Directory

Jonathan Sarna | Brandeis University - Academia.edu

Skip to main content

Jonathan Sarna

Brandeis University, Near Eastern and Judaic Studies, Faculty Member

Followers

1,267

Following

2

Co-author

1

Mentions

874

Public Views

Dr. Jonathan Sarna is University Professor and the Joseph H. & Belle R. Braun Professor of American Jewish History and Chair of the Hornstein Jewish Professional Leadership Program at Brandeis University. He is also past president of the Association for Jewish Studies and Chief Historian of the National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia.

Dubbed by the Forward newspaper in 2004 as one of America’s fifty most influential American Jews, he was Chief Historian for the 350th commemoration of the American Jewish community, and is recognized as a leading commentator on American Jewish history, religion and life. In 2009, he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Born in Philadelphia, and raised in New York and Boston, Dr. Sarna attended Brandeis University, the Boston Hebrew College, Merkaz HaRav Kook in Jerusalem, and Yale University, where he obtained his doctorate in 1979.

From 1979-1990, Dr. Sarna taught at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati, where he rose to become Professor of American Jewish history and Director of the Center for the Study of the American Jewish Experience. He has also taught at Harvard, Yale, the University of Cincinnati, and at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

Dr. Sarna came back to Brandeis in 1990 to teach American Jewish history in its Department of Near Eastern & Judaic Studies. He chaired that department three different times, and now chairs Brandeis’ Hornstein Jewish Professional Leadership Program. He also chairs the Academic Advisory and Editorial Board of the Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives in Cincinnati.

Dr. Sarna has written, edited, or co-edited more than thirty books, including Lincoln and the Jews: A History (with Benjamin Shapell) and When General Grant Expelled the Jews. He is best known for the acclaimed American Judaism: A History. Winner of the Jewish Book Council’s “Jewish Book of the Year Award” in 2004, it has been praised as being “the single best description of American Judaism during its 350 years on American soil.”

He is married to Professor Ruth Langer, and they have two children, Aaron and Leah.

less

Bonnie K Goodman

McGill University

Jonathon Awtrey

Fairfield University

Adam Mendelsohn

University of Cape Town

Rowan University

Angela M. Alexander

The University of Georgia

Anthony Cade II

Southern Jewish History

University of Pennsylvania

Interests

Uploads

Festschrift by Jonathan Sarna

*New Perspectives in American Jewish History: A Documentary Tribute to Jonathan D. Sarna*, eds. Mark A. Raider and Gary Phillip Zola (Waltham, MA: Brandeis University Press, 2021)

Articles by Jonathan Sarna

Jonathan D. Sarna, “Jews, Lincoln, and the American Election of 1864: A Newly Discovered Broadside and Its Larger Significance,” American Jewish Archives, vol. 76, no. 1-2 (2024): 69-78

According to most studies of Jews and American politics, the subject of this article-an 1864 poli... more According to most studies of Jews and American politics, the subject of this article-an 1864 political broadside urging Jews to vote for Abraham Lincoln-should simply not exist. Rev. Samuel Isaacs, a mid-nineteenth-century American Jewish Orthodox religious leader from Holland, regularly insisted that "Israelites, as Israelites, have no politics." 1 The eminent Reform rabbi, Emil G. Hirsch of Chicago, writing in the authoritative Encyclopedia Britannica, agreed: "Politically the Jews are divided," he wrote. "There is no solid Jewish vote. Most of the Jews have no political aspirations. They are loyal citizens." The presumed link between loyalty and the absence of political aspirations is telling. 2 In our time, the judicious American Jewish historian Naomi W. Cohen, in her descriptive scholarly work on nineteenth-century German Jews in America, concluded that from before the Civil War until the early twentieth century the basic rule was that "politics concerned the individual Jew but not the community. Jewish group interests, if indeed there were any," she wrote, "had no place under that name in any political forum." "More than other immigrant groups," she boldly continued, "nineteenth-century American Jews shied away from injecting ethnic

Jonathan D. Sarna, “The Transformation of ‘Next Year in Jerusalem’ in the Postwar American Haggadah,” in Richard I. Cohen, ed., Jerusalem Transformed: Politics, Culture, and Hidden Corners [=Studies in Contemporary Jewry, vol. 34] (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2024), 1-24

For just over a century, the English-language phrase "Next Year in Jerusalem" appeared in no know... more For just over a century, the English-language phrase "Next Year in Jerusalem" appeared in no known American haggadah. The Hebrew leshanah haba'ah birushalayim most often did appear, even sometimes in bold text, but its standard, widely known translation remained taboo. Instead, in 1837, the first American haggadah, Service for the Two First Nights of the Passover in Hebrew and English, according to the Custom of the German & Spanish Jews ... First American Edition, issued by the New York Jewish printer Solomon Henry Jackson, employed a long-winded translation that Alexander Alexander had made popular in England: "The year that approaches, O bring us to Jerusalem." 1 Placing the onus upon God ("O bring us") calmed fears of appearing disloyal. The original Maxwell House Haggadah (1932), by far the most widely distributed haggadah in history, translated the Hebrew as "The following year grant us to be in Jerusalem." 2 "Grant us" once again gestured toward the need for divine rather than human action for the move to be effected. The New Haggadah for the Pesah Seder, published by the founder of Reconstructionist Judaism, Mordecai Kaplan, in 1941, translated leshanah haba'ah birushalayim as "May the coming year witness the rebuilding of Zion and the Redemption of Israel." 3 He omitted the return to Jerusalem altogether. Orthodox and non-Orthodox thus agreed: "Next year in Jerusalem" was too dangerous a sentiment for a haggadah to express in the vernacular. 4 The longstanding taboo against "Next year in Jerusalem" ended in the United Kingdom in 1934 when the young Zionist Jewish historian, Cecil Roth (whose brother taught at the Hebrew University), daringly published the four forbidden words in capital letters, accompanied by an illustration of halutzim, in his popular haggadah issued by London's Soncino Press. 5 The Zionist writer, translator, and intellectual, Maurice Samuel, followed suit in 1942 in his popular haggadah, the first time an American publisher broke the taboo. Subsequently, the haggadah prepared by the Jerusalemborn Tamar de Sola Pool and her husband, Rabbi David de Sola Pool, distributed by

Jonathan D. Sarna, “‘The Surge’: As antisemitism rises, so does American Jews’ connection to their Jewish identity and Israel,” The Jerusalem Report, vol. 35, no. 15 (12 August 2024): 14-17

Jonathan D. Sarna, “Hatred Will Not Prevail,” Makor Rishon, Sabbath Supplement, no. 1406: Parashat Balak (19 July 2024): 12-15 (Hebrew)

Jonathan D. Sarna, “Israel and American Jewry on the Day After: How Has October 7 Changed Us?” Et Ratson, no. 14 (May 2024): 83-85

