In 1654, 23 homeless Jews fleeing Recife, Brazil, a colony captured by the Portuguese from the Dutch, disembarked in New Amsterdam, a New World colony of the Dutch West India Company. Destitute, they petitioned for the right to “navigate and trade near and in New Netherland, and to live and reside here.” Over the objections of Governor Peter Stuyvesant, the Jews prevailed with backing from brethren back in Amsterdam and the West India Company owners, for whom more working colonists ranked above Governor Stuyvesant’s religious prejudices.
September 2004 launches a year-long national celebration of the 350th Anniversary of American Jewry, 1654-2004. From the Library of Congress’ lead exhibit, “From Haven to Home: 350 Years of Jewish Life in America”, to internet document webconnects possible via the Temple Isaiah library’s computer catalog, as well as our home-grown Temple-Isaiah.org online bibliographies, libraries nationwide are showcasing rich collections that document the history and culture of America’s Jewish community. Look on the Temple website for the Library’s bibliography: “Opening the Time Capsule”, titles selected to illuminate changes American Jews brought to American civilization as they embraced their new country. The bibliography includes reference, periodicals, articles, history, literature and film, humor, and children’s books. Many topics are suitable for discussion by Jewish study groups and Havurot.
Resources in the Library collection;
REFERENCE WORKS AND PERIODICALS
PER FOR
The Forward [newspaper].
Note: The Jewish Forward, founded in 1898 by Abraham Cahan, was the most famous and influential of the Yiddish newspapers. It served as a guide to transition for the immigrants, helping Yiddish speakers assimilate into the American mainstream by covering a range of topics, from citizenship to canning fruit. The current Forward is issued weekly, and the library copy is in English. To search for articles on the 350th Anniversary of Jews in America in the Forward online use Webconnect in the Library in the catalog. For a video history of The Forward see under VIDEOS, and for The Forward’s famous letters-to-the-editor collection, see below under Bintel Brief. Forward is publishing a series of articles on American Jewry in celebration of the 350th anniversary.
PER J
Eskanazi, Joe. “Professor Dobbs’ time machine : historian looks at 150 years of S.F. Jewish history,” and “Plenty of ‘there’ in Oakland, too,” in J. the Jewish News Weekly of Northern California [periodical], v. 108, no. 29, July 23-29, 2004, pp.30-32.
Note: A lively pair of historic capsules that inform and educate about Jews in the San Francisco Bay area. Includes 10 ‘must see’ Jewish sites and a top 10 local history bibliography.
PER WES
Kramer, William M. and Stern, Norton B. “California Jewish History: source materials 1986,” in Western States Jewish History [periodical], v. 36, no. 4, Summer 2004, pp. 359-378.
Note: Previously published by WSJH, this bibliographic guide to historical materials on California Jews has been resurrected in time for the 350th Anniversary of Jews in America. Topics included: background and general studies, bibliographies, pioneers, San Francisco and other California communities, occupations, women’s studies, and arts and Hollywood. Individual issues of Western States Jewish History contain articles on California Jewry.
REF 619.799 HYM
Weisbard, Phyllis Holman. Jewish women in America : an historical encyclopedia. New York: Routledge, [1997].
Note: Examines the contributions of Jewish women to American society, and illustrates the diversity of American Jewish women’s lives. Both biographical and topical essays are included.
REF 692 REE
Samberg, Joel. Reel Jewish. Middle Village, N.Y.: Jonathan David Publ., [2000].
Note: An encyclopedia of a century of Jewish movies: comedy, tragedy, musicals and dramas-American and foreign.
REF 770 SCH
The American Jewish album : 1654 to the present / Allon Schoener ; with an introduction by Henry Feingold.-- New York : Rizzoli, 1983.
Note: A profusely illustrated, comprehensive view of American Jewry and Jewish life (intellectual and social) from the 17th century to the 1980’s.
REF 798.3 LAN 1982
Landau, Ron. The book of Jewish lists / Ron Landau.-- Briarcliff Manor, N.Y : Stein and Day, 1982.
Note: Treasure trove of biographical lists of and about Jews: most inspiring religious figures; Jewish psychotherapists, wrestlers, scholars, faculty, crew members of the Starship Enterprise, pirates, Jews hailed as the Messiah, possible Ten Lost Tribes, most important Jews, independent kingdoms outside Israel, and more.
REF 770 LEV
Levitan, Tina. First facts in American Jewish History : from 1492 to the present. Northvale, N.J.: Jason Aronson, [1996].
Note: Comprehensive and well organized book that is part timeline, part political, social and technological history of the Jews in the United States.
REF 771.5 SHE 1982
Shepard, Richard F. Live and be well : a celebration of Yiddish culture in America from the first immigrants to the second World War. New York: Ballantine, [1982].
An illustrated, alphabetical dictionary of Yiddish culture and personalities in America.
REF 916 AME
The American Jewish desk reference : [the ultimate one-volume reference to the Jewish experience in America]. 1st. ed. New York: Random, [1999].
Note: Hundreds of illustrations, biographical data, historical events, and resources to cover American Jewish life from 1654 to the present.
ADULT NON-FICTION
181.1 KAP
Kaplan, Mordecai Menahem and Eisen, Arnold. Judaism as a civilization : toward a reconstruction of American-Jewish life. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, [1994, 1981].
Note: In this seminal work Kaplan provides an insightful analysis of the
problems of American Jewish life, offering his now famous concept of Judaism as an evolving religious civilization.
361 STR
Kurtzweil, Arthur. Behold a great image : the contemporary Jewish experience in photographs. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society of American, [1978].
Note: Black and white photos of diaspora Jewry going about life in their neighborhood. Focus is world-wide, but many of the photos are from the United States.
601.9 HOW
Howe, Irving and Libo, Kenneth. World of our fathers: the journey of the East European Jews to America and the life they found and made. 1st ed. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, [1976].
From the Jewish immigrant families came the art and movements that affected all Americans, including the New Deal social reforms, contemporary humor, musicals, movies, and the American Jewish novel. Combining broad historical sweep with the experiences of individual Jews, Howe illuminates the essential immigrant experience.
619.7 DIN
Diner, Hasia R and Benderly, Beryl Lieff. Her works praise her : a history of Jewish women in America from colonial times to the present. New York: Basic Books, [2002].
Note: In this lively and moving account, the first-ever social history of America’s Jewish women, the authors chronicle 15 generations of women as they reshape community and religion to fit the new country.
619.9 WOM
Zola, Gary Phillip. Women Rabbis : exploration and celebration: papers delivered at an academic conference honoring twenty years of women in the rabbinate, 1972-1992. Cincinnati: HUC-JIR Rabbinic Alumni Association Press, [1996].
Note: Explores factors hindering and encouraging the ordination and education of women rabbis in Reform Judaism. Introduces women pioneers from the early part of the century as well as women who overcame the obstacles and discusses changes they have brought to Judaism.
636.2 POL
Polner, Murray. Rabbi : the American experience. 1st ed. New York: Holt,
Rinehart and Winston, [1977].
Note: The author presents a portrait of American Rabbis--activists, conservatives, young and old--as a mean to assess the importance of Rabbis to American Judaism.
647.3 HAR
Harris, Leon. Merchant princes : an intimate history of Jewish families who built great department stores. New York: Harper, [1977].
Note: The story of the families who created the famous department stores and other retail businesses in America.
