Jewish American Children 19401960

1
Jewish American Children1940-1960

• Americanization, Anti-Semitism, Assimilation
  Ashley Schwenk
• Oral History Melinda Moore
• Language Monica Moore
• Literature Adina Laviolette
• Education Crystal Greenwood
• Religion Sarah Perkins
• Jewish Foods Bruce Southworth

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Jewish American ChildrenStudy Guide

• Who was the pioneer of the Jewish summer camps?
• What was the goal of these camps?
• There was only minimal mention of Jewish culture
  or tradition in camp advertisements. Why is this
  significant?
• How many Jews gained entry into the U.S. during
  1933-43 and why was the number so low?
• Although Jews werent racially separated like
  African-Americans, how else were they
  discriminated?
• In 1943, Jewish youths and adults were the
  targets of which group, and why was nothing done
  to prevent it?
• How did American consumption affect Jewish
  children?
• How was the Holocaust treated and taught to
  children?
• How did social mobility have a negative effect?
• What was the JUJ?
• How did oral history assist written research?

3
Jewish American ChildrenStudy Guide

• How did oral history help Jewish children in
  regards to assimilation?
• What is the difference between Hebrew and
  Yiddish?
• How well was the Yiddish Language retained in the
  children?
• What importance is the ability to retain the
  language of the Jews?
• What does Jewish American Childrens Literature
  often portray?
• What does Yom Ha-Azmaut mean?
• What is the name of a popular Hanukah game?
• What were Jewish day schools called in Europe?
• How many Jewish American students attended Jewish
  day schools in the United States in the early
  1940s?
• What does kosher mean?
• What part of the loaf of bread is the challah?

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1920-1960 Americanization, Anti-Semitism,
Assimilation

• 1920s Americanization
• Who was the pioneer of the Jewish summer camps?
• What was the goal of these camps?
• There was only minimal mention of Jewish culture
  or tradition in camp advertisements. Why is this
  significant?

5
1920s Answers

• Chester William Teller
• The goal of the camps was to provide normal,
  good, wholesome experiences for Jewish boys and
  girls.
• Jews placed emphasis on being Americans. Parents
  wanted their children to be comfortable and
  psychologically prepared for life in a non-Jewish
  society and teach them to be healthy American
  adults.

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1920-1960 Americanization, Anti-Semitism,
Assimilation

• 1930-1940 Anti-Semitism
• How many Jews gained entry into the U.S. during
  1933-43 and why was the number so low?
• Although Jews werent racially separated like
  African-Americans, how else were they
  discriminated?
• In 1943, Jewish youths and adults were the
  targets of which group, and why was nothing done
  to prevent it?

7
1930s-1940s Answers

• Only 165,756 Jews immigrated to the U.S. This is
  due to the strict quota immigration laws in the
  U.S. at the time which heavily restricted
  countries with higher Jewish populations, ex.
  Eastern Europe.
• Jewish youths were excluded from colleges and
  universities, adults were denied from some
  occupations and craft unions.
• Jews were the target of Irish Catholic citizens
  in Boston and New York. Jews were beaten,
  attacked, persecuted, much in the way
  African-Americans were treated by the Ku Klux
  Klan. It was a game Irish teenagers would go
  after Jewish youths saying, Lets go Jew
  hunting. Local authorities or Catholic clergy
  did not do anything to stop the violence because
  they too were of Irish descent, and would rather
  encourage the violence than stop it. As a result,
  Jewish youths were forced to go out in fear or
  not at all, groups stopped meeting, and shops and
  homes were vandalized.

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1920-1960 Americanization, Anti-Semitism,
Assimilation

• 1950-1960 Assimilation
• How did American consumption affect Jewish
  children?
• How was the Holocaust treated and taught to
  children?
• How did social mobility have a negative effect?
• What was the JUJ?

