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"People of the (cook)book": The enculturation of American Jewish women

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"People of the (cook)book": The enculturation of American Jewish women

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"PEOPLEOFTHE [COOK] BOOK":
THE ENCULTURATION OF
AMERICAN JEWISH WOMEN
b y
N icole D yann Rousso
A Thesis Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In P a rtia l F u lfillm e n t o f the
R equirem ents fo r the Degree
MASTER OF ARTS
(V isu a l A n th ro p o lo g y)
December 1998
C op yright 1998 Nicole Dyann Rousso
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UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
THE GRADUATE SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY PARK
LOS ANGELES. CALIFORNIA 80007
This thesis, written by
Nicole Dyann Rousso
under the direction of A .£ F Thesis Committee,
and approved by a ll its members, has been pre
sented to and accepted by the Dean of The
Graduate School, in partial fulfillm ent of the
requirements fo r the degree of
MASTER OF ARTS
T)aie Decem ber 2 1 , 1 9_98
TMESIS COM3
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction 1
The Passover Seder 2
Three W omen 3
M y F a m ily 5
The Video 7
Chapter 1 - Methodology 9
Field Methods
In te rv ie w s 10
Photo E lic ita tio n 12
P a rtic ip a n t O bservation 14
C o lla b o ra tio n 15
M aking the V ideo
P re -p ro d u c tio n 18
P ro d u ctio n 21
P o st-p ro d u ctio n 24
C onclusion 26
Chapter 2 - "People of the [Cook] Book" 29
Fem inism and a n th ro p o lo g y 29
A Study o f Three Sisters 38
Dom estic R eligion 40
K itchen Judaism 41
C onclusion 44
Chapter 3 - Situating the Research 47
H isto ry o f Jews in A m erica 47
A n th ro p o lo g y o f A m erican Jews 49
E arly W orks 50
i i
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A ccom odation, A ssim ilation, a jid A ccu ltu ra tio n 53
The Jewish Fam ily 54
.Am erican-Jew ish Id e n tity 55
S ephardim and Ashkenazim 58
Jew ish H olidays 59
R itu a l In n o va tio n 60
R ecent W orks 61
A n th ro p o lo g y o f Food 63
A n th ro p o lo g y o f Passover 66
C onclusion 70
Chapter 4 - Americanization 73
"A m e rica n iza tio n " o f the Jews 73
"A m e rica n iza tio n " o f Passover 77
Changes in Observance: Passover as a
F a m ily C elebration 79
Changes in Meaning: Passover as a
H oliday o f Freedom 80
The "A m e rica n iza tio n " o f Three Sisters 82
G row ing Up Jewish 82
Losing K ashrut 84
W o rkin g W omen 85
Passover R ituals 86
A m e rica n Jewish Women 89
C onclusion 91
Bibliography 9 5
iii
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INTRODUCTION
"Jewish, wom en and fo o d ," I to ld them , "th a t is w hat m y film is
going to be about." T hey laughed. A nd they tho ug ht it was a great idea.
A m ixed group o f people— m en and women, ch ild re n and parents, m y
fa m ily and frie n d s— a ll re la te d to the image o f Jewish wom en prepa ring
food, serving food, discussing foo d, and the idea o f fo o d em bodying the
cu ltu re o f Judaism.
I was fascinated b y th e id e a o f Jewish cu ltu re being passed
lite ra lly through th e p re p a ra tio n , presentation, and consum ption o f
food. O r ta in ly m y ow n experience as a Jewish w om an led credence to
this notion, b u t loo kin g back o ve r the past few generations, the
im agery is clear. Jews have h is to ric a lly suffered fro m p o v e rty and
intolerance. For m any generations th e y were forced to liv e in the
confines o f shtetls and ghettos. For the Jews, an abundance o f fo o d is
sym bolic o f prospe rity, success, and freedom . "Eat, honey, eat!" is a
c o m m on ly heard phrase fro m Jewish m others and grandm others alike,
in stru ctin g the young to eat a ll the fo o d lo vin g ly prepared fo r them .
Some Am erican Jews m ay re c a ll being rem inded o f starving c h ild re n in
o th e r countries, o r o f w a r-tim e hunger and scarcity o f food suffere d by
Jews fo r generations before them . "Eat, honey, eat!" is tru ly a charge to
consume the abundance o f w ealth and jo y th a t is Jewish cu ltu re .
W ith th is charge in m in d , I searched fo r ways to b rin g the
concept to life in a visu a l m edium . Perhaps scenes o f wom en cooking
fo r d iffe re n t holidays, o f c h ild re n lea rning about th e ir he rita g e d u rin g
fa m ily meals, o f cookbooks and recipies and fa m ily photos and judaica.
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As m y excitem ent grew, so too d id the p ro d u ctio n logistics, u n til I
recognized th a t th e film h a d grow n too large to accom plish d u rin g a
thesis p ro d u ctio n schedule. In January o f 1998, lik e any stressed o u t
Jewish wom an h u n g ry fo r some guidance, I called m y m o ther.
"W hy d o n 't you ju s t focus the film on the Passover Seder? A nd
you can shoot i t a t o u r house.” The follo w in g week I came across Ruth
Cemea's The Passover Seder: An A nthropological Perspective (1995)
and it soon became m y b ib le . A fte r a long phone conversation w ith
Ruth about the ritu a ls o f th e Seder, Judaism in A m erica today, and m y
fa m ily in p a rticu la r, I decided to go ahead w ith the idea. N early one
year late r, I have co-produced and co-edited Eat, Honey, Eat! a tw enty-
m inute video p ro je ct e xp lo rin g the Passover Seder, A m erican Jews, and
m y fa m ily.
THE PASSOVER SEDER
On the fifte e n th d a y o f the Hebrew m onth o f Nissan (ro u g h ly
m id -A p ril) the Jewish h o lid a y o f Pesach, o r Passover, begins. It is "one
o f Judaism 's m a jo r h o lid a ys celebrating n o t o n ly the deliverance o f the
Israelite slaves fro m E gyptian bondage b u t also the beginning o f the
a g ricu ltu ra l year (Gross 1991:144)." D uring the Seder (th e festive m eal)
Jewish fa m ilies read the Haggadah (lite ra lly "th e te llin g ") w hich relates
the sto ry o f the exodus o f th e Jewish people fro m slavery in Egypt. The
purpose is to te ll th is h is to ry to the youngest generation a t th e table so
that they m ay le a rn o f th e ir heritage and people. Four questions about
the significance o f the evening are asked b y the youngest c h ild a t the
table. The answers are g ive n in the fo rm o f the Passover sto ry re to ld by
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the group o f p a rticip a n ts. Sym bolic foods are d isp la ye d on a cen tral
Seder plate and a cup o f w ine is set o u t fo r the p ro p h e t E lijah to come
and d rin k . Each ritu a l ite m is id e n tifie d and its significance explained
in ord e r to teach and re m in d each Seder p a rtic ip a n t o f th e ir Jewish
h isto ry and id e n tity .
The evening o f th e Passover Seder seemed to me a w o n d e rfu l
event to film fo r several reasons. The setting is fe stive and co lo rfu l,
there are m any o p p o rtu n itie s fo r in te ra c tio n betw een the p a rticip a n ts,
and the process o f fo o d pla nnin g, p re p a ra tio n , and consum ption seemed
to o u tlin e a ready-m ade dram a tic stru ctu re . Im m e d ia te ly I could "see"
the film in m y m in d — rabies fu ll o f fo o d m ade fro m grandm other's
recipes, w in e -fille d c ry s ta l glasses, the fa m ily s ilv e r, w h ite lin e n
tablecloths, ca n d le lig h t, and lots o f fa m ily a n d frie n d s.
Beyond th e p u re ly vis u a l aspects, how ever, the setting o f the
Seder in an A m erican Jewish home presented some ve ry com plex
c u ltu ra l questions w h ic h I w anted to explore. In m y view, the
contem porary Seder— w ith its m ixtu re o f in v e n te d tra d itio n s and age-old
religious ritu a ls , fa m ily fo lk lo re and fa m ily dynam ics, wom en's roles as
im p o rta n t cultu re -b e a re rs and as hom e-centered dom estics— is a
re fle ctio n o f th e c u rre n t A m erican Jewish c o n d itio n . It the refore
presents a ric h se ttin g fo r research in to th e live s o f Am erican Jews.
THREE WOMEN
The next q u e stio n arose, "how shall I focus th e film ?" Consider
the areas o f in te re s t I ha d developed d u rin g m y th re e years in graduate
school: fem inism , o ra l h is to ry , e n c u ltu ra tio n , in te r-g e n e ra tio n a l
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change, ritu a l, m others a n d daughters, s to ry te llin g , fa m ily fo lk lo re ,
foodways, m em ory, assim ilation, and studying one's own. 1 decided to
focus the film on several generations o f w om en and w om en's roles
du ring the h o lid a y o f Passover.
The hom e-centeredness o f the h o lid a y o f Passover also lends
its e lf to th is stud y o f fa m ilia l relations and the 'e n c u ltu ra tio n ' o f each
generation, o r the passing dow n o f c u ltu ra l practices. The emphasis on
food— the ritu a liz a tio n , th e prepa ratio n, and th e con sum p tion— is
in tim a te ly tie d to the s tu d y o f women's roles and experiences as wom en
are by and large responsible fo r food-related behavior (K a lcik 1985).
P utting women 'a t th e center o f th o u g h t,' m y goal the n became to
collect o ra l histories fro m three fa m ily sets in o rd e r to explore the ro le
o f women as bearers o f Jewish cu ltu re . The o ra l histories w o u ld focus
on Jewish h o lid a y practices w ith p a rtic u la r regard to th e Passover Seder
and its re la ted tra d itio n s and ritu a ls as w e ll as the re lig io u s values and
beliefs o f each woman. Also, as the h o lid a y o f Passover is a tim e set
aside fo r passing dow n th e h is to ry and c u ltu re o f the Jewish people to
younger generations, th e Seder m eal and its prepa ratio ns w o u ld be
explored as a tim e w hen wom en's knowledge and values are passed down
fro m Jewish m others to Jewish daughters.
As the research p re p a ra tio n and fie ld w o rk progressed, some
larger themes began to em erge. I realized th a t b y focusing on the
changes and experiences o f three women, it w o u ld be possible to explore
the tensions and in flu e n c e s encountered b y m any Jewish wom en in
tw en tieth ce n tu ry A m erica and th e ir responses to u rb a n iza tio n , an
increased leve l o f wealth, and m o b ility, the wom en's m ovem ent, and the
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contem poraneous rise o f se cu larizatio n and decline o f religious
devoutness characteristic o f co n te m p o ra ry urban liv in g .
MY FAMILY
A fte r a long discussion w ith Steven Schindler, m y p a rtn e r, about
the essential aspects o f the p ro je ct idea and possible scenarios and
in te rv ie w questions, it seemed lo g ica l (and exciting) to focus the film on
m y m o th e r and h e r two sisters. The fa m ily fo lklo re aspects could
th e re fo re become even stro nge r and ra th e r than p ro file three sets o f
m others and daughters, I w o u ld now be able to focus on three daughters
an d one m other— a single fa m ily m atrilineage. A new found w ea lth o f
fie ld w o rk was now at m y fin g e rtip s as th e ir fa m ily h is to ry is also m y
fa m ily h isto ry. A nd th e ir m other, m y Nana Sarah, hosted the fa m ily
Passover Seder fo r over th irty years. Sarah passed away in 1992, and
a lth o u g h h e r presence on-screen w o u ld have been w on derful to have,
she is ve ry much a p a rt o f the film , the women in the film , and th e
film m a k e r herself.
