Jonathan Sarna’s book American Judaism: A History is a well-written account of the history of American Judaism. In his book, he closely navigates this history by examining its path from the colonial period to shortly after the Civil War. In doing so, the author unpacks American Jewish history with a plethora of sources that helps to contextualize the importance of American Judaism in U.S. history.
When examining Sarna’s book, it is important to dig a little deeper by providing a more substantiated analysis. This is where things such as themes, sources, and argument come to mind. In addition, it is also important to provide some sort of opinion and takeaway while discussing this book.
In exploring his text, the argument is made clear. Accordingly,
…show more content…
“American Judaism thus developed along staunchly congregationalist lines, characterized by increasing multiformity, with each synagogue functioning as an autonomous entity.” In understanding American Judaism, this quote demonstrated how different and diverse these congregations were during this time-period in presenting themselves as the ruling force from community to community.
During the Revolutionary War period, a reform movement began in American Judaism through New York and spread like a wave. “The shared language demonstrates that we are dealing in this period with a nationwide movement to transform and revitalize American Judaism. What began in larger communities subsequently influenced developments in smaller ones.” This movement helps begins to make better sense of the divide within American Judaism.
The chapter Sarna writes on the Civil War has a lot of information worth exploring and unpacking. During this time-period, the reform movement escalated. This in turn led to a further divide within Judaism and, in some cases, became a source of friction. The introduction of music, especially an organ, was one of the sources of this divide. This divide affected congregations and families, ultimately resulting in pitting Jew against Jew. These sources of friction allows me the opportunity to think more attentively to the differences in the different types of Judaism
…show more content…
It proved hard to pick out specific points to agree or disagree on because I found myself agreeing with practically everything she said. Instead, I will discuss the points that I found most interesting. The ability for Sarna to create “an elegant narrative accessible to a general audience but also thoroughly documented and informed by comprehensive referencing of relevant scholarship.” In reading American Judaism, one could fully comprehend Sarna’s ability to weave his sources seamlessly into such an “elegant” narrative.
The second thing she makes a point of making is Sarna’s influence in how he went about his work. “Perhaps influenced by his teacher Sydney Ahlstrom, Sarna’s book valorizes the accomplishments and creativity of individuals and communities, whose ingenuity time and again enlivened their faith in new contexts and conditions.” In thinking back on Sarna’s book, one could easily relate to such “accomplishments and creativity” as he details the efforts and changes that effected the Jewish community
Having the privilege to serve in the military has allowed this writer the opportunity to be exposed to the pluralistic society in a way which has exposed him to the beauty of the diversity enjoyed in American culture. One aspect of said diversity is the interaction which has taken place amongst the Christian and various world religions who also wear the same uniform in defense of America. It was the pleasure of the writer to attend a local synagogue in which his Jewish brothers and sisters welcomed him with open arms. The local congregation of Jewish believers went out of their way in order to ensure their newest visitor understood the flow of service and the significance of the ritual which took place on the first Shabbat or Sabbath of the month. The following essay will serve to detail the worship experience as well as how it and other beliefs of Judaism compare/contrast with the Christian faith.
“When I was a little girl my family moved to Tallahassee, Florida. We were the only Jewish family in the neighborhood. So as most kids do when they move to a new neighborhood, they tend to try and make new friends. I remember going over to one of my new friend’s house and her mother felt my scalp for horns” Julianne Jacques MCC-Penn Valley Counselor. Jewish Americans learn from a young age about the importance of knowing their history. Knowing the history is for the sake of the future of their past. Jewish Americans represent a group of people rather than a race or ethnicity, with strong family values and beliefs. They are simply claiming five thousand years of their history.
Rebecca Samuel’s letters provide interesting insight into what is was like to be a Jewish American woman in the emerging United States. Her letters provide some evidence to struggles many Jews faced trying to observe their religion, as well as the tension of merging American practices with Jewish identity.
Regardless of the growing frequency of Jewish migrating to the United States, the community continues to confront the many issues as part of their assimilation. Through this process of assimilating,
Sitting in a comfortable leather chair on a cloudy January day, I sat in a house and interviewed Susan Gustavson, a life long Jew that is in her mid-fifties. She is a graduate of UC Berkeley and Columbia University, where she got an MBA in marketing. She told me about her opinions on the Judaism.
Judaism has great significance in our religions and history today. It’s interesting how each little thing can have such an important role in a whole religion. In conclusion, Jewish beliefs, customs, holidays, symbols, history, and the holocaust all play a crucial role in making Jews who they are
Since the beginning of the Judaism, the Jewish people have been subject to hardships and discrimination. They have not been allowed to have a stabile place of worship and have also faced persecution and atrocities that most of us can not even imagine. Three events that have had a big impact on the Jewish faith were the building and destruction of the First Great Temple, the Second Great Temple and the events of the Holocaust. In this paper, I will discuss these three events and also explain and give examples as to why I feel that the Jewish people have always been discriminated against and not allowed the freedom of worship.
