Borderlines and Blurred Lines: Religious Identity in American Judaism

Session Submission Type: Panel Session

Abstract

Zev Eleff (Brandeis University), Session Organization

Chair: Michael R. Cohen; Respondent: Shuly Rubin Schwartz; Panelists: Elliot Dorff, Zev Eleff and Michal Galas.

This panel explores the boundaries of religious identity in the United States. Scholarly investigations into the borderlines and blurred lines that separate religious groups have contributed much to the academic study of Judaism. Daniel Boyarin and Israel Yuval used this line of inquiry in their studies of Judaism and Christianity. Likewise, Marina Rustow recently demonstrated the lack of division between Rabbinites and Karaites in medieval Egypt. This session aims to bring these considerations to the New World.

Each presenter offers a perspective that highlights different periods in American Jewish history and varying tensions between religious movements. Assembled in a single panel, the papers will demonstrate two recurrent themes in the history of American Judaism during the past two centuries: first, the impulse of American Jews to assume labels and markers to designate their religious behavior from other groups. Second, these presentations will show the fluidity of religious identity in the United States, and consequently, the difficulty that these historical actors encountered when attempting to institutionalize their respective movements.

The presentations by Michal Galas and Zev Eleff both examine the historical contests over religious identity. Sensitive to their European backgrounds, Galas surveys the arrival of nineteenth century immigrant rabbis to the United States and the various versions of “reform” that they offered their followers. The public polemics between men like Isaac Mayer Wise of Cincinnati and Marcus Jastrow of Philadelphia reflects the highly charged religious culture of that period. Indirectly, this conflict also defines the religious cultures that emigrated from Germany (Wise) and Poland (Jastrow). Eleff’s presentation is more focused on American conceptions of religious identity. His paper delves into the contested term, “Modern Orthodox,” between members (rabbis and congregations) of the Orthodox Union and the United Synagogue. The use of this nomenclature was critical for Jews seeking to identify as both “traditional” and “modern” in the Interwar period. For example, Kehillath Israel in Brookline, MA, described its congregation as “modern orthodox” when its leaders feared that the remove the mechitzah in 1925 would lead members to view the move as one of “reform.” In the end, these synagogues adopted “Conservative” as their brand of Judaism while more traditional congregations also moved away from “modern orthodox,” owing to its previous controversial meanings.

The final panelist, Elliot Dorff, observes the contemporary scene. Dorff examines Conservative Judaism in the so-called “Post-Denominational Age.” Dorff will explore how the Conservative Movement has addressed three sociological issues: namely, the place of women in Jewish life, the place of gay men and lesbians in Jewish life, and the place of non-Jewish spouses of Jews and the general topic of intermarriage. He will also analyze how that has affected the identity of the Conservative Movement in our time.

Finally, Shuly Rubin Schwartz will respond to all three presentations. Schwartz has written on American Judaism from a number of vantage points and time periods. Her work also addresses tensions between European and American visions of Judaism as well as gender. Accordingly, her broad perspective will offer a unique conclusion to this diverse session.

Sub Unit

• Modern Jewish History in the Americas

Chair

• Michael R Cohen, Tulane University

Individual Presentations

• The Contest for "Modern Orthodoxy" and the Beginnings of Conservative Judaism in the Interwar Period - Zev Eleff, Brandeis University

• The Conservative Movement in a Post-Movement Age - Elliot N. Dorff, American Jewish University

Respondent

• Shuly Rubin Schwartz, The Jewish Theological Seminary