Sarah Cohen was bo m in B rooklyn, New York in 1909 to Id a and
C harlie Cohen o f Poland. Raised in C onnecticut, Sarah m a rried P h ilip
S ilve rlieb in 1931 and gave b irth to Bernice in 1936, Ada (m y m other) in
1938, and Brenda in 1943. The g irls, along w ith th e ir younger b ro th e r
Robert, were raised in N orw ich, C onnecticut and la te r in Cleveland,
O hio. The Passover Seder was le d b y Sarah's fa th e r-in -la w d in in g the
ch ild h o o d years o f Bernice, Ada, and Brenda. "Grandpa Oscar's Seders
w ere a ll in Hebrew and lasted a ll n ig h t long. We d id n 't eat u n til aroun d
m id n ig h t." Years late r, Ada's husband Sam began to lead the Passover
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Seders fo r the fa m ily a t Sarah's hom e in B room all, Pennsylvania. The
Seders now co n tin u e in Ada's hom e w ith B ernice, Brenda, and th e ir
daughters a ll in attendance. Susan, Barbara, C ou rtne y and I tra ve l each
year fro m Boston, New York and Los Angeles to Potomac, MD to
p a rticip a te in th e cooking and p re p a ra tio n o f th e Seder m eal. A lthou gh
we a ll do n o t observe the Jewish holidays in o u r ow n homes because, as
m y sister once said to me, "in today's w o rld , y o u do the holidays when its
convenient," Passover is s till considered to be a tim e o f fa m ily, tra d itio n ,
and re -a ffirm a tio n o f Jewish id e n tity and h is to ry (Farber, M indel and
Lazerwitz 1981).
The th re e m iddle-aged daughters o f th is stud y— Bernice, Ada, and
Brenda— a ll th ird generation A m erican Jews, w ere b ro u g h t up to
believe th a t being Jewish was n o t to be fla u n te d , th a t being Jewish
m eant being d iffe re n t, and th a t being Jewish, was a t times "a burden."
T h e ir m other, raised in the O rthodox tra d itio n , belonged to a
C onservative synagogue when he r daughters w ere children. They in
tu rn a ffilia te d w ith Reform synagogues w hen ra isin g th e ir fam ilie s and
th e ir daughters now consider them selves N o n -a ffilia te d Jews. A lthou gh
a decline in re lig io u s a ffilia tio n is e vid e n t in each succeeding
generation, the wom en o f this fa m ily have cre ated new form s o f
c u ltu ra l pra ctice and have m aintained a connectedness to Judaism and
th e Jew ish com m un ity.
In th is thesis I w ill explore these fo rm s o f practice and the
experiences o f Bernice, Ada, and Brenda d u rin g th e h o lid a y o f Passover.
A fte r a discussion o f o u r fie ld w o rk m ethods an d th e process o f creating
the video, I w ill present an overview o f th e re la tio n s h ip between
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fem inism and a n th ro p o lo g y w h ich in fo rm e d m y stu d y o f three
A m erican Jewish wom en. I w ill th e n discuss how the notions o f
"dom estic re lig io n " and "k itc h e n Judaism " have helped con textu alize the
ro le o f Judaism in wom en's lives. Then I w ill situate o u r fie ld w o rk and
research w ith in the a n th ro p o lo g y o f A m erican Jews an d th e
a n thro po lo gy o f food, s p e c ific a lly review ing o th e r studies o f the
h o lid a y o f Passover. Lastly, I w ill explore the affects o f A m e rica n iza tio n
on (1) the Jewish com m un ity, (2) th e observance and cele bra tion o f
Passover, and (3) the beliefs and practices o f the three sisters. This
thesis m ay be read as a com panion to the video, Eat, Honey, Eat! as a
means to fu rth e r explore issues raised in the video.
THE VIDEO
As m entioned above, I collab ora ted on this p ro je ct w ith Steven
S chindler, who is also a fe llo w visu a l anthropologist. Steven and I
w orked together to develop a p ro d u ctio n plan and a w o rkin g thesis
before traveling to M a ryland in A p ril o f 1998. In p re p a ra tio n fo r o u r
shoot, we w atched o th e r docum entaries on the Passover Seder, discussed
the m a jo r themes and issues we w anted to explore, developed in te rv ie w
questions, and read m uch o f th e re le va n t scholarly lite ra tu re .
Having alre a d y m ade several film s together over the past few
years a t the U n ive rsity o f S outhern C alifornia, Steven and I were
fa m ilia r w ith each oth e r's w o rkin g style 'in the fie ld ' as w e ll as 'a fte r
the fie ld ,' du ring the p o st-p ro d u ctio n stage. Also, we had b o th focused
m ost o f our a n th ro p o lo g ica l research on Jewish c u ltu re and had
conducted p rio r fie ld w o rk together. Lastly, we in tim a te ly kno w m y
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fa m ily and fa m ily h is to ry and m y fa m ily is th o ro u g h ly co m fo rta b le
w ith the two o f us. T h ro u g h m any weeks o f discussion, argum ent, and
compromise, we were able to stru ctu re the film according to its two
m ajor themes— the process o f becoming an Am erican Jew, a n d the
process o f becom ing a Jew ish wom an in Am erica.
The video is organized them atically in to three-acts w ith a parallel
structure between the s to ry o f Passover and the life s to ry o f th e three
sisters. The visuals in A c t One present the recipe gathering, grocery
shopping, and cooking— th e fo o d preparation— fo r the Passover Seder.
Them atically, A ct One presents the fa m ily h is to ry and ch ild h o o d
Passover m em ories o f th e th re e sisters— the "life p re p a ra tio n "— fo r
these Am erican Jewish w om en.
The visuals in A ct Two present the reading o f th e Haggadah in
the Seder service w h ich te lls o f the tra nsfo rm atio n o f th e Jews fro m
slavery in Egypt to lib e ra tio n and freedom. The themes exp lore d in Act
Two center upon the tra n sfo rm a tio n o f these women fro m tra d itio n a l
homemakers to professionals and the tra nsfo rm atio n o f A m erican
Judaism fro m a focus on th e religious ritu a ls to a focus on m ore fle xib le
c u ltu ra l a ctivitie s.
The visuals in A ct Three present the festive m eal an d post-Seder
ritu a ls o f singing and conversation. Them atically, A ct T hree presents
invented tra d itio n s and re fle ctio n s on the Passover h o lid a y, o n women's
roles today, and on the im po rta nce o f re lig io n and fa m ily to Am erican
Jewish women.
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CHAPTERONE
M ethodology
I consider m yse lf to be a fem inist researcher and I therefore was
determ ined to use research m ethodologies w hich in co rp o ra te d fe m in ist
theories and w hich in clu d e d the three women I was studying as
collaborative p a rticip a n ts ra th e r than as "subjects" o f a study. I
consulted S hulam it R einharz's Fem inist Methods in Social Science
Research^ (1992) to le a rn m ore about the fie ld m ethods w h ich she
described as p a rt o f "fe m in is t field w o rk." A ccording to Reinharz, there
are three goals m entioned fre q u e n tly by fe m in is t researchers: "(1) to
docum ent the lives and activitie s o f women, (2) to understand the
experience o f women fro m th e ir own p o in t o f view , and (3) . . .to
in te rp re t women's be havio r as shaped by social co n te xt (1992:51)." The
personal lives o f the w om en in this study have been shaped by c u ltu ra l
and h isto rica l forces o f im m ig ra tio n , A m ericanization, and fem inism .
T h eir attitudes, behaviors and life choices th e re fo re have h isto rica l
significance and i t is m y hope th a t this stud y o f th re e Am erican Jewish
women w ill add to th e grow ing lite ra tu re on wom en's life experiences as
w ell as to the a n th ro p o lo g ica l lite ra tu re on A m erican Jews.
Steven and I em ployed three types o f fie ld m ethodologies in the
gathering o f o u r data: sem i-structured life h is to ry interview s, photo
elicitatio n, and p a rtic ip a n t observation. O ur co lla b o ra tio n its e lf and m y
collaboration w ith m y n a ta l fa m ily during the e n tire p ro d u ctio n
process o f the video p ro je c t m ay also be considered a k in d o f fe m in ist
m ethodology.
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F IE L D M ETH O D S
INTERVIEWS
Steven and I discussed th e use o f life h is to ry o ra l inte rview s as a
way o f understanding th e changes in ritu a l observance an d personal
s p iritu a lity o f the w om en ove r tim e. As C orrine Krause (1 991 ) has
noted, o ra l h is to ry m ay w e ll be the tw e n tie th ce n tu ry's su b stitu te fo r
the w ritte n m em oir (1 9 9 1 :v ii). Krause has conducted o ra l h is to ry
research on the to p ic o f im m ig ra n t and e th n ic wom en since 1975. She
too was interested in th e changes in wom en's lives over tim e and
"wanted to understand th e behavior and a ttitude s o f w om en who were
p a rt o f tra d itio n a l e th n ic cultures and to exam ine areas o f change and
c o n tin u ity over three generations in A m erica (1 9 9 1 :1 ).”
O ral h isto ry's research approach is also p a rtic u la rly su ita b le fo r
exploring fem ale experiences and fem ale values (C arlson 1972;
Anderson 1987; Reinharz 1992) as wom en's lives have o fte n been
rendered in v is ib le in h is to ric a l texts. The re tro sp e ctive life h is to ry
in te rvie w can be designed to focus on in te rp e rso n a l re la tio n sh ip s,
career experiences, fa m ilia l ties and social netw orks, fem ale feelings o f
re sp o n sib ility tow ard others, and the ro le o f m othering a n d /o r being a
daughter (G illigan 1980; Chodorow 1974). Also, the personal o ra l
in te rvie w offers a dia lo g u e between the p a rtic ip a n t and th e in te rv ie w e r
w hich is n o t possible w hen dealing w ith diaries, le tte rs, o r o th e r
w ritte n correspondence o r docum ents. As sociologist Shem a G luck has
said, "wom en's o ra l h is to ry is a fe m in ist encounter because it creates
new m a teria l about w om en, validates wom en's experience, enhances
com m unication among wom en, [and] discovers wom en's ro o ts (1979:5)."
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la o u r inte rview s w ith. Bernice, Ada, and B renda I asked the
questions and Steven operated the cam era and m icrophone. As he made
la st m in u te adjustm ents to the sound and p ictu re , I u s u a lly explained the
on-cam era in te rv ie w process. I requested th a t each in te rvie w e e repeat
th e question she was asked w ith in the bo dy o f h e r answ er so th a t we
w ould be able to e d it o u t m y voice. I also w arned each o f them that I
w o u ld n o t make m uch noise w h ile they w ere speaking, b u t w ould
respond s ile n d y to th e ir stories, again fo r e d itin g purposes. This lack o f
in te ra c tiv e conversation a t firs t made m e feel uneasy, as though 1 were
p ro b in g m y "subjects" fo r in fo rm a tio n b u t n o t c o n trib u tin g anything to
th e exchange.
We began each in d iv id u a l in te rvie w w ith questions about basic
dem ographics such as name, address, and em ploym ent. A fte r a few
m in u tes o f ta lkin g about themselves, I believe the w om en became m ore
com fortable w ith the setting o f the in te rv ie w and w ere able to speak
w ith me as th e ir niece o r daughter ra th e r th a n as a fo rm a l
"in te rvie w e r." Once we began to speak about th e ir m em ories and life
experiences, I was also able to relax, c o n fid e n t th a t in te rru p tio n s w ould
have been o u t o f place and th a t m y ro le as liste n e r was v ita l in the
exchange. As R einharz explained, "in te rvie w in g draw s on skills in the
tra d itio n a l fem in in e ro le — a passive, receptive, open, understanding
approach . . .recognizing and responding to the o th e r's feelings and
being able to ta lk ab out sensitive issues w ith o u t th re a te n in g the
p a rtic ip a n t (1992:20)."
The m ost com fortable fo rm a t fo r the in te rvie w s became what is
know n as "open-ended" o r "sem i-stru cture d" in te rv ie w in g w hich is:
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a q u a lita tive data-gathering tech niqu e .... [It] d iffe rs
fro m survey research, o r s tru c tu re d in te rvie w in g by
in clu d in g free in te ra c tio n betw een th e researcher and
interview ee .... Open-ended in te rv ie w research
explores people's view o f re a lity and allows the
researcher to generate th e o ry (R einharz 1992:18).