9
1950s-1960s Answers

• Children were heavily assimilated through
  American toys. In counter response, toy
  manufacturers came out with Jewish-themed
  counterparts. Consumption also changed the
  bar/bat mitzvah the focus changed from the
  solemn rite of passage to the lavish, often
  expensive after party.
• In schools, the Holocaust was romanticized.
  Children learned stories of Jewish
  heroes/heroines and strength, victimization was
  ignored. Survivors did not discuss their stories
  because they were told the American public wasnt
  interested.
• As Jews moved up the social ladder and out into
  the suburbs, they were excluded from many social
  programs which they had previously qualified for.
• The JUJ was the Jews for Urban Justice, a youth
  activist group out of Washington DC.

10
Oral History Questions

• How did oral history assist written research?
  --By filling in the gaps where no written
  documentation existed.
• How did oral history help Jewish children in
  regards to assimilation?
  --Oral history helped Jewish
  children by communicating stories of their Jewish
  legacy, to pass on from one generation to
  another, during a time when being an all American
  was important. 

11
Importance of Oral History 1940-1960 to Jewish
Children in America

• In July 1944, Churchill wrote in reference to the
  holocaust, "There is no doubt that this is
  probably the greatest and most horrible single
  crime ever committed in the whole history of the
  world" (Chaikin 1987). The Nazis killed at least
  six million Jews, 1.5 million were children.
• In America there were Jews that did not suffer
  the cruel treatment of the holocaust, yet no one
  could ignore what had happened. For the survivors
  who came to America, there was a need to have
  children to pass on not only their heritage, but
  also their stories of survival.

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History and Culture

• Oral history filled in gaps in historical,
  social, cultural, religious, and genealogical
  research where no written documentation existed. 

13
Oral History and Social Issues

• False Identities
• False identities were created for reasons of
  protection, and moving forward. Oral history may
  have been one of the only tools of revealing
  these lost identities to Jewish children, and
  could help with the frustrations felt in losing
  identities and loved ones.
• Anti-Semitism
• After World War II was over anti-Semitism began
  to dissipate, yet it still prevailed for years to
  come.  Oral history helped Jewish children deal
  with discrimination. by relating stories of
  triumph over adversity..
• Assimilation
• Oral history helped Jewish children by
  communicating stories of their Jewish legacy, to
  pass on from one generation to another, during a
  time when being an all American was important.
• Family Expectations
• Oral history was a way cultural and family
  expectations were expressed to Jewish children.
  A familys wish for their children to marry
  within their own group, could be passed onto
  Jewish children through not only their parents,
  but also through religious, educational, and
  social systems within the Jewish

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Oral History and Emotional Problems

• Survivors guilt
• Survivors guilt was sometimes felt by some
  survivors, because of living when other loved
  ones had not. This guilt was sometimes passed
  onto the children of survivors.
• Survival skills
• Holocaust survivors learned behaviors in order to
  survive, and these behaviors could be passed onto
  their children, in the forms of, eating
  disorders, money issues, trust issues, and
  denial.
• Isolation
• The children of survivors sometimes felt set
  apart from other children. Survivors could
  become highly overprotective, and guarded over
  their children because of their need of family
  heritage, which could lead to feelings of dread,
  hatred, fear, and insecurities.
• Fear of talking
• For some survivors silence was survival the
  silence did not end with the end of the war. A
  new silence of suppression arose out of the need
  to assimilate and forget the past.

15
Support

• The telling of their stories for some survivors
  could be therapeutic, and the need for support,
  and communication, was important for the children
  of the Holocaust, children of survivors, and for
  future children.

16
Remembering Through Oral History

• The survivors of the holocaust were possibly the
  only link to many who had been killed oral
  history was essential for memories and history to
  be kept alive.
• "Your sad holocaust is engraved in History, and
  nothing shall purge your deaths from our
  memories. For our memories are your only grave".
  (Chaikin1987).
• "Those who forget the past shall be condemned to
  repeat it.
• Santayana

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Language Questions

• What is the difference between Hebrew and
  Yiddish? Hebrew is considered to be the language
  of the Torah and the Old Testament. It is a
  Middle Eastern language which is 5,000 years
  old. It is spoken by the Semitic Jews. Yiddish is
  over 1,000 years old and is spoken by Ashkenazi
  Jews of Eastern Europe. The two languages use the
  same alphabet but employ the letters in different
  ways.
• How well was the Yiddish Language retained in the
  children? Keeping Yiddish alive and retaining it
  in the children is not something that has been an
  easy process for the Jews in America. The Yiddish
  education did not develop straightaway, unlike
  the Yiddish theater, political activism, and
  press.
• What importance is the ability to retain the
  language of the Jews? It declares ones identity.
  It is a way of looking at things that can be
  different from other cultures and also unique. It
  is a continuation of Jewish identity and a link
  to the past.

