Beyond Chrismukkah

Beyond Chrismukkah
Author: Samira K. Mehta
Publisher: UNC Press Books
Total Pages: 275
Release: 2018-03-13
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1469636379

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The rate of interfaith marriage in the United States has risen so radically since the sixties that it is difficult to recall how taboo the practice once was. How is this development understood and regarded by Americans generally, and what does it tell us about the nation's religious life? Drawing on ethnographic and historical sources, Samira K. Mehta provides a fascinating analysis of wives, husbands, children, and their extended families in interfaith homes; religious leaders; and the social and cultural milieu surrounding mixed marriages among Jews, Catholics, and Protestants. Mehta's eye-opening look at the portrayal of interfaith families across American culture since the mid-twentieth century ranges from popular TV shows, holiday cards, and humorous guides to "Chrismukkah" to children's books, young adult fiction, and religious and secular advice manuals. Mehta argues that the emergence of multiculturalism helped generate new terms by which interfaith families felt empowered to shape their lived religious practices in ways and degrees previously unknown. They began to intertwine their religious identities without compromising their social standing. This rich portrait of families living diverse religions together at home advances the understanding of how religion functions in American society today.

The Oxford Handbook of Christmas

The Oxford Handbook of Christmas
Author: Timothy Larsen
Publisher: Oxford Handbooks
Total Pages: 657
Release: 2020
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0198831463

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"The origins of Christmas lie in an Egyptian festival on 6 January, which spread to much of the Christian world as a celebration of the birth and/or baptism of Christ and known as the Epiphany or Theophany. The church at Rome did not adopt this festival but later instituted a celebration of the nativity of Christ on 25 December, which gradually supplanted its observance on 6 January in other churches, leaving this latter occasion as a commemoration of Christ's baptism alone, or of the visit of the Magi in those churches like Rome that had not observed that date previously. This essay traces that evolution and examines the merits of the two competing scholarly theories that have sought to explain the original choice of these particular dates"--

Beyond the Synagogue

Beyond the Synagogue
Author: Rachel B. Gross
Publisher: NYU Press
Total Pages: 271
Release: 2021-01-12
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1479803383

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Finalist for the 2021 National Jewish Book Award in American Jewish Studies Honorable Mention, 2021 Saul Viener Book Prize, given by the American Jewish Historical Society Reveals nostalgia as a new way of maintaining Jewish continuity In 2007, the Museum at Eldridge Street opened at the site of a restored nineteenth-century synagogue originally built by some of the first Eastern European Jewish immigrants in New York City. Visitors to the museum are invited to stand along indentations on the floor where footprints of congregants past have worn down the soft pinewood. Here, many feel a palpable connection to the history surrounding them. Beyond the Synagogue argues that nostalgic activities such as visiting the Museum at Eldridge Street or eating traditional Jewish foods should be understood as American Jewish religious practices. In making the case that these practices are not just cultural, but are actually religious, Rachel B. Gross asserts that many prominent sociologists and historians have mistakenly concluded that American Judaism is in decline, and she contends that they are looking in the wrong places for Jewish religious activity. If they looked outside of traditional institutions and practices, such as attendance at synagogue or membership in Jewish Community Centers, they would see that the embrace of nostalgia provides evidence of an alternative, under-appreciated way of being Jewish and of maintaining Jewish continuity. Tracing American Jews’ involvement in a broad array of ostensibly nonreligious activities, including conducting Jewish genealogical research, visiting Jewish historic sites, purchasing books and toys that teach Jewish nostalgia to children, and seeking out traditional Jewish foods, Gross argues that these practices illuminate how many American Jews are finding and making meaning within American Judaism today.