Jonathan D. Sarna, “Foreword – The Isaacs Family of Cincinnati: A Remarkable Legacy,” in Nancy Isaacs Klein, The Amazing Eleven: The Story of the Isaacs Siblings from Cincinnati (Cambridge, MA: The Institute for Jewish Research and Publications, 2024), 1-6

Professor of Jewish Philosophy at Brandeis, Marvin Fox zt"l, I happened to mention the Isaacs fam... more Professor of Jewish Philosophy at Brandeis, Marvin Fox zt"l, I happened to mention the Isaacs family of Cincinnati. "Orthodoxy royalty," he responded, with a twinkle in his eye. He proceeded to regale me with stories about members of the family whom he had personally encountered, including Prof. Nathan Isaacs of Harvard University and his brother, Dean Moses L. Isaacs of Yeshiva University. Particularly impressive, he thought, was that these accomplished and famous brothers not only achieved what they did without sacrificing their Orthodoxy, they also were third generation The Amazing Eleven 2 Orthodox Jews. Their grandfather, Reb Schachne Isaacs, had arrived in America prior to the Civil War. Thanks to Nancy Isaacs Klein, herself a scion of the remarkable Isaacs family, we now know a great deal more than we previously did about this third generation of Isaacs. "The Amazing Eleven" recounts the story not just of Nathan and Moses, but of each of the sons and daughters of Abraham, Reb Schachne's seventh son. In a previous book, Klein recounted Abraham's story; the story of her own father, Abraham's son Moses Legis; and that of Rabbi Philipp (Hillel HaCohen) Klein, whose daughter Moses had married. 1 Here she expands on that work, telling us not only about her own father but also about his ten siblings-natives of Cincinnati. There, in the heartland of Reform Judaism, all eleven were born, educated, and reared as devoted Orthodox Jews. A surviving photograph of the eleven Isaacs siblings dating to about 1909 places their Orthodox pride on display. 2 All are dressed in their holiday finery. Large, black, well-fitting Lithuanian-style skullcaps adorn the heads of every male (the youngest wears white). The two women who bookend the photograph are also modestly and elegantly attired. Aaron, the eldest son, sits centered on an expensive chair, as if confidently surveying the scene. Everything about the photograph exudes poise, self-confidence, respectability and good taste, as if to confirm the pioneering Jewish social worker Boris Bogen's claim that there shone about the family "an aura of aristocracy which seemed far finer and rarer than the aristocracy of the richer German Jews." 3

Jonathan D. Sarna, “Next Year in Jerusalem,” in Stuart Halpern and Jacob Kupietzky, eds., The Promise of Liberty: A Passover Haggada (Jerusalem: Maggid Books, 2024), [240-243]

Jonathan D. Sarna, “Foreword,” Watersheds, vol. 1. October 7 (February 2024): 7-8

, the Jews of Russia joined together to observe a communal day of mourning for those murdered in ... more , the Jews of Russia joined together to observe a communal day of mourning for those murdered in the devastating pogroms and tormented by the violent antisemitism that unexpectedly befell the world's largest Jewish community. In the filled-to-the-brim Great Synagogue of St. Petersburg, as the preacher rose to speak, "one long moan, coming as it were from one breast, suddenly burst forth and filled the synagogue," historian Simon Dubnow recounted. "Everybody wept, the old, the young, the long-robed paupers, the elegant dandies dressed in the latest fashion, the men in government service, the physicians, the students, not to speak of the women. For two or three minutes did these heart-rending moans resound-this cry of common sorrow that had issued from the Jewish heart." The "common sorrow" of 1881-82, remembered in Jewish history as Sufot Ba-Negev, a euphemism for so much that could not then be openly discussed, formed the first great watershed of modern Jewish history. In its wake, mass Jewish migration to the United States and the Hibbat Zion movement arose together, twin developments that in time transformed the whole Jewish world. Nobody on that communal day of mourning in 1882 could have foreseen the widespread implications of the 1881 watershed. Only in historical retrospect do we understand its colossal impact and repercussions. Today, less than a century and a half later, the once-mighty Russian Jewish community is no more, and some 90

Jonathan D. Sarna, “‘Certainty Has Never Been Mine’: The Denominational Eclecticism of David Ellenson,” The Lehrhaus (7 January 2024)

Jonathan D. Sarna, “Happy Alone or Happy Together? R. Jonathan Sacks, Contemporary Culture, and the Promise of Hope,” in Erica Brown and Shira Weiss, eds., An Ode to Joy: Judaism and Happiness in the Thought of Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks and Beyond (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2023), 211-215

In Judaism," Rabbi Jonathan Sacks once wrote, "happiness is not something we find in solitude, st... more In Judaism," Rabbi Jonathan Sacks once wrote, "happiness is not something we find in solitude, still less in self-gratification. It is something we experience together." 1 To Rabbi Sacks, Judaism's "most original contribution to the understanding of human wellbeing" lay in its emphasis on the shared nature of happiness. 2 He demonstrated this by highlighting the word simha, the most common term for happiness in the Torah. "Simha in the Torah is never about individuals. It is always about something we share," he argued. 3 He explained that simha "is not a private emotion… It is a social state, a predicate of 'we,' not 'I.' There is no such thing as feeling simha alone." 4 Both in his focus on the "essentially collective" nature of happiness in Judaism, and in his privileging of simha over ashrei, the better-known biblical term for happiness, Rabbi Sacks differed from others who have studied the Jewish view of happiness. Nahum Sarna, for example, pointed to

Jonathan D. Sarna, “Conversion and Repentance in the Diary of Cora Wilburn (Venezuela, 1846),” in Adriana M. Brodsky and Laura Arnold Leibman, eds., Jews Across the Americas: A Sourcebook, 1492-Present (New York: New York University Press, 2023), 204-206

After a tumultuous independence period that had started in 1797, Venezuela finally sep arated fro... more After a tumultuous independence period that had started in 1797, Venezuela finally sep arated from Spain in 1811. And while the following period was defined by constant strife between conservatives and liberals, the tight control exercised by Spain was gone. Eco nomic opportunities attracted European immigrants, yet these early arrivals were not plen tiful. The writer of this diary, Cora Wilburn (1814-1906), arrived in Venezuela in 1844. Born Henrietta Pulfermacher in Europe (most likely Alsace), she traveled the world with her parents-her father, a crooked gem merchant who assumed the name Moritz Jackson, as well as her stepmother-before settling in La Guaira, a port near Caracas. There, under the name Henrietta Jackson, she commenced keeping a diary. The entry included here provides insights into the precarious existence of early Jewish women who immigrated to the Americas. Wilburns diary paints a grim picture of her Jewish family, describing her father s alco holism and the abuse that she and her stepmother suffered at his hands. Upon the death of her stepmother, her father threatened her physically and drove her from the house. Within a few months, he himself lay dead, and whatever of value he owned was stolen. Adrift and impoverished, Wilburn was taken in by sympathetic Catholic neighbors. She succumbed to their pressure and converted to Catholicism on June 24, 1846. But she soon repented of the act, especially when she discovered that her sponsor was a secret adulteress. So, with hopes of returning to her people and her faith, she migrated to the United States, settling in Philadelphia in September 1848. Once in Philadelphia, Wilburn was denied the welcome she expected from Jews, and she found herself reduced to menial servitude as a seamstress. After four years, she broke free of her hated needle. Aided by Christian friends, she became a professional writer under the

