"Jews of the Americas: Comparative Perspectives" examines the immigration and settlement of Sephardic and Ashkenazic Jews throughout the Americas from various perspectives. In Part I of the course, we will begin by taking a broad view of the Jewish historical experience, with discussions and assignments designed to foster historical thinking, familiarize students with the background to Jewish life in the Americas, and introduce them to the basic methodological concerns of studying immigrant communities.
     In Part II, we will focus more specifically on Jewish life in North and South America, paying close attention to variations within and between countries as well as to relations between Jews and other ethnic groups. Jewish experiences in a number of different national contexts (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Cuba, Peru and the United States) will be examined through studies of gender, economics, religion, and culture. In each of these areas, we will use comparison to reveal the breadth and diversity of the immigrant experience and to challenge some of the simplistic assumptions with which students and scholars alike often approach the study of this field.
     Finally, throughout the course students will be completing various aspects of their final projects, which will entail interviewing members of the Atlanta Jewish community from various national backgrounds, analyzing the data collected based on the work we have done in class, and preparing the findings for presentation on a class website. During many class sessions we will devote time to brainstorming, working on interview and research techniques, and discussing the projects in a workshop-style environment.

Course Materials:

     Most of the readings will be made available on e-reserve via EUCLID. We recommend that you purchase the following books at the Emory Bookstore:
     • Raymond Scheindlin, A Short History of the Jewish People
     • Alfred Uhry, The Last Night of Ballyhoo
     • Jacobo Timerman, Prisoner Without a Name, Cell Without a Number


Course Requirements:

     Class participation is essential to your grade and consist of regular attendance, timely completion of all coursework, willingness to volunteer and respond when called on, and reading response papers aloud in class. Students will be asked to complete weekly essays that respond to the questions assigned for each meeting. They will also be responsible for working in groups to complete a final project which will entail interviewing individuals from both the United States and Latin America and presenting the results on a specially-designed website (see full project guidelines below). Final grades will be determined as follows:

35% Class participation
35% Essays
30% Final project

Note: Failure to fulfill ALL aspects of the course requirements at a satisfactory level will result in failure of the course.

All assignments in this course are governed by the Emory Honor Code.

Schedule of Classes:

PART ONE: VIEWING JEWS HISTORICALLY

Sept. 4: How Historians Think
Activity: Class will consist of an on-site visit to the Jewish sections of Historic Oakland Cemetery. Students will be broken up into groups and given one of three questions to investigate during their visit: 1) Based on your analysis of the Old Jewish Grounds, what was Jewish life like in Atlanta from 1860, when this cemetery was founded, to 1880? 2) What are the differences between the German-Jewish and Eastern-European Jewish sections of the cemetery, and what does this tell us about these two communities? 3) How do the Jewish sections of Oakland compare to the non-Jewish sections and what does this tell us about these two communities? We will have a short discussion of your results before returning to campus.

Sept. 11: Jewish History--A Mini Course
Reading:
• Raymond Scheindlin, A Short History of the Jewish People, 123-187.
Activity: Towards the end of class we will be discussing your term projects as well as practicing interview techniques.
Assignment: Answer the following questions in no more than two pages: Based on your reading, discuss the similarities and differences between Jewish life in different regions: Eastern Europe, Western Europe, the Mediterranean/Middle East? What do you imagine would happen if Jews from these regions came together in new parts of the world (the United States, Latin America, Israel)? What do you think are the most defining events in Jewish history up until 1948? Be ready to share your answers in class.

Sept. 18: Approaches to the Study of Jewish Immigration and Integration
Reading:
• Jacob Leschinsky, "Jewish Migrations, 1840-1946," in The Jews: Their History, Culture and Religion, ed. Louis Finkelstein, vol. 4, 1198-1238.
• Peter Levine, "The Promise of Sport," in Ellis Island to Ebbets Field: Sport and the American Jewish Experience, 11-25.
Activity: During the first hour of class we will be holding a writing workshop in which we will discuss your assignments. You will be asked to hand in a "rewrite" next week based on the comments you receive in class.
Assignment: Answer the following questions in no more than two pages: What countries did your family immigrate from and to and what were the most significant reasons for their migration? What were some of the challenges your family faced while integrating into their new setting and how did they respond to these challenges? Be ready to share your answers in class.

PART TWO: JEWS OF THE AMERICAS

Sept. 25: Immigration to the Americas
Reading:
• Samuel Joseph, "The Creation of the Baron de Hirsch Fund," in History of the Baron de Hirsch Fund: The Americanization of the Jewish Immigrant, 1-22.
• Cecilia Razovsky, "The Jew Rediscovers America," Jewish Social Service Quarterly 5 (Dec. 1928-Mar. 1929): 119-27
• Israel Raffalovich, "The Condition of Jewry and Judaism in South America," CCAR Yearbook 40 (1930): 414-423.
Activity: During the second hour of class we will meet with library research specialists Eric and Marie Nitschke for an orientation session.
Assignment: Imagine that you are an immigrant recently arrived in one of the large cities of the Americas. You have just gone to a Jewish social service agency to seek help. Write a diary entry of no more than two pages describing your experience (As always, be ready to share it in class).