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Hebrew and Yiddish

• Hebrew is considered to be the language of the
  Torah and the Old Testament. It is a Middle
  Eastern language which is 5,000 years old. It is
  spoken by the Semitic Jews and its the national
  language of Israel. The religious scriptures are
  written in Hebrew. Most European Jews did not use
  Hebrew as their everyday speech.
• Yiddish is over 1,000 years old and is spoken by
  Ashkenazi Jews of Eastern Europe. According to a
  proverb, it is di shprakh vos redt zikh the
  language that speaks (by) itself. and there is
  no need for instruction. Yiddish is considered to
  be the spoken language, compared to the written.
• The two languages use the same alphabet but
  employ the letters in different ways.
• Kheyder is the school where the studies begin, in
  teaching the pupils to read the Hebrew of the
  Bible and prayer book, the language used was and
  still is Yiddish.

19
Yiddish Retention among children

• Keeping Yiddish alive and retaining it in the
  children is not something that has been an easy
  process for the Jews in America. The Yiddish
  education did not develop straightaway, unlike
  the Yiddish theater, political activism, and
  press.
• For the immigrant children and also the Jewish
  children already in the U.S., there was a
  struggle to retain their mother tongue
  (mame-loshn), which was usually Yiddish. This
  struggle is because the public education that
  they received was taught exclusively in English.
• Some advantages that the children had in
  retaining Yiddish was in Talmud Torahs and other
  afternoon or weekend schools set up for Jewish
  education. Yet, it declined in the post-World War
  II era, so American Hasidic education has
  contributed to Yiddish education by the use of
  Hasidic day schools. This established a new
  American Yiddish-Speaking population.

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Importance of Retention

• Language as understood by sociolinguists is not
  simply a formal tool used to communicate ideas or
  practices it is a part of the very content of
  the cultural beliefs and practices which are to
  be communicated. (Gardner 1985)
• It declares ones identity
• It is a way of looking at things that can be
  different from other cultures and also unique
• It is a continuation of Jewish identity and a
  link to the past

21
Literature Questions

• What does Jewish American Childrens Literature
  often portray?
• What does Yom Ha Azmaut mean?
• What is the name of a Hanukah game?

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Literature

• What does Jewish American childrens Literature
  often portray?
• Jewish Holidays!

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A Picture Book Of Jewish Holidays

• Yom Ha-Azmaut
• Israels Independence Day !

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The Family Treasury Of Jewish Holidays

• Includes stories, poems, songs, recipes, games,
  and crafts
• Hanukkah game Dreidel!

25
Purim Play

• Children wear costumes to synagogue to hear the
  story of Purim read.
• Many children enjoy putting on their own Purim
  plays.

26
A Torah Is Written

• Sefer Torah a handwritten scroll that contains
  the laws and history of the Jewish people

27
Education Study Questions

• What were Jewish day schools called in Europe?
  (Cheder)
• How many Jewish American students attended Jewish
  day schools in the United States in the early
  1940s? (Fewer than 20,000)

28
Education 1940-1960

• Most Jewish American children in the United
  States went to public school then met after
  public school or on Sundays to learn the basic
  elements of Judaism

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Education (con.)

• There were a select few, approximately 20,000,
  Jewish American students in the early 1940s who
  attended full time Jewish day schools.
• These schools combined subjects such as math and
  English with a full curriculum of Jewish studies.