655 COW
Cowan, Paul. An orphan in history : retrieving a Jewish legacy. 1st ed. Garden City, N.Y: Doubleday, [1982].
Note: In one generation, 5,000 years of religion and culture have been lost through acculturation. Paul Cowen grows up unaware that he is a descendant of rabbis. When his parents are killed tragically, he goes on an immigrant odyssey to find his roots and that he is no longer an orphan in history.
655 DAV
Adler, Bill, 1929-, comp. Growing up Jewish / edited by Jay David.-- New York : Pocket Books, 1970.
Note: Selections from Leone de Modena, Glueckel of Hemeln, Solomon Maimon, Eliakum Zunser, Chaim Weizmann, Isaac Bashevia Singer, Samuel Chotzinoff, Robert Briscoe, David Daiches, Anne Frank, Raphael Jacob Moses, Oscar Solomon Straus, Rebekah Kohut, Edna Ferber, Lewis Meyer, Harry Golden, Sam Levenson, Alfred Kazin, Edna Sheklow, Gertrude Berg, Robert Kotlowitz, Allan Sherman, Elsa Rosenberg, Zechariah Nissim, and Yael Dayan. Rebekah Kohut writes about her youth growing up in San Francisco.
655 DER
Dershowitz, Alan M. The vanishing American Jew : in search of Jewish identity for the next century. 1st ed. Boston: Little, Brown, [1997].
Note: Dershowitz shows why American Jews are in danger of disappearing - and what must be done now to create a renewed sense of Jewish identity for the next century.
655 SCH
Schiffman, Lisa. Generation J. 1st ed. [San Francisco]: HarperSanFrancisco,
[1999].
Note: What will it take for Lisa Schiffman to get comfortable with her Jewish identity? A New Age masseuse in Berkeley? A Lesbian Rabbi leading her to the mikvah? Zen? Congo drums at synagogue services? This memoir about the struggle of an assimilated Jew to discover her spiritual roots while immersed in the melting pot of the Bay Area is an intriguing read.
655.5 ROI
Roiphe, Anne. Generation without memory : a Jewish journey in Christian America. New York: Linden Pr, [1981].
Note: Jewish identity loss and the problems of assimilation and feminism are the topics of this personal look at Judaism in America.
660.8 LIP
Lipset, Seymour Martin and Raab, Earl. Jews and the new American scene.
Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, [1995].
Will American Jews survive their success? Jews, perhaps more than any ethnic or religious minority that has immigrated to these shores, have benefited from America’s openness, egalitarianism and social heterogeneity. This new work provides a wide range of research--the clearest and most up-to-date account of the crisis of identity facing American Jews today.
661.3 SCH
Schneier, Marc. Shared dreams : Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Jewish
community. Woodstock, Vt: Jewish Lights Pub, [1999].
Note: At critical moments in the life of the American Jewish community, of Israel and of the plight of Soviet Jews, Martin Luther King, Jr. stepped in
as an advocate to speak out for the human and civil rights of Jews.
662 LEE
Lee, Albert. Henry Ford and the Jews. New York: Stein and Day, [1980].
Anti-semitism in the board room is Lee’s topic as he delves into American folk hero Ford’s collection of articles from the Dearborn newspaper and his activities directed at Jews in America and abroad.
681 LON
London, Hannah Ruth and London, Hannah Ruth. Miniatures and silhouettes of early American Jews. Rutland, Vt: C. E. Tuttle, [1970].
Text and photos explore portraiture of early American Jewry by famous American artists of the period.
690.7 WHI
Whitfield, Stephen J. In search of American Jewish culture. Hanover, N.H:
Brandeis University Press: University Press of New England, [1999].
Note: Discusses American Jewish intellectual life and the Jewish contribution to American art, thought, and expression, including popular culture.
736.9 NOV
Novick, Peter. The Holocaust in American life. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, [1999].
Note: Exploring in detail how the Holocaust moved from the margins to the center of American life, this title illuminates the reasons Americans ignored the Holocaust for so long. Notable book.
736.92 RAB
Rabinowitz, Dorothy. New lives : survivors of the holocaust living in America. 1st ed. New York: Knopf : distributed by Random House, [1976].
Note: After living through the Holocaust, how do the survivors come back once again to ordinary living? The author interviewed 100 survivors who
emigrated to the United States, providing the first full scale account of what actually happened after their liberation.
770 CRI
Marcus, Jacob Rader. Critical studies in American Jewish History : selected articles from American Jewish Archives. Cincinnati: American Jewish Archives, [1971].
Note: A collection of critical articles on aspects of American Jewry from 1654 to the end of the 19th century.
770 DAL
Dalin, David G and Kolatch, Alfred J. The presidents of the United States & the Jews. Middle Village, N.Y: Jonathan David Publishers, [2000].
Note: Documents the interaction between the Presidents of the United States, and the relatively small, but politically and socially active Jewish community. Includes Presidents from George Washington to Bill
Clinton.
770 FEI
Feingold, Henry L. Zion in America : the Jewish experience from colonial times to the present. New York: Twayne Publishers, [1974].
Note: How the reciprocity between America and its Jews originated, developed, and prospered is the fascinating subject of this synthesis of American Jewish history.
770 FEL
Feldstein, Stanley. The land that I show you : three centuries of Jewish life in America. Garden City, N.Y: Anchor Press/Doubleday, [1979].
Note: A vividly told, comprehensive history of over 300 years of Jewish life in America-from the arrival of a small band of settlers in 1654 to the middle of the 20th century.
770 GUT
Gutstein, Linda. History of the Jews in America. Edison, NJ: Chartwell Books, [1988].
Note: A wonderfully illustrated history of the Jews in America, beginning with the Jews in Columbus’ crew, and continuing chronologically with many
biographical sketches of famous Jews.
770 LEV
Levitan, Tina. First facts in American Jewish history : from 1492 to the
present. Northvale, N.J: Jason Aronson, [1996].
Note: An amazing collection of “firsts” guaranteed to keep reader’s intrigued.
770 SAC
Sachar, Howard Morley. A history of the Jews in America. New York: Knopf,
[1992].
Note: a sweeping narrative history of American Jews from their beginnings to contemporary times.
770 SKL
Sklare, Marshall. America’s Jews. New York: Random House, [1971].
Note: A sociological analysis of the Jewish community in the United States via the complex of institutions, organizations, and agencies which American Jews have created.
770 SUH
Suhl, Yuri. An album of the Jews in America. New York: F. Watts, [1972].
Note: Discusses the contributions of Jewish immigrants to the history and culture of the United States from 1492 to the present.
770.7 JEW
Marcus, Jacob Rader. The Jew in the American world : a source book. Detroit, MI: Wayne State University Press, [1996].
Note: A documentary history of North American Jews from the late 16th century to the present, this compilation of archival sources chronicles the evolving religious, domestic, and political experiences of Canadian and American Jewry.
770.8 AME
Postal, Bernard. American Jewish landmarks: a travel guide and history. Rev. ed. New York: Fleet Pr., [1977-1986]. 4 vols.
A state-by-state, city-by-city gazetteer of Jewish life in America with landmarks put into historical context. Includes memorials, birthplaces, synagogues, cemeteries, museums, agencies, institutions, shrines, and more. Each state is introduced by a short history of the Jews in the area.
770.8 POS
Postal, Bernard and Koppman, Lionel. American Jewish landmarks : a travel guide and history. Rev. ed. New York: Fleet Press, [1977-1986].
