Sylvia Fishman
781-736-2950
Degrees
Washington University, Ph.D.New York University, M.A.
Stern College for Women of Yeshiva University, B.A.
Expertise
Contemporary Jewry, American Jewish sociology, Jewish literature, film and popular culture, changing construction of Jews gender roles and Jewish families.Profile
Sylvia Barack Fishman is the Joseph and Esther Foster Professor of Contemporary Jewish Life in the Near Eastern and Judaic Studies Department at Brandeis University; and also co-director of the Hadassah-Brandeis Institute. She is the author of eight books and numerous monographs and articles on the interplay of American and Jewish values, transformations in the American Jewish family, the impact of Jewish education, gender studies and the changing roles of Jewish men and women, contemporary Jewish literature and film, and the relationship of Diaspora Jews to Jewish peoplehood and Israel. Her most recent book is Love, Marriage, and Jewish Families: Paradoxes of a Social Revolution. Prof. Fishman is the recipient of the Marshall Sklare Award from the Association for the Social Scientific Study of Jewry, 2014. She received her BA from Stern College at Yeshiva University and her Ph.D. from Washington University in St. Louis, where she wrote on the way English poets used the Hebrew Bible.Courses Taught
| NEJS | 164b | The Sociology of the American Jewish Community |
| NEJS | 182a | Jewish Life in Film and Fiction |
Awards and Honors
Marshall Sklare Award of the Association for the Social Scientific Study of Jewry, 2014 (2014)
Vice President Association for the Social Scientific Study of Jewry (2008 - 2011)
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)
Scholarship
Fishman, Sylvia. "Review." Rev. of Leaving the Jewish Fold: conversion and radical assimilation in moderhn Jewish history, by Todd Endelman. Journal for Studies in Judaism, Humanities, and the Social Sciences 2017 (forthcoming)
Fishman, Sylvia and Steven M. Cohen, Series edited by Shlomo Fischer. “The Transmission of Jewish Identity: Major Variations and their Policy Implications”. Jerusalem JPPI: 2015. (forthcoming)
Fishman, Sylvia, and Steven M. Cohen. "“Generating Jews: Addressing the American Jewish Family Crisis and Revitalizing Jewish Life”." Jewish People Policy Planning Institute Annual Assessment. Ed. Shlomo Fischer. Jerusalem: JPPI, 2015 (forthcoming)
Fishman, Sylvia. "“American Jewishness Today: Identity and Transmissibility in an Open World: Marshall Sklare Award Lecture”." Contemporary Jewry (2015). (forthcoming)
Fishman, Sylvia. "“Conservative Elite Migration: Fluidity and Reconstruction in a Pan-Denominational Era”." Conservative Judaism: History, Sociology, and Halakhah. Ed. Avinoam Rosenak. Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, 2015 (forthcoming)
Fishman, Sylvia. "Review of recent criticism on Philip Roth." Rev. of Philip Roth: American Pastoral, The Human Stain, The Plot Against America, by Debra Shostak. Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies Fall 2014: 2. (forthcoming)
Fishman, Sylvia. "“Conservative Elite Migration: Fluidity and Reconstruction in a Pan-Denominational Era,”." Contemporary Conservative Judaism: Sociology, History and Halakhah. Ed. Avinoam Rosenak. Jerusalem: Magnus Press, 2010. Manuscript: book chapter is 45 pages.. (forthcoming)
Fishman, Sylvia. "“Encountering the Other: Birthright Israel, Jewish Peoplehood, and the Opportunities and Dangers of Religious Journeys,”." The Relationship of Orthodox Jews with Believing Jews of Other Religious Ideologies and Non-Believing Jews. Ed. Adam Mintz. New York: Ktav Publishing, 2010. Manuscript: chapter is 26 pages. (forthcoming)
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 and Steven M. Cohen. "Family, Engagement, and Jewish Continuity Among American Jews". Jerusalem, Israel Jewish People Policy Institute (JPPI): 2017.
Fishman, Sylvia. ""Don't Underestimate the Hybridity of America's Orthodox Jews"." American Jewish Year Book 2016. Ed. Arnold Dashefsky and Ira Sheskin. Springer, 2017
Fishman, Sylvia. ""American Jewishness Today: Identity and Transmissibility in an Open World: Marshall Sklare Award Lecture"." Contemporary Jewry (2015) 35. (2016): 109-128.