Jonathan D. Sarna, “The Taboo against ‘Next Year in Jerusalem’ in the American Haggadah (1837–1942),” in Zev Eleff and Shaul Seidler-Feller, eds., Emet le-Ya’akov: Facing the Truths of History – Essays in Honor of Jacob J. Schacter (Boston: Academic Studies Press, 2023), 206-233

English Haggadot published in the United States, even if they included the three Hebrew words le-... more English Haggadot published in the United States, even if they included the three Hebrew words le-shanah ha-ba'ah bi-Yerushalayim, never printed their four-word English equivalent. A strict taboo surrounded "Next Year in Jerusalem. " To defy it, people assumed, would bring trouble upon the offender. Even if the taboo represented a forbidden action for which there nevertheless existed a strong unconscious inclination, as Freud might have argued, the declaration "Next Year in Jerusalem" clearly made many American Jews anxious. 1 The essay that follows explores this anxiety from the earliest American Haggadah in 1837 through World War II. It shows how a pithy liturgical phrase-its appearance, disappearance, translation, illustration, and interpretation-sheds light on the complex history of American Jewish attitudes toward returning to Zion. Tracking this phrase in both Hebrew and English, where its formulation frequently diverged, likewise sheds light on questions of translation and audience. More broadly, this essay demonstrates, methodologically, how

Jonathan D. Sarna, “American Antisemitism,” in Mark Weitzman, Robert J. Williams, and James Wald, eds., The Routledge History of Antisemitism (London: Routledge, 2023), 53-60

Jonathan D. Sarna, “The Unspoken Taboo,” Segula, no. 64 (March 2023): 42-55

Segula , 2023

L e-shana ha-ba'a bi-Yerushalayim-Next year in Jerusalem." This text isn't a prescribed, codified... more L e-shana ha-ba'a bi-Yerushalayim-Next year in Jerusalem." This text isn't a prescribed, codified element of any liturgy-not at weddings, not at the end of Yom Kippur, and not at the conclusion of the haggadah, though arguably among the most powerful moments of each. Yet this expression of yearning for Zion carries vast popular appeal. These words have engraved the memory of Jerusalem upon the Jewish mind. They've nurtured the hope that someday Jews would return to the holy city and rebuild it anew. Recited in unison by all present at key moments in the Jewish life cycle, this formula has inspired the faithful, stirred passions, steeled hearts. Nevertheless, the first significant American haggadah to include the pithy English phrase "Next year in Jerusalem" appeared only in 1942. Prior to that, for just over a full century, even if Hebrew-English haggadot published in the United States included the three Hebrew words Le-shana ha-ba'a bi-Yerushalayim, they avoided its four-word English equivalent. "Next year in Jerusalem" was taboo.

Jonathan D. Sarna, “The American Rabbinate on the Cusp of Change: Gustave Gottheil’s Seventieth Birthday Dinner in 1897,” in Adam Mendelsohn and Jonathan D. Sarna, eds., Yearning to Breathe Free: Jews in Gilded Age America (Princeton: Princeton University Library, 2022), 439-482

Two days earlier, to mark the occasion, the city's Board of Jewish Ministers hosted a lavish dinn... more Two days earlier, to mark the occasion, the city's Board of Jewish Ministers hosted a lavish dinner for him at the Tuxedo, a hall located at Madison Avenue and 59th Street. Rabbis, family members, and the editors of local Jewish newspapers all attended the event, which won mention in major Jewish newspapers. In addition, one of the newspaper editors, Jacob Philip (J. P.) Solomon (1838-1909), produced and circulated ("among friends") a privately printed pseudonymous satire inspired by the evening's speeches, The Chronicles of the Rabbis: Being an Account of a Banquet Tendered to "Episcopus" by the Rabbis of New York City upon the Anniversary of his 70th Birthday.1 Together, the event and the satire shed light on hierarchy and discord within New York Judaism as the nineteenth century wound down, and particularly on four themes of enduring significance: (1) the emergence of new models of the rabbinate; (2) the uneasy relationship between rabbis and unordained lay leaders; (3) the growing chasm between classically trained European-born rabbis and those educated in the United States; and (4) the widening tension between Orthodoxy and Reform. Gustav Gottheil Gustav Gottheil (Fig. 70), who upon his death would be described as New York Judaism's "most prominent official figure," was born in a small unprepossessing Prussian town named Pinne (today, Pniewy, Poland). He received a traditional Jewish education, attested to and likely overseen by the town's highly respected rabbi and preacher, Joseph Chayyim (J. Heimann) Caro (1800-1895), renowned for his fluency in Hebrew, knowledge of German literature, and love of Zion.2 He { 439 }

Adam Mendelsohn and Jonathan D. Sarna, “Preface,” in Adam Mendelsohn and Jonathan D. Sarna, eds., Yearning to Breathe Free: Jews in Gilded Age America (Princeton: Princeton University Library, 2022), xxi-xxiii

Jonathan D. Sarna and Zev Eleff, “The Etrog Trade in the New World,” in Warren Klein, Sharon Liberman Mintz, and Joshua Teplitsky, eds., Be Fruitful! The Etrog in Jewish Art, Culture, and History (Jerusalem: Mineged Press, 2022), 194-211

The etrog is a curious fruit. The Bible (Leviticus 23:40) commands its readers: "And you shall ta... more The etrog is a curious fruit. The Bible (Leviticus 23:40) commands its readers: "And you shall take for yourselves on the first day beautiful tree-fruit (peri etz hadar), palm fronds, boughs of leafy trees, and willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God seven days." Native to the Far East and adapted to the culture of the eastern Mediterranean, the rituals of the etrog are among the very few that are dependent upon a particular environment for growth that Jews have maintained in their vast dispersal from the origins of their law, heritage, and collective existence in the Land of Israel. In their wanderings across the globe, the etrog has remained part of Jews' practices, an indispensable part of the annual rhythms of the Jewish harvest festival, Sukkot, the Feast of Booths. This collection of essays explores the long and engaging story of the etrog as a tale of home-away-from-home, of wandering and belonging, of tradition and adaptation.

