Zev Eleff: 250 Years of American Judaism [American Jewish History 2/4]

18Forty Podcast - 18Forty

This episode explores 250 years of American Jewish history through five 50-year periods, highlighting how Jews navigated identity, integration, and resilience in the U.S. It emphasizes learning from each era's struggles

Key takeaways

• Jewish permanence in America feels real but is fragile, shaped by exile and adaptation.

Transcript preview

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Something happens who will be there for Israel the answer has long been the same muggin dovid adome and I think that is worth understanding they need our support especially now Please visit AFMDA.org slash give to donate now Hi friends and welcome to the 1840 podcast where each month we explore different topic balancing modern sensibilities with traditional sensitivities to give you new approaches to timeless Jewish ideas. I'm your host David Bachevkin and this month we're exploring Judaism in America for the 250th anniversary of the United States of America. I'm your host David Bachekin and this month we're exploring Judaism in America for the 250th anniversary of the United States of America. This podcast is part of a larger exploration of those big juicy Jewish ideas. So be sure to check out 1840.org. That's 1-8-F-O-T-Y-org where you can also find videos, articles, recommended readings, and weekly emails. If you zoom out for all of Jewish history, it is really remarkable that Jewish history can really be divided into a succession of different homes, some temporary and some that we hope will one day be permanent. Jewish history really begins in Egypt, where we spent at least according to the Torah, 210 years in servitude at Egypt until we finally made it into Israel. We spent nearly 500 years conquering the land of Israel to establish the first temple that was built by Shlomo, King Solomon, and that first temple stood for more than four centuries, though it was really only a fairly brief period that the Jewish people were united in the land of Israel. First Temple period, First Base Hamidush, in the land of Israel we were then exiled into Bevel, into Babyl, and we had 70 years of exile there, but really those 70 years of exile, even once they were finished and Jews went back to rebuild the second temple, the second base Amigdush and came back to Israel. It was not under Jewish sovereignty, and most Jews were told stayed in Babylonia and they really stayed there as the center of Jewish life. nearly a thousand years the center of Jewish life was in the land of Bevel. That is when we were developing the Talmud, the project that really binds and continues to be the authoritative canon for all of Jewish practice and Jewish thought. Following that period we had a few centuries around 600 years in Spain, then Eastern Europe became kind of the center of gravity. We had 400 years in Eastern Europe. And then following the Holocaust, it's been the United States. of America that has been kind of that primary home obviously developing in tandem with the land of Israel with the state of Israel which is you know not even a hundred years old when you zoom out each of these places when we were there felt extraordinarily permanent bavell during the time of the development of the Talmud felt permanent Spain felt permanent polon felt permanent and america too you know having grown up here and live here now it does feel permanent it does feel permanent while you're in it though that permanence has definitely been punctured from the rise of anti-semitism from just the instability in the world. The prophet who really taught us how to thrive in exile, the prophet who lived in those final years of the first temple period where the last kind of vision of a unified or at least a nation, a sovereign nation of the Jewish people living in the land of Israel before the destruction of the first temple. was Yermiahu, known as Jeremiah. And he witnessed that first destruction of the Bess Hamidush. And he says something I think extraordinarily remarkable. There's a verse where Jeremiah is reminding the Jewish people how to conduct themselves in exile. This is in the 29th chapter of Jeremiah, in the seventh verse. Yermiahu Kufte's Zion. The Dirshu is Scho's schlomha Ere, A share heglaci ishem. You should seek the welfare of the city to which I've exiled you the Hispal-uba-ada-el-Hashem and you should pray to God on its behalf Kibishloma yi-ehelachm Shalom for in its prosperity you shall prosper This became the source for many of a custom that we still have today of praying on behalf of the government in which we live and in many synagogues around the world there is a prayer that is traditionally recited on Shabbis where we pray for the well-being for the welfare of the government even governments that we knew were oppressive even governments that were not aligned to Jewish interests as most governments were not your meahoe says you should continue to da Vin should continue to pray on behalf of every government of a major Jewish population you should pray but there's something very striking in the way that Yermi Oh who describes this. He doesn't just say that you should pray, which is the word Vihis Palleu, that you should pray on their behalf. He opens up the verse with the term Vyershu's Schlomhair. Seek the welfare of the city. That is not a term that is usually used to describe prayer. If you hear in that term, Vyershu, which literally means to seek, it also comes from the root word of Darashash. which means to interpret. When we interpret the Torah, when we have a commentary on the Torah, when a rabbi speaks and gives an interpretation of Jewish thought, we call it a drusha. Darash is the term for interpretive seeking, where you seek meaning, where you seek understanding. And I believe this is really a key for how we are supposed to survive in exile. Of course we are supposed to pray for the welfare of the government's that we have resided under. And of course we should hope for the welfare of the Jews no matter where they find themselves in Babylonia and Spain and Eastern Europe in America. But there's something else we're supposed to do. It's not just to pray on behalf of the government. We're also supposed to be Dorish. We're supposed to seek meaning. We're supposed to ask