Jewish Studies Commons^™

The Holocaust's Legacy: Influencing Jewish Political Identity, Jordan Eskew

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This thesis addresses the intricate relationship between the historical persecution of the Holocaust and its enduring influence on contemporary Jewish political engagement, a subject of significant contemporary relevance in political and international relations. Despite broad recognition of the Holocaust’s impact, the specific ways in which its memory affects Jewish political attitudes and actions around the world in the modern day have not been sufficiently thoroughly examined. Utilizing qualitative methods, including interviews with 20 individuals—public figures, Holocaust survivors, their descendants, and broader members of the Jewish diaspora— this study focuses on understanding the interplay between historical trauma, community cohesion, and the …

Schonbrun, Joshua, Kathryn Amend

Bronx Jewish History Project

Rabbi Joshua Schonbrun was born in 1930 and grew up on Clinton Avenue in the Bronx, part of a close-knit, heavily Jewish neighborhood. His upbringing was deeply shaped by Jewish education, family tradition, and the presence of immigrant culture. His father was a Polish immigrant who came to the U.S. in the 1920s, and his mother was of Romanian and Hungarian descent. Rabbi Schonbrun attended Jewish day school and later the Yeshiva of the Bronx, eventually pursuing his rabbinical ordination at Yeshiva University.

As a young man, he witnessed the transformation of Jewish life in the Bronx, including the shift …

Moral Exemplars Of Note - Teresa Langness, Sam And Pearl Oliner

Moral Exemplars Study

No abstract provided.

Moral Exemplars Of Note - Dr. Susan Osborn, Sam And Pearl Oliner

Moral Exemplars Study

No abstract provided.

Moral Exemplars Of Note - Rodney Paul Gilliam, Sam And Pearl Oliner

Moral Exemplars Study

No abstract provided.

Moral Exemplars Of Note - Mary Larson, Sam And Pearl Oliner

Moral Exemplars Study

No abstract provided.

Moral Exemplars Of Note - Dr. Mimi Silbert, Sam And Pearl Oliner

Moral Exemplars Study

No abstract provided.

Moral Exemplars Of Note - Kevin Morris, Sam And Pearl Oliner

Moral Exemplars Study

No abstract provided.

To The Dark Boundary: Holocaust Poetry As Testimony And Message, Gabriel Shapiro

Graduate Liberal Studies Theses and Dissertations

In the years after the Holocaust, there was concern that to write poetry after Auschwitz was, in the word of the philosopher Theodor Adorno, “barbaric,” that the lyrical aspects of poetry were not appropriate for the horror witnessed in the death camps. Despite Adorno’s warning, Holocaust poetry flourished out of the needs of poets to recount and honor a past that was passing out of survivors’ personal reflections into the twenty-first century. Holocaust poetry liberates the poet’s testimony as a message an empathetic reader can carry to fight dehumanization. This thesis discusses many of these poems in light of the …

Anonymous 1, Sonia Morris

Bronx Jewish History Project

Summarizer: Sophia Maier

“Anonymous 1” grew up in the Amalgamated Houses. Born in the 1940s, her grandparents had come over from Russia around 1910 and settled on the Lower East Side, and her parents grew up in the United States. Her father made ladies’ coats, and her mother was a stay-at-home mom until she became a bookkeeper. Anonymous 1 describes Amalgamated as almost entirely Jewish, with many Holocaust survivors, religious Jews, and Socialist Jews. Her father was among the anti-religious group, deciding to wash his car in casual clothing on the High Holidays. Anonymous 1 herself is still not religious …

With Love, ; An Interdisciplinary And Intersectional Look At Why Creativity Is Essential, Theo Starr Gardner

Whittier Scholars Program

My Whittier Scholars Program self-designed major, Teaching Creativity, is a mixture of Art, Literature, and Education classes. My research and praxis classes have been focused on the ‘how?’s and 'why?’s of creativity, so it felt only right that my project should be a constructivist, generative project. The project I have been working on throughout my time at Whittier, and that has just fully come to fruition on April 11th, 2024, was a solo art gallery/open mic event entitled ‘With Love,’. With Love, was conceptually inspired by the research I’ve conducted on creativity and creative arts education over the past few …

Shanas, Bert, Sonia Morris

Bronx Jewish History Project

Bert Shanas was born at Hunts Point Hospital in 1944. Having grown up in the Hunts Point neighborhood (residing at 930 Fox Street and attending PS 39, JHS 125, and Morris High School), he spent his childhood writing for the school newspaper, going to the Bronx Zoo and Yankee Stadium, and partaking in street games. In early childhood, Shanas remembers his neighbors and peers all being Jewish, but mentions that around the time of the Great Puerto Rican Migration there were a lot more Spanish speakers in the South Bronx. In high school Shanas recalls observing many interethnic friendships, though …