Oct. 2: Work and Economic Life
Reading:
• Jeffrey Lesser, "'Jews are Turks who Sell on Credit': Elite Images of Arabs and Jews in Brazil," in Ignacio Klich and Jeffrey Lesser, eds., Arab and Jewish Immigrants in Latin America: Images and Realities, 38-56.
• Susan A. Glenn, "Uprisings: Women and the Mass Strike Movement," in Daughters of the Shtetl: Life and Labor in the Immigrant Generation,167-206.
Activity: In class video: Delta Jews
Assignment: Using the readings as a guide, write an essay of no more than two pages that explains how Jews are similar or different from other ethnic groups in the area of work and economic life. Be ready to share your answers in class.

Oct. 9: Race and Ethnicity
Reading:
• Leo Spitzer, "Andean Two Step: The Encounter Between Bolivians and Central European Jewish Refugees," in Comparing Jewish Societies, ed. Todd M. Endelman, 167-216.
• Isaac Goldemburg, "The Conversion," in Tropical Synagogues: Short Stories by Latin American Jewish Writers, ed. Ilan Stavans, 131-38.
• Rebecca Walker, Black, White and Jewish: Autobiography of a Shifting Self, 9-10, 23-5, 35-7, 309-11.
Due: Each group must submit the names of their four interviewees for the term project, a short rationale as to why they chose these four people, and a one-page bibliography of secondary sources.
Assignment: Both North America and Latin America are regions where people of many different racial, ethnic and national backgrounds come into contact with each other. Write the first two pages of a short story that deals with an "ethnic encounter" a Jew in one of these regions may have experienced. Be ready to read your story in class.

Oct. 16: Jewish Culture from the Street to the Elite
Reading:
• Edward J. Bristow, "The Road to Buenos Aires," in Prostitution and Prejudice: The Jewish Fight Against White Slavery, 1870-1939, 111-145.
• Alfred Uhry, The Last Night of Ballyhoo.
Assignment: As the readings make clear, some Jews tried to become American by emulating the elite culture of their societies while others acculturated through ties to the rough-and-tumble culture of the street. In an essay of no more than two pages, describe the roles that Jews play today in these two areas, drawing your examples from anywhere in the Americas. Be ready to share your answers in class.

Oct. 19: Visit to Anshe Sfard Synagogue (see description, Oct. 23)

Oct. 23: Religious Life
Activity: On the Saturday preceding class (Oct. 19), we will attend services at the Anshe Sfard Synagogue, near the Emory Campus in Virginia Highlands. Prof. Lesser will drive students who do not have their own transportation, and Prof. Goldstein will lead a walking group for those who would like to walk. The purpose of the visit is to examine the customs and style of worship in the congregation.
Assignment: Go on the World Wide Web and find websites dealing with Jewish religious life in both Latin America and North America. In an essay of not more than three pages, compare what you observed at Anshe Sfard with these examples, highlighting the ways in which the Jews of each region practice their religion while also giving a sense of the diversity within each region. Hand in a list of the websites you visited along with your essay. We will look at some of these websites together in class.
Note: Since there is no specific reading for this week, please begin to to the reading for next week, which is more extensive than usual.

Oct. 30: Political Culture
Reading:
• Jacob Timmerman, Prisoner Without a Name, Cell Without a Number
• Kim Chernin, In My Mother's House, 84-104.
Activity: In-class video: Havana nagila
Assignment: In an essay of no more than two pages, cite at least three examples of Jewish involvement in politics today in the Americas. Do these examples seem to follow any specific pattern? Is there anything discernibly "Jewish" about this involvement? Be ready to share your answers in class.
Reminder: Pick up the packet of documents you will need to complete the essay due on Nov. 13.

Nov. 6: Web instruction for final project
Guest: Shannon O'Daniel, Emory Center for Interactive Teaching (ECIT)
Due: All interviews for the term project must be completed by this date.

Nov. 13: Antisemitism in the Americas
Assignment: Two weeks in advance, you will given a packet of original historical documents dealing with antisemitism in some part or parts of the Americas. Your task is to analyze these documents and in an essay of 4-5 pages, explaining why they are important for the study of Jewish history in the region they address. As historians, what can we learn from these documents about the societies that produced them?

Nov. 20: Project Troubleshooting
We will devote this session to in-class troubleshooting to help each group refine its project.

Nov. 27: No Class -- Thanksgiving

Dec. 4: Final Presentations
Please invite friends and family!

Final Project Guidelines