ourselves, what exactly did we learn from this part of our journey? What did we learn from this leg of our day? trip, not just to wait for the final resolution, but if the whole purpose of exile is to cultivate a deeper understanding of the Jewish people, of divinity, of the world. It is not enough to be purely future focused and on each leg of the journey to say, are we there yet? Like kids who get in the car, I remember on long summer trips to New Hampshire, to Loon Mountain. I think there are a lot of Jews who probably still go there. It's not like trips nowadays, you know, A, there's GPS, and kids in the back, if they're not, you know, they could have devices, they could be, you know, playing video games, watching a movie. I mean, back then, I mean, trips were long, and the trip from the five towns to New Hampshire was six hours. I mean, I happened to have really fond memories about those trips. I remember my mother reading Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 to my sister Rahel. She was in ninth grade. I was in ninth grade. I was in ninth grade. I was probably in elementary school, I was probably in elementary school, remember big chunks of that book. I remember listening to barrel wine tapes about the life of the Ramba. It was like really a time that by osmosis I learned a tremendous amount from those trips. But one part of those trips if it wasn't you know my father pulling over and literally taking out a physical map. I don't know how I asked my students sometimes like do you have any memories of like opening up a glove compartment and a real physical map falling out. Of course I remember my father looking at maps. It's that is like a real thing people used to do and like literally tracing the highways through but the question that you would ask is like are we there yet when are we going to be there and very often in exile we can shift into that mentality like it's a long ride are we there yet you know when are we getting there how much more time left when's the next stop when's the next exit I think you're me yah who's telling us that our long journey through exile needs a different mentality it could not just be asking there yet, have we reach redemption, have we reached the land of Israel. Vidirsu Eshlom Hair, we need to be Dourish, we need to have a drusia, we need to seek meaning on each leg of the trip. And that is why I think it is so important for us to take a moment, which is the entire theme that we're going to be exploring for America's 250th anniversary since 1776, to really explore what are the lessons, what is the meaning that we are the meaning that we are the lessons, what is the meaning that we have extracted from this leg of our journey. From the Jewish people, their contributions to America, their struggles in America, the battles of America. And I could think of no better guest to give us a broad bird's eye view of the entirety of American Jewish history and the struggles all in one episode than my very dear friend, Professor Zev-Lef. Zevlef is a former guest on 1840 who we've had... on the past in our series on denominations. He is the 12th president of Gratz College, an incredible university that is really doing some really innovative and incredible work in Jewish studies. He is one of the most gifted writers of Jewish history that I know. He's written so many fabulous books, both on Jewish history and on just general history. His most recent book called The Greatest of All Time is a history of America's obsession with greatness. wonderful book called Authentically Orthodox. He has a modern Orthodox Judaism documentary history. You could go on and on his writings, his scholarship has influenced so much of my thought. I always find myself quoting him. And I am so incredibly grateful that he is joining 1840 for this episode and we really tried to do something special. It is obviously very difficult to go through all 250 years of American Jewish history. So instead what we did is we did is 250 years into 550 year chunks examining each one so this is really like five little mini episodes covering the entirety of American Jewish history so without further ado I am so grateful for my friend Zev L. F. on 250 years of American Jewish history. What I wanted to do was go through 550 year periods break down that 250 years in 1776 to five different 50-year periods starting in 1776 and then going to 1826 and 1876, 1926, 1976, which brings us to where we are today. And really try to focus on what was the primary tension that American Jews would have been experiencing in that era. Take me into the life and experience of an American Jew in each of these five periods. And what were they growing? grappling with what were they struggling with what were they thinking about what were the concerns of American Jews in each of these five periods so Zev if you are game I wanted to begin with 1776 to 1826 those founding years of America let's start with a very basic question when America was founding was there any consensus among colonial Jews whether or not we should support the American or should we stay loyal to the monarchy in Britain? Why don't we begin there? And maybe you could tell us a little bit, who were these Jews? How did they get to America? And maybe that will help us understand where their loyalties would have lied in that period? Jews arrived in the United States in 1654. The reason for it is hardly an auspicious one. It's because the Inquisition, which began, of course, should be of course, some people, but eventually 1492 with King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. Some people are a little bit softened by history. I remember Rabichheim angel. He was the rabbi of Spanish Portuguese synagogue referred to them as Yemachsh and Mamzichram, right? Strong words. Right. They were bad people and then spreads the Inquisition does till 1497 to Portugal. When the Portuguese Navy invades Dutch Brazil in 1653, the Jews of Recife, somewhere between 2 2 2 3,000 2, 3,000. know that the jig is up. Most head to Amsterdam, but about 23 or so, who are aboard the St. Catherine, maybe it was because it was a very long voyage, maybe because they didn't have enough fare to get all the way back to Amsterdam. It's not exactly clear. They end up at New Amsterdam present day, New York. Wow. It actually last that long, but it proves that there can be a Jewish community in the new world. And that's really, really important. It's amazing thing, 16. 