To the Golden Cities: Pursuing the American Jewish Dream in Miami and L.A [Paperback]

Deborah Dash Moore (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0674893050 | ISBN-13: 978-0674893054 | Publication Date: March 1, 1996

The first great modern migration of the Jewish people, from the Old World to America, has been often and expertly chronicled, but until now the second great wave of Jewish migration has been overlooked. After World War II, spurred by a postwar economic boom, American Jews sought new beginnings in the nation's South and West. There, they shaped a new, postwar style of American Judaism for the second half of the twentieth century. Today these sun-soaked, entrepreneurial communities contribute greatly to the American Jewish landscape. In this book, the vibrant Jewish culture of Los Angeles and Miami comes to life through Moore's skillful weaving of individual voices, dreams, and accomplishments.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Joining the great postwar migrations from the Northeast and the Midwest to Los Angeles and Miami were large numbers of Jews from Chicago and New York. Cut loose from their ties to the old European religious cultures of their families, these "permanent tourists," as Moore calls them, created a new and distinctly American Jewish identity, colored by the comparably free-wheeling, easy life around them in their new Edens. Regular attendance at religious services and observation of ritual customs met with strong competition from sun and sea; some rabbis felt obliged to hold a congregation together by promoting the Sabbath services as "entertainment." Moore, director of Vassar College's Program in American Culture, details Jewish life minutely in Miami and Los Angeles; the loss of a traditional Jewish sense of identity, and its ultimate reconstitution in the establishment of Israel; and the constant presence of anti-Semitism, which could, paradoxically, serve to reunify. Although often overwhelmed by documentation of such trivia as the name of the manager of the gift shop of a Miami synagogue, Moore's study is nevertheless a notable depiction of the social, political and religious experiences of the two migratory streams.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Moore (Vassar Coll.) has used the prisms of Miami and Los Angeles to reflect the transformation of American Jewry. Crammed with solid documentation, yet written in a fluid, readable style, her book identifies the factors and trends that led to fundamental changes in the American Jewish community in the decades following World War II. Moore uses the metaphor of the "permanent tourist" to describe the initial reaction of the Jews who migrated from the Northeast and large Midwestern cities, attracted by the climate, the casual lifestyle, and the lack of established norms. Responding to their new environment, they chose to express themselves in new ways that both identified an ethnic Jewishness and promoted rapid integration into the surrounding American culture. This seminal work will be widely read.
- Carol R. Glatt, VA Medical Ctr. Lib., Philadelphia
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Harvard University Press (March 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0674893050
• ISBN-13: 978-0674893054
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #738,005 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars a subtle mix of interesting and boring, September 5, 2004

By 

Michael Lewyn (Forest Hills, NY) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: To the Golden Cities: Pursuing the American Jewish Dream in Miami and L.A (Paperback)

Parts of this book were interesting- I especially liked the first couple of chapters, where Moore shows how explosively the Jewish community in Miami and Los Angeles grew, and why these cities were so attractive to American Jews. She also tries to explain why Jewish-black cooperation was so common; in Miami Beach, both were fighting against similar types of housing discrimination, and Jews had no convincing reason to oppose fair housing for blacks while opposing it for themselves. (Although it is not clear why Los Angeles Jews adopted similar political views when they seem to have had far less discrimination to contend with).

But much of the middle of the book settles into the rut of blow-by-blow community history, with an unexciting listing of which rabbi did what in which neighborhood. She generalizes about differences between Sun Belt and Frost Belt Jews without backing up her generalizations, she barely mentions Orthodox Jews, and she barely mentions the evolution of Sunbelt Jewish communities over the past few decades.

On balance I am glad I looked at this book, but am not sure if I really needed to read every page and every chapter.

5.0 out of 5 stars THE GREATEST BOOK!!!!, May 8, 2010

By 

RLM - See all my reviews

This review is from: To the Golden Cities: Pursuing the American Jewish Dream in Miami and L.A (Paperback)

I have often wondered how DID my family end up in Miami, (via Brooklyn/Midwest) and this book (as I am unable to rely of oral history from my family)
is the missing link! No bookshelf should be without it...really!