"Harriet", Caitlin Omey

Bronx Jewish History Project

Harriet, born in 1938 in the Bronx maternity hospital on 165th street, spent her childhood and early adult life living on the Grand Concourse. She was at the crossroads of the Concourse and 161st street, where she led a vibrant childhood playing with all of the local children. She was in a very diverse environment, but she did not experience very much ethnic or racial tension. She recalls playing lots of games with her friends, and living in a neighborhood with lots to do. She attended public schools—PS 35 and PS 22—for elementary school and junior high before going to …

Mussar And Esotericism In Revolutionary Russia, Martin Zwick

Complex Systems Faculty Publications and Presentations

This paper is an introductory comparative look at teachings of two spiritual figures in pre-revolutionary and revolutionary Russia: Rav Yoseph Yozel (Horowitz) and George Gurdjieff. Yozel founded the Novarodok school of Mussar; Gurdjieff founded the spiritual tradition known as “the Work” or “Fourth Way.” There are of course great differences between the Jewish tradition of Mussar, whose literature dates back to the Mishnah but which as a social movement was launched by Rabbi Israel Salantar in the late 19^th century, and the Work, with its affinities to Eastern Christianity, Buddhism, and Sufism but with no apparent connection to Judaism. …

Judaism, Conversion, And The Limits Of Christian Orthodoxy: The Jewish Identities Of Joseph Wolff And Michael Solomon Alexander As Detailed In Their Memoirs And Missions To Palestine, Michael Iodice

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis analyzes the Jewish identities of the Anglican missionaries Joseph Wolff and Michael Solomon Alexander by examining their conversion memoirs and evangelical missions to Palestine. It argues that they used Protestant biblical exegesis to emphasize their Jewish heritage and its importance in Christian prophecy.

Dombeck, Peggy, Lydia Wampold

Bronx Jewish History Project

Peggy Dombeck grew up in the East Bronx near Parkchester. She greatly enjoyed her childhood and was always playing games with kids in the neighborhood. She especially enjoyed ice skating and rollerblading, often heading into Manhattan alone on the subway to go ice skate. She also fondly recalls the ice cream man coming by everyday in his truck when she was a child or walking to the candy store around the corner and getting an ice cream cone for 10 cents. The building she grew up in was mainly Jewish, however her family was not very religious. She does however …

Gentile Foods: Rabbinic Prohibitions And The Fear Of Intermarriage, David Raab

Student Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is a history of halakhah which looks to evidence from both within and outside of rabbinic literature to explain the provenance of a particular phenomenon. It suggests, contra traditional and academic understanding, that the original rationale behind the rabbinic prohibitions of eating Gentile bread and certain Gentile cooking was concern over the possible admixture of biblically impermissible ingredients, including idolatrous wine. It was only in Babylonia, possibly around the end of the amoraic period, that the rabbis added mišum ḥatnut, the fear of intermarriage, as the rationale for the prohibition of eating Gentile bread (but not cooking), thus …

Jacobs, Feygele, Kathryn Amend

Bronx Jewish History Project

Feygele Jacobs recounts her family's journey from Poland to the Bronx, detailing her parents' refugee experience post-World War II. Her parents initially settled in Newark, New Jersey, before moving to the Bronx. Feygele describes her education at PS 26 and Hunter College High School, involvement in Yiddish school and activities, and her parents' diverse backgrounds. Her mother, a late bloomer in education, pursued a career in social work after raising her children. The family moved to Co-Op City in 1972 due to neighborhood changes. Feygele highlights her parents' community involvement and her educational and career choices, including a brief stint …

Harnell, Alice, Caitlin Omey

Bronx Jewish History Project

Alice Harnell was born in Detroit, Michigan in 1930, coinciding with the Great Depression. Harnell's father was born in Russia and emigrated with his family to New York City during the pogrom of the early 1900s. Once arriving in the United States they settled on the Lower East Side, joining a community of other Jewish immigrant families. Harnell's mother was the first American-born in her German family. Harnell's father and mother moved to Detroit for her father's job as a pharmacist. However, at the age of 5 the family moved back to New York City and settled in the West …

“The Scepter Shall Not Depart From Judah”: Jews And Imperial Power In Benjamin Of Tudela’S Book Of Travels, Azriel Elul

Binghamton University Undergraduate Journal

This paper, written as a final project for Professor Shay Rabineau's class “Walking the Land,” examines the relationship of medieval Jews to the imperial powers to which they were subject, as expressed in Benjamin of Tudela's Book of Travels. It focuses on the two imperial cores of Rome and Baghdad, and contextualizes the representation of these two cities within the world of imperial power in which the text was produced. As a work of medieval travel literature, I analyze the Book of Travels not as a factual account of history, but rather as a discursive and imaginative text which …

An Evaluation Of The Book Of Hosea And Its Impact For Our Lives Today, Nathan Fulton

Honors Projects

The book of Hosea provides a rich story of the life of the prophet Hosea and the constant woes of the nation of Israel. Through analysis of commentaries from past theologians and modern psychological studies, the contents of Hosea will be reinforced as viable literature to learn from. Despite belief in the historical legitimacy of the book, through research, we find humanity’s deepest desire is to be fully loved and fully known. Analysis of attachment theory and Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs show us that the story of Hosea demonstrates our insecurities and the proper response to them.

