Document Type
Journal Article
Date of this Version
9-2003
Publication Source
American Jewish History
Volume
91
Issue
3-4
Start Page
371
Last Page
378
DOI
10.1353/ajh.2005.0014
Abstract
I must confess that, in some thirty years of writing and teaching Jewish history, I have not thought seriously about the American Jewish experience, with the notable exception of some basic reading to prepare me to introduce the subject in my broad survey courses on modern Jewish history and thought. I was trained as a Jewish historian at Columbia University and the Hebrew University at a time when a clear bias existed, perpetuating the primary status of European Jewish history over American because of its grounding in Hebraic and rabbinic texts. Moreover, I was acutely aware of the relative indifference of my Israeli teachers to American culture, all of them students of Baer, Dinur, and Scholem, card-carrying members of the so-called "Jerusalem school."1
Copyright/Permission Statement
Copyright © 2003 Johns Hopkins University Press. This article first appeared in American Jewish History 91:3-4 (2003), 371-378. Reprinted with permission by Johns Hopkins University Press.
Recommended Citation
Ruderman, D. B. (2003). Reflecting on American Jewish History. American Jewish History, 91 (3-4), 371-378. http://dx.doi.org/10.1353/ajh.2005.0014
Date Posted: 02 August 2017
This document has been peer reviewed.