Jewish Communities on the Ohio River: A History (Ohio River Valley Series) [Hardcover]

Amy Hill Shevitz (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0813124301 | ISBN-13: 978-0813124308 | Publication Date: August 17, 2007 | Edition: 1

When westward expansion began in the early nineteenth century, the Jewish population of the United States was only 2,500. As Jewish immigration surged over the century between 1820 and 1920, Jews began to find homes in the Ohio River Valley. In Jewish Communities on the Ohio River, Amy Hill Shevitz chronicles the settlement and evolution of Jewish communities in small towns on both banks of the river -- towns such as East Liverpool and Portsmouth, Ohio, Wheeling, West Virginia, and Madison, Indiana. Though not large, these communities influenced American culture and history by helping to develop the Ohio River Valley while transforming Judaism into an American way of life. The Jewish experience and the regional experience reflected and reinforced each other. Jews shared regional consciousness and pride with their Gentile neighbors. The antebellum Ohio River Valley's identity as a cradle of bourgeois America fit very well with the middle-class aspirations and achievements of German Jewish immigrants in particular. In these small towns, Jewish citizens created networks of businesses and families that were part of a distinctive middle-class culture. As a minority group with a vital role in each community, Ohio Valley Jews fostered religious pluralism as their contributions to local culture, economy, and civic life countered the antisemitic sentiments of the period. Jewish Communities on the Ohio River offers enlightening case studies of the associations between Jewish communities in the big cities of the region, especially Cincinnati and Pittsburgh, and the smaller river towns that shared an optimism about the Jewish future in America. Jews in these communities participated enthusiastically in ongoing dialogues concerning religious reform and unity, playing a crucial role in the development of American Judaism. The history of the Ohio River Valley includes the stories of German and East European Jewish immigrants in America, of the emergence of American Reform Judaism and the adaptation of tradition, and of small-town American Jewish culture. While relating specifically to the diversity of the Ohio River Valley, the stories of these towns illustrate themes that are central to the larger experience of Jews in America.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"An engaging regional history with immense national significance.... An excellent chronicle of the minority experience in small town America." -- Ava F. Kahn, author of Jewish Voices of the California Gold Rush

"Far better composed and contextualized than most local histories of smaller Jewish communities now in print, Amy Shevitz's book does a commendable job of detailing local developments in terms of the broader picture of both American Jewish history and Ohio Valley history." -- Lee Shai Weissbach, author of Jewish Life in Small-Town America: A History

""This is a thoroughly well-researched look at a microcosm of Jewish life that will enhance any reader's understanding of American Jewish life."" -- Ohioana Quarterly

""Shevitz's study provides both corroboration, and corrective, to the standard historiography of American Jewry....Shevitz provides a fascinating glimpse into the nature of small-town Jewish life, and the role Jews played in shaping their world."" -- Frederic Krome, Ohio Valley Quarterly

""Shevitz's book superbly places the history of Jewish communities in the Ohio River Valley in multiple, intertwined contexts."" -- Journal of Illinois History

""[A] pathbreaking volume... The first book to integrate the story of Jews in these many communities into a single coherent narrative.""A highly sophisticated regional study that reflects careful research, wide reading, and innovative ideas. Highly recommended." -- J.D. Sarna, CHOICE" -- J.D. Sarna, CHOICE

"The reader interested particularly in Jewish life in any of these communities will find informative accounts of local history, lay and religious personalities, economic strategies, religious observance, communal organizations, anti-Semitism, and the social and economic linkages between the communities." -- Jack Glazier, Indiana Magazine of History

"This book presents an important study of the significance of the Ohio River region in the making of Jewish middle-class communities in small town America and its impact on the construction of Jewish American identity." -- Hadassa Kosak, Journal of American Ethnic History

About the Author

Amy Hill Shevitz teaches religious studies at California State University, Northridge.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: The University Press of Kentucky; 1 edition (August 17, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0813124301
• ISBN-13: 978-0813124308
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,261,966 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This story holds many a lesson, January 11, 2008

By 

Armchair Interviews (Minneapolis, MN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Jewish Communities on the Ohio River: A History (Ohio River Valley Series) (Hardcover)

Jewish Communities on the Ohio River chronicles the establishment, rise and decline of the Jewish community on the banks of the Ohio River. In the introduction, Shevitz says that her research focuses on twenty-four communities. The two most different seem to be the communities in Cincinnati and Pittsburgh.

Shevitz takes readers through the duel challenges of "frontier" life and being a minority community (sometimes unwelcomed) in small-town America during pre-modern times. Along the way, readers witness the pressures of assimilation, the reinterpretation of self and the evolution of Judaism in American life, and the not always peaceful co-existence of different religious beliefs along the Ohio River. Readers also learn of the economic opportunities that presented themselves as a result of the changing economic and political climate (such as the advent of the railroad and the changing colonial influences in the region).

In addition to the external factors, readers learn about the opportunities that the Jewish communities created for themselves (through their structure, closeness through communications, self-reliance, and redefined sense of identity). Stories of the families who lived through these times humanizes the entire experience, and help readers appreciate the various forces that sometimes draw the community apart and sometimes create solidarity with the community.

Shevitz describes the Jewish experience of being part of a community within a community, being different from mainstream Americans, and trying to find one's voice within the Jewish community and within the larger community. She narrates the community's self-reliance, but self-reliance has both positive and negative effects. While it makes towns more independent, it also isolates different sub-populations. The latter would create a sense of "other" for the Jews, and may breed anti-Semitic sentiments among non-Jews.

The experiences related here can be applied to other minority communities in the United States. The treatment of Japanese-Americans after World War II is one such example. In recent times, our attitudes towards American Muslims in general, and Arab-Americans in particular come to mind.

While Shevitz has penned a historical account, it is hoped that we learn from the lessons that history holds for us, and that Shevitz and other have portrayed for us.

Armchair Interviews agrees.

2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars An opinion on this book from a Mariettan's point of view, October 8, 2008

By 

E. G. Schwartz "Computernik" (Columbus, Ohio) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Jewish Communities on the Ohio River: A History (Ohio River Valley Series) (Hardcover)

I am part of the Jewish commmunity that once flourished in Marietta, Ohio.
Mrs. Shevitz has written a book about the HISTORY of Marietta Jewry, but
she does not know the intricacies of life there. I was born in the 30's, grew up in Marietta in the 40's and 50's, and can say that I never once had an incidence of anti-Semitism, nor did I ever feel any discrimination toward the Jewish population. In fact, the Gentiles seemed to respect us very much, and we were sometimes asked to explain our Holidays. All of us integrated into the Marietta population very seamlessly, and I don't want the readers of Ms. Shevitz's book to think otherwise. The Jewish students in the schools all excelled, they took off for the Jewish holidays, asking for assignments in advance. In all my years of living in Marietta, I never felt uncomfortable being of a different religion from the mainstream. We were all part of the most wonderful town in the most wonderful era. Marietta was populated by
fine, Christian, upstanding educated people who apparently had no prejudice toward the 20 to 50 Jewish families who were there during the
1920's to 1940's. As the children grew up, they left for colleges in bigger cities and didn't return to live in Marietta, so by attrition, the
Jewish community dwindled away. But anyone who grew up there, Jew or Gentile, has the fondest memories of Beautiful Marietta, my home town.
I am proud to have grown up Jewish in Marietta, and have nothing but the happiest memories of those years.