Against the Tide?: Comprehensive Historical Narratives of American Jewish History

• In Event: Israeli Scholarly Comparative Perspectives on American Jewry and American Jewish Studies

Abstract

The current paper examines Israeli historiography’s treatment of American Jewry and try to understand why Israeli historians, born and educated in Israel, hardy studied the American Jewish community until 1990s. Why was American Jewry, of all the Jewish diasporas, the least studied in Israel with such a delay. The lecture will focus not only on Israeli-born historians who wrote about American Jewry, but also on American Jewish scholars who moved from the United States to Israel and took up positions in Israeli academia. Another body of research about American Jewry published in Israel, which I will refer to, are the Hebrew translations of works by leading American scholars. This body of translated material changed the fields beyond recognition and made it possible for educated readers to learn about the Jewish community in North America.

Author

• Kimmy Caplan, Bar-Ilan University