Fishman, Sylvia. ""Choosing Jews and Jewishness: A Portrait of Converts Married to American Jews"." Becoming Jewish: New Jews and Emerging Jewish Communities in a Globalizing World. Ed. Netnal Fisher and Tudor Parfit. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2016
Fishman, Sylvia. ""Forward"." Jewish Families in Europe: 1939-present: History, Representation, and Memory. Ed. Joanna Beata Michlic. Waltham, MA: Brandeis University Press, 2016
Fishman, Sylvia. ""On Men and Women and Judaism: Jewish Families in the Wake of Social Change"." Your Arose A Mother in Israel: A Festschrift in Honor of Blu Greenberg. Ed. Devorah Zelochower. New York: JOFA Publications, 2016
Fishman, Sylvia. "“Apprentice Jews: Learning Jewishness through Relationship in Jewish Literature and Contemporary American Jewish Life"." Festschrift in Honor of Professor Tamar Ross. Ed. Ronit Irshai. Jerusalem:, 2016
Fishman, Sylvia and Steven M. Cohen. "Generating Jews: Addressing the American Jewish family crisis and revitalizing Jewish life". Jerusalem, Israel JPPI: 2015.
Fishman, Sylvia, Chair and Moderator. ""History of Jewish Identity" panel." Conference on Rethinking Jewish Identity, Mandel Center for the Study of Jewish Education, Brandeis University. March 30, 2014.
Fishman, Sylvia, Ed. and Introduction. Love, Marriage, and Jewish Families: Paradoxes of a Social Revolution. Waltham, MA.: Brandeis University Press/ University Press of New England, 2015.
Fishman, Sylvia. ""Choosing Jews and Jewishness: Portraits of Converts into Judaism Married to American Jews"." International Workshop on Jew Ways of Joining the Jewish People, Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, Jerusalem. November 3-4, 2014.
Fishman, Sylvia. ""Modern Orthodox Responses to Changing Sexual Mores"." The State of Modern Orthodoxy and the Influence of Rabbi Irving "Yitz" Greenberg, Oxford University. June 22-26, 2014.
Fishman, Sylvia. "Faculty lecturer: "Hybrid Jewish Identity and Changing Concepts of Jewishness Among Millennial Jews"." Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture Nahum Goldman Fellowship, Montevideo, Uruguay. June 10-16, 2014.
Fishman, Sylvia. "Keynote address: "Jewish Education for Girls in Contemporary Jewish Communities"." International Academic Conference on Education for Girls and Processes of Modernity in Jerusalem: 1854-2014, Yad Ben Tzvi Institute, Jerusalem. June 9 2014.
Fishman, Sylvia. "“Hat’nuah hareformit bat z’maneinu: tzemikha ve-etgarim,”." Hayahadut hareformit (Hebrew); Reform Judaism: Thought, Culture, and Sociology. Ed. Avinoam Rosenak. Jerusalem: Van Leer Jerusalem Institute/ Publication of the United Kibbutz Movement, 2015. 126-157.
Fishman, Sylvia. ""Gender and American Jewish Life"." American Jewish Year Book 2014. Ed. Arnold Dashefsky and Ira Sheskin. Springer Press, 2014. 91-131 (feature article).
Fishman, Sylvia. ""Jewishness not central to many American Jewish lives." Responses to Contemporary Challenges to American Jewish Identity, Annual Assessment of the Jewish People Policy Institute (JPPI) June 2014, Jerusalem, Israel., 2014
Fishman, Sylvia. "Are Young Jews Actually More Connected Than Believed?." The New York Jewish Week September 10, 2013
Fishman, Sylvia. "Exogamy Explored." Rev. of Til Faith Do Us Part: How Interfaith Marriage Is Transforming America, by Naomi Shaeffer Riley. The Jewish Review of Books 2014
Fishman, Sylvia. "Forward." Sharon R. Siegel, A Jewish Ceremony for Newborn Girls. Waltham, MA: Brandeis University Press/ University Press of New England, 2014
Fishman, Sylvia. "Generational and Gendered Constructions of Jewish Peoplehood." Reconsidering Israel-Diaspora Relations. Ed. Eliezer Ben-Rafael et. al.. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2014. 20.
Fishman, Sylvia. "Guest Introduction." Conversion to Judaism: Berman Jewish Policy Archive Readers' Guide (2014).
Fishman, Sylvia. "Refiguring the American Jewish Family." Journal of Jewish Communal Service (2014): 17.
