Prayer & community: the havurah in American Judaism

Riv-Ellen Prell spent eighteen months of participant observation field research studying a countercultural havurah to determine why these groups emerged in the United States during the 1970s. In her book, she explores the central questions posed by the early havurot and their founders. She also examines the havurah as a development of American Judaism, continuing—rather than rejecting—many of the previous generations' ideas about religion. Combining history and ethnography, Prell uses current th…

Without bounds: the life and death of Rabbi Ya'aqov Wazana

Without Bounds illuminates the life of the mysterious Rabbi Ya'aqov Wazana, a Jewish healer who worked in the Western High Atlas region in southern Morocco and died there in the early 1950s. Impressed by his healing powers and shamanic virtuosity, Moroccan Jews are intrigued by his lifestyle and contacts with the Muslim and the demonic worlds that dangerously blurred his Jewish identity.

Based on interviews with Moroccan Jews conducted in the late 1980s, Without Bounds proposes multipl…

Five excellent songs: The constant shepherd. The wreath. Welcomesummer back again. The dainty bit plan. The bachelor

"25"

Letter from S. Trumbell to Abraham Lincoln, with Response

This letter contains a brief recommendation from S. Trumbell regarding another letter writer. This other writer was likely a Confederate, possibly a soldier seeking to be released from prison. The oath Lincoln refers to was in the Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction, which Lincoln issued on December 8, 1863. This proclamation allowed for the pardon of all but high ranking Confederates. Lincoln approved the discharge in this case.

Rabbinic Judaism in the making: a chapter in the history of the Halakhah from Ezra to Judah I

Through the ages, theology in Judaism has played roles of varying importance. But the role of theology is minor compared with that of law and observance. This book is devoted to a study of the evolution of normative Judaism from the time of Ezra (ca. 400 B.C.) to Judah I, the Prince (ca. 200 A.D.). Its focus on law represents a realistic approach to the history of applied Judaism.

United States Jewry, 1776-1985. volume IV. the East European period, the emergence of the American Jew, epilogue

In United States Jewry, 1776–1985, the dean of American Jewish historians, Jacob Rader Marcus, unfolds the history of Jewish immigration, segregation, and integration; of Jewry’s cultural exclusiveness and assimilation; of its internal division and indivisible unity; and of its role in the making of America. Characterized by Marcus’s impeccable scholarship, meticulous documentation, and readable style, this landmark four-volume set completes the history Marcus began in The Colonial American Jew,…

Letter from A Van Riper to Henry A Van Riper, July 25, 1864

Letter from Alexander Van Riper to Henry Van Riper, in it he describes a battle where they lost 101 men.

John Jacob Astor: business and finance in the early republic

John Jacob Astor was the best-known and most important American businessman for more than a half-century. His career encompassed the country's formative economic years from the precarious days following the American Revolution to the emergence of an urban-centered manufacturing economy in the late 1840s. Change was the dominant motif of the period, and Astor either exemplified the varied economic, social, and political changes in his business career or he directly affected the course of event…

The shaping of Jewish identity in nineteenth-century France

Nineteenth-century French Jewry was a community struggling to meet the challenges of emancipation and modernity. This struggle, with its origins in the founding of the French nation, constitutes the core of modern Jewish identity. With the Revolution of 1789 came the collapse of the social, political, and philosophical foundations of exclusiveness, forcing French society and the Jews to come to terms with the meaning of emancipation. Over time, the enormous challenge that emancipation posed for …

The cardinal flower and other tales

Illus. by Samuel S. Kilburn.

The church safe, or, What God has done, is doing, and will do for his people

Cover title.

A bibliography of Jewish education in the United States

This book contains entries from thousands of publications whether in English, Hebrew, Yiddish, and German—books, research reports, educational and general periodicals, synagogue histories, conference proceedings, bibliographies, and encyclopedias—on all aspects of Jewish education from pre-school through secondary education

Witness through the imagination: Jewish American Holocaust literature

Criticism of Holocaust literature is an emerging field of inquiry, and as might be expected, the most innovative work has been concentrated on the vanguard of European and Israeli Holocaust literature. Now that American fiction has amassed an impressive and provocative Holocaust canon, the time is propitious for its evaluation. Witness Through the Imagination presents a critical reading of themes and stylistic strategies of major American Holocaust fiction to determine its capacity to render the…

The Detroit Sunday Journal:: June 8-14, 1997

Issue of The Detroit Sunday Journal, a weekly newspaper published by striking workers during the Detroit Newspaper Strike.

Jewish immigrant associations and American identity in New York, 1880-1939

Landsmanshaftn, associations of immigrants from the same hometown, became the most popular form of organization among Eastern European Jewish immigrants to the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Jewish Immigrant Associations and American Identity in New York, 1880–1939, by Daniel Soyer, holds an in-depth discussion on the importance of these hometown societies that provided members with valuable material benefits and served as arenas for formal and informal social interacti…

From Sofia to Jaffa: the Jews of Bulgaria and Israel

Within two years of the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, an astounding 45,000 of Bulgaria’s 50,000 Jews left voluntarily for Israel. This mass exodus was remarkable considering that Bulgaria was the only Axis power to prevent the deportation of its Jews to the death camps during World War II.
After their arrival in Israel, the Jews of Bulgaria were recognized as a model immigrant group in a fledgling state attempting to absorb hundreds of thousands of newcomers from more than eig…

Ambiguous relations: the American Jewish community and Germany since 1945

The reemergence of a united Germany as a dominant power in Europe has increased even more it's importance as a major political ally and trade partner of the United States, despite the misgivings of some U.S. citizens. Ambiguous Relations addresses for the first time the complex relationships between American Jews and Germany over the fifty years following the end of World War II, and examines American Jewry's' ambiguous attitude toward Germany that continues despite sociological and generationa…

Maurice Sugar: law, labor, and the left in Detroit, 1912-1950

It was Maurice Sugar, labor activist and lawyer for the United Auto Workers, who played a key role in guiding the newly-formed union through the treacherous legal terrain obstructing its development in the 1930s. He orchestrated the injunction hearings on the Dodge Main strike and defended the legality of the sit-down tactic. As the UAW's General Council, he wrote the union's constitution in 1939, a model of democratic thinking. Sugar worked with George Addes, UAW Secretary-Treasurer, to nurture…

Tradition and politics: the religious parties of Israel

Tradition and Politics is acomprehensive study of the religious parties of Israel. Gary S. Schiff traces the religious parties of the modern state of Israel from their origins in Europe early in the twentieth century to, in response and reaction to the rise of Zionism, their transplantation to Palestine, their adaptation to the new realities, their participation in the quazi-government of the Jewish community under the British mandate, and their unfolding roles after independence. Schiff examin…

The golden goose and the three bears

The electronic version of this item was provided by the Wayne State University Library System and is freely accessible through the Wayne State University Libraries Digital Collections.