Jonathan D. Sarna, “Foreword,” in David G. Dalin, Jews and American Public Life: Essays on American Jewish History and Politics (Boston: Academic Studies Press, 2022), ix-x

The eminent American Reform rabbi and scholar Emil G. Hirsch of Chicago, writing an authoritative... more The eminent American Reform rabbi and scholar Emil G. Hirsch of Chicago, writing an authoritative 1907 encyclopedia article on "Judaism and the Jews in the United States," dismissed the subject of American Jewish politics in a mere nineteen words. "Politically," he wrote "the Jews are divided. There is no solid Jewish vote. Most of the Jews have no political aspirations. " 1 Hirsch's characterization reflects a widespread taboo concerning the subject of American Jewish politics that continues to the present day. In scholarly circles, the changing political behavior of American Jews has for the most part been ignored. Howard M. Sachar's A History of the Jews in America, weighing in at more than 1000 pages, contains no index entry under politics at all! For all that American Jewish scholars passionately debate US politics, only rarely do they dispassionately study it. David G. Dalin stands out as a notable exception to this rule. In a career spanning more than forty years, he has devoted much of his scholarship to American Jewish political history and the role that Jews played in American public life. His authored and coauthored books include such titles as The Presidents of the United States and the Jews; Jewish Justices of the Supreme Court; and Religion and State in the American Jewish Experience. His articles range from the era of the American Revolution ("The Founding Fathers and America's Jews") to the political behavior of such turn-of-the-twentieth-century American Jewish notables as Mayer Sulzberger, Louis Marshall, Julius Rosenwald, and Cyrus Adler, to the post-World War II era and neo-conservatism. Uniquely, Dalin has taught us about Jewish Republicans. His luminous study of Jewish Republicanism and urban politics in San Francisco, 1911-1963, and his path-breaking article on "Louis Marshall, the Jewish Vote and the Republican Party" remind us that Jewish political behavior is far more complicated

Jonathan D. Sarna, “What They Celebrated, He Mourned: Arnold Wieder’s ‘The Early Jewish Community of Boston’s North End’ (1962),” in Michael Fishbane, Arthur Green, and Jonathan D. Sarna, eds., Hiddushim: Celebrating Hebrew College’s Centennial (Boston: Academic Studies Press, 2022), 71-81

Generations of Hebrew (Teachers) College students studied with Dr. Arnold A. Wieder (1921-2013); ... more Generations of Hebrew (Teachers) College students studied with Dr. Arnold A. Wieder (1921-2013); beloved teacher of Bible and Rabbinic Literature, who served on the faculty from 1958 to 1991. Alone among the full-time Hebrew College faculty of his day, he was often known by his rabbinic title ("Rabbi Wieder") for he was an ordained Orthodox rabbi who had previously served such Boston-area congregations as Linas Hazedek of Dorchester, Young Israel of Brookline, and Chai Odom in Brighton. He was also the commimity moheh

*New Perspectives in American Jewish History: A Documentary Tribute to Jonathan D. Sarna*, eds. Mark A. Raider and Gary Phillip Zola (Waltham, MA: Brandeis University Press, 2021)

Jonathan D. Sarna, “Jews, Lincoln, and the American Election of 1864: A Newly Discovered Broadside and Its Larger Significance,” American Jewish Archives, vol. 76, no. 1-2 (2024): 69-78

According to most studies of Jews and American politics, the subject of this article-an 1864 poli... more According to most studies of Jews and American politics, the subject of this article-an 1864 political broadside urging Jews to vote for Abraham Lincoln-should simply not exist. Rev. Samuel Isaacs, a mid-nineteenth-century American Jewish Orthodox religious leader from Holland, regularly insisted that "Israelites, as Israelites, have no politics." 1 The eminent Reform rabbi, Emil G. Hirsch of Chicago, writing in the authoritative Encyclopedia Britannica, agreed: "Politically the Jews are divided," he wrote. "There is no solid Jewish vote. Most of the Jews have no political aspirations. They are loyal citizens." The presumed link between loyalty and the absence of political aspirations is telling. 2 In our time, the judicious American Jewish historian Naomi W. Cohen, in her descriptive scholarly work on nineteenth-century German Jews in America, concluded that from before the Civil War until the early twentieth century the basic rule was that "politics concerned the individual Jew but not the community. Jewish group interests, if indeed there were any," she wrote, "had no place under that name in any political forum." "More than other immigrant groups," she boldly continued, "nineteenth-century American Jews shied away from injecting ethnic

Jonathan D. Sarna, “The Transformation of ‘Next Year in Jerusalem’ in the Postwar American Haggadah,” in Richard I. Cohen, ed., Jerusalem Transformed: Politics, Culture, and Hidden Corners [=Studies in Contemporary Jewry, vol. 34] (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2024), 1-24

For just over a century, the English-language phrase "Next Year in Jerusalem" appeared in no know... more For just over a century, the English-language phrase "Next Year in Jerusalem" appeared in no known American haggadah. The Hebrew leshanah haba'ah birushalayim most often did appear, even sometimes in bold text, but its standard, widely known translation remained taboo. Instead, in 1837, the first American haggadah, Service for the Two First Nights of the Passover in Hebrew and English, according to the Custom of the German & Spanish Jews ... First American Edition, issued by the New York Jewish printer Solomon Henry Jackson, employed a long-winded translation that Alexander Alexander had made popular in England: "The year that approaches, O bring us to Jerusalem." 1 Placing the onus upon God ("O bring us") calmed fears of appearing disloyal. The original Maxwell House Haggadah (1932), by far the most widely distributed haggadah in history, translated the Hebrew as "The following year grant us to be in Jerusalem." 2 "Grant us" once again gestured toward the need for divine rather than human action for the move to be effected. The New Haggadah for the Pesah Seder, published by the founder of Reconstructionist Judaism, Mordecai Kaplan, in 1941, translated leshanah haba'ah birushalayim as "May the coming year witness the rebuilding of Zion and the Redemption of Israel." 3 He omitted the return to Jerusalem altogether. Orthodox and non-Orthodox thus agreed: "Next year in Jerusalem" was too dangerous a sentiment for a haggadah to express in the vernacular. 4 The longstanding taboo against "Next year in Jerusalem" ended in the United Kingdom in 1934 when the young Zionist Jewish historian, Cecil Roth (whose brother taught at the Hebrew University), daringly published the four forbidden words in capital letters, accompanied by an illustration of halutzim, in his popular haggadah issued by London's Soncino Press. 5 The Zionist writer, translator, and intellectual, Maurice Samuel, followed suit in 1942 in his popular haggadah, the first time an American publisher broke the taboo. Subsequently, the haggadah prepared by the Jerusalemborn Tamar de Sola Pool and her husband, Rabbi David de Sola Pool, distributed by

Jonathan D. Sarna, “‘The Surge’: As antisemitism rises, so does American Jews’ connection to their Jewish identity and Israel,” The Jerusalem Report, vol. 35, no. 15 (12 August 2024): 14-17