A fte r the in itia l dem ographic questions w ere posed to each wom an, I
began to ask questions about fa m ily h is to ry , childh oo d experiences, and
h e r feelings about women's roles d u rin g Passover. These questions
arose in d iffe re n t ways depending o n th e stories w hich were being
shared. I t was im po rta nt to me to a llo w each wom an to speak a t h e r ow n
pace and to te ll each story in h e r ow n way. I d id n o t want to cut any o f
h e r m em ories short ju s t to m a in ta in some pre-arranged stru ctu re o f the
in te rv ie w questions. Rather, th ro u g h an open conversation w ith each
wom an, we negotiated w hat areas w ere o f in te re st and spent m ore o r
less tim e on each topic as fe lt needed. W hen I was fa irly certain we had
discussed everything "on m y lis t" I to o k a m om ent to refer back to m y
questions and asked Steven i f there was a n yth in g else he th o u g h t we
should discuss. I then asked each w om an i f the re were any stories she
w ou ld lik e to add, and there always were. I believe including the
interview ee in the process enabled us as inte rview ers to lea rn fa r m ore
tha n i f we had been less flexib le .
PHOTO ELICITATION
In a d d itio n to the three one-on-one interview s, Steven and I
conducted an interview w ith a ll three o f the sisters together. O ur goal
was to in itia te discussion between th e three wom en and allow them to
ta lk w ith each other w hile we stayed q u ie t and listened. We opened the
discussion w ith a fa m ily album th a t I ha d p u t together a few years
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before fro m photos we fo u n d in m y grandm other's a p a rtm e n t a fte r she
passed away. Bernice, Ada, an d Brenda had n o t seen th is album before
and rig h t away launched in to fa m ily stories based on th e photographs.
I was able to weave in the questions I had about th e ir fa m ily h is to ry as
th e y discussed d iffe re n t fa m ily members.
The experience was am azing fo r us as researchers as w e ll as
fa m ily members. N ot o n ly w ere we able to lea rn a b o u t pieces o f th e ir
childhood and feelings about th e ir m other w hich had n o t come up in
th e in d iv id u a l interview s, b u t th e three sisters had a b a ll re m iniscing
and spending tim e together. We had created a fo ru m fo r them to v is it
w ith each o th e r and we ro lle d o u r cameras to record it a ll as it
happened. The three wom en crow ded together at the kitch e n table
ta lkin g and laughing about th e ir lives. There was a b u rs t o f energy
when Ada tu rn e d a page and saw a photo o f th e ir ch ild h o o d hom e in
N orw ich, C onnecticut:
A ll: That's the house!
BR: I rem em ber.
A: I loved the house.
BR: I rem em ber th a t house, the w rap aroun d porch.
B: And we w ent back to lo o k at it a t m other's fu n e ra l. It
looked lik e a dollhouse to me.
A: It looked da m nice.
BR: Yes, it looked tin y .
A: Yes, b u t it looked good. Remember o u r house? That's
o u r car. Do you rem em ber that?
They discussed each p h o to ta lkin g back and fo rth and
overlapping one another, fin is h in g sentences fo r each o th e r and
contradicting each other. O ftentim es, they w ou ld teach each oth er
about members o f th e ir fa m ily , fillin g in m issing in fo rm a tio n o r
correcting one another's m em ories. For exam ple, Bernice had never
know n th a t th e ir fa m ily nam e was n o t o rig in a lly Cohen:
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BR: . . .it was som ething else, they m ade h im C harlie Cohen
A: Lipsinger, Le it, L e it—
BR: Som ething lik e th a t. M other to ld me before she died,
and I do n o t rem em ber.
A: The, the re a l name.
B: But it was n o t Cohen?
BR: Oh, nol No, came th ro u g h Ellis Island and got the:
"Y ou're in A m erica, y o u 're gonna be C harlie Cohen."
A: A nd said th a t "Cohen's good enough fo r you."
B: Wow.
BR: You d id n 't know that?
B: No.
O ver the course o f tw o hours th e sisters talke d ab out schooling, friends,
the homes th e y had liv e d in , th e fig h ts the y had, and th e ir re la tio n sh ip
to th e ir parents, Sarah and P h ilip . It was fascinating to lis te n to three
d iffe re n t perspectives o n one ch ild h o o d experience and to w a tch three
grow n wom en in te ra c t lik e young siblings.
They joke d and teased each o th e r about m em ory loss a n d aging,
b u t in the end, re a ffirm e d th e ir bonds o f sisterhood and frie n d s h ip .
W hen Steven and I had to ca ll a break to p u t in a new videotape, the
three women looked back th ro u g h the album and decided to b rin g it to
the fa m ily re u n io n scheduled fo r the fo llo w in g sum m er. W e fe lt good
having a w ay o f re cip ro ca tin g fo r th e ir p a rtic ip a tio n and w hen the
group "inte rview " came to a close, th e y each requested a vide o-ta pe
copy to save as p a rt o f a fa m ily archive.
PARTICIPANT OBSERVATION
Having been to th e Passover Seder a t m y m other's house ove r
tw enty tim es, I was able to draw on this experience as background to ou r
cu rre n t fie ld w o rk. Steven and I w atched hom e vide o fro m th e previous
three Seders and discussed o u r observations and re fle ctio n s. In the
process o f describing th e h o lid a y events to Steven, w ho h a d n o t ye t
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been to a Seder a t m y fa m ily 's hom e, I thought back to the d iffe re n t
stages o f p re p a ra tio n a n d th e general atm osphere o f the h o lid a y
celebration th ro u g h m y n e w ly developed a n th ro p o lo g ica l perspective.
Steven had also spent a lo t o f tim e a t m y parent's hom e and knew m y
fa m ily ve ry w ell, so to g e th e r we fu lly expected to be welcom ed guests.
Bernice, Ada, and Brenda were a ll eager to understand the
process o f video-taping th e Seder and wanted to know i f Steven and I
w ould also be taking p a rt in the service. We decided th a t in o rd e r to
capture as m uch o f the evening as possible on videotape, i t w ou ld be
necessary to ad opt m ore o f a 'fly-o n -th e -w a ll' approach fo r the
evening. A lth o u g h we chose to m aintain this ro le o f 'observers' d u rin g
the shooting phase o f th e Passover Seder, th ro u g h o u t the rest o f the
week we were fu ll p a rtic ip a n ts in the fa m ily events, the meals, group
discussions, and general 'hanging o u t.'
COLLABORATION
M argaret Yocum (1982) has discussed the problem s and issues
w hich su rro u n d "p e rs o n a l-fa m ily research" and presents a
m ethodology especially su ite d fo r those who w an t to stu d y th e ir ow n
fam ilies. She refers to o th e r p o p u la r guides about fa m ily fie ld w o rk
(Dixon and Flack 1977; Epstein and Mendelsohn 1978; Shum way and
H artley 1973; W atts and Davis 1974), however, she proposes to "go
beyond basic in te rv ie w guidelines, suggestions about h is to ric a l records,
and lists o f in te rv ie w questions (1982:253-254)." In h e r a rticle , Yocum
described com m on problem s faced b y the fie ld w o rke r and fo u n d th a t
m any o f them have to d o w ith a fam ily's understanding o f and
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acceptance o f a p ro je ct. She considered the in tro d u c tio n o f the project
to be "the biggest em otion al h u rd le fo r a fie ld w o rke r (1982:255)."
Yocum suggested th a t a field w o rker should state th e m a jo r
questions she wants to exp lore and, then, some o f th e topics w ith in those
questions. In o rd e r to in c lu d e m y aunts and m y m other e a rly on in the
produ ction process, I in itia te d conversations w ith them m onths in
advance. In this w ay I was able to present m y ideas and plans and hear
th e ir thoughts and suggestions. I also asked each o f them about any
fa m ily possessions such as photos, letters, o r Passover item s w hich they
m ight have and cou ld b rin g to the Seder at m y m other's hom e. It fe lt
na tura l to in clu d e th e ir perspectives in the shaping o f the p ro je ct idea,
a fte r all, there w ou ld be no video about th e ir fives i f th e y had no t
agreed to share th e ir experiences w ith us.
F o lklo rist Sharon Sherm an found th a t "th e ro le o f fie ld w o rke r
often conflicts w ith the ro le o f fa m ily member, the roles adopted by the
fie ld w o rke r when do cum e nting fa m ily represent a com prom ise
between the interests o f th e fie ld w o rke r and those o f the fa m ily
(1986:54)." She had a d iffic u lt experience videotaping h e r fa m ily's
Passover Seder as the fa m ily pressured her to be a fu ll p a rtic ip a n t
ra th e r than a film m a ke r a n d fieldw orker. Sherman had planned to do
both, b u t was m et w ith resistance ra th e r than cooperation.
M y fa m ily, on the o th e r hand, was q u ite cooperative. I believe
this is due to the fa c t th a t I began discussing lo g istica l details several
weeks in advance w ith m y m o th e r and included h e r in im p o rta n t
decisions. We discussed w h a t 'scenes' I wanted to shoot and w hy, who
she was in v itin g to the Seder and when they w o u ld a rrive , and the
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possible inconveniences o f using vid e o p ro d u ctio n equipm ent. In m y
experience, it is wise to e xp lain the am ount o f equipm ent and set-up
tim e in vo lve d in a p ro d u c tio n to anyone responsible fo r the 'lo c a tio n .1
In this case, the b u lk o f the p ro je ct w o u ld be shot a t m y pa ren t's hom e
and I wanted them to be as prepared fo r th e shoot as I cou ld m ake them .
Em ploying the fe m in is t concept o f collaboration, I chose to
incorporate m y m other and h e r sisters n o t ju s t as subjects, b u t as
collaborators. M y m ain co lla b o ra tio n , however, was w ith m y p a rtn e r,
Steven Schindler, who is also a visu a l anthropologist. Steven a n d I
worked together on each stage o f p ro d u ctio n , pushing each o th e r to use
a ll th a t we had learned about fie ld w o rk , videom aking, and o u r ow n
abilities to create. Indeed, the p ro je c t soon subsumed both o u r
professional and personal lives. I believe o u r ease w ith each o th e r and
ou r practiced com m unication allow ed us to videotape m y fa m ily 's Seder
unobtrusively. We were also able to create a relaxed atm osphere fo r
shooting the interview s and o th e r p re p a ra to ry scenes.
C onsidering m y th e o re tica l g ro u n d in g in fem inism an d th e focus
o f the fie ld w o rk on wom en, I assum ed I w ould have a greater
understanding of, o r a t least a m ore sensitive in sig h t in to , the
experiences o f the three w om en being a woman m yself. It was,
however, qu ite in te re stin g to observe Steven's reactions to th e w om en
and th e ir activitie s. His insigh ts an d im pressions o fte n p roved to be
more objective than m y own. Also, as I am the p ro d u ct o f a R eform
Jewish background and Steven was ra ise d in a m odem -O rthodox Jewish
com m unity, o u r views on the ritu a l and sym bolic m eanings o f Passover
w ould occasionally c o n flic t. As the p ro je c t progressed, we created a
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system o f checks and balances betw een us based on o u r p rio r
experiences w ith b o th Passover Seders and Jewish culture.
M A K IN G TH E VIDEO
PRE-PRODUCTION
Steven and I began p re -p ro d u c tio n fo r th is video p ro je ct in
January o f 1998, a lth oug h discussions re g a rd in g Am erican Jews ha d
been ongoing th ro u g h o u t o u r years in graduate school. We spent m any
hours discussing possible topics and issues to explore in o u r proposed
video and fin a lly d e term ined some general guidelines. O f p rim e in te re st
to m e was the re la tio n s h ip betw een m y grandm other Sarah and h e r
three daughters Bernice, Ada, a n d Brenda w ith regards to Judaism . I
w anted to know about the ways Sarah ta u g h t h e r daughters to be Jewish
wom en. I realized th a t th is in fo rm a tio n co u ld o n ly come fro m th e
daughters' perspectives since Sarah passed away in 1992, b u t I fe lt it
w o u ld be in te re stin g to le a rn a b o u t each daughters’ experiences and
philosophy. For Steven, the m a in ide a centered upon issues o f id e n tity
and he w anted to be sure th a t we exp lore d th e Jewish id e n tity o f each o f
the three sisters. We d e term ined th a t as long as we could agree o n the
m ain topics and be ce rta in th a t th e y w o u ld be addressed w hile
videotaping, we cou ld the n c o m fo rta b ly consider more tangential ideas.