Note: A state by state, city by city gazetteer of Jewish life in America with landmarks put into historical context. Library owns 3 vols.
770.9 STJ
St. John, Robert. Jews, justice, and Judaism: a narrative of the role played by the Bible people in shaping American history. [1st ed.]. Garden City, N.Y: Doubleday, [1969].
Note: Excellent history of the arrival of Jews in New York and their settlement in that city and the acceptance of Judaism as a religion in the new world. Text includes contributions of the American Jews into the 1960s.
771 LIB
Libo, Kenneth and Howe, Irving. We lived there too: in their own words and pictures - pioneer Jews and the Westward Movement of American, 1630-1930. New York: St. Martin’s, [1984].
Note: The story of Jews who did not stay in the East Side, but who went West with their fellow immigrants to make new lives on the frontier. Well illustrated with photographs and plump with individual writings, this is the “Westward Oy” of America’s moving frontier.
771 LOW
Lowe, Carl. Three centuries of Jewish life in America. New York: Mallard, [1992].
Note: A beautifully illustrated introduction to American Jewry from 1654 to the 20th century.
771 MAL
Malamed, Sandra Cumings. The Jews in early America : a chronicle of good taste and good deeds. McKinleyville, Calif: Fithian Press, [2003].
Note: A comprehensive survey of the contributions and impact of the great early Jewish Americans during the Colonial era.
771 SAN
Sanders, Ronald. Shores of refuge : a hundred years of Jewish emigration. 1st ed. New York: Holt, [1988].
Note: Narrates anecdotes and history of the Jewish migrations beginning in 1881 from Russia and Poland, and spanning five continents from the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe to Palestine, France, England, America, China and Japan.
771.01 MAR
Marcus, Jacob Rader. The American Jewish woman, 1654-1980. New York: Ktav Pub. House, [1981].
Note: “There is an American Jewish woman’s history that goes back to Sept. 1654.” Marcus describes the American Jewess as she emerges from period documents, attempting to capture the past as it actually was.
771.01 MAR
Marcus, Jacob Rader. The American Jewish woman : A Documentary history. New York: Ktav Pub. House, [1981].
Note: 200 printed documents which ive historical meaning to 300 years of American Jewish women’s experience.
771.1 LEW
Touro Synagogue : National historic site. Newport Historical Society, [1975].
Touro Synagogue, dedicated in 1762, is the oldest synagogue in the United States and the only one that survives from the colonial era. The congregation was founded in 1658 by Sephardim, descendants of Marranos who fled the Inquisition.
771.1 REI
Reiss, Oscar. The Jews in colonial America. Jefferson, N.C: McFarland & Co,
[2004].
Note: After a review of the Jews’ migrations around Europe, the West Indies, and North and South America, describing the hardships they faced, this book discusses their experiences in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, New England, and the South. Subsequent chapters discuss anti-semitism, slavery, and the transformation of the Jews from immigrants to citizens.
771.5 BIN
Metzker, Isaac. Bintel Brief: letters to the Editor of the Jewish Daily Forward. 2 vols. Compiled by Isaac Metzker. New York: Shocken, [1971, 1981].
Note: For more than eighty years the Jewish Daily Forward’s legendary advice column, “A Bintel Brief” ("a bundle of letters") dispensed shrewd, practical, and fair-minded advice to its readers. Created in 1906 to help bewildered Eastern European immigrants learn about their new country, the column also gave them a forum for seeking advice and support in the face of problems ranging from wrenching spiritual dilemmas to petty family squabbles to the sometimes hilarious predicaments that result when Old World meets New.
771.5 EIS
Goodman, Hannah Grad. Eyewitnesses to American Jewish history : a history of American Jewry / Part III-The Eastern European Immigration-1881-1920. New York: Union of American Hebrew Congregations, [1976-1982].
771.5 EIS
Eyewitnesses to American Jewish history : A history of American Jewry-Part I-From the Colonial Period through the Revolution-1492-1793. New York: Union of American Hebrew Congregations, [1976].
771.5 HOW
Libo, Kenneth. How we lived : a documentary history of immigrant Jews in America, 1880-1930. New York: R. Marek, [1979].
Note: A record of our most recent past, the world of parents and grandparents, the immigrant Jews who came to America between 1880-1930. Illustrated with photographs, cartoons, drawings and posters. How we lived is a delightful companion to Howe’s World of Our Fathers.
771.5 RIS
Rischin, Moses. The promised city : New York’s Jews, 1870-1914. Cambridge:
Harvard Univ. Pr., [1962].
Note: Crammed with history, statistics, sociology and insight, the mission of Rischin’s classic on the emigration and assimilation of the Jews of the the Lower East Side is to “tell the story of New York’s first great meeting with the social problems of the modern city...through the experience of the East European Jews.
772.3 KAH
Kahn, Roger. The passionate people : what it means to be a Jew in America. New York: Fawcett, [1970].
Note: Kahn met with hundreds of Jewish-Americans in all walks of life. From them he selected a gallery of individuals who struck him as repre- sentative in this readable, poignant, intense evocation of the Jews search for identity and survival in America.
772.3 WER
Wertheimer, Jack. A people divided : Judaism in contemporary America. New York, NY: BasicBooks, [1993].
Note: This brilliant analysis of American Judaism in the last half of the twentieth century won the 1993-94 National Jewish Book Award for the best
book on contemporary Jewry. Choice review journal named it the Outstanding Book of 1993. “A fascinating historical and sociological interpretation of
American Judaism…in the last half of the 20th century.”
774.1 ANG
La America : the Sephardic experience in the United States. Philadelphia: JPS, [1982].
Note: A study of the Judeo-Spanish speaking Sephardim of New York from 1910 to 1925 as seen through the eyes of Moise Gadol and his newspaper La America.
774.11 GOL
Golden, Harry. The greatest Jewish city in the world / by Harry Golden. Selected photos. by Jay Maisel.-- 1st ed.-- Garden City, N.Y : Doubleday, 1972.
Note: A reporter takes an anecdotal look at New York City and the Jewish influences which have made the city unique in the United States.
775.3 BER
Berkow, Ira. Maxwell Street : survival in a bazaar. Garden City: Doubleday, [1977].
Note: An open air market on Chicago’s West Side, Maxwell Street was the center of a Jewish ghetto about one mile square, where Jewish immigrants settled and set up business between 1880-1924. Many Maxwell Street residents rose out of the ghetto to influence American civilization-Supreme Court Justice Arthur Goldberg, William Paley of CBS, Hyman Rickover and others.
776.3 TRU
Trupin, Sophie. Dakota diaspora : memoirs of a Jewish homesteader. Berkeley : Alternative Pr., [1984].
Note: A fascinating account of pioneer life in the harsh landscape of North Dakota at the turn of the century, a place of quarter sections, sod-busting, and subsistence farming instead of ghetto streets, sweatshops and business as usual in Yiddish.
777 KRA
Sephardic Jews in the West Coast States, edited by Willliam M. Kramer. Los Angeles: Western States Jewish History, [1996]. 2 vols.
Note: Dedicated to the Sephardim who came to the American West in three waves---San Francisco during the Gold Rush period; the Turkinos and Rhodelis who centered in Seattle, Portland, and Los Angeles; and the final wave who distributed from British Columbia to Baja, these issues of WSJH stress the first two waves: Vol. 1 The San Francisco Grandees.—Vol. 2 The Los Angeles Sephardic experience.