Jonathan D. Sarna, “Hatred Will Not Prevail,” Makor Rishon, Sabbath Supplement, no. 1406: Parashat Balak (19 July 2024): 12-15 (Hebrew)

Jonathan D. Sarna, “Israel and American Jewry on the Day After: How Has October 7 Changed Us?” Et Ratson, no. 14 (May 2024): 83-85

Jonathan D. Sarna, “Foreword – The Isaacs Family of Cincinnati: A Remarkable Legacy,” in Nancy Isaacs Klein, The Amazing Eleven: The Story of the Isaacs Siblings from Cincinnati (Cambridge, MA: The Institute for Jewish Research and Publications, 2024), 1-6

Professor of Jewish Philosophy at Brandeis, Marvin Fox zt"l, I happened to mention the Isaacs fam... more Professor of Jewish Philosophy at Brandeis, Marvin Fox zt"l, I happened to mention the Isaacs family of Cincinnati. "Orthodoxy royalty," he responded, with a twinkle in his eye. He proceeded to regale me with stories about members of the family whom he had personally encountered, including Prof. Nathan Isaacs of Harvard University and his brother, Dean Moses L. Isaacs of Yeshiva University. Particularly impressive, he thought, was that these accomplished and famous brothers not only achieved what they did without sacrificing their Orthodoxy, they also were third generation The Amazing Eleven 2 Orthodox Jews. Their grandfather, Reb Schachne Isaacs, had arrived in America prior to the Civil War. Thanks to Nancy Isaacs Klein, herself a scion of the remarkable Isaacs family, we now know a great deal more than we previously did about this third generation of Isaacs. "The Amazing Eleven" recounts the story not just of Nathan and Moses, but of each of the sons and daughters of Abraham, Reb Schachne's seventh son. In a previous book, Klein recounted Abraham's story; the story of her own father, Abraham's son Moses Legis; and that of Rabbi Philipp (Hillel HaCohen) Klein, whose daughter Moses had married. 1 Here she expands on that work, telling us not only about her own father but also about his ten siblings-natives of Cincinnati. There, in the heartland of Reform Judaism, all eleven were born, educated, and reared as devoted Orthodox Jews. A surviving photograph of the eleven Isaacs siblings dating to about 1909 places their Orthodox pride on display. 2 All are dressed in their holiday finery. Large, black, well-fitting Lithuanian-style skullcaps adorn the heads of every male (the youngest wears white). The two women who bookend the photograph are also modestly and elegantly attired. Aaron, the eldest son, sits centered on an expensive chair, as if confidently surveying the scene. Everything about the photograph exudes poise, self-confidence, respectability and good taste, as if to confirm the pioneering Jewish social worker Boris Bogen's claim that there shone about the family "an aura of aristocracy which seemed far finer and rarer than the aristocracy of the richer German Jews." 3

Jonathan D. Sarna, “Next Year in Jerusalem,” in Stuart Halpern and Jacob Kupietzky, eds., The Promise of Liberty: A Passover Haggada (Jerusalem: Maggid Books, 2024), [240-243]

Jonathan D. Sarna, “Foreword,” Watersheds, vol. 1. October 7 (February 2024): 7-8

, the Jews of Russia joined together to observe a communal day of mourning for those murdered in ... more , the Jews of Russia joined together to observe a communal day of mourning for those murdered in the devastating pogroms and tormented by the violent antisemitism that unexpectedly befell the world's largest Jewish community. In the filled-to-the-brim Great Synagogue of St. Petersburg, as the preacher rose to speak, "one long moan, coming as it were from one breast, suddenly burst forth and filled the synagogue," historian Simon Dubnow recounted. "Everybody wept, the old, the young, the long-robed paupers, the elegant dandies dressed in the latest fashion, the men in government service, the physicians, the students, not to speak of the women. For two or three minutes did these heart-rending moans resound-this cry of common sorrow that had issued from the Jewish heart." The "common sorrow" of 1881-82, remembered in Jewish history as Sufot Ba-Negev, a euphemism for so much that could not then be openly discussed, formed the first great watershed of modern Jewish history. In its wake, mass Jewish migration to the United States and the Hibbat Zion movement arose together, twin developments that in time transformed the whole Jewish world. Nobody on that communal day of mourning in 1882 could have foreseen the widespread implications of the 1881 watershed. Only in historical retrospect do we understand its colossal impact and repercussions. Today, less than a century and a half later, the once-mighty Russian Jewish community is no more, and some 90

Jonathan D. Sarna, “‘Certainty Has Never Been Mine’: The Denominational Eclecticism of David Ellenson,” The Lehrhaus (7 January 2024)

Jonathan D. Sarna, “Happy Alone or Happy Together? R. Jonathan Sacks, Contemporary Culture, and the Promise of Hope,” in Erica Brown and Shira Weiss, eds., An Ode to Joy: Judaism and Happiness in the Thought of Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks and Beyond (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2023), 211-215

In Judaism," Rabbi Jonathan Sacks once wrote, "happiness is not something we find in solitude, st... more In Judaism," Rabbi Jonathan Sacks once wrote, "happiness is not something we find in solitude, still less in self-gratification. It is something we experience together." 1 To Rabbi Sacks, Judaism's "most original contribution to the understanding of human wellbeing" lay in its emphasis on the shared nature of happiness. 2 He demonstrated this by highlighting the word simha, the most common term for happiness in the Torah. "Simha in the Torah is never about individuals. It is always about something we share," he argued. 3 He explained that simha "is not a private emotion… It is a social state, a predicate of 'we,' not 'I.' There is no such thing as feeling simha alone." 4 Both in his focus on the "essentially collective" nature of happiness in Judaism, and in his privileging of simha over ashrei, the better-known biblical term for happiness, Rabbi Sacks differed from others who have studied the Jewish view of happiness. Nahum Sarna, for example, pointed to

Jonathan D. Sarna, “Conversion and Repentance in the Diary of Cora Wilburn (Venezuela, 1846),” in Adriana M. Brodsky and Laura Arnold Leibman, eds., Jews Across the Americas: A Sourcebook, 1492-Present (New York: New York University Press, 2023), 204-206