As m entioned e a rlie r, Steven an d I set aside tim e on a w eekly
basis to view o th e r film s a b o u t Jewish w om en a n d /o r the Passover
Seder. We searched fo r film title s o n the W o rld W ide Web, loca ting a
Jewish film site w hich was in va lu a b le . Also, as members o f the
Com m ittee fo r the A n th ro p o lo g y o f Jews an d Judaism, we asked th e
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listserve fo r suggestions a n d received m any leads an d h e ip fu l
com m ents. F in a lly, the vide o lib ra ry a t the Bureau o f Jewish Education
in Los Angeles ha d m any o f th e film s we wanted to see in th e ir
collection. We w atched th e film s together and discussed b o th content
and visu a l style.
A fte r view ing the film s , we created a fis t o f specific shots,
im p o rta n t character com binations, and possible sequences to be sure to
capture d u rin g p ro d u ctio n . For example, we knew we w anted to follow
the flo w o f fo o d fro m purchase a t the grocery store to the recipe and
cooking to a guest eating a t th e Seder table. We also wanted to be sure
there was a lo t o f footage o f th e three sisters w orkin g together in the
kitch e n and th a t sym bolic p a rts o f th e Seder service were covered. We
also discussed sho t sizes, cam era moves, focus, lig h tin g set-ups,
backgrounds, an d possible c o lo r palettes fo r d iffe re n t scenes. We
determ ined the equipm ent we w ould need based on the lo ca tio n we were
shooting in and the unobtrusive style o f shooting we planned to
p e rfo rm .
Steven and I also developed in te rv ie w questions fo r the three
sisters based on w ha t areas we th o u g h t were not w ell-covered in the
film s we had seen. Passover: Traditions o f Freedom, fo r exam ple, gave a
tho rou gh h is to ric a l overview o f the h o lid a y and explanations fo r each
aspect o f the ritu a l meal, b u t had no fa m ily characters and was not
personable. T hrough o u r discussions we came to realize th a t o u r goal
was to focus on a few characters and le a rn about th e ir lives through
th e ir cele bra tion o f the Passover Seder ra th e r than to focus on the
ritu a l mean ings and sym bols o f the Seder alone. We also re fe rre d to the
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anthropological lite ra tu re o n the Passover Seder, wom en in Judaism ,
gender and assim ilation, fa m ily fo lk lo re , and the a n th ro p o lo g y o f food
in order to generate ideas fo r in te rv ie w questions.
A fte r developing o u r lis t o f questions, we called Bernice, Ada, and
Brenda and recorded pre-interview s w ith them on audiotape. We fe lt it
was im p o rta n t to engage th e women in discussions about Passover and
th e ir childh oo d experiences before we began video-taping them . O ur
goal was to p u t them a t ease w ith the p ro je ct and stim ulate th e ir
thoughts and m em ories. We also w anted to learn m ore about th e ir life
experiences so th a t th e questions we were fo rm u la tin g fo r th e on
screen interview s w o u ld be d ire cted tow ard evoking personal stories.
We asked them about th e ir fa vo rite p a rt o f the Seder service, a
p a rtic u la r Passover m em ory, some fa m ily histo ry, an y recipes th e y had
gotten fro m th e ir m o ther, any changes they had noticed in th e way
Passover is celebrated b y the fa m ily, and any changes in th e ir feelings
about Passover over th e years. The pre-interview s w ent v e ry w ell and
b y the end o f each phone c a ll we had a lis t o f im p o rta n t events in each
o f the women's lives th a t we planned to explore in la te r interview s.
In the last stages o f p re -p ro d u ctio n Steven and I made a checklist
o f im p o rta n t tech nical considerations to rem em ber w hile on the set
such as color bars, ro om tone, w hite balance, depth o f fie ld , and screen
direction. We knew th a t in the excitem ent o f shooting it m ig h t be easy
to forget some o f these basic steps. We collected a ll o f the equipm ent we
needed fo r the shoot (tw o d ig ita l cameras, two trip o d s, wireless lava lie r
m icrophones, a m ixer, and a m o n ito r) and packed eve rythin g in to two
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suitcases. Once in M aryland, we w o u ld re n t Keno-Flo lights and stands
and a d d itio n a l audio equipm ent.
PRODUCTION
Steven and 1 a rriv e d in M a ryland one week before the Seder was
to be held. M y m o th e r was excited to see us and eager to know w hat o u r
schedule w ou ld be. We to ld her th a t it was im p o rta n t to us to know w hat
he r schedule was going to be and th a t we w o u ld plan around h e r n a tu ra l
a ctivitie s. C onsidering the tra vel plans o f Bernice and Brenda, we came
up w ith a p ro d u c tio n schedule fo r the in te rvie w s. We wanted to
in te rv ie w each siste r alone before the Seder and then in te rvie w a ll
three o f them together a t some p o in t in th e weekend after the Seder.
This w ay we w o u ld be able to reconsider o u r interview ing techniques
and update o u r questions before co n d u ctin g the "three sister" in te rv ie w
discussed e a rlie r.
E arly in the week we picked up a ll o f the lig h ts and audio
equipm ent fro m lo ca l companies and tested a ll o f o u r camera set-ups to
be sure th a t e v er y th in g w ould be w o rkin g w hen we needed to use it.
O ur consistent p ro b le m was a lo w -fre q u e n cy h u m w hich worsened
w hen th e m o n ito r was plugged in . T hough it never com pletely
disappeared, we de term ined th a t the hum was re la ted to the com bination
o f the consum er le ve l cam era and in d u s tria l le ve l audio equipm ent. In
a d d itio n to o th e r tech nical d iffic u ltie s , we re alized th a t we w o u ld need
p le n ty o f tim e to set up each in te rv ie w b e fo re asking o u r interview ee to
come an d ta lk . Steven and I also spent a fe w days determ ining where we
cou ld set up lig h ts so th a t they w o u ld be u n o b tru sive to the Seder guests
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an d th e three sisters as th e y prepared fo r the Seder. We w o u ld be using
tw o cameras du ring the m eal so we had to coordinate o u r m ovem ent so
as n o t to get in to each other's w ay o r in to each other's shots.
T h rou gho ut the week, Steven and I were sure to in c lu d e m y
parents in o u r p ro d u ctio n discussions so th a t th e y w ou ld understand
w hat o u r equipm ent was fo r and how and where it w ould be used. And
m ost im p o rta n tly , we were there to see m y parents as w e ll as to
docum ent the Seder, and knew th a t the o n ly way to relax b o th us and
them was to spend tim e together unrelated to o u r video p ro je ct. I know
th a t I benefited g re a tly fro m the o p p o rtu n ity to ta lk casually w ith m y
m o th e r an d fa th e r and to spend tim e ju s t visitin g .
M y discussions w ith Steven about the issues su rro u n d in g women
an d th e Seder continued d u rin g the week and we were co n sta n d y
developing o u r ideas about the women's tra d itio n a l roles as cooks and
servers d u rin g the h o lid a y and th e ir m odem roles as career wom en
th ro u g h o u t the rest o f the year and discussed how to b rin g these issues
across in th e video. We also w anted to b rin g o u t the A m erican setting
th ro u g h the visuals and on-screen discussions.
O ur firs t video-taping session was w ith Ada at the lo ca l grocery
store. A m idst a fu ll Passover display, she shopped fo r th e ingredients
she needed in order to prepare the Seder m eal fo r her fifte e n guests.
The fo llo w in g day we video-taped Ada in her kitchen p re p a rin g the
m atzoh b a ll soup, haroset, and g e filte fish. Brenda a rriv e d a ro u n d noon
an d the tw o sisters cooked and talked together. We in te rvie w e d Ada
alone th a t afternoon w h ile Brenda was upstairs. Since we w o u ld be
asking each o f the wom en s im ila r questions, we decided i t w o u ld be best
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to in te rvie w each, one alone. I th in k it also served to relax everyone and
make the setting less o f a 'p ro d u c tio n ' w ith an 'audience.' Later th a t
aftern oon we interview ed Brenda in th e same m a n n e r.
On the day o f the Seder, Steven and I became a fu ll-tim e camera
crew. We had discussed o u r basic goals and general style o f shooting to
the p o in t where we fe lt i t was possible to shoot w ith o u r instincts and
fo llo w the flo w o f events w ith o u t im posing a planned ord e r on th em.
We each had a camera to use and had a lis t o f shots we should each be
sure to cover. O ur prepa ratio n served us w e ll as the house began to f ill
w ith guests who were at once o u r frie n d s and fa m ily b u t also
p a rticipa nts in o u r project. A strange co m b in a tio n o f the ease I fe lt
surrounded by people I know so w e ll and the stressful excitem ent th a t
always arrives on a m ajor shoot day kep t me in balance fo r most o f the
day. I was unsure how the cameras m ig h t a ffe ct the ritu a l o f the Seder
and the actions and reactions o f the p a rticip a n ts, b u t the evening
progressed in re la tiv e ly usual fashion. I believe o u r choice o f
equipm ent— the two sm all cameras and lig h ts hooked fro m the ceilin g—
created a sort o f 'hom e-m ovie film in g ' atm osphere ra th e r than a large-
scale produ ction w hich m ig h t have made people uneasy.
Bernice had a rrive d ju s t before the Seder began, b u t since both
she and Brenda were staying a t the house u n til Sunday afternoon, we
rescheduled h e r in te rvie w an d th e "th re e siste r inte rview " u n til the day
fo llo w in g the Seder. We set th e group in te rvie w a t the kitchen table
because it seemed to be the center o f th e ir a ctivitie s in the house. Near
the end o f the two h o u r session, Brenda discussed how appropriate it was
to have been ta lkin g in the kitch e n because th e y are "kitchen people"
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(See Chapter Two). I th in k Steven and I fe lt a big sense o f
accom plishm ent as we w rapped the week long shoot. We had gathered
data on videotape and through, in fo rm a l discussions and had also
enjoyed o u r v is it w ith fa m ily and frie nds.
POST-PRODUCTION
Having made several o th e r docum entaries together, Steven and I
had come to realize th a t even w ith a lo t o f pre-production p la n n in g and
a smooth p rodu ction experience, the sto ry is basically fou nd and to ld in
the editing process. The m a jo r organizational and de ta il-in te n sive
stages were over and it was now tim e to see what the footage had to show
us. We therefore looked fo rw a rd to th is stage o f listen in g, lea rning , and
re fle c tio n .
The firs t stage o f p o st-p ro d u ctio n was to transcribe a ll o f the
inte rview footage we had videotaped w ith the three sisters, a to ta l o f
fo u r and one h a lf hours. In a d d itio n , we viewed o u r footage and loosely
logged the rem aining ten hours o f tape. Steven and I read the
transcripts separately, coding fo r themes and issues o f inte rest. We
then discussed o u r ideas and began to form ulate topic headings. For
several weeks we pored over th is m a te ria l cuttin g passages o u t and
organizing them onto index cards, arranging the cards by to p ic
heading.
Some sequences began to take shape as we read and reread the
transcripts. "T ransform a tion " em erged as a m ajor theme. Young g irls
transform ed in to women, a re lig io u s fa m ily transform ed its habits o ve r
each generation, the wom en's m ovem ent transform ed housewives in to
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w orking wom en, and the h o lid a y o f Passover in A m erica tra nsfo rm ed
in to an idealized ce le b ra tio n o f fa m ily and freedom .