Sandler, Ruth, Kathryn Amend

Bronx Jewish History Project

Summarizer: Sophia Maier

Ruth Sandler, born 1940, grew up in the East Bronx near the Bronx Zoo, where she would go with her parents. Her mother came to the United States in 1921, and her father came in 1938, though his family unfortunately remained in what was then Poland, his sisters dying in the Holocaust. Her father became a children’s clothing presser in the garment district, despite owning a business back in Europe. Sandler remembers being told her first language was Yiddish, not speaking English until entering school. She attended PS 57, participating in school plays there. Education was important, …

Flaxman, Judy, Laura Oldfather

Bronx Jewish History Project

Summarizer: Sophia Maier

Judy Flaxman’s family came to the Lower East Side from Eastern Europe in the early 1900s. As they grew more affluent, they moved to the Bronx, where Flaxman was born in 1948. She lived on Walton Avenue near Tremont Avenue, which she describes as very Jewish with some Catholics. She attended PS 28, Wade Junior High School, and Bronx Science. She played many outdoor games with friends from her community and did after school activities at the YM/WHA, through which she attended a day camp during the summers.

Flaxman’s mother was a secretary and her father, after …

Ideas Of Judaism In The Jew Of Malta And The Merchant Of Venice, Matthew Wilson

Development of Western Civilization Student Scholarship

The colloquium marks the culminating semester of the DWC experience. Over four semesters, students have achieved a grounding in major texts of the western tradition, engaged in deep reading and reflection, improved their communication skills, and are ready to make connections with their majors and careers. The colloquium allows them to utilize these skills and make the transition to their future academic work. In light of this, the Development of Western Civilization Program Committee has selected 5 DWC colloquium culminating projects that demonstrate excellence in communication and critical thinking skills. We are grateful to these students for their hard work …

Dogma: How A Convenient Narrative Led To The Holocaust, Morgan R. Schroeder

Geifman Prize in Holocaust Studies

No abstract provided.

Paul Celan And The Processes Of Survival In Post-Shoah Jewish Writing, Ari Savage

Theses

The following is a study of the poetry of Paul Celan as a representation of psychological and social processes present in the written works of Shoah survivors. It begins with an analysis of the place of writing in Jewish culture, then identifies three primary processes which operate in sequence: alienation, individuation, and integration. By examining Paul Celan’s highly personal and autobiographical texts in the context of his life experience as a Shoah survivor it is possible to discern the social and psychological forces at work which compel survivors to express their traumas in written form, and to gain a better …

Siegel, Helen, Sophia Maier Garcia

Bronx Jewish History Project

Helen Siegel’s family came to the Bronx from Germany in the years leading up to World War Two. Siegel was born in 1945 and grew up in the West Bronx about a mile away from Yankee Stadium, which she remembers as a predominantly Jewish neighborhood. She attended Bronx public schools throughout her education, PS 64, JHS 117, and Taft High School, before going on to City College, receiving what she believes to have been a good education. Siegel would teach at Bronx elementary schools for 25 years and serve as a mentor for new teachers. She recognizes that teaching and …

Identity-Driven Targeted Violence: Attending To Identity, Emotion, And Personality-Related Predictors Of Attitudinal And Behavioral Prejudice, Patrick Timothy Mcgonigal

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

Identity-driven targeted violence driven by gender identity, sexuality, race, and religion overwhelmingly impacts marginalized groups of individuals. Existing evidence suggests that acts of bias on college campuses are often unreported by students, leaving those who engage in these behaviors to continue without proper redress. A great wealth of data illustrates the deleterious impacts of identity-driven behavior on student victims, including heightened psychological distress, poorer academic performance, and lower retention. In contrast, limited research has examined relevant underpinnings of perpetrating identity-driven harassment. The current dissertation developed and disseminated a large survey to undergraduate students spanning three years of data collection. The …

Rudich, Hazel, Gavin Fryer

Bronx Jewish History Project

Summarizer: Sophia Maier

Hazel Rudich was born to American-born parents in 1947. Her grandparents came from Ukraine and Hungary, and she grew up with a consciousness of the fear of having been born outside of the safety of the Bronx, like the refugee and Holocaust survivor friends of her parents. While her neighborhoods on Shakespeare Avenue and later the Grand Concourse were primarily Jewish, in junior high school she was exposed to a greater diversity of people. Rudich describes the beauty of the Art Deco buildings and the extensive park space and nature, with all the independence that city living …

Mochon, Lynne, Patricia Scully

Bronx Jewish History Project

Summarizer: Sophia Maier

Lynne Mochon, born 1951, grew up on the campus of Maritime College. Her father, who left Warsaw in 1922, was educated in pre-state Israel and then MIT, before becoming a professor of science at Maritime. Her mother, born in Queens, worked at Maritime, and, as the only Jewish people working there together at the time, they got married, have Mochon and her older sister. Mochon describes Maritime as a small community of about 14 families, where the children were similar in age and played together by the water. She remembers some antisemitism among the staff, her father …