Distributed for Brandeis University Press
Jewish Renaissance and Revival in America
In the late 1870s, shaken by rapid socioeconomic change, internal crises, and the rise of antisemitism, young Jews assumed leadership, created dozens of organizations, and inspired masses of followers. These organizations helped define the nineteenth-century Jewish awakening: cultural and religious renewal, and the promotion of Jewish education. Expanding upon the unfinished work of Leah Levitz Fishbane, this volume seeks to broaden our understanding of this period, which paved the way for new developments in American Jewish communal, cultural, and religious life.
Table of Contents
Preface – Eitan P. Fishbane • Introduction: Leah Levitz Fishbane and “The Road to Renaissance” – Jonathan D. Sarna • Common Bonds: A Collective Portrait – Leah Levitz Fishbane • On the Road to Renaissance: The Young Men’s Hebrew Associations of New York and Philadelphia, 1877–1883 – Leah Levitz Fishbane • A Renaissance of Jewish Readers in Victorian Philadelphia – Arthur Kiron • Preserving the Past to Fashion the Future: The Editorial Board of the Jewish Encyclopedia – Shuly Rubin Schwartz • Leah’s Hope: The Legacy of German-Jewish Humanism in America – Paul Mendes-Flohr • Revival through Celebrity: American Fame, Jewish Identity, and the Early 1960s – David Kaufman • Renewal and Havurah: American Movements, European Roots – Arthur Green • Afterword – Arnold Eisen • Contributors • Index