American Judaism: A History |
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You Are Here: Home > History Books > American History > Item 280
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American Judaism: A History
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by Jonathan D. Sarna
Sales Rank: 246884
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List Price: $23.00
$15.64
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on 8-8-2008.
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Features
Cover Type: Paperback with 512 pages
Published by: Yale University Press October 24, 2005
Written in: English
ISBN 10 Number: 0300109768
ISBN 13 Number: 978-0300109764
Book Dimensions:
9 x 6 x 1.5 inches
Weighs: 1.6 pounds
From Publishers Weekly
Such scholars as Howard M. Sachar, Henry L. Feingold and Jacob R. Marcus, among others, have produced complete histories of American Jewry. Sarna, a Brandeis University professor who has published on various aspects of American Jewish history, now joins the ranks of his distinguished predecessors. Marking the 350th anniversary of Jewish settlement in New Amsterdam (now New York), this outstanding survey emphasizes the religious history of Jews in America. Since it is difficult to disentangle religious history from the entire story of how Jews fared generally in the United States, the book provides a sweeping overview of the trials, tribulations and triumphs of American Jews from 1654 to the present. Sarna writes in sprightly prose, usefully presenting anecdotes about some unfamiliar people and events: for example, he introduces Rachel "Ray" Frank, an unusual late-19th-century "charismatic lady Jewish revivalist." Full attention is also paid to the great rabbinical leaders, the movements they led and the problems they encountered. Sarna's fact-filled presentation demonstrates that American Jews have always worried about intermarriage, assimilation and continuity. At various times, they have found answers in regeneration, revitalization and renewal. Concluding with a consideration of contemporary dilemmas, Sarna draws from history the possibility that "American Jews will find creative ways to maintain and revitalize American Judaism."
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
From Booklist
Sarna's detailed history of Jewish life in the U.S. spans 350 years, from its colonial beginnings in 1654 to the present. Sarna points out that already in the late colonial period American Judaism had begun to diverge from religious patterns that existed in Europe and the Caribbean. The American Revolution, the ratification of the Constitution, the passage of the Bill of Rights, and the nationwide democratization of religion further transformed Jewish religious life. Fear for American Judaism's future underlies many aspects of its history, but Sarna believes that the many creative responses to this fear, the innovations and revivals promoted by those determined to ensure that American Jewish life continues and thrives, seem of far greater historical significance. This comprehensive and insightful study of the American Jewish experience is much more than just a record of events. It is an account of how people shaped events: establishing and maintaining communities, responding to challenges, and working for change. It is compelling reading for Jews and non-Jews alike. George Cohen
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
Reader Reviews
This review is from: American Judaism: A History (Hardcover)
If those who try to predict the fate of American Jewry can be divided into pessimists and optimists, count Jonathan Sarna emphatically among the optimists. In this succinctly written and cogently argued history of American Judaism, the Brandeis University historian makes a strong case that Jews on these shores have a promising future as well as a storied past. This book is particularly appealing because Sarna, unlike many academics, has a clear prose style that occasionally even displays a bit of flair. "Since the demand for first-rate rabbis greatly outstripped the supply, the marketplace soon restored substantial power to the rabbinate," he writes, discussing America in the 1840s. Or: "East European Jews looked to Reform Jews: sometimes they quietly emulated them, sometimes they explicitly rejected them, but never could they totally ignore them." Sarna's book is not a full account of all aspects of American Jewish history. That would be well nigh impossible in only 375 pages. Rather, it is a history of the Jewish religion in America-what American Jews have believed about God and about their traditions, which religious rituals they have practiced (or stayed away from), and how they have organized themselves religiously. There has been much discussion in the past decades about the "disappearing American Jew," the decline in religious observance in an ever-modernizing community, and the rapid onset of "assimilation," a term that Sarna generally shuns in this book as "virtually meaningless." Sarna reminds us that the predictors of gloom and doom have been predicting gloom and doom for generations and that the community has somehow survived the predictions. Sarna tells us, for example, that in 1924, it was reported that only 17 percent of Jewish children in New York City were studying in any kind of Jewish school, and that a decade later, a distinguished American journal of social science foresaw "the total eclipse of the Jewish church in America." Sarna is, of course, aware that intermarriage between Jews and non-Jews is at historically high levels and that Jews probably constitute only about 2 percent of the American Jewish population today, down from close to 3.6 percent in the World War II years. But he retains confidence that, as it has done so many times from the 1640s on, American Judaism will reinvent itself. Looking back at centuries of Jewish life in America, Sarna shows how Judaism has grown, changed, and become revitalized here. Mordecai Kaplan's Reconstructionist theories about Jewish peoplehood, the growth of Zionism as an American Jewish "religion," the upsurge of Jewish spirituality among students and intellectuals that began in the 1970s, the contemporary rise of a newly confident Orthodoxy--he sees all of these developments as helping to meet the challenges to Jewish continuity posed by America's open, pluralistic, and democratic society. Very much to his credit, Sarna tells the story of Judaism in America against the backdrop of American religion in general. Sarna has at his fingertips not only the vast literature about Judaism in America but also the vast literature about Christianity in America. He is able to explain periods of awakening in Jewish life, or periods of decline in religious faith, as reflecting what is going on the nation as a whole. The perspective is important: Jews sometimes forget that non-Jewish religious movements also face assimilation, and non-Jewish ethnic groups also encounter high rates of intermarriage. In addition to Sarna's sprightly style and his ability to cover pretty much every important development in a book of reasonable size, American Judaism is notable for its conclusion: "With the help of visionary leaders, committed followers, and generous philanthropists, it may still be possible for the current `vanishing' generation of American Jews to be succeeded by another `vanishing' generation, and then still another." Well, that's guarded optimism, but optimism it is.
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American Judaism: A History
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