Throughout the 1800’s to the mid-1900’s one problem restricted and threatened the Jewish race. Through trials, battles, immigration, and more the jews couldn’t catch a break. They were a despised people suffering due to an inability of the Jewish people to fully assimilate into other societies. This issue highlighted the political and cultural atmosphere and events throughout the time periods we studied. From beneath all the destruction and chaos occurring during this time period lies an important message.
Have you ever noticed that when people talk of Jews, at least in a protestant church, that the Israelite legalism, rituals, dress and hair standards are the first things to mind? The topic of Judaism may come with stereotypical opinions and “Christian Judgement” that are without merit or understanding. Judaism, by a Christian worldview, had to change after Pentecost, since the animal sacrifice to atone for sin Christ completed on the Cross. However, Judaism does not accept this truth of Christ and His work on the cross, but Judaism remains in the world. So, what was this change in Judaism and when did it take place? There have been numerous fluctuations within Judaism, only the theme constructed in this essay has its foundations around the most important facet of Judaism- the Temple. With the Temple in the forefront of this essay, we will discuss the modifications that Judaism went through, at what time, different perspectives that the destruction of the Temple had, and how the Christian sect views these vagaries. The Temple destruction of A.D. 70 converted the Jewish faith in its singular fashion, while, at the same point, the Jewish faith never had a total change by always changing throughout time.
What does Cahill want you to think when reading this book? Perhaps he wants you to empathize with the Jews and see how their life style set the pathway for the next religions to come. After reading this monograph it is quick to assume that Cahill is pushing his own views on to the reader. The books intentions are up to the readers interpretations. This paper will further analyze Cahills connotations and how readers could analyze this book with their own expectations.
The American Civil War was, with the exception of the presence of Loyalists during the American Revolution, the only time in American history that neighbor turned against neighbor in both widespread physical violence and enmity of the heart. This was true of the entire nation, but even more so of American Jewry. American Jewry was a very small percentage of the American population at the start of the war in 1861. During the conflict it was forced to confront its own differences during the Civil War; the politics, policies and emotions of the war acting as a great revealer which exposed the fractured unity of the tiny ethno-religious group in America. While the war exposed this fracturing, it simultaneously exposed the commonalities that American
Levine’s book titled The Misunderstood Jew: The Church and the Scandal of the Jewish Jesus proves to be a highly informative resource when trying to understand the intricate relationship between Christianity and Judaism. Levine’s primary objective seems to be a desire to address the idea that there is a vast, irreconcilable disparity between the beliefs and practices of Christians and Jews. Levine’s central argument focuses upon a common misperception of this dissimilarity: it is the result of Jesus being in direct opposition to Judaism. Furthermore, she contends that only a decided openness and interfaith dialogue between Christianity and Judaism can truly provide the most complete and compelling portrait of Jesus’s life and work. To me, the most edifying facet of Levine’s argument was her call to anchor Jesus within the historical and cultural context in which he was teaching in order to best understand his work and his message. Levine not only provides support for this idea throughout The Misunderstood Jew, but near the end of the novel also offers up ways in which both Christians and Jews can reconcile these two ostensibly conflicting perceptions of Jesus. Therefore, in this essay, I will analyze Levine’s arguments regarding the importance of historical/cultural context in Chapter One and Chapter Four while synthesizing it with her solutions presented in Chapter Seven.
Practices are just that, practices, and textual traditions refers to “the [charting of] the communities’ canonical texts” (Satlow 2006: 8). The Israel map deals with an individual’s self-identification as a Jew and their particular understanding of what it means to identify as Jewish (Satlow 2006: 8). Using Satlow’s three maps, I wish to argue that Judaism is an ideological concept that connects individuals to a history and its traditions, and that the enactment of such a concept takes on different forms depending on the context in which it is enacted. This understanding of Judaism, as an idea that connects to a tradition rather than a tradition in and of itself, affords us the ability to see how Jewish communities across the globe behave and perceive of Judaism in different ways. The way someone perceives of an idea and then acts on it depends on their circumstances.
Judaism is a religion that almost seems uncommon in today’s era. Currently, the United States is occupied with just two percent of individuals who believe in judaism; Globally, only .2 percent of the population is Jewish, which means this religion isn’t practiced heavily by many. The USHMM (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum) indicates that World War II was responsible for the death of more than six million innocent jews; this still impacts the jewish community today. Jews
Throughout the history of Judaism, Jewish people have faced ongoing persecution and discrimination. Despite these conflicts, the faith remains alive, strong, and continuously growing. Like many religions faced with adversity, Judaism has had to assimilate its faith to survive in an ever-changing world. One significant moment of change in the Jewish history, the fall of the Second Temple, had the opportunity to destroy Judaism, but the Jewish people bonded together and reformulated their religion in order to save their faith. The falling of the Second Temple marks a distinct change in the Jewish faith through the modification of ritual practices to accommodate their new mobile lifestyle. This change would forever impact the Jewish