777.1 CAL
Dollinger, Marc. California Jews. Hanover: University Press of New England,
[2003].
Note: Documents the uniqueness of West Coast Judaism, that began with the Gold Rush and flourished in the multicultural California mix, a combination that brought California Jews to power and influence a generation before their New York brethern.
777.1 LEV
Levinson, Robert E. The Jews in the California Gold Rush. New York: Ktav Pub. House, [1978].
Note: The story of the German-Jewish peddlers who arrived as early as 1849 and established clothing, mining supply, and general stories in small towns and mining camps. Among them were such future business tycoons as Levi Strauss, the Fleishhakers, an the Zellerbachs.
777.1 MOR
Morris, Susan. A Traveler’s guide to pioneer Jewish cemeteries of the California gold rush. Berkeley, CA: Judah L. Magnes Museum, [1996].
Note: Nestled in California’s gold country are seven pioneer Jewish cemeteries. The worn gravestones give evidence of family ties, community affiliations, mortality, and the violence of the frontier. Maps, illustrations, genealogy information, and walking tours.
777.1 NAR
Narell, Irena. Our city, the Jews of San Francisco / Irena Narell.-- 1st ed.-- San Diego, Calif : Howell-North Books, c1981.
Note: San Francisco Jewry’s impact on the city’s trade, manufacturing, banking, insurance, law, politics, higher education, and philanthophy. Introduces Jewish pioneer families such as the Gerstles, Slosses, Fleishhackers, Zellerbachs, Levi Strauss, and Adolph Sutro.
777.1 ROS
Rosenbaum, Fred. Free to choose: the making of the Jewish community in the American West. The Jews of Oakland, California from the Gold Rush to the present day. Berkeley: Judah L. Magnes Museum, [1976].
Note: The extraordinary Jewish personalities of early Oakland up through 1970 come alive in this narrative: madcap Jake Pantoskey, Gertrude Stein, Judah Magnes, Ray Frank Litman, and others. Here too are the social problems and social movements of the East Bay--Zionism, the KKK, Silver Shirts, German-American Bund, and the unrest of the Sixties.
777.1 ROS
Rosenbaum, Fred. Visions of reform : Congregation Emanu-El and the Jews of San Francisco, 1849-1999. Berkeley, CA: Judah L. Magnes Museum, [2000].
Note: The story of how a small congregation, Congregation Emanu-El, became a major institution in American Jewish Life, from the Gold Rush to the present, including its stellar contributions to the life of San Francisco, the arts, and music. Major personalities associated with the congregation are profiled. Visions of Reform is an updated, revised, and much expanded version of his Architects of Reform (1980).
798 POL
Polner, Murray. Jewish profiles : great Jewish personalities and institutions of the twentieth century. Northvale, N.J: J. Aronson, [1991].
Note: In-depth profiles of some of the most important Jewish personalities and institutions of the 20th century.
798 WAG
Wagenknecht, Edward. Daughters of the covenant : portraits of six Jewish women. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, [1983].
Note: Biographical sketches of Rebecca Gratz, Emma Lazarus, Amy Levy, Lillian D. Wald, Emma Goldman, and Henrietta Szold.
798.77 BIR
Birmingham, Stephen. “Our crowd” : The great Jewish families of New York. New York: Harper & Row, [1967].
Note: A history of the great German Jewish Banking families of New York. Birmingham flings the door open on some of the most reclusive and secretive oligopolies in business history.
798.77 BIR
Birmingham, Stephen. The Grandees : America’s Sephardic elite. 1st ed. New York: Harper & Row, [1971].
Note: The fascinating story of the first Sephardim to emigrate to American and their descendants.
798.77 EPS
Epstein, Melech. Profiles of eleven. Lanham, MD: University Press of America, [1987, 1965].
Note: The economic and cultural struggles of the eastern European immigrants to the United States in the early 1900’s, as witnessed through the lives and contributions of eleven different men. Their contributions in politics, education, trade-unionism, philosophy, poetry and drama helped to shape the pattern of the Jewish community.
798.77 LEB
Lebeson, Anita (Libman). Recall to life : the Jewish woman in America.
South Brunswick: T. Yoseloff, [1970.].
Note: The story of Jewish women in American history-Rebecca Gratz, Emma Lazarus, Penina Moise, Lillian Wald, Henrietta Szold, Mathilde Schechter, Jessie Sampter, Louise Waterman Wise, Tamar de Sola Pool, Anna Rosenberg, Golda Meir and many more.
799 RAP
Kann, Kenneth. Joe Rapoport, the life of a Jewish radical. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, [1981].
Note: Autobiography of knitgoods worker, trade unionist, and immigrant Jewish radical Joe Rapoport. Created through a series of oral history interviews.
799.77 CAH
Cahan, Abraham. The education of Abraham Cahan. [1st ed.]. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society of America, [1969].
Note: Autobiography of early years by the long time editor of the Jewish Daily Forward and the author of The Rise of David Levinsky.
LITERATURE AND FILM: BOOKS, VIDEOS AND FILM GUIDES
500.7 EPS
Epstein, Lawrence. The haunted smile : the story of Jewish comedians in America. New York: Public Affairs, [2001].
Note: The jokes, routines, and anecdotes that made Jewish comedy into an American idiom. Offers a deep and subtle understanding of how Jewish culture and American openness gave birth to a new style of entertainment.
520 JEW
Chametzky, Jules. Jewish American literature : a Norton anthology. 1st ed. New York: Norton, [2001].
Note: Surveying contributions from the earliest American Jewish author writing in 1656, to those born in the 1960’s, this anthology seeks Jewish identity within all genres--fiction, poetry, drama, memoir, songs, humor, letters,and more.
537 TEL
Telushkin, Joseph. Jewish Humor : what the best Jewish jokes say about the Jews. New York: W. Morrow, [1992].
Note: Telushkin trots out Jackie Mason, Sigmund Freud, Leo Roston, wise rabbis, the fabled fools of Chelm, anti-semites, the schnorrers, big shots and host of unknown comics for a higher purpose. Was the shtetl a forerunner of Catskills on Broadway? Why are comedians so often Jewish? Why ask questions? Just listen to the rabbi and laugh. Wit and scholarship combined.
557 CHA
Chapman, Abraham. Jewish-American literature : an anthology of fiction, poetry, autobiography, and criticism. New York: New American Library, [1974].
Note: A selection of the most important 20th century Jewish authors in the United States, and a survey of one of the major ethnic influences in American writing.
557.3 RIS
Angoff, Charles. The rise of American Jewish literature : an anthology of selections from the major novels. New York: Simon and Schuster, [1970].
Note: Selections from 22 major Jewish writers in the United States, assemble a portrait of American Jewish life in development. Social history through the novel.
VIDEO 638.3 NUM JX131
Littman, Lynne. Number our days. Santa Monica, CA: Direct Cinema Limited,
[1983].
Note: Portrait of a community of elderly eastern European Jews living in Venice, California, a group of disadvantaged but resilient individuals sustaining their vivid cultural heritage amid poverty and loneliness in modern America.
VIDEO 660.8 RET RI300
Rosenbush, Mimi. Return trips. Santa Monica, CA: Direct Cinema Limited, [1991].
Note: Chronicles the Americanization of early Jewish immigrants and the ‘return’ to spiritual values of the generation formed by the counter culture movement of the 1960’s.