After a tumultuous independence period that had started in 1797, Venezuela finally sep arated fro... more After a tumultuous independence period that had started in 1797, Venezuela finally sep arated from Spain in 1811. And while the following period was defined by constant strife between conservatives and liberals, the tight control exercised by Spain was gone. Eco nomic opportunities attracted European immigrants, yet these early arrivals were not plen tiful. The writer of this diary, Cora Wilburn (1814-1906), arrived in Venezuela in 1844. Born Henrietta Pulfermacher in Europe (most likely Alsace), she traveled the world with her parents-her father, a crooked gem merchant who assumed the name Moritz Jackson, as well as her stepmother-before settling in La Guaira, a port near Caracas. There, under the name Henrietta Jackson, she commenced keeping a diary. The entry included here provides insights into the precarious existence of early Jewish women who immigrated to the Americas. Wilburns diary paints a grim picture of her Jewish family, describing her father s alco holism and the abuse that she and her stepmother suffered at his hands. Upon the death of her stepmother, her father threatened her physically and drove her from the house. Within a few months, he himself lay dead, and whatever of value he owned was stolen. Adrift and impoverished, Wilburn was taken in by sympathetic Catholic neighbors. She succumbed to their pressure and converted to Catholicism on June 24, 1846. But she soon repented of the act, especially when she discovered that her sponsor was a secret adulteress. So, with hopes of returning to her people and her faith, she migrated to the United States, settling in Philadelphia in September 1848. Once in Philadelphia, Wilburn was denied the welcome she expected from Jews, and she found herself reduced to menial servitude as a seamstress. After four years, she broke free of her hated needle. Aided by Christian friends, she became a professional writer under the

Jonathan D. Sarna, “The Taboo against ‘Next Year in Jerusalem’ in the American Haggadah (1837–1942),” in Zev Eleff and Shaul Seidler-Feller, eds., Emet le-Ya’akov: Facing the Truths of History – Essays in Honor of Jacob J. Schacter (Boston: Academic Studies Press, 2023), 206-233

English Haggadot published in the United States, even if they included the three Hebrew words le-... more English Haggadot published in the United States, even if they included the three Hebrew words le-shanah ha-ba'ah bi-Yerushalayim, never printed their four-word English equivalent. A strict taboo surrounded "Next Year in Jerusalem. " To defy it, people assumed, would bring trouble upon the offender. Even if the taboo represented a forbidden action for which there nevertheless existed a strong unconscious inclination, as Freud might have argued, the declaration "Next Year in Jerusalem" clearly made many American Jews anxious. 1 The essay that follows explores this anxiety from the earliest American Haggadah in 1837 through World War II. It shows how a pithy liturgical phrase-its appearance, disappearance, translation, illustration, and interpretation-sheds light on the complex history of American Jewish attitudes toward returning to Zion. Tracking this phrase in both Hebrew and English, where its formulation frequently diverged, likewise sheds light on questions of translation and audience. More broadly, this essay demonstrates, methodologically, how

Jonathan D. Sarna, “American Antisemitism,” in Mark Weitzman, Robert J. Williams, and James Wald, eds., The Routledge History of Antisemitism (London: Routledge, 2023), 53-60

Jonathan D. Sarna, “The Unspoken Taboo,” Segula, no. 64 (March 2023): 42-55

Segula , 2023

L e-shana ha-ba'a bi-Yerushalayim-Next year in Jerusalem." This text isn't a prescribed, codified... more L e-shana ha-ba'a bi-Yerushalayim-Next year in Jerusalem." This text isn't a prescribed, codified element of any liturgy-not at weddings, not at the end of Yom Kippur, and not at the conclusion of the haggadah, though arguably among the most powerful moments of each. Yet this expression of yearning for Zion carries vast popular appeal. These words have engraved the memory of Jerusalem upon the Jewish mind. They've nurtured the hope that someday Jews would return to the holy city and rebuild it anew. Recited in unison by all present at key moments in the Jewish life cycle, this formula has inspired the faithful, stirred passions, steeled hearts. Nevertheless, the first significant American haggadah to include the pithy English phrase "Next year in Jerusalem" appeared only in 1942. Prior to that, for just over a full century, even if Hebrew-English haggadot published in the United States included the three Hebrew words Le-shana ha-ba'a bi-Yerushalayim, they avoided its four-word English equivalent. "Next year in Jerusalem" was taboo.

Jonathan D. Sarna, “The American Rabbinate on the Cusp of Change: Gustave Gottheil’s Seventieth Birthday Dinner in 1897,” in Adam Mendelsohn and Jonathan D. Sarna, eds., Yearning to Breathe Free: Jews in Gilded Age America (Princeton: Princeton University Library, 2022), 439-482

Two days earlier, to mark the occasion, the city's Board of Jewish Ministers hosted a lavish dinn... more Two days earlier, to mark the occasion, the city's Board of Jewish Ministers hosted a lavish dinner for him at the Tuxedo, a hall located at Madison Avenue and 59th Street. Rabbis, family members, and the editors of local Jewish newspapers all attended the event, which won mention in major Jewish newspapers. In addition, one of the newspaper editors, Jacob Philip (J. P.) Solomon (1838-1909), produced and circulated ("among friends") a privately printed pseudonymous satire inspired by the evening's speeches, The Chronicles of the Rabbis: Being an Account of a Banquet Tendered to "Episcopus" by the Rabbis of New York City upon the Anniversary of his 70th Birthday.1 Together, the event and the satire shed light on hierarchy and discord within New York Judaism as the nineteenth century wound down, and particularly on four themes of enduring significance: (1) the emergence of new models of the rabbinate; (2) the uneasy relationship between rabbis and unordained lay leaders; (3) the growing chasm between classically trained European-born rabbis and those educated in the United States; and (4) the widening tension between Orthodoxy and Reform. Gustav Gottheil Gustav Gottheil (Fig. 70), who upon his death would be described as New York Judaism's "most prominent official figure," was born in a small unprepossessing Prussian town named Pinne (today, Pniewy, Poland). He received a traditional Jewish education, attested to and likely overseen by the town's highly respected rabbi and preacher, Joseph Chayyim (J. Heimann) Caro (1800-1895), renowned for his fluency in Hebrew, knowledge of German literature, and love of Zion.2 He { 439 }

Adam Mendelsohn and Jonathan D. Sarna, “Preface,” in Adam Mendelsohn and Jonathan D. Sarna, eds., Yearning to Breathe Free: Jews in Gilded Age America (Princeton: Princeton University Library, 2022), xxi-xxiii

Jonathan D. Sarna and Zev Eleff, “The Etrog Trade in the New World,” in Warren Klein, Sharon Liberman Mintz, and Joshua Teplitsky, eds., Be Fruitful! The Etrog in Jewish Art, Culture, and History (Jerusalem: Mineged Press, 2022), 194-211

The etrog is a curious fruit. The Bible (Leviticus 23:40) commands its readers: "And you shall ta... more The etrog is a curious fruit. The Bible (Leviticus 23:40) commands its readers: "And you shall take for yourselves on the first day beautiful tree-fruit (peri etz hadar), palm fronds, boughs of leafy trees, and willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God seven days." Native to the Far East and adapted to the culture of the eastern Mediterranean, the rituals of the etrog are among the very few that are dependent upon a particular environment for growth that Jews have maintained in their vast dispersal from the origins of their law, heritage, and collective existence in the Land of Israel. In their wanderings across the globe, the etrog has remained part of Jews' practices, an indispensable part of the annual rhythms of the Jewish harvest festival, Sukkot, the Feast of Booths. This collection of essays explores the long and engaging story of the etrog as a tale of home-away-from-home, of wandering and belonging, of tradition and adaptation.

