Jewish Studies Commons^™

Plavin, Adrienne, Negin Nader Bazrafkan

Bronx Jewish History Project

Summarizer: Sophia Maier

Adrienne Plavin was born to American-born parents in June of 1944. When she was young, her family lived at 1821 Bryant Avenue in the South Bronx. She remembers the community as full of immigrants, though primarily Jewish, with Yiddish and other language spoken. She would visit the candy store on her block and also buy fresh produce from horse drawn carts. They would play games like hopscotch and jump rope. Plavin shares how her mother got into trouble in Hebrew School, which is why she herself never attended one, and some of the mischief she would get …

Varon, Dorothy, Negin Nader Bazrafkan

Bronx Jewish History Project

This interview explores Dorothy's childhood and education, focusing on her experiences growing up in the Bronx during the 1950s and 1960s. Dorothy provides a detailed account of her neighborhood, the games she played with her friends, and the shops she frequented. She also discusses the diverse nature of her community and the lack of racial or religious tensions she witnessed. Dorothy vividly recalls her childhood on Weeks Avenue in the Bronx, describing it as a mixed neighborhood with people of all faiths and nationalities. She fondly remembers the games she and her friends played in the streets, including stickball, Scully, …

On Dialogue And Beyond: Positive Environmental Peacebuilding In Palestine, Elsa Barron

The Journal of Social Encounters

In Palestine, environmental management has been used as a tool of military occupation and oppression. Yet even within that context, many community-based organizations have established programs relating to environmental peacebuilding. Of these initiatives, environmental dialogue programs have received significant attention and resources, even more so since the war in Gaza began in October, 2023. However, a deeper interrogation of these programs reveals the danger that dialogue and collaboration devoid of a critical analysis of power and injustice further perpetuates systemic oppression. Moving these programs into the realm of positive environmental peacebuilding requires a willingness to engage in this structural analysis. …

Turner, Joyce, Negin Nader Bazrafkan

Bronx Jewish History Project

Mrs. Joyce Turner was born in 1948 as Joyce Herzfeld and grew up at 364 East 170th Street in a one-bedroom apartment with her parents and younger sister. Her parents had decided to live in the Bronx due to the proximity to their other family members until most of them had decided to begin moving out. The neighborhood she grew up in was primarily Jewish but became more diversified as she grew older and saw much diversity within the schools. During her early childhood, Mrs. Turner attended Public School 53 for elementary school, located on 167th Street, and remembers walking …

Schull, Rebecca, Negin Nader Bazrafkan

Bronx Jewish History Project

Rebecca Schull, born in 1929, recalls her early life in the Sholem Aleichem Houses in the Bronx where her family lived in the predominantly Jewish community. Her father was a lawyer who later worked for the American Technion Society, and her mother was a dietician raised in Tel Aviv, who studied quantity cooking at Columbia. Many members of her family were Zionists, her uncle was the artist Nachum Gutman and her grandfather the writer Simcha Ben Zion. She remembers the pleasant communal atmosphere of the Sholem Aleichem Houses, where socialism, communism and Yiddishism was commonplace. Her childhood was marked by …

Bergman, Abby, Sonia Morris

Bronx Jewish History Project

Abby Bergman lived in the Bronx until he was 18 years old. He was born in the Bronx in 1946. When he was 8 years old, he moved to a different neighborhood in the Bronx, the Pelham Parkway area. His neighborhood was a mix of Jews, Italians, and Irish people. There were some tensions between the Jews and the Christians. People mostly kept within their own groups, although Bergman does recall that his parents had very close Catholic friends. In Bergman’s high school, the Christian kids were more popular than the Jewish kids. All of Bergman’s friends in high school …

Liptzin, Benjamin "Ben", Lydia Wampold

Bronx Jewish History Project

Ben Liptzin grew up in the Bronx on 168th Street between the Grand Concourse and Sheridan Avenue in a four-room apartment above a laundromat. His parents were Polish Jewish immigrants, and his father worked as a presser in the garment industry. Liptzin attended a yeshiva until 5th grade, after which he entered the public school system. He later attended the Bronx High School of Science, Columbia University, and medical school in Rochester. Liptzin became a geriatric psychiatrist and taught at institutions including the University of Massachusetts and Mount Sinai. He later served as Chair of Psychiatry at Baystate Medical Center …

Sects, Lies, And Videotape: Debunking Deadly Tropes About Jews And Israel In Tv, Film And Media, Dereck Daschke

Journal of Religion & Film

The "Beyond Film" panel, "Sects, Lies, and Videotape: Debunking deadly tropes about Jews and Israel in TV, film and media" occurred at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival. This is a summary of the presentation.

