Book description
When westward expansion began in the early nineteenth century, the
Jewish population of the United States was only 2,500. As Jewish
immigration surged over the century between 1820 and 1920, Jews began
to find homes in the Ohio River Valley. In Jewish Communities on the
Ohio River, Amy Hill Shevitz chronicles the settlement and evolution
of Jewish communities in small towns on both banks of the river --
towns such as East Liverpool and Portsmouth, Ohio, Wheeling, West
Virginia, and Madison, Indiana. Though not large, these communities
influenced American culture and history by helping to develop the Ohio
River Valley while transforming Judaism into an American way of life.
The Jewish experience and the regional experience reflected and
reinforced each other. Jews shared regional consciousness and pride
with their Gentile neighbors. The antebellum Ohio River Valley's
identity as a cradle of bourgeois America fit very well with the
middle-class aspirations and achievements of German Jewish immigrants
in particular. In these small towns, Jewish citizens created networks
of businesses and families that were part of a distinctive
middle-class culture. As a minority group with a vital role in each
community, Ohio Valley Jews fostered religious pluralism as their
contributions to local culture, economy, and civic life countered the
antisemitic sentiments of the period. Jewish Communities on the Ohio
River offers enlightening case studies of the associations between
Jewish communities in the big cities of the region, especially
Cincinnati and Pittsburgh, and the smaller river towns that shared an
optimism about the Jewish future in America. Jews in these communities
participated enthusiastically in ongoing dialogues concerning
religious reform and unity, playing a crucial role in the development
of American Judaism. The history of the Ohio River Valley includes the
stories of German and East European Jewish immigrants in America, of
the emergence of American Reform Judaism and the adaptation of
tradition, and of small-town American Jewish culture. While relating
specifically to the diversity of the Ohio River Valley, the stories of
these towns illustrate themes that are central to the larger
experience of Jews in America.
""[A] pathbreaking volume... The first book to integrate
the story of Jews in these many communities into a single coherent
narrative.""A highly sophisticated regional study that
reflects careful research, wide reading, and innovative ideas. Highly
recommended." -- J. D. Sarna, CHOICE" -- J. D. Sarna, CHOICE
Amy Hill Shevitz teaches religious studies at California State
University, Northridge.
