reading available for purchase in the University Center Bookstore:
Dennis B. Klein, ed. American Jewish History: Strangers in Creative Tension—A Source Reader (SR)
Dennis B. Klein, ed. American Jewish History: A Course Pack (CP)
Philip Roth. Goodbye, Columbus and Five Short Stories
Philip Roth, The Plot Against America
Jonathan D. Sarna, ed. The American Jewish Experience(AJE)
Syllabus
This syllabus amounts to a course outline and is essential for helping you organize key themes and supporting sources. Please bring it to each class and consult it regularly. Changes to the syllabus will be announced in class. Students who miss class are responsible for ascertaining subsequent class meetings and assignments.
SR=Source Reader. A documentary source showing a superscript 1 (1) following the title provides essential background information in its first editorial footnote. Read this footnote first.
CP=Course Pack. Additional articles that required special permission to reprint and distribute.
AJE=The American Jewish Experience. Be sure to read the brief editor's introduction preceding each assigned article in this collection
A date shown below after an assigned reading, usually assembled in the Source Reader or the Course Pack, but also including Philip Roth’s historical fiction,is the date of this primary, period source’s first edition. All other reading assignments (assembled for the most part in AJE) are "secondary," interpretive sources written by (somewhat) detached, professional historians during the past 20 years or so who have no immediate stake in the outcome of developments under scrutiny.
The bibliography at the end of this syllabus includes the corpus of sources used to construct this course. For standard citation protocol, consult “Writing Effective Essays” in the Source Reader.
Introduction: Dangerous seductions: The thrill of "passing" in society
Making history: American and Jewish
1. S. M. Lipset, "A Unique People in an Exceptional Country" (CP)
2. Jonathan D. Sarna, "Introduction," (AJE, xiii-xix)
Part I America’s famous “open society” (colonial & revolutionary America, 1654-1820)
1, Jacob R. Marcus, "The American Colonial Jew…” AJE, 6-17.
2. Peter Stuyvesant, "Petition to Expel the Jews…”(1654) (CP)
3. Dutch West India Co., "Reply to Stuyvesant's Petition" (1655) (CP)
4, ______."Rights of the Jews of New Amsterdam" (1656) (CP)
5. Jonathan D. Sarna, "The Impact of the American Revolution…” AJE, 20-28
More American than Jewish? (American Jews from central Europe, 1820-1880)
1. Stefan Rohrbacher, "From Württemberg to America…,”AJE, 44-58
2. L. Kompert, "Off to America" (1848) (CP)
3. Conference of Reform Rabbis. "The Pittsburgh Platform" (1885) (CP)
The question of religious freedom
1.Naomi W. Cohen, "The Christian Agenda," AJE, 84-97
2. “The 1st Amendment: Separation of Church and State…” (CP)
Residual Jewish Attachments: Jewish Women
1. Paula E. Hyman, "The Paradoxes of Assimilation" (CP)
2. Judy Rosenthal, “Jewish and Female: Shattering the Glass Ceiling in Seattle, Circa 1900” (Guest lecture, time permitting)
Distribution of 1st Take Home Exam
Part II More Jewish than American? Too Jewish? (The East European “mass migration,” 1880-1945)
1. D. Dwork, "Immigrant Jews on the Lower East Side:1880-1914," AJE, 120-135
2. Bintel Brief: Letters to the Editor (1906) (SR)
American in public – privately Jewish: religion, work, and leisure
1. A.Heinze, "Adapting to Abundance…,” AJE, 166-182
2. L.Dawidowicz, "The Jewishness of the Jewish Labor Movement,” AJE, 185-93
3. Lary May and Elaine May, “Why Jewish Movie Moguls?” (Handout, time permitting)
Trouble in Eden: Nativism and Xenophobia (part I)
1. [T. Timayenis], The American Jew: An Exposé of His Career (1888) (CP)
2. Leo P. Ribuffo, "Henry Ford and The International Jew," AJE, 201-216
3. “Protocols of the [Learned] Elders of Zion” (c. 1902) (SR)
4. Henry Ford, "The International Jew: The World's Problem" (1920) (CP)
Trouble in Eden: Nativism and Xenophobia (part II)
1. C. Lindbergh, “Who Are the War Agitators?” (1941) (CP)
2. Philip Roth, The Plot Against America (2004) – in three parts:
Chs. 1-3
Chs. 4-6
Chs. 7-9
Distribution of Take Home Exam on Part II
Part III When being Jewish wasn’t fashionable (Suburban Jews, 1945-present)
- Arthur A. Goren, "A 'Golden Decade' for American Jews: 1945-1955," AJE, 294-311
2. Dorothy Thompson, "America Demands Single Loyalty" (1950) (CP)
3. Oscar Handlin, "America Recognizes Diverse Loyalties" (1950) (CP)
American Jews and the “Jewish State”
1. Melvin I. Urofsky, "Zionism: An American Experience," AJE, 245-255
2. Louis D. Brandeis, “Zionism Is Consistent with American Patriotism” (1915) (SR)
The culture wars
1. Jack Wertheimer, "The Turbulent Sixties," AJE, 330-47.
2. Jonathan Kaufman, "Blacks and Jews: The Struggle in the Cities" (CP)
America: The end of Jewish history?
1. Daniel Bell, "Reflections on Jewish Identity" (1961) (CP)
2. Philip Roth, "Goodbye, Columbus," in Goodbye, Columbus – in two parts:
Parts 1-4 (pgs. 3-61)
Parts 5-8 (pgs. 61-136)
- Arthur Hertzberg, "United States Jewry--A Look Forward" AJE, 350-55
Distribution of Take Home Exam on Part III. . Submit this exam, and all other course papers, now and in hard copy only. No extensions possible.
