Adult Education, Spring 2014
Tzedek, Tzedek, Tirdof: American Jews and Social Justice
May 7, 14, 21, and 28, 2014
10:15 - 11:45
Jews’ participation in this country’s social justice movements has always
been disproportionately large compared to their representation in the
population. Why have so many Jews been drawn to the labor, consumer,
anti-poverty, civil rights, civil liberties, and women's movements, among
others, and what valuable contributions have they made? This class will
familiarize students with the work of American Jews who have “made a
difference.” We will discuss the writings of Jewish activists such as Clara
Lemlich Shavelson, Stephen Wise, and Abraham Joshua Heschel, exploring
the ways in which traditional Jewish values, the Jewish historical
experience, and trends in American society shaped their activism. These
historical figures serve as inspiring role models for individuals and groups
engaged in "tikkun olam" (repairing the world) today.
Poster, American Suffragettes, New
York, New York, 1912
Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner
Archives
Schedule:
Week 1: Women’s Suffrage, Public Health and Consumer Activism: Hannah
G. Solomon, Maud Nathan, Lillian Wald and the Kosher Meat
Boycott
Week 2: The Labor Movement: Clara Lemlich Shavelson, Rose
Schneiderman, Louis Brandeis, Rabbi Stephen Wise, and David
Dubinsky
Week 3: Anti-Poverty Work, Community Nutrition, and Socioeconomic
Justice: Morris Hillquit, Rebekah Kohut, Frances Stern, and Emma
Goldman
Week 4: Civil Rights and Women’s Rights: Rabbi Joachim Prinz, Rabbi
Abraham Joshua Heschel, Betty Friedan, and Bella Abzug
Striking cloak makers, New York, 1916.
Library of Congress
Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel and
Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,
Selma, 1965 Associated Press
Instructor: Dr. Reena Sigman Friedman is Associate Professor of Modern Jewish
History at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, as well as Adjunct Associate
Professor at Gratz College. She is the author of These Are Our Children: Jewish
Orphanages in the United States, 1880-1925, several encyclopedia entries, and
numerous scholarly articles. Dr. Friedman lectures widely on topics related to
Jewish history, Jewish women, and the contemporary Jewish community.
Bella Abzug with antiwar demonstrators,
Washington, D.C. 1971
© Bettmann/CORBIS
Fee: $90/75 for members, $65 for teachers
Registration deadline: May 1, 2014
To register and for more information go to http://www.nmajh.org/AdultEducation/
Corner of 5th and Market Street
215.923.3811
NMAJH.org