Urban Origins of American Judaism

NOTES

155 NOTES introduction 1. This is not to deny the distinctive experiences of the minority of American Jews who chose to live in small towns. For two excellent histories, see Weissbach , Jewish Life in Small-Town America, and Morawska, Insecure Prosperity. 2. For a cogent discussion of European urbanization, see Richard I. Cohen, “Urban Visibility and Biblical Visions,” 741. 3. There are several excellent general histories of Jews in the United States. Two recent ones are Diner, The Jews of the United States, and Sarna, American Judaism. 4. See Moore, City of Promises. 5. “Jews as a Percentage,” n.p. 6. Wald, “Puzzling Politics of American Jews”; Goldberg, Jewish Power, 30–35. 7. Goren, “Rites of Community.” chapter 1. synagogues 1. On the history of synagogues in the United States see Raphael, Synagogue in America; Wertheimer, American Synagogue. 2. For a good overview of early American Jewish history, see Faber, Time for Planting; and Faber, “America’s Earliest Jewish Settlers.” 3. Ellen Smith, “Strangers and Sojourners.” 4. Guttman, “Ezra Stiles.” 5. Gruber, American Synagogues; Snyder, Building a Public Judaism, 1–24; Sarna, American Judaism, on synagogue as community. 6. Thanks to Andrew Bush for this observation and comparison with The Last of the Mohicans. notes to chapter one 156 7. Emma Lazarus, “In the Jewish Synagogue at Newport,” in Schor, Emma Lazarus, 265–67. 8. Schor, Emma Lazarus, 20. 9. Ibid., 19. 10. I thank Andrew Bush for this insight. 11. See Polland, Landmark of the Spirit, for another synagogue that was restored in the twentieth century. 12. The King James Version reads, “But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid.” 13. “From the Newport Congregation to the President of the United States, August 17, 1790,” in Schappes, Documentary History of the Jews, 79–81. 14. See Naomi W. Cohen, Jews in Christian America. 15. Ackermann, “1794 Synagogue,” ix. 16. See ibid. Similar trends among Jews can be discerned in other European port cities; see, for example, Dubin, Port Jews of Habsburg Trieste. 17. The actual name was Society for the Relief of Orphans and Children of Indigent Parents. Friedman, These Are Our Children, 6–7. 18. Moore, “Freedom’s Fruits,” 11. The following paragraphs are drawn from this article. 19. Quoted in Hagy, This Happy Land, 129, emphasis in the original. 20. There is a rich literature on the early Reform movement in Charleston. In addition to specific citations, see Zola, Isaac Harby of Charleston; Elzas, Reformed Society of Israelites; Liberles, “Conflict over Reforms”; Jick, Americanization of the Synagogue; Tarshish, “Charleston Organ Case.” 21. Prell, “New Key,” 16. 22. Quoted in Hagy, This Happy Land, 131, emphasis in the original. 23. Sarna, American Judaism, xvii, xviii. 24. Meyer, Response to Modernity, 231. 25. Moïse, Poems of Penina Moïse. 26. See Ashton, Rebecca Gratz. On the Female Hebrew Benevolent Society, see 100–106. 27. Goren, American Jews, 43. 28. Rock, Haven of Liberty, 113–35. 29. Ibid., 126–30, quote on 129. 30. Ibid., 128–29. 31. See Goldman, “This Is the Gateway to the Lord.” 32. Ashton, “Expanding Jewish Life in America.” 33. Richard I. Cohen, “Urban Visibility and Biblical Visions,” 735. 34. Goren, American Jews, 43; Moore, “Social History of American Judaism,” 1:295; Richard I. Cohen, “Urban Visibility and Biblical Visions,” 735. 35. Moore, “Social History of American Judaism,” 1:295; Mendes-Flohr and Reinharz, Jew in the Modern World, 532. notes to chapter one 157 36. Bush, “Architecture of Jewish Identity,” 192. 37. Quoted in ibid., 195. 38. Braude, Sisters and Saints. 39. Goldman, Beyond the Synagogue Gallery, 134. 40. Polland and Soyer, Emerging Metropolis, 74–79, quotes on 75–76. 41. Lerner, “Narrating the Architecture of Emancipation.” 42. Richard I. Cohen, “Urban Visibility and Biblical Visions,” 746. He also notes (752) that Jews built these synagogues, such as the one in Pest (later Budapest ), even before obtaining equal rights. 43. Polland and Soyer, Emerging Metropolis, 73–101, quote on 78. 44. Ibid., 92. 45. Quoted in ibid., 92. 46. Polland, Landmark of the Spirit, 100–102. 47. Quoted in Meyer, Response to Modernity, 234. 48. Goren, “Public Ceremonies Defining Central Synagogue,” 51. 49. Ibid. 50. Ibid., 52–55, quote on 52. 51. Eisenberg, Kahn, and Toll, Jews of the Pacific Coast, 52–53. 52. Ibid., 6. 53. Toll, “From Domestic Judaism,” 128, 139. 54. Goren...