The Yiddish of Yankeeland 2021

The Jews of Boston and America, 1840–1924

Welcome!

Thank you for registering for the online course, The Yiddish of Yankeeland: The Jews of Boston and America, 1840–1924!

This course will explore the Jewish experience of Boston during the era of largescale Jewish immigration to the United States. Long serving as a city of refuge, Boston also emerged as an important hub in the Jewish diaspora to America. By the nineteenth century, Boston offered Jewish immigrants an urban landscape where they could create and build American Jewish culture, start their own businesses, and practice Judaism in the ways they desired. Along the way, Boston’s Jews interacted with the rich diversity of the city, coming into contact with groups they had rarely encountered in Europe; an inevitability in a metropolis with a deep Irish Catholic imprint. This course will consider the religious institutions that Boston’s Jews forged and sustained. We will also delve into New England Jewish artistic and cultural production, how Jews engaged with American politics in Boston, and what this city’s Jewish history can tell us about the general American Jewish experience in a period of diasporic resettlement.

This course includes four 90-minute classes; exclusive access to handouts and recordings of each presentation; and in-depth Q&A sessions with the instructors.

This program will be hosted via Zoom.

 

JOIN INFORMATION

Click here to join the live broadcasts: https://zoom.us/j/99070257021

Meeting ID: 990 7025 7021

This course will be conducted over Zoom Meeting. As a participant, you can select whether or not your camera is on and you are viewable by the instructor and other participants. Discussion and questions will be encouraged throughout the course.

 

COURSE HANDOUTS

Bibliography

Class 1 Handout

Class 1 Slides Worksheet

Class 1 Slides (large)

Class 2 Handout

Class 2 Slides Worksheet

Class 2 Slides (large)

Class 3 Handout

Class 3 Slides Worksheet

Class 3 Slides (large)

Class 4 Handout

Class 4 Slides Worksheet

Class 4 Slides (large)

 

 

COURSE SCHEDULE

Return to this page often for additional resources!.

Course Activity	Date of Access	Description
Class #1
Class #1: Online presentation (live!)	11/2/2021, 4:00 PM eastern time	Establishing a Community, 1840–1860 This week we will look into the origins of Boston’s Jewish community and its bedrock institutions. We will also explore general Boston history and compare the early Jewish experience in New England with that of other major urban centers, notably New York.
Video of Class #1	starting 11/3/2021	Watch the first class presentation. Available exclusively to course participants.
Class #2
Class #2: Online presentation (live!)	11/9/2021, 4:00 PM eastern time	Moyshe in New England’s City of Immigrants, 1860–1891 This week will focus on diasporic Jewish culture in Boston as the city became defined by the immigrant experience. We will spend time analyzing Yiddish culture in Boston, and how Jews presented themselves to native-born Americans as well as other immigrants and people of color. This week we will also consider the nativist backlash to Jewish arrival and Boston’s role in the eventual passage of immigration restriction in the early twentieth century. Note: To attend, click on the join link above.
Video of Class #2	starting 11/10/2021	Watch the second class presentation. Available exclusively to course participants.
Class #3
Class #3: Online presentation (live!)	11/16/2021, 4:00 PM eastern time	Jews and the Boston Machine, 1891–1914 The late 18th century establishment of the United States was unique in not imposing a state religion on its citizens. People of all faiths—including Jews—were free to exercise their religion without pressure or penalty. Jews in America understood this as a revolution, indeed. But as in many revolutions, fracturing as well as unity could result. In this session we will explore the creative and diverging ways in which the growing Jewish population began to organize, define, and express itself, with a particular focus on New York City and Rhode Island. Note: To attend, click on the join link above.
Video of Class #3	starting 11/17/2021	Watch the third class presentation. Available exclusively to course participants.
Class #4
Class #4: Online presentation (live!)	11/23/2021, 4:00 PM eastern time	Jewish Neighborhoods After Immigration: Dorchester and Roxbury, 1914–1924 In our final class, we will look at the Boston neighborhoods most associated with the American Jewish diaspora. We will explore the rich Jewish life that emerged in the neighborhoods of Dorchester and Roxbury in the early twentieth century. Finally, we will consider what these Jewish neighborhoods meant at the end of the era of mass migration, when the Boston’s nativists triumphed with Congressional passage of the immigrant quota system. Note: To attend, click on the join link above.
Video of Class #4	starting 11/24/2021	Watch the fourth class presentation. Available exclusively to course participants.

 

RECORDED PRESENTATIONS

Class 1: Establishing a Community, 1840-1860

Presented by: Aaron Welt

Running Time: 1:23:06

Live Broadcast: November 2, 2021

 

Class 2: Moyshe in New England’s City of Immigrants, 1860–1891

Presented by: Aaron Welt

Running Time: 1:25:17

Live Broadcast: November 9, 2021

 

 

Class 3: Jews and the Boston Machine, 1891–1914

Presented by: Aaron Welt

Running Time: 1:28:58

Live Broadcast: November 16, 2021

Class 4: Jewish Neighborhoods After Immigration: Dorchester and Roxbury, 1914–1924

Presented by: Aaron Welt

Running Time: 1:32:29

Live Broadcast: November 23, 2021

 

INSTRUCTOR BIO

Aaron Welt is an assistant adjunct professor at Hunter College who teaches courses on American Jewish history. He received his PhD in history from New York University, and his research has been published in American Jewish History and The Journal of American Ethnic History. Currently, Dr. Welt is working on a book that explores the role of organized crime in the development of Jewish immigrant capitalism in early 20th-century New York.

 

RESOURCES

Wyner Family Jewish Heritage Center