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Women and American Judaism: Historical Perspectives (Brandeis Series in American Jewish History, Culture, and Life) Paperback – June 1, 2001

by Pamela S. Nadell (Editor), Jonathan D. Sarna (Editor)

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In April 1998, the front page of the Los Angeles Times proclaimed that Jews "live in extraordinary times, when American women have transformed their status in Judaism, creating one of the most dramatic cultural shifts in centuries of Jewish history." At the end of the 20th century Jewish women had indeed redefined the ways they lived their Judaism: innovative religious ceremonies welcoming the birth of daughters proliferated, girls came to mark their bat mitzvah, and Jewish women turned out for feminist seders and became rabbis. As the 12 essays in this volume demonstrate, Jewish women from the colonial era to the present have continually reshaped their roles as Jews and as members of their synagogues and communities. Offering nothing less than a gendered overview of three centuries of American Jewish religious life, the authors raise key questions about how women from across the nation conceptualized their ideas of Jewish womanhood even as they transformed their roles at home, in synagogues, as volunteers, and in the public eye.

Editorial Reviews

Review

In April 1998, the front page of the Los Angeles Times
proclaimed that Jews "live in extraordinary times, when American
women have transformed their status in Judaism, creating one of the
most dramatic cultural shifts in centuries of Jewish history." At
the end of the 20th century Jewish women had indeed redefined the ways
they lived their Judaism: innovative religious ceremonies welcoming the
birth of daughters proliferated, girls came to mark their bat mitzvah,
and Jewish women turned out for feminist seders and became rabbis.

As the 12 essays in this volume demonstrate, Jewish women from the
colonial era to the present have continually reshaped their roles as
Jews and as members of their synagogues and communities. Offering
nothing less than a gendered overview of three centuries of American
Jewish religious life, the authors raise key questions about how women
from across the nation conceptualized their ideas of Jewish womanhood
even as they transformed their roles at home, in synagogues, as
volunteers, and in the public eye.

From the Publisher

6 x 9 trim. 7 illus. LC 2001-001236

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Brandeis University Press (June 1, 2001)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 340 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1584651245
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1584651246
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.15 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 1 x 9 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #2,947,028 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #547 in Women & Judaism
- #1,874 in Jewish Social Studies
- #6,693 in General Gender Studies

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Pamela S. Nadell
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Pamela S. Nadell's books include America's Jewish Women: A History from Colonial Times to Today (March 2019) and Women Who Would Be Rabbis: A History of Women’s Ordination, 1889-1985 (1998). She holds the Patrick Clendenen Chair in Women’s and Gender History at American University in Washington, DC. A popular lecturer, she has written for the Washington Post, Hadassah magazine, Lilith,and many academic journals.
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Jonathan D. Sarna
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Jonathan D. Sarna (1955- ) is the Joseph H. & Belle R. Braun Professor of American Jewish History and Chair of the Hornstein Jewish Professional Leadership Program at Brandeis University, as well as Chief Historian of the new National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia.
Dubbed by the Forward newspaper in 2004 as one of America’s fifty most influential American Jews, he was Chief Historian for the 350th commemoration of the American Jewish community, and is recognized as a leading commentator on American Jewish history, religion and life. He is the only American Jewish historian ever elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Born in Philadelphia, and raised in New York and Boston, Dr. Sarna attended Brandeis University, the Boston Hebrew College, Merkaz HaRav Kook in Jerusalem, and Yale University, where he obtained his doctorate.
He has taught and lectured on four continents, has appeared in half-a-dozen documentary films, and is regularly quoted in newspapers across the world.
Sarna is perhaps the field’s most prolific scholar. He has published hundreds of scholarly articles, writes a column in the Forward entitled “Now and Then” (because, he says, he produces it “now and then”) and has written, edited or coedited more than thirty books, including, most recently, When General Grant Expelled the Jews..
He is probably best known for his acclaimed American Judaism: A History, winner of the Jewish Book Council’s “Jewish Book of the Year Award.” It has been praised as being “the single best description of American Judaism during its 350 years on American soil.”
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