Jonathan D. Sarna, “Foreword,” in David G. Dalin, Jews and American Public Life: Essays on American Jewish History and Politics (Boston: Academic Studies Press, 2022), ix-x

The eminent American Reform rabbi and scholar Emil G. Hirsch of Chicago, writing an authoritative... more The eminent American Reform rabbi and scholar Emil G. Hirsch of Chicago, writing an authoritative 1907 encyclopedia article on "Judaism and the Jews in the United States," dismissed the subject of American Jewish politics in a mere nineteen words. "Politically," he wrote "the Jews are divided. There is no solid Jewish vote. Most of the Jews have no political aspirations. " 1 Hirsch's characterization reflects a widespread taboo concerning the subject of American Jewish politics that continues to the present day. In scholarly circles, the changing political behavior of American Jews has for the most part been ignored. Howard M. Sachar's A History of the Jews in America, weighing in at more than 1000 pages, contains no index entry under politics at all! For all that American Jewish scholars passionately debate US politics, only rarely do they dispassionately study it. David G. Dalin stands out as a notable exception to this rule. In a career spanning more than forty years, he has devoted much of his scholarship to American Jewish political history and the role that Jews played in American public life. His authored and coauthored books include such titles as The Presidents of the United States and the Jews; Jewish Justices of the Supreme Court; and Religion and State in the American Jewish Experience. His articles range from the era of the American Revolution ("The Founding Fathers and America's Jews") to the political behavior of such turn-of-the-twentieth-century American Jewish notables as Mayer Sulzberger, Louis Marshall, Julius Rosenwald, and Cyrus Adler, to the post-World War II era and neo-conservatism. Uniquely, Dalin has taught us about Jewish Republicans. His luminous study of Jewish Republicanism and urban politics in San Francisco, 1911-1963, and his path-breaking article on "Louis Marshall, the Jewish Vote and the Republican Party" remind us that Jewish political behavior is far more complicated

Jonathan D. Sarna, “What They Celebrated, He Mourned: Arnold Wieder’s ‘The Early Jewish Community of Boston’s North End’ (1962),” in Michael Fishbane, Arthur Green, and Jonathan D. Sarna, eds., Hiddushim: Celebrating Hebrew College’s Centennial (Boston: Academic Studies Press, 2022), 71-81

Generations of Hebrew (Teachers) College students studied with Dr. Arnold A. Wieder (1921-2013); ... more Generations of Hebrew (Teachers) College students studied with Dr. Arnold A. Wieder (1921-2013); beloved teacher of Bible and Rabbinic Literature, who served on the faculty from 1958 to 1991. Alone among the full-time Hebrew College faculty of his day, he was often known by his rabbinic title ("Rabbi Wieder") for he was an ordained Orthodox rabbi who had previously served such Boston-area congregations as Linas Hazedek of Dorchester, Young Israel of Brookline, and Chai Odom in Brighton. He was also the commimity moheh

Jonathan D. Sarna, “Antisemitism in America, 1654–2020,” in Steven T. Katz, ed., The Cambridge Companion to Antisemitism (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2022), 392-411

Antisemitism, an essay by Jonathan Judaken argues, "requires rethinking." 1 The term's manifest l... more Antisemitism, an essay by Jonathan Judaken argues, "requires rethinking." 1 The term's manifest lack of clarity, its uncertain periodization, and its complex relationship to other forms of oppression all help to explain why. Antisemitism in the United States, one might argue, likewise requires rethinking. For years, a code of silence enveloped the subject. The Jewish lay leader and scholar Cyrus Adler, longtime president of the American Jewish Historical Society, insisted in 1898 that he did "not believe it exists," and had "entire confidence in the impossibility of its ever existing on the soil of the United States." 2 The word "antisemitism" (with or without a hyphen) did not appear even once in Henrietta Szold and Elfrida Cowen's index to the American Jewish Historical Society's first twenty volumes of publications. Following World War II, historians focused more on anti-Jewish hatred, but tangled over whether it constituted the exception or the rule in America. How, they wondered, did it compare with other hatreds, such as anti-Black racism, anti-Catholicism, and anti-Mormonism? Should antisemitism be understood as grimly eternal, dependably cyclical, or just as an occasional and episodic factor in American history? And how best to interpret it: as a "cultural code," revealing less about Jews than about the culture that stigmatizes them, or with a focus on Jews as historical actors, responsible in many ways for their own melancholy fate? 3 Finally, is antisemitism different in the United States than in other diaspora lands where Jews have lived, or are claims of "American exceptionalism" with respect to antisemitism just a patriotic illusion?

Jonathan D. Sarna, “Review of ‘Hollywood and Israel: A History’, by Tony Shaw and Giora Goodman,” Contemporary Jewry (9 December 2023): 1-3

This comprehensive, readable, balanced, insightful, and well-illustrated volumethe best book in I... more This comprehensive, readable, balanced, insightful, and well-illustrated volumethe best book in Israel studies published during the last calendar year according to the Association for Israel Studies-recounts Hollywood's long and distinctive engagement with the Land of Israel from 1925 to the present. Promising to be about "much, much more than film" (p. 4), the book goes "behind the camera" to uncover the breadth, depth, impact, and complexity of the Hollywood-Israel relationship, and how it has changed over time. A galaxy of celebrities-actors, directors, producers, executives, and clergyparade through this volume. Most, unsurprisingly, are Jewish, but Shaw and Goodman push back against the facile view that Jews "control Hollywood" and have manipulated it to Israel's benefit. They provide, instead, a more complex and nuanced account of "celebrity activism" that attends to longstanding Jewish communal divisions concerning Israel, underscores the economic forces that restrained ideological impulses, and takes account of non-Jewish spiritual interest in the Holy Land as well. Frank Sinatra, an Italian-American Catholic famed for his Zionist activism, even graces the book's cover. Nor do the authors overlook Palestinians. They note the arrival in 1988 of a "new, more accessible Palestinian cinema" (p. 219) in the form of Michael Khleifi's Wedding in Galilee, the first Palestinian feature fictional film to circulate around the USA, and they elaborate on concerns that Hollywood shaped negative images of the Arab in the American mind. Hollywood and Israel opens with a thick description of the 2 h prime time 1978 extravaganza marking Israel's birthday entitled The Stars Salute Israel at 30. This highly unusual celebration by the entertainment industry of a small nation far from America's shores prompts a series of questions that the authors proceed to address: Publisher's Note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Jonathan D. Sarna, “Review of ‘Yankee Dutchmen Under Fire: Civil War Letters from the 82nd Illinois Infantry’, ed. Joseph R. Reinhart,” American Jewish Archives Journal, vol. 66 (2014): 101-102

Jonathan D. Sarna, “Review: A.M.Klein: The Letters, ed. Elizabeth Popham,” University of Toronto Quarterly 83:2 (Spring 2014): 443-444

Jonathan D. Sarna, “Review of 'Antisemitism: A History', eds. Albert S. Lindemann and Richard S. Levy',” Journal of American Ethnic History 32:2 (Winter 2013): 119-121.