A Kosher Christmas

A Kosher Christmas
Author: Joshua Eli Plaut
Publisher: Rutgers University Press
Total Pages: 231
Release: 2012-10-24
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0813553814

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Christmas is not everybody’s favorite holiday. Historically, Jews in America, whether participating in or refraining from recognizing Christmas, have devised a multitude of unique strategies to respond to the holiday season. Their response is a mixed one: do we participate, try to ignore the holiday entirely, or create our own traditions and make the season an enjoyable time? This book, the first on the subject of Jews and Christmas in the United States, portrays how Jews are shaping the public and private character of Christmas by transforming December into a joyous holiday season belonging to all Americans. Creative and innovative in approaching the holiday season, these responses range from composing America’s most beloved Christmas songs, transforming Hanukkah into the Jewish Christmas, creating a national Jewish tradition of patronizing Chinese restaurants and comedy shows on Christmas Eve, volunteering at shelters and soup kitchens on Christmas Day, dressing up as Santa Claus to spread good cheer, campaigning to institute Hanukkah postal stamps, and blending holiday traditions into an interfaith hybrid celebration called “Chrismukkah” or creating a secularized holiday such as Festivus. Through these venerated traditions and alternative Christmastime rituals, Jews publicly assert and proudly proclaim their Jewish and American identities to fashion a universally shared message of joy and hope for the holiday season. See also: http://www.akosherchristmas.org

Critical Perspectives on the Hallmark Channel

Critical Perspectives on the Hallmark Channel
Author: Carlen Lavigne
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 243
Release: 2024-03-05
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 1040000320

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This multinational, multidisciplinary collection of essays focuses on Hallmark Channel movies and Hallmark’s position in the changing North American media landscape. This book covers the ‘Countdown to Christmas’ offerings, year-round productions, made-for-TV mysteries and romances, Hallmark’s use of specific filming locations, and its relationship to viewer desires. Chapters examine Hallmark’s position in a changing sociopolitical context and the tensions the company must navigate in creating more “progressive” content; they discuss issues of gender, race, sexuality, and place, as well as analyzing the extensive ranges and reactions of social media participants and interrogating the nature of Hallmark’s popularity. Suitable for scholars and students of film and tv and popular culture studies, this is a multifaceted look at both Hallmark and its viewers at a particular moment of Hallmark’s market dominance.

Jackie's Gift

Jackie's Gift
Author: Sharon Robinson
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 36
Release: 2010-10-14
Genre: Juvenile Nonfiction
ISBN: 1101587695

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Young Steve Satlow is thrilled when his hero Jackie Robinson moves onto his block. After the famed second baseman invites Steve to a Dodgers game, the two become friends. So when Jackie hears that the Satlows don't have a Christmas tree, he decides to give them one, not realizing the Satlows are Jewish. But Jackie's gift helps these two different families discover how much they have in common. Written by the daughter of baseball legend Jackie Robinson and illustrated by a Caldecott Honor winner, Jackie's Gift is a holiday tale-based on a true story-about friendship and breaking barriers.

Bad Jews

Bad Jews
Author: Emily Tamkin
Publisher: Hurst Publishers
Total Pages: 346
Release: 2022-11-03
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1787389804

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You can be called a Bad Jew—by the community or even yourself—if you don’t keep kosher, don’t send your children to Hebrew school, or enjoy Christmas music; if your partner isn’t Jewish, or you don’t call your mother enough. But today, amid fears of rising antisemitism, what makes a Good or Bad Jew is a particularly fraught question. There is no answer, argues Emily Tamkin. Several million now identify as American Jews; but they don’t all identify with one another. American Jewish history, like all Jewish history, has been about transformation—and full of discussions, debates and hand-wringing over who is Jewish, how to be Jewish, and what it means to be Jewish. Bad Jews is a rich, absorbing reflection on 100 years of American Jewish identities and arguments. Tamkin’s fascinating, diverse interviews explore the complex story of American Jewishness, and its evolving, conflicting positions, from assimilation, race, and social justice; to politics, Zionism, and Israel. She pinpoints the one truth about Jewish identity: It’s always changing.

