On Passover, two new readings of the Jewish people's story

Jonathan Sarna

A pair of university faculty members are looking back at the history of Jewish peoplehood, just as Jews around the world are marking the beginning of Passover.

Jonathan Sarna, the Joseph H. & Belle R. Braun Professor of American Jewish History, will contribute to many families' seders this year, as a consultant to a new Haggada (the traditional book that tells the Passover story) that offers a look back at American Jewish tradition since the founding of America. The Haggada includes portraits of George Washington visiting Jewish homes, and accounts of matza baking during the California gold rush and in the South during the Civil War. As Sarna tells The Jerusalem Post: "What is most exciting about this Haggada, is that American Jews will learn about their legacy in the United States...There is documentation in this text pointing to the observance of Passover from the 18th [century] through the early 20th century and the practice of Jewish tradition in the United States as well. Click here to read the Post's article about the new Haggada.

Sylvia Barack Fishman

Sylvia Barack Fishman discussed the Jewish people in the communal sense at a recent conference in New York. During her presentation, Fishman, chair of the Department of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies, traced the shifting definitions of Jewish peoplehood from biblical times to the present. The Jewish Week's Gary Rosenblatt says the discussion that followed, which was focused on the wide variety of views of what Jewish peoplehood means, and whether it even matters anymore, was "both fascinating and frustrating." You can read Rosenblatt's article on Fishman's talk, and the larger conference, here.