Academic Studies Press Twentieth Century Jews: Forging Identity in the Land of Promise and in the Promised Land (Judaism and Jewish Life)

Explores how members of the Jewish people have grappled with their identities during the past century in the US and in Eretz Israel, the new centres of Jewry's long historical experience. It examines how the Land of Promise across the Atlantic exerted different influences, and then shows how the prospect of nationalism in the biblically covenanted Promised Land engendered other tensions and transformations. Review 'Twentieth Century Jews' takes the long way around the identity journey--and it's well worth the trip.--Jerome Chanes "The Forward" "The articles of this volume are meticulously researched and are a fascinating read. The topics should interest scholars and students of American, Israeli, Near Eastern, and European history. Lay people eager to explore the undercurrents of the Middle East conflict and of American Jewish identity will also profit from this book.--Catherine Hezser, University of London, UK "Journal of Modern Jewish Studies, vol. 12, issue 3 (December 2013)" Penkower (emer., Machon Lander Graduate School of Jewish Studies, Jerusalem), the author of a number of scholarly books on contemporary Jewish history (e.g., Decision on Palestine Deferred, CH, Jan'03, 40-2962), has written an important collection of essays profiling the response of prominent 20th-century US and Palestinian Jews to their Jewish identity. Five of the chapters among these well-crafted essays have been published elsewhere but revised and expanded for this volume. Beginning with his chapter on the 1903 Kishinev pogrom, a turning point in modern Jewish history, Penkower describes how the violent riot triggered the immigration of one million Jews to the US and some 40,000 to Palestine, including among them the future leaders of the state of Israel. Among the US personalities discussed are Felix Frankfurter and Arthur Hays Sulzberger, the lesser-known Orthodox rabbi Abraham Isaac Selmanovitz, and the anti-Jewish-statehood organization, the American Council for Judaism. The chapters on Palestine include consideration of the poet Chaim Nachman Bialik, assassinated Labor Zionist leader Chaim Arlosoroff, and Shlomo Ben-Yosef, the first Jew to be hanged by British authorities following his attack on an Arab bus in 1938 in retaliation for incessant terrorism against Jews in Palestine. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All academic levels/libraries.-- "CHOICE (July 2011)" Prof. Monty Noam Penkower has once again presented readers with a fascinating volume that focuses on a pivotal period in the modern Jewish experience. With chapters ranging from the Kishinev Pogrom of 1903, through an exploration of figures of secular and religious Jewish stature in the United States such as Justice Felix Frankfurter and Rabbi Abraham Selmanowitz, and up to a discussion of controversial political activists in Palestine such as Haim Arlosoroff and Shlomo Ben-Yosef, Penkower keeps readers spellbound with the depth and breadth of his knowledge. Drawing on archival material found on three continents, he has created a multidimensional picture of Jewish life in Europe, the United States and Israel during the first decades of the twentieth century, and captured the essence of the social, political, religious and economic dilemmas which world Jewry faced during those fateful years. He introduces us to the protagonists of his story in an extremely readable fashion, and skillfully guides us through their deliberations and decisions, giving us a sense of being privy to the behind-the-scenes activities in all cases. Reading this book is a must for anyone interested in understanding some of the complexities of the Jewish twentieth century experience.--Judy Baumel-Schwartz, Chair of the Graduate Program in Contemporary Jewry, Department of Jewish History, Bar-Ilan University This is a wide-ranging, deeply researched, carefully constructed series of studies dealing with significant subjects and personalities that adds considerably to our understanding