Experience of Jews in the Modern Period

The establishment of Jewish communities in the New World was in part a product of the necessary response of Jews to the experience of oppression in Europe. The Americas, and particularly, the U.S., represented a physical escape from absolutist political traditions that included Jew-hatred as a component. Indeed, Jews interested in escaping the Spanish Inquisition saw a way out of the oppression of a clandestine life as a Jew, manifest life as a Christian, given the 1492 expulsion of infidels, both Jews and Moors, by Ferdinand and Isabella. But even as exiles, observant New World Jews (marranos) were at risk, being permitted to practice their religion only to the degree local authorities, from South America to the Caribbean islands, would permit it, until

. . .
en moderate and communist organizers, the former, according to Sachar, interested in gains for workers and the latter more interested in fostering political action meant to create industrial anarchy inside the garment trades (393). Well-organized communist cadres were also effective during the Great Depression, although less with the pragmatic working class than with petty bourgeois shopkeepers and middle-class intellectuals whose foundations had been shaken by the economic collapse. Although the New Deal addressed many of the issues around which the communists had organized, the residue of political activism persisted even afterward, to be "applied increasingly to other areas of national life," such as social and political justice (395-6). A visible exponent of the ethos of Jewish liberalism was Justice Louis Brandeis, and the disproportionately large number of Jews engaged in New Deal upper administration suggests their commitment to its progressive and reformist ethic. Owing partly to New Deal progressivism, As a practical matter for much of the twentieth century, Jews tended to affiliate with the Democratic Party. However, as middle class prosperity permeated Jewish communities, the economic policies of the Republicans became
. . .

Some common words found in the essay are:
Russian Jewish, Europe America, French Resistance, Allies Russia, Mahler Schoenberg, Mein Kampf, War II, Elders Zion, Jews Pale, Rumkowski Lodz, jewish community, world war, jews pale, nineteenth century, modern jewish, western culture, final solution, modern period, jewish culture, jewish immigration, modern jewish history, trade union activism, course modern jewish,
Approximate Word count = 2864
Approximate Pages = 11 (250 words per page)

More Essays on Experience of Jews in the Modern Period