691.9 COH
Cohen, Sarah Blacher. From Hester Street to Hollywood : the Jewish-American stage and screen. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, [1983].
Note: The Jewish contribution to American popular culture has been prolific and profound. This volume examines the influence of Jewish-American dramatists, nightclub performers, and filmmakers from 1920 to the present.
VIDEO 692 HOL JX344
Gabler, Neil. Hollywood : an empire of their own. New York: A & E Home Video : dist. by New Video Group, [1998, 1997].
Note: In the 1920’s six Jewish immigrant businessmen headed for Los Angeles to set up studios that became the foundation of the American movie industry. Documents the effect on major Hollywood films, of Eastern European Jewish culture through the stories of movie moguls including William Fox, Samuel Goldwin, Harry Warner, Harry Cohn, Adolph Zucker, Louis B. Mayer, and Carl Laemmle.
VIDEO 692.77 AME
Friedman, Lester D. American Jewish directors : Three visions of the American Jewish experience [film group guide]. New York, N.Y: Jewish Media Fund, [1995].
Note: This course examines the American Jewish experience as represented in the work of three important movie directors, Woody Allen, Sidney Lumet, and Paul Mazursky, each of whom deals with issues that define and distinguish American Jewish life.
VIDEO 692.77 AME
Jewish Museum, The. American Jewish comedy : An Introduction [Film group guide]. New York, N.Y: Jewish Media Fund, [1995].
Note: This course examines different views of the nature of Jewish humor and traces the tradition of Jewish humor from the Old World to American shores. It presents five superlative examples of American Jewish comedy produced over a fifty year period, places them in the context of their times, and considers how and why they continue to make us laugh today.
VIDEO 692.77 JEW
Friedman, Lester D. The Jewish image in American film : A Century of Jewish characters and themes [Film group guide]. New York, N.Y: Jewish Media Fund, [1996].
Note: Arranged by decade, this material is designed for use as course material for classes studying the Jewish image in American film. The course focuses on American Jewish films centering on Jewish issues and American Jewish screen characters.
VIDEO 692.77 MOR
Fishman, Sylvia Barack. More than just chemistry: the romantic choices of American Jews [Film group guide]. New York, N.Y: Jewish Media Fund, [1995].
Note: Romantic love, often presented as pure chemistry, is frequently much more. Instead, romantic choices in Jewish American films are often invested with larger social, economic, or psychological goals and may be tied generational conflict, social movements, or the task of acculturation.
VIDEO 692.77 YID
Yiddish culture : between the old world and the new [Film group guide]. New York, Jewish Media Fund, [1995].
Explores the culture associated with the Yiddish language, that developed in Europe and was brought to America in the great wave of immigration around the turn of the century. Includes feature films and documentaries, in both Yiddish and English, and background on the language and its place in Jewish life, in order to convey the richness of a culture that, despite losses through migration, assimilation and the Holocaust, continues to speak to us today.
771.5 HIN
Hindus, Milton. The old East Side, 1881-1924 : an anthology.
Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Soc, [1969].
Note: A collection of literature and documents ranging from the autobiography of Jacob Epstein and the novels of Abraham Cahan to the reporting of William Dean Howells, and the fictional reconstruction of a vanished world by Henry Roth, the old shtetl transplanted to the new country, where the ghetto (1881-1924) was an unstable mix of nostalgia and the pressures of American economic and social reality. “If the Eastern European Jew had not existed, America would have had to invent him.”
VIDEO 774.12 HIS JX184
His people. Waltham, MA: National Center for Jewish Film, [1925, 1991].
Note: A restored American silent film provides a highly specific feel for Manhatten’s lower east side in the early years of the century. The story focuses on the problems of immigrant assimilation between parents and children and brother to brother.
VIDEO 923 FOR
The Forward : from immigrants to Americans. Los Angeles, CA: Direct Cinema Ltd, [1989].
Note: Between 1880 and 1925, two and a half million Yiddish speaking Jews immigrated to America, leading to a florishing Yiddish publishing industry. The Jewish Daily Forward, founded in 1898 by Abraham Cahan, was the most famous and influencial of the Yiddish newspapers. It served as a guide to transition for the immigrants, helping Yiddish speakers assimilate into the American mainstream by covering a range of topics, from citizenship to canning fruit. This film follows the paper up to 1987.
VIDEO 923 FRE
Free voice of labor : the Jewish anarchists. New York, N.Y: Cinema Guild, [1980].
Note: Anarchism, which rejected government in all its forms. was the largest radical movement among Jewish Immigrants in the 1880s and 1890s. It ontinued to attract fervent supporters in the early decades of the 20th century. This documentary focuses on the Jewish anarchists as disillusioned imigrants in American sweatshops. In 1977 as the Jewish anarchist newspaper Freie Arbeiter Stimme was about cease publication after 87 years, the filmmakers interviewed the elderly anarchists about the movement.
VIDEO COMEDY APP
Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz. Hollywood, CA : Paramount Home Video, c1974.
Note: Set in 1948 Montreal in a Jewish ghetto, a young Dreyfuss gives an excellent performance as the rascally title character, driven, determined, scheming, and manipulative, who suffers through years of self-abuse in an effort to become somebody.
VIDEO COMEDY AVA
Avalon. Burbank, CA: RCA/Columbia Pictures Home Video, [1991].
Note: Barry Levinson’s critically-acclaimed, semi-autobiographical film follows immigrant Sam Krichinsky and his extended family as they seek a dream called America in a place called Avalon.
VIDEO COMEDY BRI
Brighton Beach Memoirs. New York, N.Y. : Jewish Media Fund, 1997
Note: Fifteen-year-old Eugene Jerome is desperately trying to uncover life’s mysteries, but his family keeps hiding the clues. A hilarious 1930’s Brooklyn coming-of-age film.
VIDEO FIC CRO
Crossing Delancey. Burbank, CA: Warner, [1989].
Note: When 30 something, oh-so-sophisticated Izzy Grossman’s Bubbie hires a matchmaker to find Izzy a husband, Izzy’s life takes a surprising and hilarious detour.
VIDEO COMEDY GOO
Goodbye, Columbus. Hollywood: Paramount Home Video, [1979].
Note: Comedy based on Philip Roth’s best-selling social satire about a poor Bronx librarian and a pampered Jewish princess who fall in love and try to
cross class lines. Library also owns print copy.
VIDEO FIC HES
Hester Street. New York: First Run, [1974].
Note: Russian immigrants to the Lower East Side, Jake and Gitl, encounter trials and tribulations as they discard old world traditions and adjust to to life in America in 1896. Beautifully filmed. A genuine jewel of a tale.
VIDEO COMEDY IMP
The imported bridegroom. Teaneck, NJ: Ergo, [1992].
Note: Asriel Stroon, a widowed landlord in turn-of-the-century America, goes back to the old country to pray for the Almighty to wipe away his sins. While there, he bids on an old fashioned bridegroom for his “modern” daughter Flora, who has her eye set on an American doctor instead.
VIDEO COMEDY NEX
Next stop, Greenwich Village. New York : Jewish Media Fund, 1997.
Note: Set in the 50’s, Larry Lapinsky leaves his home in Brooklyn for the freedom and excitement of Greenwich Village. There he starts his acting career, falls in with a group of free spirits and learns to cope with his overbearing mother.
VIDEO FIC PRI
A price above rubies. Burbank, CA: Miramax, [1998].
