Monday, September 14, 2020, 11:30 AM – 1 PM EDT

Eric Goldstein, Associate Professor of History and Jewish Studies, Judith London Evans Director, Tam Institute for Jewish Studies

"Where Do Jews Fit in America's World of Difference?"

In modern times, Jews have often been hard to categorize according to prevailing definitions of "difference." Before the eighteenth century, Jews were socially, religiously, legally, and culturally distinct from their Christian and Muslim neighbors in Europe and Asia. But when modern concepts of citizenship arose, the nature of Jewish difference came into question: If Jews were French, German, or American, were they now only a religious community, or was there still some ethnic, racial, or national component defining them as a group? The fact that Jews remained "outsiders" in some countries, while becoming "insiders" in others, created additional confusion as to whether they were a disadvantaged minority or part of a privileged majority. In the United States (the focus of this presentation), because power and privilege were shaped by the color line, questions about Jewish status often focused on whether Jews were unambiguously white. Although American Jews were welcomed into the white majority after World War II, the contradictory nature of their group identity has continued to inspire debate, not only about their place in the American world of difference, but also about the very meaning of "difference" in American life.