Bibliography
(Mostly references to assigned reading)
America and the Holocaust: Deceit and Indifference (from the PBS American Experience video series)
[American Reform Movement]. "The Columbus Platform" (1937) in The Jew in the Modern World: A Documentary History, ed. Paul Mendes-Flohr and Jehuda Reinharz. New York: Oxford University Press, 1995, 517-18.
Bell, Daniel. "Reflections on Jewish Identity" in Commentary, June, 1961, 471-78.
Brandeis, Louis D. “Zionism Is Consistent with American Patriotism” (1915) in The Jew in the Modern World: A Documentary History, ed. Paul Mendes-Flohr and Jehuda Reinharz. New York: Oxford University Press, 1995, 496-97.
Central Conference of American Rabbis. "Reform Judaism: A Centenary Perspective Adopted at San Franscico, 1976."
______. "A Statement of Principles for Reform Judaism Adopted at the 1999 Pittsburgh Convention." Internet:
Cohen, Naomi W. "The Christian Agenda" in in The American Jewish Experience, ed. Jonathan D. Sarna. New York: Holmes & Meier, 1997, 84-97.
Conference of Reform Rabbis. "The Pittsburgh Platform" (1885) in The Jew in the Modern World: A Documentary History, ed. Paul Mendes-Flohr and Jehuda Reinharz. New York: Oxford University Press, 1995, 468-69.
Constitution of the United States of America. "Preamble" and "Article VI" (1789) in The Jew in the Modern World: A Documentary History, ed. Paul Mendes-Flohr and Jehuda Reinharz. New York: Oxford University Press, 1995, 456-57.
Dawidowicz, Lucy S. "The Jewishness of the Jewish Labor Movement in the United States" in The American Jewish Experience, ed. Jonathan D. Sarna. New York: Holmes & Meier, 1997, 185-93.
Diner, Hasia R. "Inside/Outside" in A Time for Gathering: The Second Migration, 1820-1880. Baltimore and London: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 201-230.
Dutch West India Company, "Reply to Stuyvesant's Petition" (1655) in The Jew in the Modern World: A Documentary History, ed. Paul Mendes-Flohr and Jehuda Reinharz. New York: Oxford University Press, 1995, 453.
______."Rights of the Jews of New Amsterdam" (1656), 453-54.
Dwork, Deborah. "Immigrant Jews on the Lower East Side of New York: 1880-1914" in The American Jewish Experience, ed. Jonathan D. Sarna. New York: Holmes & Meier, 1997, 120-35.
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Feingold, Henry L. "Who Shall Bear Guilt for the Holocaust: The Human Dilemma" in The American Jewish Experience, ed. Jonathan D. Sarna. New York: Holmes & Meier, 1997, 274-92.
Evans, Eli N. The Provincials: A Personal History of Jews in the South. New York: Atheneum, 1973, vii-xi, 39-49, 72-87.
“The First Amendment: Separation of Church and State and Religious Freedom.” In American Jewish History: A Course Pack, ed. Dennis B. Klein. Ann Arbor, MI: XanEdu, 2005, 26-28.
Ford, Henry. "The International Jew: The World's Problem" (1920) in The Jew in the Modern World: A Documentary History, ed. Paul Mendes-Flohr and Jehuda Reinharz. New York: Oxford University Press, 1995, 512-14.
Freedman, Samuel G. "The Jewish Tipping Point." The New York Times Magazine, August 13, 2000, 44-47. Adapted from Jew Vs. Jew: The Struggle for the Soul of American Jewry, by Samuel G. Freedman. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2000.
Gartner, Lloyd P. "The Midpassage of American Jewry" in The American Jewish Experience, ed. Jonathan D. Sarna. New York: Holmes & Meier, 1997, 258-97.
Goren, Arthur A. "A 'Golden Decade' for American Jews: 1945-1955" in The American Jewish Experience, ed. Jonathan D. Sarna. New York: Holmes & Meier, 1997, 294-311.
Handlin, Oscar. "America Recognizes Diverse Loyalties" (1950) in Commentary, March, 1950, 220-26.
Hebrew Congregation of Newport, Rhode Island. "Message of Welcome to George Washington" (1790) in The Jew in the Modern World: A Documentary History, ed. Paul Mendes-Flohr and Jehuda Reinharz. New York: Oxford University Press, 1995, 457-58.
Heinze, Andrew R. "Adapting to Abundance: Luxuries, Holidays, and Jewish Identity" in The American Jewish Experience, ed. Jonathan D. Sarna. New York: Holmes & Meier, 1997, 166-82.
Hertzberg, Arthur. "United States Jewry--A Look Forward" in The American Jewish Experience, ed. Jonathan D. Sarna. New York: Holmes & Meier, 1997, 350-55.
______. "Why Did the East European Jews Come to America?" in Jewish Polemics. New York: Columbia University Press, 1992, 114-119.
Hyman, Paula. "Paradoxes of Assimilation" in Gender and Assimilation: Roles and Representation in Modern Jewish History. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1995, 10-49.
Kaufman, Jonathan. "Blacks and Jews: The Struggle in the Cities" in Struggles in the Promised Land: Toward a History of Black-Jewish Relations in the United States, ed. Jack Salzman and Cornel West. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997, 107-21.
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Kohler, Kaufmann. "The Concordance of Judaism and Americanism" (1911) in The Jew in the Modern World: A Documentary History, ed. Paul Mendes-Flohr and Jehuda Reinharz. New York: Oxford University Press, 1995, 471-72.