Fishman, Sylvia. "Sociological contexts and complications of Eruv construction in American Jewish communities." It's A Thin Line: Eruv from Talmudic to Modern Culture. Ed. Adam Mintz. New York: Yeshiva University Press, 2014. pp. 121-125.
Fishman, Sylvia. "The Larger Battle for Marriage Itself." Mosaic: Advancing Jewish Thought
Fishman, Sylvia. ""Constructing Reform Gender Role Expectations: Foreshadowing Change,"." Sisterhood: A Centennial History of Women of Reform Judaism. Ed. Herman, Dana. New York and Cincinnati: Union of Reform Judaism, 2013. 338-363.
Fishman, Sylvia. ""Forward," in Chaya Gorsetman and Elana Maryles Shtokman,." Educating in the Divine Image: Gender Issues in Jewish Day Schools. Waltham, MA: Brandeis University Press HBI Series on Jewish Women, 2013
Fishman, Sylvia. "Fathers of the Faith? Patrilineal Descent After Three Decades". Jerusalem, Israel Annual Assessment of the Jewish People Policy Institute (JPPI) 2013, Jerusalem, Israel: 2013.
Fishman, Sylvia. "Jewish History." Rev. of History Lessons: The Creation of American Jewish Heritage, by Beth S. Wenger. 2013
Fishman, Sylvia, with Elisheva Baumgarten, ed. Nashim: A Journal of Women’s Studies and Gender Issues 22 (Winter 2011) Special Issue on Gender and Jewish Identity.. Indiana University Press, 2012.
Fishman, Sylvia. ""Cultural transmission and ethical concerns among ethnoreligious minorities"." Children, Adults, and Shared Responsibilities: Jewish, Christian, and Muslim Perspectives. Ed. Marcia Bunge. Valparaiso, Indiana: Indiana University Press, 2012. 202-218.
Fishman, Sylvia. ""Forward"." Sharon Faye Koren, Forsaken: The Menstruant in Medieval Jewish Mysticism. Waltham, MA: HBI Series on Jewish Women, 2012
Fishman, Sylvia. "Forward." The Men's Section: Orthodox Jewish Men in an Egalitarian World. Ed. Elana Maryles Sztockman. Waltham, MA: UPNE, HBI Series on Jewish Women, 2012
Fishman, Sylvia. "“The Normalization of Intermarriage Among American Jews,” (Hebrew)." Zehuyot (Hebrew), VanLeer Jerusalem Institute (2012): 57-70.
Fishman, Sylvia, with Emily Sigalow, MA, and Rachel S. Bernstein, MA. "“Re-Imagining Jewishness: Younger American Jewish Leaders, Artists, and Entrepreneurs in Cultural Context,”." The New Leaders: Reshaping American Jewish Life. Ed. Jack Wertheimer. Waltham, MA: Brandeis University Press, 2011. 159-213.
Fishman, Sylvia. ""Forward"." Elana Maryles Sztokman, The Men's Section: Orthodox Jewish Men in an Egalitarian World. Waltham, MA: HBI Series on Jewish Women, 2011
Fishman, Sylvia. ""The Jewish Outreach Enterprise: Rhetoric and Reality"." Continuity and Change. Ed. Steven Katz, PhD and Steven Bayme, PhD. New York: University Press of America, 2011. 105-129.
Fishman, Sylvia. "Doubting the Devout: The Ultra-Orthodox in the Jewish American Imagination." Rev. of Doubting the Devout: The Ultra-Orthodox in the Jewish American Imagination, by Nora Rubel. Nashim: A Journal of Jewish Women’s Studies and Gender Issues Forthcoming 2011: 6.
Fishman, Sylvia. "H-Judaic." Rev. of Tours That Bind: Diaspora, Pilgrimage, and Israeli Birthright Tourism, by Shaul Kellner. Forthcoming 2011
Fishman, Sylvia. "JPS Guide to American Jewish Fiction." Rev. of JPS Guide to American Jewish Fiction, by Joshua Lambert. Shofar vol. 29, no. 2, January 2011 2011: 218-219.
Fishman, Sylvia. ""The Faith-Reason Problem: review essay and interview of Rebecca Newberger Goldstein, 36 Arguments for the Existence of God,"." Rev. of The New York Jewish Week, March 5, 2010: pp. 40-41,1000 words.
Fishman, Sylvia. "“Women’s Transformations of Contemporary Jewish Life,”." Women and Judaism: New Insights and Scholarship. Ed. Frederick Greenspahn. New York: New York University Press, 2010. 182-195.
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. "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.