The Routledge Handbook of Judaism in the 21st Century

The Routledge Handbook of Judaism in the 21st Century
Author: Keren Eva Fraiman
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 487
Release: 2023-03-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1000850323

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The Routledge Handbook of Judaism in the 21st Century is a cutting-edge volume that addresses central questions and issues animating Judaism, Jewish identity, and Jewish society in a global, integrated, and forward-looking way. It introduces readers to the complexity of Judaism as it has developed and continues to develop throughout the 21st century through the prism of three contemporary sets of issues: identities and geographies; structures and power; and knowledge and performances. Within these sections, international contributors examine central issues, topics, and debates, including: individual and collective identity; globalization and localization; Jewish demography; diversity, denominations, and pluralism; interreligious relations; political orientations; community organization; family and gender; the Bible and Talmud today; Jewish philosophy and authority in Jewish thought; digital Judaism; antisemitism; Jewish spirituality and rituals; memory; language; religious education; material culture, literature, music, and art; approaches to the environment; and contemporary Zionism and Israel. The handbook also includes an extensive bibliography to help orient readers to the most important and leading work in the field. The Routledge Handbook of Judaism in the 21st Century is essential reading for students and researchers in religious studies and Jewish studies. It will also be useful for those in related fields, such as cultural studies, literature, sociology, anthropology, and history, as well as Jewish professionals and lay leaders.

American Jewish Year Book 2018

American Jewish Year Book 2018
Author: Arnold Dashefsky
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 937
Release: 2019-03-14
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 3030039072

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The American Jewish Year Book, now in its 118th year, is the annual record of the North American Jewish communities and provides insight into their major trends. The first two chapters of Part I include a special forum on "Contemporary American Jewry: Grounds for Optimism or Pessimism?" with assessments from more than 20 experts in the field. The third chapter examines antisemitism in Contemporary America. Chapters on “The Domestic Arena” and “The International Arena” analyze the year’s events as they affect American Jewish communal and political affairs. Three chapters analyze the demography and geography of the US, Canada, and world Jewish populations. Part II provides lists of Jewish institutions, including federations, community centers, social service agencies, national organizations, synagogues, Hillels, day schools, camps, museums, and Israeli consulates. The final chapters present national and local Jewish periodicals and broadcast media; academic resources, including Jewish Studies programs, books, journals, articles, websites, and research libraries; and lists of major events in the past year, Jewish honorees, and obituaries. Today, as it has for over a century, the American Jewish Year Book remains the single most useful source of information and analysis on Jewish demography, social and political trends, culture, and religion. For anyone interested in Jewish life, it is simply indispensable. David Harris, CEO, American Jewish Committee (AJC), Edward and Sandra Meyer Office of the CEO The American Jewish Year Book stands as an unparalleled resource for scholars, policy makers, Jewish community professionals and thought leaders. This authoritative and comprehensive compendium of facts and figures, trends and key issues, observations and essays, is the essential guide to contemporary American Jewish life in all its dynamic multi-dimensionality. Christine Hayes, President, Association for Jewish Studies (AJS)and Robert F. and Patricia R. Weis Professor of Religious Studies in Classical Judaica at Yale University

Painted Pomegranates and Needlepoint Rabbis

Painted Pomegranates and Needlepoint Rabbis
Author: Jodi Eichler-Levine
Publisher: UNC Press Books
Total Pages: 241
Release: 2020-09-25
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1469660644

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Exploring a contemporary Judaism rich with the textures of family, memory, and fellowship, Jodi Eichler-Levine takes readers inside a flourishing American Jewish crafting movement. As she traveled across the country to homes, craft conventions, synagogue knitting circles, and craftivist actions, she joined in the making, asked questions, and contemplated her own family stories. Jewish Americans, many of them women, are creating ritual challah covers and prayer shawls, ink, clay, or wood pieces, and other articles for family, friends, or Jewish charities. But they are doing much more: armed with perhaps only a needle and thread, they are reckoning with Jewish identity in a fragile and dangerous world. The work of these crafters embodies a vital Judaism that may lie outside traditional notions of Jewishness, but, Eichler-Levine argues, these crafters are as much engaged as any Jews in honoring and nurturing the fortitude, memory, and community of the Jewish people. Craftmaking is nothing less than an act of generative resilience that fosters survival. Whether taking place in such groups as the Pomegranate Guild of Judaic Needlework or the Jewish Hearts for Pittsburgh, or in a home studio, these everyday acts of creativity—yielding a needlepoint rabbi, say, or a handkerchief embroidered with the Hebrew words tikkun olam—are a crucial part what makes a religious life.