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An Old Faith in the New World: The History of American Judaism
A lively presentation on American Judaism from 1654 to the present by the acclaimed scholar who wrote the bestselling book on the subject, American Judaism: A History. Beginning in the colonial era, JONATHAN SARNA recounts the dynamic story of people struggling to be Americans and Jews. He shows how each generation of American Jews has had to wrestle anew with the question of whether its own children and grandchildren will remain Jewish. Bringing the story down to the present, he illustrates how the past can both inform and inspire.
Looking Ahead: American Judaism in the 21st Century
What are the central issues facing the American Jewish community in the decades ahead? In this provocative presentation, historian JONATHAN SARNA examines key trends affecting Jewish life, particularly lesser-known economic, demographic, and religious changes that will affect American Jewry in the 21st century and beyond. He concludes with a call for a new mission for American Jews, and a discussion of how we can meet the challenges that lie ahead.
Wondering Jews in a Changing America
American Jewry in the Age of Trump
That Obnoxious Order: Ulysses S. Grant and the Jews
On December 17, 1862, as the Civil War entered its second winter, General Ulysses S. Grant issued a sweeping order, General Orders #11, expelling “Jews as a class” from his war zone. It remains the most notorious anti-Jewish official order in American history. The order came back to haunt Grant in 1868 when he ran for president. Never before had Jews been so widely noticed in a presidential contest, and never before had they been confronted so publicly with the question of how to balance their “American” and “Jewish” interests. During his two terms in the White House, the memory of the “obnoxious order” shaped Grant’s relationship with the American Jewish community. In response, surprisingly, he did more for Jews than any other president to his time. How this happened, and why, sheds new light on one of our most enigmatic presidents, on the Jews of his day, and on America itself.
Children of the Stock of Abraham: George Washington's Correspondence with the Jews of Newport
In August of 1790, President George Washington made a state visit to Rhode Island, the last colony to ratify the Constitution. Visiting Newport, he listened patiently as different groups of citizens welcomed him to their city and gave voice to their hopes and concerns. Members of Newport’s beautiful synagogue stood among those bringing him greetings. Their letter and his remarkable reply to it stand as landmarks of American religious liberty. Many are familiar with the key words in Washington’s letter – “to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance” – but there is much more to the correspondence than that. Guided by acclaimed historian JONATHAN SARNA, we will unlock the deeper secrets of this correspondence, and its meaning for Jews and Americans of every faith.
Jonathan D. Sarna is University Professor and the Joseph H. & Belle R. Braun Professor of American Jewish History at Brandeis University. He also is the past president of the Association for Jewish Studies and Chief Historian of the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia. Author or editor of more than thirty books on American Jewish history and life, his American Judaism: A History, recently published in a second edition, won six awards including the 2004 “Everett Jewish Book of the Year Award” from the Jewish Book Council. Sarna is a fellow both of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and of the American Academy of Jewish Research, and he holds four honorary degrees. His most recent books are Coming to Terms with America, a volume of essays now translated into Hebrew under the title Zehuyot Bemifgash (Mercaz Shazar); and Yearning to Breathe Free: Jews in Gilded Age America, coedited with Adam Mendelsohn.
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