Antisemitism & Vampires: The Surprising Roots Of A Popular Cultural Monster, Hannah Ross

English

This essay was for Justin Shaw’s fall 2023 English major capstone class. The essay examines antisemitism and vampires, specifically Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula, John Polidori’s short story The Vampyre; A Tale, and the episode “Monster Movie” from the TV show Supernatural through the lens of antisemitic stereotypes. By looking at the literary history of the vampire one can trace its physical antisemitic stereotypes and the influence of fear of the “other” with reverse-colonization by Jews. Starting with historically classic 19th century texts and ending with a modern day television show, it is evident that the antisemitic physical stereotypes …

Lost & Found (Game Series) [Book Chapter], Owen Gottlieb

Articles

Description of game series for use in the classroom with best practices.

Who’S Afraid Of Anne Frank? Or Why White Supremacists Should Fear This Book, Laura S. Brown

Journal of Critical Race and Ethnic Studies

No abstract provided.

Between The Temples, Dereck Daschke

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of Between the Temples (2024), directed by Nathan Silver.

Review Of La Roumanie Et La Shoah: Destruction Et Survie Des Juifs Et Des Roms Sous Le Régime Antonescu, 1940-1944, By Radu Ioanid, Stefan Cristian Ionescu

History Faculty Articles and Research

A review of La Roumanie et la Shoah: Destruction et survie des Juifs et des Roms sous le régime Antonescu, 1940-1944, by Radu Ioanid.

Memoirs By Abraham Miller, Abraham Miller

Memoirs by Abraham Miller

This item is a copy of the typescript unpublished memoir of Abraham Miller (1888-1965) from Janova in present day Lithuania. Miller immigrated to the United States, arriving in Alabama in 1909. Abe and his wife Minnie ran a small dry goods store in Mobile until 1945. His memoir describes his family in Russia, the journey to America, getting started in business, and a family trip he took with Minnie later in life.

Moral Exemplars Of Note - David Risling, Sam And Pearl Oliner

Moral Exemplars Study

No abstract provided.

Moral Exemplars Of Note - David Hilfiker, Sam And Pearl Oliner

Moral Exemplars Study

No abstract provided.

Frank Knauer Apology And Forgiveness Survey, Sam And Pearl Oliner

Apology and Forgiveness Survey

No abstract provided.

To Strengthen The Words Of The Sages: An Analysis Of Rav Elyakum Getz’S Rappeduni Ba-Tappuḥim And Its Consonance With Seventeenth-Century Polish Rabbinic Thought, Mushka Steinmetz

Student Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines Rappeduni Ba-Tappuḥim, Rabbi Elyakum Getz’s 17th-century commentary on the Aggadic passages in BT Bava Batra 73a-74b, known as the Aggadot of Raba Bar Bar Ḥanbna. The study positions Elyakum’s work within the broader tradition of Aggadic exegesis and defines its uniqueness. To achieve this, Rappeduni Ba-Tappuḥim is compared with two earlier 16th-century works on the same Aggadot: Rabbi Shmuel Eidel’s Ḥiddushei Aggadot and Ephraim Luntchitz’s Olelot Ephraim. While both were written in Poland, they represent contrasting approaches—Eidel's commentary is a sincere Talmudic exegesis, whereas Luntchitz’s work reflects his role as a preacher, using the text as a …

Moral Exemplars Attitude Surveys, Sam And Pearl Oliner

Moral Exemplars Study

No abstract provided.

Weaving Rituals For Resistance: Queering The Tallit, Sam Simons

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

“Weaving Rituals for Resistance” explores the history and significance of the tallit, a Jewish prayer shawl, as an immersive and transformative experience. Since 2022, I have been researching the historical development, making practices, and use of tallit, and its intersections with gender, sexuality, and power. Traditionally, tallit are worn by men; that is changing. There is no one way to feel about wearing tallit, but many share that they feel safe, protected and held. I worked with my rabbi to develop educational programming – a five-session course in Fall 2023. We covered history, textual sources for design and use, biblical …

[Review Of The Book Jews, Food, And Spain: The Oldest Medieval Spanish Cookbook And The Sephardic Culinary Heritage, By H. J. Piner.], Martha Daas

World Languages and Cultures Faculty Publications

[Introduction] Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you who you are. This should be the motto of any book that examines the medieval food culture of Iberia. In her new book entitled Jews, Food, and Spain, Hélène Jawhara Piñer seeks to demonstrate both the process through which the Jewish cuisine of the Iberian Middle Ages acted as a cultural identifier, and how this culinary culture has been maintained in the modern Sephardic communities. Piñer's book aims to fill the gap in Spanish culinary history by "reintegrating Jewish cuisine into the historically transmitted food heritage of …

“You Are Not Obligated To Complete The Work, But Neither Are You Free To Desist From It.” Richmond Jews In Social Activism Post Civil Rights, Tracy S. Herman

