Social History of the Jews: Key Issues, Methods, and Research Possibilities

In this lecture we will explore the recent economic turn in Jewish history and growing interest in the topic. We will analyze the difference between economic history from the 1970s and the newest studies in the field. Particularly, we will focus on the recent historiography on Jewish international trading networks as the example, of new economic historic study.

Literature:

• Rebecca Kobrin and Adam Teller, ”Introduction,” in Purchasing power: the economics of modern Jewish history (Philadelphia: Penn, University of Pennsylvania Press, 2015), pp. 1-27
• Sarah Abrevaya Stein, Plumes: Ostrich Feathers, Jews, and a Lost World of Global Commerce (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2008) (selected chapters)

In this lecture, we will overview range of methods, including qualitative and quantitative, used to research Jewish family. We will focus on the structure of the Jewish family in Eastern Europe, marriage patterns and use of the statistical data which helps to overcome the stereotypes about a Jewish family.

Literature:

• Jacob Goldberg ”Jewish Marriage in Eighteenth-Century Poland,” in Jews in Early Modern Poland, Polin: Studies in Polish Jewry, Volume 10, pp.
• Shaul Stampfer ”Love and Family Life among East European Jewry in the Modern Period,” in Families, Rabbis and Education Traditional Jewish Society in Nineteenth-Century Eastern Europe (Littman Library of Jewish Civilization, 2014)

In this lecture we will explore the importance of closer look in social history as a way to challenge some generalizations or understand historical processes, such as acculturation more deeply, at the same time understanding the limits of ego-documents. We will read the excerpts of Dov-Ber of Bolechow as a source for the economic and social history of early modern Europe.

Literature:

• The Memoirs of Ber of Bolechow, 1723-1805. Translated from the original Hebrew MS., with an introduction, notes and a map by Dr. M. Vishnitzer (London : Oxford University Press, 1922) (excerpts)
• Gershon David Hundert ”Bandits in Bolechów: Eighteenth-Century Jewish Memoirs in Context,” in Jewish History, Vol. 22, No. 4, 2008, pp. 373-385

In this lecture we will look how gender approach is helpful for researching social aspects of the life of Jewish communities. Specific attention will be dedicated to the changes in gender roles in modern Jewish society. We will explore the case of German philanthropist and suffragette Berta Pappenheim as an example of how to struggle against white women slavery and philanthropy was a way of empowerment of middle-class Jewish women.

Literature:

• Paula Hyman. “Gender and the Shaping of Modern Jewish Identities.” Jewish Social Studies 8, no. 2 (2002): 153-161.