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Education--Important Subjects

• Reading
• Writing
• Torah
• Mishnah
• Hebrew Grammer
• Poetry
• Talmud
• Philosophy of Religion
• Logic

• Arithmetic
• Geometry
• Optics
• Astronomy
• Music
• Mechanics
• Medicine
• Metaphysics

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Education (con.)

• Jewish day schools developed in Europe
• They were called Cheder
• Developed in the United States During WWII
• Day school agenda
• School day begins and ends with public prayer
• Food served is Kosher
• Observance of holidays and Sabbath is strongly
  reinforced
• Daily conversation was made up of Hebrew
  vocabulary and Jewish idioms.

32
Education (con.)

• American Jews felt that they had succeeded in
  incorporating there Jewish culture into American
  culture despite the failing of other minority
  groups because of the rapid increasing number of
  day schools and the increasing emphasis on
  tradition
• There were also warning signs that this was not
  the case...
• Decline and ultimate deterioration of secular
  schools, labor Zionist and Yiddishist, and after
  school Yeshivot
• neglected Jewish education for programs unrelated
  to culture or education
• Hebrew language or biblical narratives in the
  congregational school was non-existent
• hours of instruction and years of enrollment were
  dropping

33
Religion Study Questions

• What Jewish rite of passage was adapted uniquely
  and practiced solely by Jews in America?
• What 1948 event caused a spiritual revival among
  American Jews and inspired such Americans to
  share the burdens of Jews around the world?

34
1930s American Jews Unite

• During the Great Depression, American
  Anti-Semitism intensified
• American Jews faced growing danger and
  discrimination
• Jewish immigrants united as a group of American
  Jews in self-defense

35
Division Persists

• As controversy increased surrounding communism
  and Zionism, American Jews became more divided
  and institutionalized into three branches
• 1. Orthodox
• 2. Conservative
• 3. Reform

36
Americanizing Jews

• American Jews moved toward a child-centered
  community and began to New Trends in celebrate
  and focus on children more
• New synagogue-centers were created to include
  pools, athletic courts, Hebrew schools, and host
  community gatherings
• Reform Jews moved away from bar mitzvah and began
  using confirmation to mark the graduation of
  students at around age 15

37
American Jews Institute--Bat Mitzvah

• Jewish law includes Bar Mitzvah- a rite of
  passage to mark a 12 year old boys transition
  into manhood
• In 1922, An American rabbi conducted the first
  Bar Mitzvah for his 12 year old daughter, much to
  the shock of the Jewish community
• By 1960, Bat Mitzvah had become an American
  institution among Conservative Jews

38
Zionism Israel Becomes A State

• The Zionist movement sought the creation of a
  formal national homeland for Jews
• Many Jewish Americans (the worlds largest
  concentration of Jews lived in New York) felt a
  sense of responsibility for less fortunate Jews
  around the world
• The Zionist movement financially and politically
  united many Jews
• On May 14, 1948, their goal was realized when
  Jews were finally given the land of Israel as a
  geographic homeland and sovereign nation

39
Jewish Food Questions

• What does kosher mean?
• What part of the loaf of bread is the challah?

40
Kosher

• Refers to the proper methods of food preparation
  and the dietary laws governing its consumption.
• Pork and shellfish are not kosher.
• Cows milk is kosher, as well as beef, as long as
  the cow is slaughtered properly.

41
Jewish Foods

• Challah a very sweet, golden, eggy bread.
• Chollent a stew that comes in many flavors and
  styles.
• Kugel translated as pudding, it can be either
  a side dish or a dessert.

42
Bibliography

• Crystal Greenwood
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43
Bibliography

• Adina Laviolette
• Alder, David. A Picture Book of Jewish Holidays.
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• Cowan, Paul. A Torah is Written. Philadelphia
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• Drucker, Malka. The Family Treasury of Jewish
  Holidays. Boston Little, Brown and Company,
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• Jaffe, Nina. The Uninvited Guest and Other Jewish
  Holiday Tales. New York Scholastic Inc., 1993.
• Schotter, Roni. Purim Play. Boston Little, Brown
  and Company, 1998.

44
Bibliography

• Melinda Moore
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46
Bibliography

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47
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