When westward expansion began in the early nineteenth century, the Jewish population of the United States was only 2,500. As Jewish immigration surged over the century between 1820 and 1920, Jews began to find homes in the Ohio River Valley. In Jewish Communities on the Ohio River, Amy Hill Shevitz chronicles the settlement and evolution of Jewish communities in small towns on both banks of the river -- towns such as East Liverpool and Portsmouth, Ohio, Wheeling, West Virginia, and Madison, Indiana. Though not large, these communities influenced American culture and history by helping to develop the Ohio River Valley while transforming Judaism into an American way of life. The Jewish experience and the regional experience reflected and reinforced each other. Jews shared regional consciousness and pride with their Gentile neighbors. The antebellum Ohio River Valley's identity as a cradle of bourgeois America fit very well with the middle-class aspirations and achievements of German Jewish immigrants in particular. In these small towns, Jewish citizens created networks of businesses and families that were part of a distinctive middle-class culture. As a minority group with a vital role in each community, Ohio Valley Jews fostered religious pluralism as their contributions to local culture, economy, and civic life countered the antisemitic sentiments of the period. Jewish Communities on the Ohio River offers enlightening case studies of the associations between Jewish communities in the big cities of the region, especially Cincinnati and Pittsburgh, and the smaller river towns that shared an optimism about the Jewish future in America. Jews in these communities participated enthusiastically in ongoing dialogues concerning religious reform and unity, playing a crucial role in the development of American Judaism. The history of the Ohio River Valley includes the stories of German and East European Jewish immigrants in America, of the emergence of American Reform Judaism and the adaptation of tradition, and of small-town American Jewish culture. While relating specifically to the diversity of the Ohio River Valley, the stories of these towns illustrate themes that are central to the larger experience of Jews in America.

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zlib/History/Amy Hill Shevitz/Jewish Communities on the Ohio River: A History (Ohio River Valley Series)_1090496.pdf

Shevitz, Amy Hill

University Press of Kentucky, Lexington, Ky, 2007

Ohio River Valley series, Lexington, Ky, ©2007

United States, United States of America

Lexington, Ky, Kentucky, 2007

Illustrated, PT, 2007

2007-08-17

до 2011-08

lg651497

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Includes bibliographical references and index.

When westward expansion began in the early nineteenth century, the Jewish population of the United States was only 2,500. As Jewish immigration surged over the century between 1820 and 1920, Jews began to find homes in the Ohio River Valley. This book chronicles the settlement and evolution of Jewish communities in small towns on both banks of the river; towns such as East Liverpool and Portsmouth, Ohio, Wheeling, West Virginia, and Madison, Indiana. Though not large, these communities influenced American culture and history by helping to develop the Ohio River Valley while transforming Judaism into an American way of life. The Jewish experience and the regional experience reflected and reinforced each other. Jews shared regional consciousness and pride with their Gentile neighbors. The antebellum Ohio River Valley's identity as a cradle of bourgeois America fitted very well with the middle-class aspirations and achievements of German Jewish immigrants in particular. In these small towns, Jewish citizens created networks of businesses and families that were part of a distinctive middle-class culture. This book offers enlightening case studies of the associations between Jewish communities in the big cities of the region, especially Cincinnati and Pittsburgh, and the smaller river towns that shared optimism about the Jewish future in America. Jews in these communities participated enthusiastically in ongoing dialogues concerning religious reform and unity, playing a crucial role in the development of American Judaism. The history of the Ohio River Valley includes the stories of German and East European Jewish immigrants in America, of the emergence of American Reform Judaism and the adaptation of tradition, and of small-town American Jewish culture

Contents......Page 6
Series Foreword......Page 8
Preface......Page 10
Map of the Ohio River Valley......Page 13
Introduction......Page 16
1. On the Frontier......Page 22
2. From Europe to the Ohio River Valley......Page 43
3. Finding and Founding Communities......Page 62
4. Religious Conflicts and Congruity......Page 80
5. A Judaism for the Middle Class......Page 97
6. The Community within a Community......Page 113
7. Maintaining Community......Page 133
8. The East European Immigration and the Reconfiguration of Community......Page 149
9. Communities at Maturity......Page 170
10. The Demise of Community......Page 188
Conclusion......Page 205
Appendix: Population Tables......Page 216
Notes......Page 231
Bibliographic Essay......Page 263
A......Page 267
B......Page 268
C......Page 269
E......Page 270
G......Page 271
H......Page 272
J......Page 273
L......Page 274
M......Page 275
O......Page 276
P......Page 277
R......Page 278
S......Page 279
V......Page 280
Z......Page 281

2011-08-31