We noted tu rn in g p o in ts in each wom an's life , b o th in term s o f
h e r career and h e r re la tio n s h ip w ith re lig io n and we each
brainstorm ed about possible them atic structures. One possible stru cture
w ould begin the video w ith th e festive occasion and fe e lin g o f th e "love
o f fam ily." The video w o u ld th e n present some o f the fa m ily h is to ry and
"lessons fro m m o ther to daughters." We w o u ld then exp lore the "lim its
o f a m other's experiences" an d th e "fee lin gs o f d iffe re n ce " experienced
b y the daughters as m em bers o f a m in o rity group. We w o u ld th e n
present the wom en's "re -in te rp re ta tio n " o f th e h o lid a y o f Passover and
close once m ore w ith the id e a o f the "pleasure o f the eve nt." We
rearranged the ind ex cards to re fle c t this stru ctu re , b u t w ith fu rth e r
discussion, a p a ra lle l s tru c tu re emerged between the h o lid a y o f
Passover and the life experiences o f the three sisters. We decided to
move forw ard w ith th is la tte r p a ra lle l stru ctu re in m in d (See
In tro d u c tio n ).
In o u r tin y e d itin g ro o m Steven and I posted the in d e x cards on
three walls in a proposed th re e act structure: the p re p a ra tio n o f the
food, the reading o f the Haggadah, and the festive m eal. W e th e n
arranged to p ic sequences such as "losing ka sh ru t" and "w o rkin g
women" u n der the la rg e r headings. On an a lte rn a tin g basis, we began
editing ou r footage in to s h o rt them atic sequences and e v e n tu a lly in to
longer scenes. A t tim es we w o u ld e d it together, discussing each c u t and
each shot. We also spent tim e e d itin g alone and then presented o u r
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w o rk to each, other. This v a ria tio n allow e d us both tim e away fro m the
m a te ria l and tim e tog eth er in in te n s iv e collaboration.
Once the m aterial had been c u t dow n to about one hour, we
screened the tapes fo r o u r thesis com m ittee and discussed w hich aspects
o f the video were cle a rly presented a n d interesting and w hether some
pieces should continue to be w orked on o r edited out com pletely.
T h ro u g h th is process we w ere able to re vie w o u r ideas, determ in e w h a t
was w orkin g, and plan the re m a in d e r o f the editing process on the AVID
system . The repeated review an d assessment o f the project and constant
discussion between the video-m akers has enabled us to make "Eat,
Honey, Eat!" a m u lti-la ye re d an d com plex p o rtra it o f three Am erican
Jewish wom en a t the h o lid a y o f Passover.
CONCLUSION
The decision to focus on th re e wom en and th e ir perspectives and
experiences regarding the Passover Seder was in itia lly exciting to me
because i t presented an o p p o rtu n ity to explore m y own fa m ily h is to ry
and th a t o f Am erican Jewish w om en in the tw en tieth century. T h rou gh
co lla b o ra tio n w ith m y p a rtn e r Steven, m y m other, and m y two aunts, I
was surrou nde d w ith p o sitive s u p p o rt and in s ig h tfu l suggestions. A nd,
as o u r p ro je c t focused on how m y g ra n d m o th e r taught he r daughters to
be Jewish women, I had an o p p o rtu n ity to re fle c t on the lessons m y
m o th e r passed down to me.
In retrospect, I realize th a t m y d u a l ro le as fie ld w o rke r and
daughter presented b o th advantages and disadvantages to o u r research.
As S hula m it Reinharz (1992) has discussed, adopting the ro le o f
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'daughter' often, allow s fem ale fieldw orkers a greater "access to a
fa m ily-o rie n te d co m m u n ity (1992:63)." In the ro le o f daughter, the
fie ld w o rke r is in a p o s itio n where she can ask the m ost basic questions
and observe h e r surrou ndin gs as though she knows n o th in g ab out the
com m unity— as a c h ild m ig h t learn about h e r cu ltu re . A ccording to
Reinharz, this p o sitio n o f naivete m ust tra n s itio n at some p o ints to the
ro le o f "com petent a d u lt researcher. . . .The c ritic a l issue . . .is w hether
[the fie ld w o rke r] is able to negotiate the role a fte r she adopts it
(1992:64)." For me, th is negotiation between daughter and a d u lt
researcher was fa r m ore com plex than fo r o th e r fem ale fie ld w o rke rs
because m y ro le in re la tio n to m y fa m ily a ctu a lly is th a t o f daughter.
Being a 'tru e ' daughter, it was ve ry easy to adopt the 'ro le ' o f
daughter and be accepted in the 'daughter,' o r 'q u estion ing c h ild ,'
position. I also had th e advantage o f being able to use m y in tim a te
relationships w ith Bernice, Ada, and Brenda to develop questions o f
greater depth a llow in g fo r a m ore thorough e xp lo ra tio n in to th e ir life
experiences. E licitin g personal in fo rm a tio n fro m the th re e sisters was
easier fo r me than it m ay have been fo r another fie ld w o rk e r because I
was able to call upon fa m ily jokes o r p o p u la r stories w ith a single catch
phrase. For exam ple, in the "th ree sister inte rview " I asked ab out the
"H annukah bush" and the sisters discussed an in c id e n t fro m th e ir
c h ild h ood in the present tense as though th e y were re liv in g every
em otion o f the event. Had th e y been speaking to a d iffe re n t
field w o rker, th e ir p re se n ta tio n o f the sto ry w ou ld lik e ly have been
m ore form al, o r perhaps the "H annukah bush" w ou ld n o t even have
been discussed.
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The fie ld w o rk, how ever, was c e rta in ly affected b y m y personal
fa m ily dynam ics and re la tion ships. I had to w o rk ha rde r to overcome
some assumptions w hich Bernice, Ada, and Brenda had about m y p ro je ct
and research. In th is typ e o f fie ld w o rk th e re is the p o te n tia l to be
dism issed as a naive c h ild w hen the 'a d u lts ' w ish to 'c a rry on w ith th e ir
liv e s ' independently o f the research. For example, on several occasions
th e open-ended conversation d u rin g the "th re e sister interview " tu rn e d
to discussions o f w hat m ig h t be prepared fo r d in n e r th a t evening and
w here the rest o f the fa m ily was a t th a t m om ent. 1 had to re direct th e ir
a tte n tio n tow ard the focus o f m y research— the h o lid a y o f Passover.
Also, I realize th a t I was o v e rly concerned at tim es w ith m y
m other's stress and shifts in m ood d u rin g the p re p a ra tio n o f the Seder
and reacted in s tin c tiv e ly as h e r c h ild ra th e r tha n as a professional
fie ld w o rke r. I w orked ha rd, how ever, to overcom e any insecurities I
fe lt in the "daughter" p o sitio n in o rd e r to conduct the fie ld w o rk as a
vis u a l anthro po lo gist.
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CHAPTERTWO
"People o f the [Cook] Book"
The focus o f o u r fie ld w o rk and video was the Passover Seder and
women's roles and a c tiv itie s d u rin g the Jewish h o lid a y . This thesis
fu rth e r explores the c e n tra lity o f the kitch e n and fo o d in th e Jewish
f am ily, the practice o f Judaism as a personal hom e-centered experience
fo r A m erican Jewish w om en, an d the effects o f A m e rica n iza tio n on the
Jewish com m unity.
As a fe m in is t epistem ology has g re a tly in fo rm e d m y research
topic and m ethods, I fin d it useful to begin w ith a re vie w o f the
re la tio n sh ip between fe m in ism and a n th ro p o lo g y and w ill discuss some
o f the m a jo r works in th e fie ld . I w ill then com m ent o n o u r study o f
three sisters— Bernice, Ada, and Brenda— and the n o tio n s o f "G reat
T ra d itio n " and "L ittle T ra d itio n " (R edfield 1956). This research is also
stro n g ly in flu e n ce d b y th e w o rk o f Paula Hym an, B arbara M yerhoff,
Jenna W eissman Joselit, an d Barbara K irsh e n b la tt-G im b le tt. In th e ir
w ritin g s on A m erican Jews th e y present the no tions o f "dom estic
re lig io n " and "kitch e n Judaism " w hich explore the co n n e ctio n between
women's re lig ious experiences and the hom e and th e fa m ily .
FEMINISM AND ANTHROPOLOGY
In the 1970's, w hen anthropologists firs t became in v o lv e d in
applying fe m in ist th e o ry to th e ir research, th e y began w ith an
e vo lu tio n ist perspective searching fo r the o rig in s o f th e fa m ily and the
sources o f wom en's u n ive rsa l su b o rd in a tio n to m en. T h e ir w riting s
centered on women's perspectives and positions in d iffe re n t cultures.
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The p ra ctice o f 'p u ttin g w om en a t th e center o f th o u g h t' was in lin e
w ith the m a jo r ideas o f the wom en's m ovem ent a t the tim e. Later on in
the developm ent o f th e o re tica l fem inism , gender was 'p u t at the center
o f th o u g h t,' and an thro po lo gy's in te re s t shifte d fro m an "anthropology
o f wom en" to a "fe m in is t a n thro po lo gy." As fem inism continued to
evolve in the 1970's, 1980's, and 1990's, lite ra tu re on gender,
postm odernism , poststructuralism , and post colonialism were added to
th e canon o f w ritin g s ab out fe m in is t a n th ro p o lo g ica l theory.
Though ch ro n o lo g ica lly o u r stu d y o f three Am erican Jewish
wom en was conducted d u rin g this th ird phase, th e goals o f ou r research
are m ost in lin e w ith fem in ism 's e a rly endeavors— to explore women's
personal experiences and beliefs.
H en rietta M oore (1988), in her book Fem inism and A nthropology .
review ed the re la tio n sh ip between th e th e o ry o f fem inism and the
scholarship and fie ld w o rk o f a n th ro p o lo g y over the past th irty years,
tra cin g the developm ent o f three phases. A ccording to Moore, the
fem in ist c ritiq u e o f a n th ro p o lo g y stem m ed fro m the neglect and
m isrepresentation o f wom en in the d iscip lin e . In the early 1970's, as
second wave fem in ism was takin g h o ld in Am erica, a new
"a n th ro p o lo g y o f wom en" began to em erge (phase one). Second wave
fem in ism shook the foundations o f social science academia and oth e r
fie ld s w hen the issues o f m ale dom inance, p a tria rch y, and the
u n iv e rs a lity o f b o th were b ro u g h t to lig h t.
In o rd e r to cou nte r the m ale bias w hich peivaded
a n th ro p o lo g ica l w o rk up to th a t p o in t, it became evid ent that
anthropology, as w e ll as o th e r social sciences, needed to be reworked
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and redefined. Fem inist anthropologists w orked to break down, o r
deconstruct, the s tru c tu re o f m ale bias in anthropology "b y focusing on
women, b y studying and describing w hat women re a lly do, as opposed to
w hat m en (ethnographers and info rm a nts) say the y do, and by
recording and analyzing the statem ents, perceptions and attitudes o f
women themselves (M oore 1988:2)."
A t th e U n ive rsity o f M ichigan, d u rin g a stu d e n t-in itia te d
women's studies course about the anthropological perspectives on
women, Rayna R eiter became fru s tra te d w ith her d iscip lin e and
questioned its usefulness in the fe m in is t struggle:
A n th ro p o lo g y's c o n trib u tio n to fe m in ist th e o ry is
contam inated b y the same assumptions th a t pervade ou r
c u ltu re as a w hole. A great deal o f in fo rm a tio n on women
exists, b u t it fre q u e n tly comes fro m questions asked o f
m en about th e ir wives, daughters, and sisters, ra th e r than
fro m the wom en themselves. . . .W hat women do is
perceived as housew ork and w hat the y ta lk about is called
gossip, w h ile m en's w o rk is view ed as the econom ic base
o f society and th e ir in fo rm a tio n is seen as im p o rta n t
social com m unication (R eiter 1975:12).
R eiter edited Tow ard an A nthropology o f Women ( 1975). a
collection o f essays addressing the issues o f male bias, the
in te rp re ta tio n o f the b io lo g ica l and c u ltu ra l e vo lu tio n a ry record, sexual
eq u a lity in cultures organized b y kin sh ip , the origins o f gender
relations and fem ale su b o rd in a tio n , wom en in peasant groups, the ro le
o f women in T h ird W o rld countries, and women in ru ra l China. R eiter's
aim, and th a t o f the o th e r fem ale con trib u to rs to the volum e, was to
reshape and re co n stru ct the d iscip lin e o f anthropology to inco rpo rate
fe m in is t th e o ry.
