New Jewish Identities in Post-World War II American Culture

Jewish experience, identities, and culture changed dramatically in the U.S. after the Second World War. Today?s "new Jews" can be secular or spiritual, radical or neo-conservative, Zionist or anti-Zionist, fans of Woody Allen, klezmer, Seinfeld, Tony Kushner, or Heeb Magazine. Jews moved into the middle class, into the Ivy League, and into the center of American public life. At the same time, they shed Yiddish, much ritual observance, and began experimenting with new ways to define Jewishness. For some, it became a matter of political or intellectual commitment; for others, a matter of taste in comedy, food, and music; and for others, a "sensibility," or way of looking at the world. This course draws upon popular culture, film, television, literature, history, and sociology in exploring the new secular Jewish identities that emerge in the post-war era. We will explore such topics as: Jewishness and popular entertainment, Jewishness and political radicalism, Jewishness as rebellious non-conformism, Jewish ethnic and cultural revivals, Israel and American-Jewish identity, reformist spiritual movements, and a host of other surprising, "new-ish" Jewish phenomena. This course is ideal for those students interested in contemporary American culture as well as Jewish Studies and Religious Studies.