Note: Sonia, a member of a closed Hadsidic community, has always done just what was expected: she married the right man, moved into the right neighborhood and had a beautiful baby. And yet, when she discovers an exciting world beyond her tightly knit community, it sparks a desire for independence that threatens the security of her perfect life.
VIDEO FIC STR
Street scene. Sandy Hook, CT: Video Yesteryear, [1987].
Note: A bold exploration of Jewish immigrant life in America early in the 20th century. Events--a murder, manhunt, and community reactions—explores themes of assimilation, socialism, anti-Semitism, and identity.
AUDIO FIC CHA
Chabon, Michael. The amazing adventures of Kavalier and Clay [sound recording]. Brilliance Audio, [2000].
Note: Epic novel set in New York and Prague introduces two misfit young men who make it big by creating comic book superheroes. Kavalier and Clay people their comics with their fantasies and desires personified. Library also owns print copy.
FIC BAR
Barker, Shirley. Strange wives. New York: Crown, [1963].
Note: The Jewish families of Lisbon had to practice their religion in secret, until they heard of Roger Williams’ declaration that the people of Rhode Island could believe what they would. The Bravos and the Touros came to the New World, built a synagogue in 1793, began to assimilate, and to
intermarry.
FIC BEL
Bellow, Saul. Herzog. New York: Viking, [1976].
Note: The tale of Moses E. Herzog, a tragically confused intellectual who suffers from the breakup of his second marriage, the general failure of his life and the specter of growing up Jewish in the middle part of the 20th century. Herzog’s ability to reflect on himself and life sharpens even as his sanity slowly breaks apart. A stylistic tour-de-force brimming with Joycean riffs and brilliant intensity.
FIC CAH
Cahan, Abraham. The rise of David Levinsky. Large Print ed. introduction by Seth Lipsky ; notes by Katrina Irving. New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers, [1999].
Note: The rags to riches story of a determined immigrant Jew on New York’s Lower East Side in the 1880’s.
FIC DOC
Doctorow, E. L. World’s fair. 1st ed. New York: Random House, [1985].
Note: A young boy’s life in the New York City of the 1930s, a stunning recreation of the sights, sounds, aromas and emotions of a time when the streets were safe, families stuck together through thick and thin, and all the promises of a generation culminate in a single great World’s Fair.
AUDIO FIC FER
Ferber, Edna. Fanny herself [sound recording]. Jewish Contemporary Classics, [2000].
Note; “Fanny Herself,” an autobiographical, coming-of-age novel written in 1917, tells the story of a spirited Jewish girl growing up in the Midwest in the beginning of the 20th century.
FIC GOL
Gold, Herbert. Fathers : a novel in the form of a memoir. New York: Random
House, [1966].
Note: In this “fictional” biography, Herbert Gold recounts the story of his father’s immigration to America after his parents are killed during a bombing of their tiny village in 1914.
FIC GOL
Gold, Michael. Jews without money. New York: Carroll & Graf, [1930, 1958].
Note: Gold takes dead aim at the corruption of capitalism and the death of potential in this fictionalized autobiography, offering an candid look at the immigrant thieves, gangsters, and ordinary citizens who struggled against brutal odds in lower East Side Manhattan in the 1920’s.
FIC GOL
Goldstein, Rebecca. Mazel. New York: Viking, [1995].
Note: Mazel [luck] is the guiding force in this magical and mesmerizing novel spanning three generations. Sasha is the daughter of a Polish rabbi who abandons the shtetl and wins renown as a Yiddish actress in Warsaw and New York. Her daughter Chloe becomes a professor of classics at Columbia. Chloe’s daughter Phoebe grows up to become a mathematician drawn to traditional Judaism and the sort of domestic life her mother and grandmother rejected.
FIC HEL
Heller, Joseph. Good as Gold. New York: Simon, [1979].
Note: The hilarious story of a middle-aged English professor Dr. Bruce Gold and his encounter with White House politics takes readers into the heart of the Jewish experience in contemporary America.
FIC HOB
Hobson, Laura Z. Gentleman’s agreement. New York: Simon, [1947].
Note: Phil Green, a gentile, poses as a jew in order to write a magazine story about anti-semitism in America. As he researches his story, he becomes increasingly angered by the insidious snubs he receives, soon coming into conflict with his fiancee and her social set, as they adhere to the “gentleman’s agreement”—the exclusion of Jews. The novel was made into an Academy Award winning film. Library also owns Video.
FIC HOW
Howe, Irving. Jewish American stories. New American Library, [1977].
Note: Twenty-six short stories selected by Irving Howe for this outstanding collection. In them are reflected one the the greatest American exper- iences---the soul-shaking changes that occur when age-old Jewish tra- ditions contact the ideas of the New World. Authors are a who’s who of American literature.
FIC MIL
Miller, Arthur. Focus. Syracuse Univ. Pr., [1984].
Note: Anyone who has ever felt alienated for any reason can empathize with Lawrence Newman, the Christian protagonist, who attempts to no end to conform to his anti-semitic neighbors’ absurd standards. His boss orders him to purchase glasses due to his myopia (irony indeed) and then his perfect world turns upside down as he himself is branded as “looking Jewish” by his neighbors, his boss, and even his mother.
FIC POT
Potok Chaim. The chosen. New York : Simon and Schuster, [1967].
Note: Two fathers, two sons in the aftermath of World War II up until the establishment of Israel, interact with life and face the pressures to pursue the Judaism they share in the way that is best suited to each.
FIC ROS
[Rosten, Leo Calvin]. The education of H*y*m*a*n K*a*p*l*a*n. New York:
Harcourt, Brace and company, [1938].
Note: Hyman Kaplan is a leader of men, an inspiring, eloquent orator with a true sense of drama. He forges his own paths, makes his own rules. Unfortunately, those rules only rarely coincide with those of grammar, spelling and pronunciation. Hilarious testimony to the talents of immigrants as well as their tribulations.
AUDIO FIC ROT
Roth, Henry. Call it sleep [sound recording]. Prince Frederick, MD: Recorded Books, [1994].
Note: Lauded as the most profound novel of Jewish life ever written by an American, Call It Sleep seamlessly weaves together the pains and joys of immigrant life in the Lower East Side. Roth transforms the gutter realities of the East Side into lyrical prose. Library also owns print copy.
FIC ROT
Roth, Philip. Goodbye Columbus and five short stories. New York : Modern Library, 1995.
Note: Comedy based on Philip Roth’s best-selling social satire about a poor Bronx librarian and a pampered Jewish princess who fall in love and try to cross class lines. Library also owns video.
FIC STE
Stewart, Fred Mustard. Ellis Island : a novel. 1st ed. New York: Morrow, [1983].
Note: Five young immigrants fled their homelands for America--a Jew, an Italian, a Bohemian, and two young Irish women. Each of them pass through “America’s haunted house” Ellis Island. This is their story.
FIC WAG
Wagner, Eliot. My America! New York: Kenan Press, [1980].
Note: In “My America!”, a Jewish version of the American Dream, Wagner chronicles the lives of the philandering Hymie Share (a kind of Jewish American Leopold Bloom), his long-suffering wife Golda, and their three children, Danny, Naomi, and Leah with a commingling of poignancy and humor. An exuberant book that crackles with humor and goodwill.
FIC WOU
Wouk, Herman. Inside, outside : a novel. 1st ed. Boston: Little, Brown, [1985].
