The Yiddish of Yankeeland: The Jews of Boston and America, 1840-1924

This course will explore the Jewish experience of Boston during the era of largescale Jewish immigration to the United States. Long serving as a city of refuge, Boston also emerged as an important hub in the Jewish diaspora to America. By the nineteenth century, Boston offered Jewish immigrants an urban landscape where they could create and build American Jewish culture, start their own businesses, and practice Judaism in the ways they desired. Along the way, Boston’s Jews interacted with the rich diversity of the city, coming into contact with groups they had rarely encountered in Europe; an inevitability in a metropolis with a deep Irish Catholic imprint. This course will consider the religious institutions that Boston’s Jews forged and sustained. We will also delve into New England Jewish artistic and cultural production, how Jews engaged with American politics in Boston, and what this city’s Jewish history can tell us about the general American Jewish experience in a period of diasporic resettlement.

This course includes four 90-minute classes; exclusive access to handouts and recordings of each presentation; and in-depth Q&A sessions with the instructors. This program will be hosted via Zoom. Access information will be sent to participants prior to the first broadcast.

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