The co n trib u to rs questioned the o b je c tiv ity o f anthropology and
the in h e re n t biases u n d e rlyin g fie ld w o rk and analysis. T h e ir aim was
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to in flu e n ce the g re a te r d is c ip lin e o f a n thro po lo gy, fe e lin g the need to
separate biology fro m gender, ju s t as a n th ro p o lo g y was able to separate
b io lo gy fro m race (R eiter 1975:14). They ca lle d fo r new studies th a t
w ould focus on w om en and a "re o rie n ta tio n o f a n th ro p o lo g y so th a t it
studies hum ankind (R eiter 1975:16)." These new studies w ere to focus on
wom en firs t, re d e fin e the 'im p o rta n t' questions, reexam ine a ll previous
theories, and be c ritic a l o f a ll m a te ria l deem ed 'fa ctu a l.' These new
studies should 'p u t wom en a t the center o f th o u g h t' in o rd e r to explore a
fe m in is t epistem ology, a fe m in is t w ay o f know ing.
S ally Slocum's 1975 essay, "W oman the G atherer" called in to
question the re ig ning perspective o f a n th ro p o lo g y as th e stu d y o f Man,
and o f Man as the generic subject o f th o u g h t an d the ory. She argued
th a t a strong m ale bias in flu e n ce d the questions anthro po lo gists asked,
and th e in te rp re ta tio n s th e y gave. A ccording to Slocum, in
a n th ro p o lo g y:
. . .we choose to ask certain questions, an d n o t others. O ur
choice grows o u t o f the c u ltu ra l co n te xt in w hich
a n th ro p o lo g y and anthropologists exist. A n th ro p o lo g y, as
an academ ic d iscip lin e , has been developed p rim a rily by
w h ite W estern males, d u rin g a specific p e rio d in h is to ry .
O ur questions are shaped by the p a rticu la rs o f o u r
h is to ric a l s itu a tio n , and by unconscious c u ltu ra l
assumptions (Slocum 1975:37).
Slocum posed the question unasked up to th a t p o in t about wom en and
th e ir co n trib u tio n s and roles in cu ltu re and society: "W hat were the
females doing w h ile the males were o u t hunting? (Slocum 1975:49)"
As anthro po lo gists began a p plying fe m in is t theories, fears arose
th a t "w ha t had once been 'm ale bias' w ou ld be replaced b y a
corresponding 'fem ale bias.' I f the m odel o f th e w o rld was inadequate
when seen th ro u g h th e eyes o f men, w hy sh o u ld i t be a n y less so when
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seen th ro u g h th e eyes o f women? (M oore 1988:5)" A fte r all, fem ale
anthro po lo gists had been tra in e d and socialized in the same cu ltu re as
the m ale anthro po lo gists whom they w ere c ritiq u in g . The assum ption
o f a 'p riv ile g e d status' by women ethnographers was viewed as
p roble m atic. As an alternative to the 'm ale p o in t o f view ', the 'fem ale
p o in t o f vie w ' m ig h t be considered a sub -disciplin e, and therefore
m arginalized o r ghettoized (M oore 1988:5).
A ccording to Moore, however, these fears were unfounded, and a
c la rific a tio n o f term s needed to be made. F em inist anthropology was
m uch m ore th a n th e study o f women b y wom en and the tim e had come
to de construct th e concept o f a 'u n ive rsa l w om an.' The focus on p u ttin g
wom an 'a t th e cen ter o f thought' in fe m in is t th e o ry shifted to p u ttin g
g e n d e r a t th e cen ter o f thought (phase tw o):
The 'a n th ro p o lo g y o f wom en' was th e precursor to
fe m in is t anthropology; it was v e ry successful in
b rin g in g wom en 'back in to view ' in th e d iscip lin e , b u t in
so do in g i t was more rem edial th a n ra d ica l. Fem inist
a n th ro p o lo g y is more than the stu d y o f women. It is the
stu d y o f gender, o f the in te rre la tio n s between women and
m en, and th e ro le o f gender in s tru c tu rin g hum an
societies, th e ir histories, ideologies, econom ic systems and
p o litic a l structures (M oore 1988:6).
A grow ing concern w ith essentializing th e concept o f 'w om an' in
a n th ro p o lo g y m irro re d the shifts in f e m in is t th e o ry occurring in the
1980's. In o rd e r to c la rify the s h ift to phase two, M oore problem atized
the te rm 'fe m in is m ' b y using a 'm in im a lis t' d e fin itio n : "the awareness
o f wom en's oppression and e xp lo ita tio n a t w ork, in the home and in
society as w e ll as to the conscious p o litic a l a ctio n taken by women to
change th is s itu a tio n (M oore 1988:10).” T his d e fin itio n im plies th a t a
"u n ita ry b o d y o f wom en's interests, w h ich sho uld and can be fo u g h t
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fo r" exists, and th a t wom en's interests have been d e rive d fro m "an
actual, o r po ten tial, id e n tity between women . . .and wom en's shared
oppression (M oore 1988:10)." According to M oore, fem inism a t th a t tim e
m ig h t be threatened i f considerations o f d iffe ren ce am ong women,
ra th e r than women as a single social category, w ere taken in to account.
"The p rivile g e d re la tio n s h ip between fem ale e th n o g ra p h e r and fem ale
in fo rm a n t depends on th e assum ption o f a un iversa l category 'w om an.'
. . .[b ut] the images, a ttrib u te s, activities and a p p ro p ria te behavior
associated w ith wom en are always c u ltu ra lly and h is to ric a lly specific
(Moore 1988:7)."
M oore sum m arized the 'cu rre n t' (1980's) state o f fem inism and
anthropology as a th ird phase in the h is to ry o f th e ir re la tio n sh ip . The
firs t phase was the 'a n th ro p o lo g y o f women' discussed above. The
second phase "was based on a c ritic a l rew orking o f the un iversal
category 'w om an,' w h ich was accompanied by an e q u a lly c ritic a l lo o k at
the question o f w hether women were especially w e ll equipped to study
oth er women (M oore 1988:11)." The th ird phase was concerned w ith
'd iffe re n c e ':
This phase w ill in vo lve the b u ild in g o f th e o re tica l
constructs w hich deal w ith difference, and w ill be
c ru c ia lly concerned w ith looking a t how ra c ia l d iffe re n ce
is constructed th ro u g h gender, how racism divides gender
id e n tity and experience, and how class is shaped b y
gender and race (M oore 1988:11).
The fe m in ist s h ift to a focus on difference occu rre d a t the same
tim e th a t postm odernism was beginning to in flu e n ce a n th ro p o lo g y and
ethnography. In 1986, W ritin g Culture: The Poetics and P olitics o f
Ethnography . a co lle ctio n o f essays c ritiq u in g th e e th no gra phic te xt as
a creator o f cultu re, was published. Though the aim o f W ritin g C ulture
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was to draw a tte n tio n to the biases and standpoints o f the
anthropologists who tu rn experiences in oth er cultures in to fie ld w o rk
data, this volum e angered m any fe m in ist anthropologists w ho view ed
the essays as the productions o f an 'o ld boys netw ork' (o n ly one a rticle
was w ritte n by a woman, M ary P ratt, who was n o t an a n th ro p o lo g ist).
Responses fro m M a rilyn S trathem (1987), Jud ith Stacey (1 9 8 8 ), L ila
Abu-Lughod (1990), and Deborah G ordon (1988), explored the concept o f
c ritic a l ethnography and the possible relationships between fe m in ism
and postm odern ethnographic m ethodologies.
P oststructuralism and th e 'crisis o f representation' began to
challenge anthropological m ethodologies and analysis in th e la te 1980's.
Gender at the Crossroads o f Knowledge: Feminist A n th rop ology in the
Postmodern Era (1991), addressed the subsequent shifts in fe m in is t
anthropology. M icaela D i Leonardo's com pilation in clu d e d essays fro m
a ll fo u r subfields o f an thro po lo gy: archaeology, physical, lin g u is tic ,
and social. This volum e was conceived o f as an update o r appraisal o f
where fem inist a n thro po lo gy ha d gone since the p u b lic a tio n o f Tow ard
an A nthropology o f Women (1975). As Louise Lamphere p o in te d o u t in
her forew ord to Crossroads, "th e cen tral questions o f fe m in ist
anthropology are no lon ger the u n ive rsa lity o f sexual asym m etry and
the search fo r e q u a lity in gender relations in o th e r cultures . . . . Here
we are seeing the in flu ence o f p o ststru ctu ra list approaches to
anthropology (1 9 9 1 :v ii-v iii)." The gender p o litics o f co lo n ia l em pires,
the v a ria b ility in household gender politics, new re p ro d u ctive
technologies, and analyses o f race, class and gender entered in to
fe m in ist anthropological discourse. According to Lam phere:
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In the 1990’s gender is a t the crossroads o f know ledge.
A nth rop ology has th e p o te n tia l o f taking fe m in is t
th in kin g about gender differences o u t o f a w hite , m id d le -
class, and W estern m ilie u , to expand o u r perspectives on
past and present c u ltu ra l constructions o f gender a n d the
m aterial re a litie s o f w om en's situations and to p ro v id e
m u ltip le models fo r gender relations th a t go beyond o u r
accepted W estern dualism s (1991:ix).
Most re ce n tly a c o m p ila tio n o f essays e n title d W omen W ritin g
C ulture was published b y R uth Behar and Deborah G ordon (1 9 9 5 ). Behar
is a fem inist ethnographer, w e ll know n fo r he r e th n o g ra p h y
Translated Woman (1993), and G ordon is a fe m in ist h is to ria n o f
anthropology. Behar and G ordon's relationship developed o u t o f a
m u tual desire fo r a fe m in ist ethno gra phic m ethod:
[O ur re la tio n sh ip ] was b o m o u t o f c u rio s ity over questions
re la ting to fem inism , w ritin g , and a n th ro p o lo g y [such as]
"Is there an e th n o g ra p h ic practice th a t is u n iq u e ly
fem inist? I f there is, h o w is this fe m in ist e th n o g ra p h y
d is tin c t fro m b o th th e 'a n th ro p o lo g y o f wom en' o f th e
1970's and the analysis o f gender o f the 1980’s?" (1 995 txi)
Behar and G ordon w ere in te re ste d in evaluating and p re se n tin g
women's eth n ographic w ritin g th a t is "sensitive to the ra c ia l h is to ry ,
sexual politics, and m oral predicam ents o f a n thro po lo gy (1 9 9 5 :x ii)."
T h e ir com pilation was the re s u lt o f am bitious graduate students, a
"wom en w ritin g cu ltu re " class a t the U niversity o f M ich ig a n ta u g h t by
Behar. In Behar's in tro d u c tio n to th is text, she credits R uth Benedict
and M argaret Mead w ith e a rly re co g n itio n o f the need fo r fe m in ism in
anthropology. A lthou gh some m ay argue Mead's ro le in th e fe m in is t
movement, she was dedicated to collaborative w o rk w h ich "has always
been a key p a rt o f f em in ist p ra ctice (Behar 1995:21)."
More than a d ire c t response to W riting C u ltu re . Behar and
Gordon's collectio n is m u ltiv o ic e d and includes:
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bio gra phical, h isto rica l, and lite ra ry essays, fictio n ,
autobiography, theater, p o e try, life stories, travelogues,
social criticism , fie ld w o rk accounts, and blended texts o f
various kinds .... We have becom e a ll too aware th a t n o t
o n ly were wom en a n thro po lo gists excluded from the
p ro je ct o f W ritin g C ulture h u t so too were 'native' and
'm in o rity ' anthropologists (B ehar 1995:8).