Note: Fascinating, funny, romantic, wise, this a stunning exploration of the American Jewish experience - the heartfelt tale of every immigrant torn between the culture of his forefathers and the glorious temptations of a new land’s dream. Wouk’s funniest book.
FIC YEZ
Yezierska, Anzia. Bread givers : a novel. New York: Persea Books, [1999].
Note: Sara, the youngest daughter of an Orthodox rabbi, watches as her father marries off her sisters to men they don’t love. The sadness and injustice of their broken lives fuels her rebellion against her father’s rigid conception of Jewish womanhood.
CHILDREN’S MATERIALS
J 224.799 POR
Portnoy, Mindy Avra and Rubin, Steffi Karen. Ima on the bima : my mommy is a rabbi. Rockville, MD: Kar-Ben Copies, [1986].
Note: Through the eyes of her daughter, describes the activities of Mindy Avra Portnoy in her job as a Rabbi. Includes description of synagogue and
religious education activities and symbols.
J 285 COH
Cohen, Barbara and Deraney, Michael J. Molly’s pilgrim. 1st ed. New York:
Lothrop, Lee, and Shepard, [1983].
Note: Told to make a doll like a pilgrim for the Thanksgiving display at school, Molly’s Jewish mother dresses the doll as she herself dressed before leaving Russia to seek religious freedom--much to Molly’s embarrassment.
J 604.1 LED
Leder, Jane Mersky. A Russian Jewish family. Minneapolis: Lerner Publications Co, [1996].
Note: Describes one Jewish family’s fourteen year struggle to emigrate from Leningrad in the Soviet Union to Chicago, Illinois, and the adjustments they hve made.
J 636 ROS
Rosenblum, Richard. The old synagogue. 1st ed. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, [1989].
Note: In this fictionalized story of the life-cycle of a synagogue, a once beautiful synagogue on a crowded street in a big city is abandoned and becomes a factory when the original neighborhood inhabitants become more prosperous and move away; but as time goes by young Jewish families rediscover the area, move in, and restore to beauty the old synagogue.
J 770 FIN
Finkelstein, Norman H. Forged in freedom : shaping the Jewish-American experience. Philadelphia, PA: Jewish Publication Society, [2002].
Note: A history in words and photographs of the growth of the Jewish community in the United States and its contributions to American culture, politics, and economics in the twentieth century.
J 770 MEL
Meltzer, Milton and Meltzer, Milton. The Jews in America : a picture album.
Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society of America, [1985].
Note: Pictures and text present the Jewish immigrant and assimilation experience in America from the colonial period to the 1980’s.
J 770 TEL
Telushkin, Joseph. The golden land : the story of Jewish immigration to America: experience the achievements of American Jews through removable documents and artifacts. 1st ed. New York: Harmony Books, [2002].
Note: Part book, part archive, part museum-between-covers, Golden Land is a history of Jewish immigration to America told via photos, page cuts and folds, and facsimile documents. An excellent learning resource for all ages.
J 770.3 LEI
Leiman, Sondra. America : the Jewish experience. New York: UAHC Press, [1994].
Note: Experience the story of American Jews from their early settlement in 1654 to the challenging events of the 90’s. This text combines history,
literature, original documents, maps photographs, and illustrations to reveal the details of American Jewish life. Recommended for grades 4-6.
J 770.5 FIS
Fisher, Leonard Everett. Ellis Island : gateway to the New World. 1st ed. New York: Holiday House, [1986].
Note: A history of immigration through the port of New York, with special focus on the processing at Ellis Island--the starting point for the family history and genealogy of thousands of Americans.
WWW 770.5 TIM
Timeline of events : Jewish life in America [webconnect]. New York: Celebrate 350 Jewish Life in America, [2004].
Note: With a September 2004 launch, the national Jewish community will initiate a year-long series of programs marking 350 years of communal life in America. Celebrate 350: Jewish Life in America 1654-2004 will coordinate this year-long celebration. As the hub of an extensive network of organizations and programs, Celebrate 350 provides resources, stimulates ideas, and links the many projects, programs, and enterprises marking the event and this searchable timeline of Jewish American history.
J 771 LIN
Lingen, Marissa. The Jewish Americans. Philadelphia: Mason Crest Publishers,
[2002].
Note: A brief history of Jewish Americans for primary age readers.
J 771.1 COS
Costabel, Eva Deutsch. The Jews of New Amsterdam. 1st ed. New York: Atheneum,
[1988].
Note: Traces the events leading to the arrival of the first group of Jews in the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam in 1654 and describes how they adapted and eventually prospered under Dutch, and later British, rule.
771.1 LEW
Touro Synagogue : National historic site. Newport Historical Society, [1975].
Touro Synagogue, dedicated in 1762, is the oldest synagogue in the United States and the only one that survives from the colonial era. The congregation was founded in 1658 by Sephardim, descendants of Marranos who fled the Inquisition.
J 771.5 COH
Cohen, Barbara and Brodsky, Beverly. Gooseberries to oranges. 1st ed. New York:
Lothrop, Lee & Shepard, [1982].
Note: A young girl reminisces about the journey from her cholera-ravaged village in Russia to the United States where she is reunited with her father.
J 771.5 FRE
Freedman, Russell. Immigrant kids. 1st ed. New York: Dutton, [1980].
Note: Text and contemporary photographs chronicle the life of immigrant children at home, school, work, and play during the late 1800’s and early 1900’s.
J 771.5 HAB
Haberle, Susan E. Jewish immigrants, 1880-1924. Mankato, Minn: Blue Earth Books, [2003].
Note: Discusses reasons why Jewish people left their homelands to come to America, the experiences immigrants had in the new country, and contributions they made to American society.
J 771.5 HES
Hest, Amy and Lynch, Patrick James. When Jessie came across the sea. 1st U.S. ed. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick Press, [1997].
Note: A thirteen-year-old Jewish orphan reluctantly leaves her grandmother and emigrates to New York City, where she works for three years sewing lace and earning money to bring Grandmother to the United States, too.
J 771.5 HOP
Hopkinson, Deborah. Shutting out the sky : life in the tenements of New York,1880-1924. 1st ed. New York: Orchard Books, [2003].
Note: Photographs and text document and compare the immigrant experiences of five individuals who came to live in the Lower East Side of New York City as children or young adults from Belarus, Italy, Lithuania, and Romania at the turn of the twentieth century.
J 771.5 ROS
Rosenberg, Liz and Peck, Beth. Grandmother and the runaway shadow. 1st ed. San Diego: Harcourt Brace & Co, [1996].
Note: Relates how Grandmother, accompanied by a mischievous shadow, emigrated from Russia to the United States.
J 771.6 BIE
Bierman, Carol. Journey to Ellis Island : how my father came to America. 1st. ed. Toronto, Canada: Madison Press Books, [1998].
Note: An account of an ocean voyage and arrival at Ellis Island of eleven-year-old Julius Weinstein who, along with his mother and younger sister
immigrated from Russia in 1922.
J 798.1 SCH
Schleifer, Jay. A student’s guide to Jewish American genealogy. Phoenix, Ariz: Oryx Press, [1996].
Note: Guides the student from the box of old photos found in the family closet to the tools and techniques of genealogical research into Jewish family history.
J 798.77 HON
Honoring 1776 and famous Jews in American history. N.p.: Joseph Org, [1972].
Note: Spotlights famous American Jews, beginning with Jacob Barsimson, the first Jews to settle in New Amsterdam.