16. You do not have the first congregation with apologies to share with Israel's origin story until the late 1720s. It's ebbing flow. But these are all pre the establishment of the formal United States. This is colonial America exactly right. So when we fast forward to 1776, because that's the beginning of our five chunks of 250 years, only about 2,000 Jews are living in what is now the United States. States of America. And do we have any information of how learned or observ it these Jews are? Do they know about kosher? Are they making Jewish weddings? They clearly weren't the cream of the crop of the yeshiva world, I assume. How educated were these kind of Jews? Many were kimberos. We don't refer to them as moranos any longer. That's rather offensive term. Or crypto Jews is I think what scholars like to use nowadays. This is multi-generation. they find that they can do Jewish again and they learn about their Jewish. Now as crypto Jews, there were certain things. Lighting Shabbas cameras, wearing clean white shirts, clothing was very expensive back then. They had certain customs, but it was an opportunity for many of these Spanish-Portugese Jews to shed that facade of their Christian identity and many of them took on Jewish names and they populated. started to dot the colonies in New York, in Savannah, Georgia, in Charleston, in Charleston, Carolina Newport, Rhode Island was an important station. What do you notice about many of these sites? They're all ports. They're right by the coast, exactly. Which is really important because Amsterdam's Jews were very much involved in the supply chain and they would send their nephew, their son, their brother out to another post because you need somebody on the other end who you can trust in the import export industry. And that was the business that they operated and often the ship manifests. Not often, but enough time. We see that lo and behold a safer Torah, a Torah scroll, used humushin. Going from Amsterdam to the new world. Or eventually in London, Oliver Cromwell invites the Jews back around the same time in the 1650s. All of a sudden this network of Port Jews, a term that you'll find that I do this a lot is my teacher Jonathan Sarna uses. And that network and the new technologies around seafare allow Jews to start to populate the United States. you kind of have these families that are stepping into their full Jewish identity in the states. These are from crypto Jewish families that live these kind of double identities and now they have this question they're able to live lives without persecution more or less in the new world meaning were Jews facing persecution in colonial America was there of a deep sense of otherness or really they're already beginning to taste you know the freedom that has become associated with America. There's no question that when Jews arrived in the new world to New Amsterdam, well known is that essentially the governor of that colony, Peter Stuyvesant, any Jews would have advanced through the Stuyvesant high school in New York. Sure. But Stuyvesant himself was a racist, was a bigot. Truth be told, he was far worse to Quakers than he was to Jews. But as soon as these Jews come to his area, he writes to the West India company asking for permission to Jews of Amsterdam, who only represented about 7% of the company. One thinks, oh my goodness, they must, the protocols to the elders of Zion, there's 60% of it. No, it's not. But they had enough of an interest that it made sense that the West India Company prohibited Stuyvesant from expelling the Jews, although they do agree that they will not be allowed to build a synagogue, and they have to take care of bone. It cannot become a burden. Interesting. Social welfare project for New Amsterdam. Jews enjoy better status among the British, about the British. New York. That being said to your overall question most Jews are wigs, they're patriots. Only a handful of our Tories support the British and the Revolution. And why do you think that's so? Why are Jews siding with the Revolution? You know we have 2,000 years of history where Jews were generally were somewhat deferential to the monarchy. They don't want to start trouble. They've seen enough history to know that rebelling against the king could really not end well. What do you think is the reason why Jews predominantly did support the revolution as patriots? There are a lot of reasons both internal and external and external. Number one is that the Jewish community did not have a long-term relationship with the British royal family. Again, Cromwell invites the Jews back in the 16-50s. But they had been kicked out for centuries. What's the year they're kicked out of England? 1270. They're kicked out of York. They're testing. So number one, do not have any great fealty towards the British crown. these colonial Jews felt like other colonists. They felt that their rights had been overextended, that their businesses were threatened to be failing, that these no taxation representation really resonated with them as people, as colonists. And Washington I think loomed large, although it's interesting, Jews do not live in Virginia for the most part. Eventually a congregation is founded after the revolution. Still, most Jews really supported what Washington call the cause of the revenue. to me is that how much the leadership of the revolution and maybe sometimes as Jews we overdo it but how much inspiration they took from the Jewish story you know somewhat famously when they were coming up with you know different logos and symbols for you know this new country the United States of America I think it was Ben Franklin who suggested why don't we have the symbol be the parting of the sea and there was kind of a very maybe you would call it phyllo semitic but an appreciation of the story of the Jewish people as told in the Old Testament. And you see their cities called New Cannon, right? Canon. The Puritans who migrated here first viewed themselves in biblical proportions. It's not as if they looked at it as a Jewish story. They looked themselves as the new Jews. Jews though became a very able translators and interpreters of the Bible. They weren't that made. how