A ihw a Ong (1994) and oth er non-W estem fe m in ist anthropologists
(Visweswaran 1994; John 1996) responded to th e ir exclusion fro m the
an th ro p o lo g ica l lite ra tu re w ith ethnographies o f th e ir own. In he r
a rticle , "C olonialism and M o d e rn ity: F e m inist Re-Presentations o f
W om en," Ong critiqu es W estern fe m in ists fo r view ing T h ird W orld
wom en as the 'O ther.' According to Ong, "since the early 1970's, when
fem inists tu rn e d th e ir a tte n tio n overseas, o u r understanding o f wom en
and m en in the T h ird W orld has been fra m e d in essentialist term s: how
th e ir statuses m ay be explained in term s o f th e ir labor and re p ro d u ctive
powers (1994:374).” Ong criticize s a n th ro p o lo g ica l w ritings th a t
consider non-W estem women to be a u n ive rsa l category and believes
th a t these w ritin g s display a b e lie f in W estern cu ltu ra l s u p e rio rity
(1994:375).
These concerns regarding W estern bias echo the e a rly
discussions o f m ale bias and sense o f s u p e rio rity , and the un iversa lizin g
and essentializing o f women in a n th ro p o lo g ica l texts. Now, the
'differences' among women th a t M oore discussed in the late 1980's are
being b ro u g h t in to the center o f th o u g h t (phase three). Ong suggested
th a t fe m in ist anthropologists should "speak o u t against fem ale
oppression a t hom e and overseas, b u t m a in ta in a respectful distance to
leave open the possibilities fo r an understan ding not overly constructed
b y o u r own preoccupations (1994:377)."
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To review , th e m a jo r concern o f anthropologists in flu ence d b y
fem inism in the ea rly 1970’s was th e need fo r a reconstruction o f
anthropological th e o ry and practice. A ccording to Sally Slocum (1 9 7 5 ),
the goal was to create an a n th ro p o lo g y o f hum an beings, free fro m
m ale, w hite, m iddle-class, and academ ic biases. Since then, the
'an th ro p o lo g y o f w om en' has grow n in to 'fe m in ist anthro po lo gy' an d
these e a rly concerns have been c o n tin u a lly reshaped and reassessed.
O ver the past th ir ty years, th e o re tica l discourse has includ ed issues o f
oppression and bias, m isrepresentation and the lack o f representation,
gender and essentialism .
Though the re la tio n sh ip betw een fem inism and a n th ro p o lo g y
has been presented here in three a p pro xim ate phases, I believe th a t
any study o f women and women's b e h a vio r m ay be considered fe m in is t
in nature (See Reinharz in C hapter One). The groundbreaking w o rk o f
the anthropologists discussed here has allow ed fieldw orkers to expand
th e ir choice o f research topics and m ethods to include, indeed to focus
on, the lives o f women. For exam ple, th is fie ld w o rk study and video
p ro je ct on three upper-m iddle class wom en explores th e ir roles in th e
observance o f the Passover h o lid a y, th e ir expressions o f personal and
s p iritu a l id e n tity , as w e ll as th e ir life experiences as Am erican Jew ish
wom en.
A STUDY OF THREE SISTERS
A lthough it is m y overall, long te rm interest to study fem ale
activitie s and histories w ith in Jewish cu ltu re , we narrow ed the scope o f
th is study to three m iddle-aged sisters: Bernice (age 62), Ada (age 60 ),
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and Brenda (age 55). A lth o u g h th is thesis could easily have focused on
oppression, as both Jews a n d women are often d e fin e d b y th e ir
oppression, I have chosen to explore the perceptions and experiences o f
Jewish women in A m erica w ith regard to fa m ily and re lig io n . In
addition, the subjugation a n d subordination o f wom en, the focus o f
studies o f sexism and m ale dom inance, d id n o t in te re s t me as m uch as
exploring these wom ens' a ctu a l co n trib u tio n s, a ctivitie s, and
philosophies. W ith this aim , Steven and I focused o u r fie ld w o rk on the
sisters’ perceptions o f life a n d th e ir life experiences as wom en.
Through a series o f in te rvie w s and p a rticip a n t observa tion (See Chapter
One) we concentrated on using the fe m in ist approach to an thropology
described by H enrietta M oore, "[to ] analyze th e statem ents, perceptions
and attitudes o f women them selves (1988:2)."
As in m any cultures w here e n cu ltu ra tio n is conducted along
gender lines, Bernice, Ada, a n d Brenda have learned how to be Jewish
women fro m th e ir m other, b o th fro m her teachings and b y he r
example. For these sisters, com ing o f age in th e 1940's and 1950's, th e ir
understanding o f th e ir p o te n tia l as women was shaped b y th e ir
m other's own experiences a n d h e r perception o f th e o p p o rtu n ite s
possible fo r women (See C hapter Four). Over tim e, these three sisters
developed in to strong in d iv id u a lis tic women, and ro le m odels and
teachers fo r th e ir daughters. Throughout the research, o u r aim was to
fo llo w the com plex transm ission o f c u ltu ra l know lege along the
intergenerational pathw ay o f the women o f th is fa m ily , because, as in
the words o f these sisters, " it a ll comes back to M other. A nd we are who
we are because o f how she ra ise d us." It is o u r hope th a t th is thesis and
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video m ig h t increase people's understanding o f th e com plexities o f
wom en's gender roles in the Am erican Jewish co m m u n ity.
"DOMESTIC RELIGION"
Barbara M ye rh o ff, in her book N um ber O ur Davs (1978). used
Robert R edfield's te rm in o lo g y o f "G reat T ra d itio n " and "L ittle T ra d itio n "
to make a d is tin c tio n between the "fo rm a l Jewish Law, stud y, and shared
h iso ry" o f the Jewish people and the "loca l . . .em otion al experiences
. . .w hat m ig h t be called the fo lk cu ltu re (1978:96)” o f Jewish people.
M ye rh o ff w ent on to equate this L ittle T ra d itio n w ith th e n o tio n o f
Yiddishkeit, o r re lig io u s feeling, "th e slow ly grow n, beloved re su lt o f
long, in tim a te re la tio n sh ip s, 'n o t a th in g o f n a tio n s,' n o t grand o r
exalted b u t associated w ith fam ily, nurturance, and su rv iv a l (1978:96)."
M ye rh o ff cre d its Rachel, one o f h e r in fo rm a n ts, w ith te rm in g these
"ea rly, strong e m o tio n a l experiences o f the lo ca l o r L ittle T ra d itio n
. . .'Dom estic R e lig io n '( 1978:96)." Dom estic R eligion is th e n described b y
M ye rh o ff as being a "hearth-based re lig io n . . .a q u ire d in ea rly
childhood, co m p le te ly associated w ith fa m ily and household, blending
nurturance a n d e th n ic specificities (1978:256)." The te rm "Dom estic
R eligion," is th e re fo re bound tig h tly to wom en's experiences and
wom en's roles in th e fa m ily.
Paula H ym an (1995), who has w ritte n exte nsively on gender and
Judaism and th e Jewish fam ily, notes th a t "in Jewish h isto rio g ra p h y o f
the m odem p e rio d research on wom en and gender has already
expanded o u r conceptualization o f Jewish re lig io u s life to include the
subjects o f dom estic re lig io n and personal s p iritu a lity (1 995 :6).” By
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lo o kin g to wom en's experiences in the hom e and n o t ju s t re lig io u s
a ctivitie s re la te d to the synagogue, we are able to recognize th e v e ry
base o f Jewish wom en's id e n tity .
"KITCHEN JUDAISM"
A lth o u g h Bernice, Ada, and Brenda are a ll career w o rkin g
wom en, there is a sense o f tra d itio n a lis m in the ir actions and a ttitu d e s .
Brenda described herself and h e r sisters as "kitchen people":
BR: No m a tte r where we sta rt o u t, a form al d in in g room
set up, silve r, crysta l, china— w e're in the kitch e n s ittin g
and noshing and yo u know, th a t's where we are, we
always end up in the kitchen. . . .We are kitch e n people.
A n d in e vita b ly, no m a tte r w ha t the holiday is, w herever
we were, we end up the kitche n. I went last n ig h t, fo r
instance, a fte r we fin ish e d the Seder and Ada and I were
cleaning up . . .1 had to in v ite m y sister Bernice, "come s it
a t the table and ta lk to us w h ile w e're cleaning up." A nd
th e n . . .the nieces filte re d in .
Jenna Weissman Joselit credits the Jewish kitche n in A m e rica as
"th e cen ter o f dom estic life " because o f the lite ra l "c e n tra lity o f th e
kitch e n in the tenem ant apartm ent (1990:29)." The kitch e n wr as th e hu b
o f fa m ily a c tiv ity . A nd the kitch e n tra d itio n a lly was the w om an's
dom ain. There was a sense o f p rid e and ownership o f the kitch e n , and
th e re s p o n s ib ility o f feeding the fa m ily , nourishing the fa m ily , fe ll to
th e Jewish wom an.
" I rem em ber m y grandm other as th is fat, o ld la d y w ho ne ver
seemed to get away fro m the stove. She spent the en tire tim e coo king,"
re called Bernice. T his image, echoed b y a ll three sisters, is a s o rt o f
m y th ic d e scrip tio n o f a Jewish m o ther. N ovelist Edna Ferber, in th e
in tro d u c tio n to her sister's cook book, Fannie Fox's Cook Book (1923).
described the Jewish cook as an "am ple, hospitable, gingham -aproned
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soul, who was always pressing foo d upon you long a fte r you were
su rfeited . . .[a] beam ing, m o th e rly person o f com fortable curves, whose
w h ite h a ir fram ed a plu m p face flu sh e d w ith the heat o f th e kitch e n
stove (1923rv)."
Barbara K irsh e n b la tt-G im b le tt, a fo lk lo ris t who has w ritte n
extensively on foodways and Jewish cultu re, explored the n o tio n o f the
kitch e n as a bonding force between re lig io n and fa m ily in h e r a rticle ,
"K itchen Judaism " (1990). She looked to cookbooks as h is to ric a l
docum entation o f the changes in wom en's lives and in th e lives o f Jews
in A m erica:
A close reading o f the hum ble lite ra tu re o f Jewish
cookbooks can reveal how the m alleable m edium o f foo d
shapes social life and c u ltu ra l values .... Cookbooks,
though n o t d ire ct ind ica tion s o f what people ate,
nevertheless represent Jewish cuisine and social life in
ways th a t illu m in a te changing notions o f Jewish
wom anhood and the Jewish hom e in the U nited States
(1990:77).
In a d d itio n , a m other's cookbooks are o fte n regarded as heirloom s in
Jewish cu ltu re . A long w ith the 'fa m ily silve r' and perhaps a p a ir o f
brass Sabbath candlesticks, a wom an's cookbooks were considered
extensions o f herself. Brenda described "a desperate desire to save" h e r
m other's recipes:
BR: A nd so I p u lle d o u t the cookbooks. A nd I can
rem em ber, s ittin g . . .on the flo o r w ith a ll o f these
cookbooks, Jewish cookbooks, spread around me, m any o f
them fro m m y m other, and opening them and s ittin g
th e re and sobbing— n o t h yste rica lly, b u t ju s t sobbing
because there were notes in m y m other’s h a n d w ritin g . . .
and it was such a connection, to m y m other . . .and I'm
sure th a t the recipe I fo u n d is the one she used because
it's a w ell-thum bed page, there’s food stains on it, things
lik e th a t.
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A ccording to A drie nne Baker (1993), a u th o r o f The lew ish Woman
in C ontem porary S o cie ty. "in m ost cultures, the care-g ivin g, n u rtu ra n t,
expressive ro le . . .is allocated to the wom an (1993: 123)." Baker w rote
th a t u n like m ost cu ltu re s, the Jewish cu ltu re "esteems th is hom e role.