J 798.77 BRO
Brody, Seymour. Jewish heroes in America. New York: Shapolsky Publ, [1991].
Note: 101 true stories of American Jewish heroism: settlers, pioneers, war heroes, religious leaders, labor and social justice activists, doctors and scientists, judicial giants, politicians, athletes, and astronauts, from the Colonial Period to modern times.
J 798.77 BRO
Brooks, Philip. Extraordinary Jewish Americans. New York: Children’s Press,
[1998].
Note: Short biographies of more than sixty Jewish Americans who have flourished in careers including law, finance, entertainment, writing, politics, and science.
J 799 MYE
Wise, W. Myer Myers : silversmith of old New York. Farrar, Straus, and Cudahy, [1958].
Note: The story of Jewish silversmith Myer Myers,the most productive silversmith working in New York during the late Colonial period and his ritual and secular silver is the largest body of extant work by a Jewish silversmith from anywhere in Europe or America prior to the nineteenth century.
J 799 SAL
Milgrim, Shirley Gorson and Fish, Richard G. Haym Salomon, liberty’s son. 1st ed. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society of America, [1975].
Note: A biography of the Polish-born Jew who cast his lot with the American rebels, helping to finance the American Revolution and later to save the new nation from economic collapse.
J 799.77 WIS
Gumbiner, Joseph H. Isaac Mayer Wise : pioneer of American Judaism. New York: UAHC, [1959].
Note: The founder of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations (UAHC), Rabbi Wise was central to the rise of Reform Judaism in the United States.
J 799.77 CAR
Hirschfelder, Arlene B. Photo odyssey : Solomon Carvalho’s remarkable Western adventure, 1853-54. New York: Clarion Books, [2000].
Note: Describes the life of Carvalho, a Jewish photographer who accompanied John Charles Fremont on his last expedition to the West.
J 799.77 GRA
Biskin, Miriam. Pattern for a heroine : the life-story of Rebecca Gratz. New York: Union of American Hebrew Congregations, [1967].
Note: Rebecca established the first Hebrew Sunday School in the United States and promoted Jewish religious education. Fictionalized biography.
J 799.77 LAZ
Levinson, Nancy Smiler. I lift my lamp : Emma Lazarus and the Statue of Liberty. 1st ed. New York: Dutton, [1986].
Note: A biography of the American poet, activist for humane causes, and friend to immigrants, who authored the noble words now inscribed on the Statue of Liberty.
J 799.77 LEV
Felton, Harold W. Uriah Phillips Levy. New York: Dodd & Mead, [1978].
Note: A biography of the Jewish American who fought anti-semitism within the United States Navy and was instrumental in preserving Thomas Jefferson’s home, Monticello.
J 799.77 PIC
Perl, Lila and Ruff, Donna. Molly Picon : a gift of laughter. Philadelphia:
Jewish Publication Society, [1990].
Note: Follows the life and career of the Jewish entertainer, who performed in theater, movies, radio, and television for more than eighty years.
WWW J 957.77 FOR
For children grades 2-12 : a bibliography of colonial Jews to jump start your Ideas [webconnect]. Los Angeles: Temple Isaiah, [2003].
Note: Bibliography of fiction, non-fiction, and video sources suitable for background reading in celebration of the 350th Anniversary of Jewish life in America.
JFIC BRE
Bresnick-Perry, Roslyn and Reisberg, Mira. Leaving for America. San Francisco, Calif: Children’s Book Press, [1992].
Note: Memories of early years in a small Jewish town in western Russia as she and her mother prepare to join her father in the United States.
JFIC DEN
Denenberg, Barry. One eye laughing, the other weeping : the diary of Julie Weiss. 1st ed. New York: Scholastic, [2000].
Note: During the Nazi persecution of the Jews in Austria, twelve-year-old Julie escapes to America to live with her relatives in New York City.
JFIC GRE
Greene, Jacqueline Dembar. Out of many waters. New York: Walker, [1988].
Note: Kidnapped from their parents during the Portuguese Inquisition and sent to work as slaves at a monastery in Brazil, two Jewish sisters attempt to make their way back to Europe to find their parents, but instead one becomes part of a group founding the first Jewish settlement in the United States.
JFIC HAR
Harvey, Brett and Ray, Deborah Kogan. Immigrant girl : Becky of Eldridge Street. 1st ed. New York: Holiday House, [1987].
Note: Becky, whose family has emigrated from Russia to avoid being persecuted as Jews, finds growing up in New York City in 1910 a vivid and exciting experience. A sensitive, authentic fictional portrayal of what life was like on the Lower East Side during the immigration period.
JFIC HES
Hesse, Karen. Letters from Rifka. New York: Henry Holt, [1992].
Note: In letters to her cousin, a young Jewish girl chronicles her family’s flight from Russia in 1919 and her own experiences when she must be left in
Belgium for a while when the others emigrate to America.
JFIC KUB
Kubie, Nora Benjamin. Joel : a novel of young America. Harper, [1952].
Note: This coming of age novel about a young Jew in the American Revolution addresses how young Joel will face the problem of religion vs. democracy and love vs. religion.
JFIC LAS
Lasky, Kathryn. Dreams in the golden country : the diary of Zipporah Feldman, a Jewish immigrant girl. New York: Scholastic, [1998].
Note: Twelve-year-old Zippy, a Jewish immigrant from Russia, keeps a diary account of the first eighteen months of her family’s life on the Lower East
Side of New York City in 1903-1904.
JFIC LEV
Levitin, Sonia. Silver days. 1st ed. New York: Atheneum, [1989].
Note: Escaping from Hitler’s Germany, a prosperous Jewish family lives in a New York City tenement until Papa decides to move the family to California.
Sequel to “Journey to America”.
JFIC LEV
Levitin, Sonia and Robinson, Charles. Journey to America. [1st ed.]. New York: Atheneum, [1970].
Note: A Jewish family fleeing Nazi Germany in 1938 endures innumerable separations before they are once again united.
JFIC MOS
Moss, Marissa. Hannah’s journal : the story of an immigrant girl. 1st ed. San Diego: Silver Whistle/Harcourt, [2000].
Note: In the Russian shtetl where she and her family live, Hannah is given a diary for her tenth birthday, and in it she records the dramatic story of
her journey to America.
JP OBE
Oberman, Shjeldon. The always prayer shawl. New York: Puffin, [1997].
Note: A prayer shawl is handed down from grandfather to grandson in this story of Jewish tradition and the passage of generations.
JP POL
Polacco, Patricia. The keeping quilt. New York: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, [1988].
Note: A homemade quilt ties together the lives of four generations of an immigrant Jewish family, remaining a symbol of their enduring love and
faith.
JFIC ROS
Roseman, Kenneth. The melting pot : an adventure in New York. New York: Union of American Hebrew Congregations, [1984].
Note: As a young Jewish immigrant to New York from Russia at the turn of the century, the reader must make decisions that could mean success or failure as he tries to establish himself in his new country. A plot-your-own story.
JFIC SAC
Sachs, Marilyn. Call me Ruth. Garden City, N.Y: Doubleday, [1982].
Note: The daughter of a Russian immigrant family, newly arrived in Manhattan in 1908, has conflicting feelings about her mother’s increasingly radical union involvement.
JFIC
Taylor, Sydney.
All-of-a-kind family. Chicago : Follett Pub. Co, c1951.
Note: The adventures of five sisters growing up in a Jewish family on the Old East Side in the early twentieth century. First in the series.
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