Faculty Guide

Title

Professor of Contemporary Jewry and American Jewish Sociology

Near Eastern and Judaic Studies

Expertise

Contemporary Jewry and American Jewish sociology, Jewish literature, film and popular culture, Jewish and gender studies.

Awards and Honors

Vice President Association for the Social Scientific Study of Jewry (2008)

Marver & Sheva Bernstein Faculty Fellowship (1995 - 1996)

National Jewish Book Award Honor Book, contemporary Jewish life category (A Breath of Life: Feminism in the American Jewish Community) (1994)

Samuel Belkin Award for Distinguished Professional Achievement, Yeshiva University (1991)

Danforth Graduate Fellowship for Women (1974 - 1978)

Courses Taught

NEJS	161a	American Jewish Life
NEJS	164b	The Sociology of the American Jewish Community
NEJS	165a	Analyzing the American Jewish Community
NEJS	165b	Changing Roles of Women in American Jewish Societies
NEJS	172a	Women in American Jewish Literature
NEJS	173b	American Jewish Writers in the Twentieth Century
NEJS	176a	Seminar in American Jewish Fiction: Philip Roth and Cynthia Ozick
NEJS	182a	Jewish Life in Film and Fiction
NEJS	233a	Gender and Jewish Studies
USEM	17b	Picturing Gender and the Jews: Men and Women in Jewish Fiction and Film

Scholarship

Fishman, Sylvia. ""Growth and Challenges in the Contemporary Reform Movement"." The Reform Movement: Philosophy, Education, and Social Trends. Ed. Avinoam Rosenak and Naftali Rothenberg, eds.. Jerusalem: The Van Leer Institute, 2009 (forthcoming)

Fishman, Sylvia. "Cultural Transmission and Ethical Concerns Among Ethnoreligious Minorities." The Child in Religion and Ethics: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Ed. Marcia Bunge. Valparaiso, Indiana: Indiana University Press, 2009 (forthcoming)

Fishman, Sylvia. "Orthodox and Non-Orthodox Jews in Contemporary American Jewish Life." K'vod Harav. Essays in Honor of Rabbi Haskell Lookstein. Ed. Rafael Medoff. K'tav Publishing House, 2009 (forthcoming)

Fishman, Sylvia, Daniel Parmer. Matrilineal Ascent/ Patrilineal Descent: The Growing Gender Imbalance in Contemporary Jewish Life. Waltham, MA.: Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies, Brandeis University, 2008. (forthcoming)

Fishman, Sylvia. "Reading from Right to Left: Fundamentalism, Feminism, and Women's Changing Roles in Jewish Societies." Fundamentalism and the Position of Women in World Religions. Ed. Arvind Sharma and Katherin K. Young. Trinity International Press, 2008. 77-112. (forthcoming)

Fishman, Sylvia, Ed. Avrum Ehrlich. "Jewish Contributions to Contemporary Diaspora Culture." Encyclopedia of the Jewish Diaspora. 2007. (forthcoming)

Fishman, Sylvia, Ed. Avrum Ehrlich. "Jewish Feminism and the Role of Women in the United States." Encyclopedia of the Jewish Diaspora. 2007. (forthcoming)

Fishman, Sylvia, ed. "Policy Implications of the Gender Imbalance Among America's Jews," with Daniel Parmer. Jewish Center for Public Affairs, 2009.

Fishman, Sylvia. ""Jewish Women's Transformations of Contemporary Jewish Life"." Women and Judaism: New Insights and Scholarship. Ed. Frederick Greenspahn. New York: New York University Press, 2009

Fishman, Sylvia. ""The Jewish Outreach Enterprise: Rhetoric and Reality"." Festschrift in Honor of Irving Greenberg. Ed. Steven Katz, PhD and Steven Bayme, PhD. University Press of America, 2009

Fishman, Sylvia. "Nashim: A Journal of Women's Studies and Gender Issues." Rev. of Women Remaking American Judaism, by Riv-Ellen Prell, ed.

Fishman, Sylvia. "Shofar." Rev. of Feminism Encounters Traditional Judaism: Resistance and Accomodation, by Tova Hartman

Fishman, Sylvia, M. Avrum Erlich. ""Jewish Contributions to Contemporary Diaspora Cutlure"." Encyclopedia of the Jewish Diaspora. 2008.

Fishman, Sylvia. Matrilineal Ascent/ Patrilineal Descent: The Gender Imbalance in American Jewish Life (with Daniel Parmer).. Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies, 2008.

Fishman, Sylvia, Ed. Avinoam Rosenak and Naftali Rothenberg. Mixed Marriages and Transformed American Jewish Communal Values and Norms. Proc. of Education, Community and Norms. Van Leer Institute, Jerusalem: 2007.

Fishman, Sylvia, Ed. Rifka Blau. Perfect Person Singular: Unmarried Adults in Contemporary Orthodox American Jewish Communities. Proc. of Gender Relationships Inside and Outside of Marriage. New York, New York: The Orthodox Forum, 2007.

Fishman, Sylvia. "Dappled Things: Reading and Analyzing the New Jewish Writing." Shofar 2007 vol. 2

Fishman,Sylvia, Stuart Cohen and Bernard Susser. The Challenge of Transformed American Jewish Communal Values and Norms. New York: Jewish Theological Seminary, 2007.

Fishman,Sylvia. "Generating Jewish Connections: Conversations with Jewish Teenagers, their Parents, and Jewish Educators and Thinkers." Family Matters: Jewish Education in an Age of Choice. Ed. Jack Wertheimer. Dartmouth, New Hampshire: Brandeis University Press/ University Press of New England, 2007. pp. 181-210.

Fishman,Sylvia. The Way Into the Varieties of Jewishness. Woodstock, VT: Jewish Lights Publishing, 2007.

Fishman,Sylvia. Choosing Jewish: Conversations About Conversion. April 2006 ed. New York: American Jewish Committee, 2006.

Fishman,Sylvia. "Choosing Lives: Evolving Gender Roles in American Jewish Families." Cambridge Encyclopedia of American Jewish Life., 2005

Fishman,Sylvia. "Intermarriage in Contemporary American Jewish Societies." Encyclopedia of Judaism, Supplement Volume and Reivised Encyclopedia., 2005

Fishman,Sylvia. "Generating Jewish Connections: Conversations with teenagers, parents of teenagers and Jewish educatiors and thinkers". Report to the AVi Chai Foundation, 2005.

Fishman,Sylvia. Double or Nothing? Jewish Families and Mixed Marriage. University Press of New England/Brandeis University Press, 2004.

Fishman,Sylvia. Jewish and Something Else: A Study of Mixed-Married Families. New York: American Jewish Committee, 2001.

Fishman,Sylvia. Jewish Life and American Culture. State University of New York Press, 2000.

Fishman,Sylvia. A Breath of Life: Feminism in the American Jewish Community. New York: Free Press/Macmillan, 1993.

Fishman,Sylvia. Follow My Footprints: Changing Images of Women in American Jewish Fiction. Brandeis University Press, 1992.

Fishman,Sylvia, co-ed. Gary Tobin & Lawrence Sternberg. Changing Jewish Life: Service Delivery and Planning in the 1990s. Westport CT: Greenwood Press, 1991.