Jonathan D. Sarna, “Review of 'American and British Jews in the Age of the Great Migration', by Lloyd P. Gartner,” Studies in Contemporary Jewry 25 (2011): 162-163

Jonathan D. Sarna, “Review of 'Speaking of Jews', by Lila C. Berman,” Journal of American History 96:3 (December 2009): 888-889

Jonathan D. Sarna, "Review of 'Hebrew Printing in America 1735-1926: A History and Annotated Bibliography', by Yosef Goldman. Research and editing by Ari Kinsberg," American Jewish History 92:4 (December 2004): 509-512 [published May 1, 2007]

Jonathan D. Sarna, “Review of ‘An Uneasy Relationship’, by Zvi Ganin; ‘The Struggle for Soviet Jewry in American Politics’, by Fred Lazin; and ‘From Exodus to Freedom’, by Stuart Altshuler,” Israel Studies 11:3 (Fall 2006): 168-172

Jonathan D. Sarna, “Review of 'The Jews of the United States 1654 to 2000', by Hasia Diner,” Journal of American History 58 (September 2005): 578

Jonathan D. Sarna, “Review of ‘The Family Letters of Louis D. Brandeis’, eds. Melvin I. Urofsky and David W. Levy,” Modern Judaism 25:1 (February 2005): 99-101

Jonathan D. Sarna, “Review of 'Catholics and Jews in Twentieth-Century America', by Egal Feldman,” American Historical Review 108:2 (April 2003): 546-547

Jonathan D. Sarna, “Review: Jazz Age Jews, by Michael Alexander,” The Historian 65:5 (Fall 2003): 1176-1177

Jonathan D. Sarna, “Review of 'Building the Future: Jewish Immigrant Intellectuals and the Making of Tsukunft', ed. & translated by Steven Cassedy,” Journal of American Ethnic History 21:2 (Winter 2002): 110-111

Jonathan D. Sarna, “Review of 'The Jewish Confederates', by Robert Rosen,” American Jewish History 89:3 (September 2001): 335-337

Jonathan D. Sarna, “Review of ‘Henry Ford and the Jews: The Mass Production of Hate’, by Neil Baldwin,” Commentary 112:5 (December 2001): 74-76

Jonathan D. Sarna, “Review of 'The Messiah Comes Tomorrow: Tales From the American Shtetl', by Alan Lupo," The Boston Globe (13 July 2001)

Jonathan D. Sarna, “Review of 'Jew vs. Jew: The Struggle for the Soul of American Jewry', by Samuel G. Freedman,” The Boston Globe (27 August 2000): C1

Jonathan D. Sarna, “Review of 'Jewish Immigrant Associations and American Identity in New York, 1880-1939', by Daniel Soyer,” Journal of American History 85:1 (June 1998): 255-256

Jonathan D. Sarna, “Review: Portrait of American Jews: The Last Half of the 20th Century, by Samuel C. Heilman,” Journal of American Ethnic History 17 (Spring 1998): 121-122

Jonathan D. Sarna, “Review: Struggles in the Promised Land: Toward A History of Black-Jewish Relations in the United States, eds. Jack Salzman and Cornell West,” CommonQuest 3 (Winter 1998): 50-53

*Yearning to Breathe Free: Jews in Gilded Age America*, eds. Adam Mendelsohn and Jonathan D. Sarna (Princeton: Princeton University Library, 2022)

*Hiddushim: Celebrating Hebrew College’s Centennial*, eds. Michael Fishbane, Arthur Green, and Jonathan D. Sarna (Boston: Academic Studies Press, 2022)

Jonathan D. Sarna, *Coming to Terms with America: Essays on Jewish History, Religion, and Culture* [JPS Scholars of Distinction Series] (Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society, 2021)

Bringing together a wealth of insights from Jonathan Sarna's long scholarly engagement with Ameri... more

*Cosella Wayne: Or, Will and Destiny*, ed. Jonathan D. Sarna (Tuscaloosa: The University of Alabama Press, 2019)

Jonathan D. Sarna, *American Judaism: A History*, second edition (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2019)

Jonathan D. Sarna and Benjamin Shapell, *Lincoln and the Jews: A History* (Tel-Aviv: Dvir Publishing House, 2015; Hebrew)

Jonathan D. Sarna and Benjamin Shapell, *Lincoln and the Jews: A History* (New York: Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin’s Press, 2015)

*Sisterhood: A Centennial History of Women of Reform Judaism*, eds. Carole B. Balin, Dana Herman, Jonathan D. Sarna, and Gary P. Zola (Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College Press, 2013)

Jonathan D. Sarna, *When General Grant Expelled the Jews* (New York: Schocken/Nextbook, 2012)

*Jewish Renaissance and Revival in America*, eds. Eitan P. Fishbane and Jonathan D. Sarna (Waltham: Brandeis University Press, 2011)

*New Essays in American Jewish History: Commemorating 60th Anniversary of American Jewish Archives*, eds. Pamela S. Nadell, Jonathan D. Sarna, Lance J. Sussman (Cincinnati: American Jewish Archives, 2010)

*Jews and the Civil War: A Reader*, eds. Jonathan D. Sarna and Adam Mendelsohn (New York: NYU Press, 2010)

Jonathan D. Sarna, *A Time to Every Purpose: Letters to a Young Jew* (New York: Basic Books/Perseus, 2008)

*The History of the Jewish People: A Story of Tradition and Change*, vol. 2, eds. Jonathan B. Krasner and Jonathan D. Sarna (Springfield, NJ: Behrman House, 2007)

*The History of the Jewish People: A Story of Tradition and Change*, vol. 1, eds. Jonathan B. Krasner and Jonathan D. Sarna (Springfield, NJ: Behrman House, 2007)

*Three Hundred Fifty Years: An Album of Jewish Memory*, eds. Michael Feldberg, et al. (New York: American Jewish Historical Society & American Jewish Archives, 2005)

Jonathan D. Sarna, *Hayahadut BeAmerika, American Judaism* (Jerusalem: Shazar, 2005; Hebrew)

*The Jews of Boston*, second edition, eds. Jonathan D. Sarna, et al. (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2005)

Jonathan D. Sarna, *American Judaism: A History* (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2004)

*America and Zion: Essays and Papers in Memory of Moshe Davis*, eds. Eli Lederhendler and Jonathan D. Sarna (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2002)