Speaking of Jews: Rabbis, Intellectuals, and the Creation of an American Public Identity

281 Pages·2009·1.794 MB·English

by  Lila Corwin Berman

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  
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   
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The publisher gratefully acknowledges the generous
support of the Jewish Studies Endowment Fund of
the University of California Press Foundation, which
was established by a major gift from the S. Mark Taper
Foundation.
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Speaking of Jews
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Speaking of Jews
Rabbis, Intellectuals, and the Creation
of an American Public Identity
Lila Corwin Berman
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS
Berkeley / Los Angeles / London
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University of California Press, one of the most distinguished university
presses in the United States, enriches lives around the world by advancing
scholarship in the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. Its
activities are supported by the UC Press Foundation and by philanthropic
contributions from individuals and institutions. For more information, visit
www.ucpress.edu.
Monroe image [figure 11] by Milton H. Greene © 2008Joshua Greene,
www.archiveimages.com.
University of California Press
Berkeley and Los Angeles, California
University of California Press, Ltd.
London, England
© 2009by The Regents of the University of California
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Berman, Lila Corwin, 1976–
Speaking of Jews : rabbis, intellectuals, and the creation of an American
public identity / Lila Corwin Berman.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn978-0-520-25680-4(cloth : alk. paper) —
isbn978-0-520-25681-1(pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Jews—United States—Identity. 2. Jews—United States—Social
conditions—20th century. 3. Jewish leadership—United States—
History—20th century. 4. Judaism and the social sciences. 5. Religion
and sociology—United States. 6. United States—Ethnic relations.
I. Title.
E184.36.E84B47 2008
305.6′9609730904—dc22 2008025974
Manufactured in the United States of America
18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 09
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
This book is printed on Natures Book, which contains 30% post-consumer
waste and meets the minimum requirements of ansi/niso z39.48–1992
(r1997) (Permanence of Paper).
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Contents
List of Illustrations vii
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction: Presenting Jews to America 1
1. Spiritual Missions after the Great War:
The Reform Movement and the Jewish Chautauqua Society 11
2. The Ghettoand Beyond: The Rising Authority
of American Jewish Social Science in Interwar America 34
3. The Sacred and Sociological Dilemma of Jewish Intermarriage 53
4. Serving the Public Good and Serving God in 1940s America 73
5. Constructing an Ethnic America: Oscar Handlin,
Nathan Glazer, and Post–World War II Social Research 93
6. What Is a Jew? Missionaries, Outreach,
and the Cold War Ethnic Challenge 119
7. A Jewish Marilyn Monroe and the Civil-Rights-Era Crisis
in Jewish Self-Presentation 143
Conclusion: Speaking of Jews 168
Notes 175
Selected Bibliography 235
Index 253
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Illustrations
1. Kaufmann Kohler and the editors of the Jewish Publication
Society’s Hebrew Bible 16
2. Charter of the Jewish Chautauqua Society 26
3. Louis Wirth 43
4. Morris Raphael Cohen and Albert Einstein 47
5. David Sarnoff and Louis Finkelstein 82
6. Oscar Handlin 100
7. Nathan Glazer 104
8. Morris Kertzer 131
9. Taping Tell Thy Son 137
10. Marilyn Monroe’s conversion certificate 146
11. Marilyn Monroe and Arthur Miller’s wedding reception 147
12. Arthur Miller, Marilyn Monroe, and Robert Goldburg 150
vii