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Author:

Rabin, Shari, author.

Title:

Jews on the frontier : religion and mobility in nineteenth-century America / Shari Rabin.

Publisher:

New York University Press,

Copyright Date:

2017

Description:

viii, 193 pages ; 24 cm.

Subject:

Judaism--United States--History--19th century.
Jews--United States--History--History--19th century.
Jews--United States--History--History--19th century.
Migration, Internal--United States--History--19th century.
Jews--Identity.
Jews--Migrations.
Judaism.
Migration, Internal.
United States.
1800-1899
History.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 147-184) and index.

Contents:

Introduction : Judaism, America, mobility -- Part I. Movement and belonging. Wandering sons of Israel : Europe, America, and the politics of Jewish mobility -- Reminding myself that I am a Jew : voluntarism and social life -- Part II. The lived religion of American Jews. I prefer choice myself : family and the state -- 'Tis in the spirit not in the form : material culture and popular theology -- Part III. Creating an American Judaism. A congregation of strangers : the mobile infrastructure -- The empire of our religion : the mobile imaginary -- Conclusion : the spirit of '77.

Summary:

An engaging history of how Jews forged their own religious culture on the American frontier Jews on the Frontier offers a religious history that begins in an unexpected place: on the road. Shari Rabin recounts the journey of Jewish people as they left Eastern cities and ventured into the American West and South during the nineteenth century. It brings to life the successes and obstacles of these travels, from the unprecedented economic opportunities to the anonymity and loneliness that complicated the many legal obligations of traditional Jewish life. Without government-supported communities or reliable authorities, where could one procure kosher meat? Alone in the American wilderness, how could one find nine co-religionists for a minyan (prayer quorum)? Without identity documents, how could one really know that someone was Jewish? Rabin argues that Jewish mobility during this time was pivotal to the development of American Judaism. In the absence of key institutions like synagogues or charitable organizations which had played such a pivotal role in assimilating East Coast immigrants, ordinary Jews on the frontier created religious life from scratch, expanding and transforming Jewish thought and practice. Jews on the Frontier vividly recounts the story of a neglected era in American Jewish history, offering a new interpretation of American religions, rooted not in congregations or denominations, but in the politics and experiences of being on the move. This book shows that by focusing on everyday people, we gain a more complete view of how American religion has taken shape.

Series:

North American religions

ISBN:

147983047X
9781479830473

OCLC:

(OCoLC)982532742

LCCN:

2017008074

Locations:

OVUX522 -- University of Iowa Libraries (Iowa City)