Theses and Dissertations

For centuries, the Jewish people have faced expulsions, pogroms, massacres, and Propaganda. that runs so deep it would be like staring into an abyss. This oppression has motivated Jewish activists worldwide to fight back not only on behalf of the Jewish community but for many areas of perceived need. Jewish involvement in social activism in the U.S. has been particularly recognized by scholars of the labor and Civil Rights movements. This thesis is based on eighteen oral history interviews focused on social activism in Richmond, Virginia since the Civil Rights era. The author conducted these interviews in 2021, 2023, and …

Renewing Study Into The Oldest Hatred: Introduction To The Law Vs. Antisemitism Symposium, David Schraub

Lewis & Clark Law Review

This short essay provides an introduction to the Lewis & Clark Law Review's "Law vs. Antisemitism" symposium, which grew out of the conference by the same name hosted at Lewis & Clark in the spring of 2023. In addition to overviewing the contributions to the symposium, the introduction provides some background on the relative paucity of legal scholarship that has addressed antisemitism, and the importance of including antisemitism in the otherwise robust legal academic conversation occurring around other forms of oppression and social discrimination.

The Anti-Defamation League And The Evolution Of Hate Crime Laws, Steven M. Freeman

Lewis & Clark Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Displaced Persons Act Of 1948 And Home-Grown Antisemitism, Felice Batlan

Lewis & Clark Law Review

This Article examines the 1948 Displaced Persons Act which provided for the ability of certain European refugees to immigrate to the United States following World War II. The 1948 Act discriminated against Jewish survivors of the Holocaust and imprinted Nazi racial laws and ideology upon U.S. law. Moreover, in debates over passage of such a law, a vast amount of overt antisemitism emerged, generated by politicians and ordinary citizens, which went well beyond the question of the admission of refugees to the United States. By examining the complex and transnational events leading up to the 1948 Displaced Persons Act, and …

Antisemitic Terrorism, J. Richard Broughton

Lewis & Clark Law Review

Recent surges in antisemitic activity—and antisemitic violence, in particular—have led increasingly to conversations about the connections between antisemitism and domestic terrorism. While the nexus between antisemitic violence and domestic terrorism has long been expressed in rhetorical terms, its connection in legal terms—notably, federal criminal law—has been more attenuated. This Article explores that connection and finds that existing federal criminal law requires rethinking: it is underinclusive and thus inadequate to fully capture and punish the threats posed by today’s domestic violent extremism, and particularly antisemitic violence. The Article surveys recent federal prosecution in cases involving actual or threatened antisemitic violence, and …

Politicizing Antisemitism Amidst Today’S Educational Culture Wars, Lili Levi

Lewis & Clark Law Review

The traditional narrative of American Jewry emphasizes American exceptionalism with respect to antisemitism. But there have been clear signs of a resurgence of public antisemitism in the United States even before the massive rise in antisemitic expression and incidents associated with the Israel-Hamas war of fall 2023.

One of the notable aspects of the rise and normalization of antisemitic expression is the deployment of antisemitism as a political tool. For example, in addition to Democrats and Republicans accusing each other of complicity in antisemitism, both federal policy since the Trump era and state antiantisemitism legislation have targeted campus antisemitism in …

The Legally Binding Character Of The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance Working Definition Of Anti-Semitism, Kenneth L. Marcus

Lewis & Clark Law Review

No abstract provided.

Asking The Jewish Question: The Import Of Jewish History To Corporate Law, Dalia T. Mitchell

Lewis & Clark Law Review

This paper brings Jewish American history to bear upon the analysis of three major milestones in the development of corporate law’s fiduciary duties jurisprudence: Meinhard v. Salmon (N.Y. 1928), Bayer v. Beran (N.Y. 1944), and Revlon, Inc. v. MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings, Inc. (Del. 1986). Bringing to the fore the background of the Jewish litigants and the Jewish lawyers who represented them, I use Meinhard, Bayer, and Revlon to explore changing cultural attitudes toward Jewish Americans’ participation in corporate America (as investors, managers, or their legal representatives). I argue that these cases demonstrate how our ideas about the appropriate purpose …

I Am Not A Hero: Heroic Action Divorces The Hero From The Political Community, Ari Kohen, Brian Riches, Andre Sólo

Department of Political Science: Faculty Publications

Most people who perform a heroic act will, afterward, deny that their actions were heroic and claim that anyone would have done the same, even though that is demonstrably false (and, often, others were present who failed to act heroically at all). The literature on the psychology of heroism has never investigated why this is. This theoretical paper proposes an answer and seeks to provoke exploration of a previously unexplored topic. We note that people who undertake heroic action face a unique conflict: they embody their community’s highest values, while simultaneously breaking norms to stand apart from that community. We …