The fam ily, and th e wom an's p ivo ta l place w ith in it o n w h ich the
practice o f re lig io n depends, is central to Judaism (1 993 :12 3)." Baker
discussed the diffe ren ces between women's and m en's re la tion ships to
Judaism:
For w om en, re lig io n has always been less fo rm a liz e d and
m uch re lig io u s fee ling w hich is preserved in fa m ily
ritu a l is n o t necessarily expressed in so cia lly observable
conduct. W h ils t m en's relationship to re lig io n is equated
w ith synagogue attendance and external com pliance . . .
wom en's religiousness is conveyed in th e ir p reservin g a
feeling o f "Jewishness" in the home, b o th in sp e cific
practices— th e observance o f the Shabbat, the fe stiva ls,
the d ie ta ry laws— and in creating a w ay o f life in w hich
fa m ily cohesion rem ained th e ir re s p o n s ib ility (1993:125).
We asked Bernice, Ada, and Brenda i f the y perceived a n y differences in
m ale and fem ale re sp o n sib ilitie s regarding the e n c u ltu ra tio n o f Jewish
c h ild re n :
A: W ell it's the wom an who w ill raise the kids, generally.
BR: The w om an raises the kids, plus the re lig io n travels
m a tria rc h a ily . It doesn't travel th ro u g h the m an, it
travels th ro u g h the woman.
In Judaism , th e trib a l lineage is passed dow n th ro u g h m a trilin e a l
descent. The R eform and R econstructionist m ovem ents, how ever, have
recently added p a trilin e a l descent in the d e te rm in a tio n o f Jewish
id e n tity . Regardless o f the proscribed do ctrine , o r "G reat T ra d itio n ," it is
ty p ic a lly the fem ale lin e w hich is responsible fo r the e n c u ltu ra tio n o f
the children. A da and Brenda continued to discuss the wom an's ro le in
c h ild -re a rin g :
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BR: I th in k keeping th e tra d itio n s and keeping the cu ltu re
and keeping th e c iv iliz a tio n is a fem ale th in g . I th in k
th a t m en go along w ith it, I tru ly believe t h a t. . . . I th in k
m ore o fte n th a n n o t, because it's th e w om an w ho’s in the
kitch e n w h o 'll d o th e fo o d things.
It is th e wom en in Jewish c u ltu re w ho are la rg e ly cre dited w ith
keeping the tra d itio n s a n d th e re lig io n alive. A nd fo o d is o fte n equated
w ith the passing dow n o f c u ltu ra l tra its . The g ivin g and receiving o f
food is sym b o lica lly connected to the g ivin g o f love (Baker 1993). Food
is prom in e n t in Jewish c u ltu re fo r tw o reasons— th e kosher d ie ta ry laws
and the cele bra tory m eals associated w ith the holidays.
P rim ary am ong these h o lid a y meals is the Passover Seder. The
three sisters discussed th e "fa m ilia l c o n tin u ity " th e y feel w ith regard to
Passover, and th e ir k itc h e n as the h e a rt o f the h o lid a y:
BR: Know ing w hen I s it dow n a t th a t table, th a t Jews, a ll
over the w o rld , are s ittin g down, fo r the exact same
reasons— an d have been doing so fo r over 5000 years— th a t
the foods are th e same. Everybody’s p u ttin g th e ir fo rk
in to some g e filte fis h . Everybody’s eating M atza . . .it’s the
c o n tin u ity . . . .G row ing up . . .[th e ] fa m ily gathered in the
kitche n, i t was th e kitch e n , and I th in k th a t's p a rt o f the
fa m ilia l c o n tin u ity also— w here we stay in th e kitchen
because it's w h a t w e d id grow ing up.
CONCLUSION
The in itia l goals o f fe m in ism in a n th ro p o lo g y, to pu t 'w om en at
the center o f th o u g h t,' g re a tly in flu e n ce d m y stud y o f Jewish women
and the em phasis on th re e sisters. In th is w ritte n ethnography I have
focused on the wom en, how ever, Steven and I explored the differences
between wom en's and m en's roles d u rin g the interview s and fie ld w o rk .
The goal o f the second phase o f fe m in ist anthro po lo gy, to p u t 'gender at
the center o f th o u g h t' re m in d e d me to consider th a t women's
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experiences occur w ith in a gendered society and th a t th e ir perspectives
have been shaped b y th a t society. Fem inist anthropology now focuses
on 'd iffe re n ce ' and urges th e in c lu s io n o f the perspectives an d life
experiences o f non-W estem w om en and other m in o ritie s in
a n thro po lo gical research. T h is goal was n o t d ire c tly re le va n t to o u r
stu d y as we focused on three w om en fro m a single fa m ily and view ed
th e ir life experiences, fa m ily h is to ry , and personal philosophies as
representative o f a group o f A m erican Jewish women, b u t n o t o f a ll
w om en.
The notions o f "dom estic re lig io n " and "kitchen Judaism "
in co rp o ra te a fe m in is t approach to understanding Jewish c u ltu re and
p ro vid e a new w ay o f th in k in g ab out women's roles in Judaism .
H isto rica lly, the synagogue was seen as the center o f a ll Jewish life ,
however, wom en's experiences and responsibilities were p e rip h e ra l to
the a ctivitie s in the synagogue— w om en were the caretakers o f the
fa m ily and the hom e. The con nectio n and a ffin ity w hich Jew ish wom en
continue to feel tow ard food, cookbooks, and fa m ily celebrations is a
m a jo r p a rt o f th e ir connection to Jewish history, cultu re, an d values.
The Jewish people are o fte n re fe rre d to as the "People o f the
Book," dedicated to leading th e ir lives according to the laws o f the Torah.
This w ritte n text, the "Book," is p a rt o f the "Great T ra d itio n " o f Judaism .
In a d d itio n to th is aspect o f Jewish life is the "L ittle T ra d itio n ," the fo lk
c u ltu re — fa m ily tra d itio n s, foodw ays, and life m emories— o f th e Jewish
people. For women in p a rtic u la r, as discussed here, there is a
re la tio n sh ip between the recipes and cookbooks o f Jewish foods and the
re lig io u s teachings and expressions o f love passed down th ro u g h the
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generations o f a fa m ily . W omen's personal s p iritu a lity and re lig io u s
beliefs are rooted in the kitche n: they are "People o f the Cookbook."
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CHAPTERTHREE
Situating the R esearch
This s tu d y o f th re e A m erican Jewish w om en d u rin g Passover fa lls
w ith in the la rg e r fram ew orks o f b o th th e a n th ro p o lo g y o f Am erican
Jews and th e a n th ro p o lo g y o f food. A fte r a b rie f h is to ry o f Jews in
Am erica, I w ill present an overview o f th e re le va n t anthro po lo gical
lite ra tu re o n A m erican Jews— sp e cifica lly studies on accom odation and
assim ilation, the Jewish fa m ily , Am erican-Jew ish id e n tity , holidays, and
ritu a l in n o v ation . I w ill th e n discuss the a n th ro p o lo g y o f food and the
connections between food, gender, and id e n tity . As o u r study
sp e cifica lly focused on th e h o lid a y o f Passover and th e Passover Seder, I
w ill also present a re vie w o f the a n th ro p o lo g ica l research on Passover.
HISTORY OF JEWS IN AMERICA
A b rie f overview o f the h is to ry o f Jewish people in Am erica is
necessary here b o th to p o s itio n this c u ltu ra l group w ith in the larg er
A m erican c u ltu re and to p o sitio n the experiences o f the three sisters
w ith in the co n te xt o f A m erican Jewish experiences in the U nited States.
The firs t group o f Jewish people (23 o f them ) a rriv e d in 1654 and settled
in New Am sterdam sta rtin g a n e a rly continuous m ig ra tio n u n til the m id
1900’s. The e a rly Jewish settlers to A m erica were p a rt o f the Ibe rian -
Jewish diaspora. T h e ir fam ilie s o rig in a lly came fro m Spain and
P ortugal and are know n as Sephardhn.1 A ccording to the H arvard
1 Sepharad was the name o f a m ajor colony o f exiles from Jerusalem, later
identified as Sardis in Turkey. Sephardim had established communities in North
Africa, Italy, the Near East, Western Europe, the Americas, and the Balkans,
especially Constantinople, Salonika, and Izm ir (W igoder 1974:542).
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Encyclopedia o f Am erican E thnic Groups (1980), th e ir tra d itio n s o f
"c u ltu ra l fle x ib ility w h ich ha d flo u ris h e d d u rin g the golden age o f
Spain (1980:574)" dom inated th e firs t fiv e Jewish congregations in the
New W orld in New York, N ew port, Savannah, P hiladelphia, and
C harleston. Ashkenazi Jews2, Jews o rig in a lly o f German descent, also
settle d in colonial Am erica. A lth o u g h these two groups la rg e ly spoke
tw o d iffe re n t languages, Lading and Yiddish respectively3, th e y
com bined th e ir A m erican com m unities through m arriage and business
ties. The absence o f re lig io u s leaders and the pace o f Am erica n iza tio n
also encouraged hom ogeneity (1980:574).
By the end o f the 18 th ce n tu ry, a larg ely Am erican b o m Jew ry
p a rticip a te d in Am erican c ivic and c u ltu ra l life in a d d itio n to an
increasingly m o dernist Jewish com m un ity. A second wave o f
im m ig ra tio n , between 1830 an d 1880, brought m any German Jewish
fa m ilie s to the U nited States. C ities grew ra p id ly and Jewish businesses
in clo th in g re ta il and in ve stm e n t banking prospered. The firs t
ord a in e d rabbis a rriv e d in 1840 b rin g in g w ith them a renewed focus on
th e religious laws o f Judaism . M any Am erican Jews became
sym pathizers o f the grow ing R eform m ovem ent and congregations
^■Ashkenaz was the name given to the first compact area o f Jewish settlem ent in
Northwestern Europe. The term specifically denotes Germany, German Jewry, and
th e ir descendants in other countries (W igoder 1974:44-45).
3 Yiddish, a language o f m edieval Germ an origin, has been used by Ashkenazi Jews
fo r over one thousand years. The basic vocabulary of Yiddish is German w ith a
m ixture o f Hebrew, Romance, Slavic, and various local vernacular. The Yiddish
language began in the 10th century in the M iddle Rhine region, and spread w ith
the Jews in their wanderings across the rest o f Europe. It is w ritten in H ebrew
characters (Wigoder 1974:637). Ladino, o r Judeo-Spanish, is an Hispanic
language, also w ritten in Hebrew characters, dating from the end o f the M iddle
Ages. It was spoken among the descendants o f Jews expelled from Spain in 1492,
in th e ir different lands o f settlem ent (W igoder 1974:357).
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spread o u t across the co u n try. P hilanthropic societies, separate from
established synagogues, also grew in num ber (1980:574).
The next m a jo r wave o f im m ig ratio n b roug ht Jews fro m Eastern
Europe (Hungary, Russia, Poland) m ostly between 1880 and 1925.
Increasing persecution in th e ir hom e countries led th e m to Am erica,
s h iftin g the dem ographics o f the Am erican Jewish co m m u n ity
com pletely. P opulation num bers grew fro m 250,000 A m erican Jews in
1880 to 4 m illio n in 1920. Rapid acculturation occurred in response to
occupational shifts to business and other professions, a low ered b irth
rate, and grow ing pressures o f anti-sexnitism (1980:574).
When a new in flu x o f refugees came in the m id 1930's fleeing
N azi Germany, the A m erican Jewish com m unity trie d to lif t the
im m ig ratio n re s tric tio n law o f 1924. Between 1939 and 1945, Am erican
Jews sent n e a rly $80 m illio n dollars to Europe, fin a n cin g underground
escape efforts (1980:574). Jewish im m igration to A m erica has continued
w ith the a rriv a l o f S oviet Jew ry and Jews fro m Iran, Ira q and Israel.
The m any waves o f Jewish im m ig ratio n to Am erica have fused in to a
com m unity w ith m ixed n a tio n a l backgrounds, languages, and custom s-
th e Am erican Jews.
ANTHROPOLOGY OF AMERICAN TEW S
The Jewish co m m u n ity in Am erica has been considered a cu ltu ra l
group by noted anthropologists such as M argaret Mead, M e lfo rd Spiro,
Barbara M yerhoff, and W alter Zenner. Aspects o f A m erican Jewish life
such as fa m ily s tru ctu re and values, religious holidays, ritu a l practices,
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accom odation and assim ilation, and issues o f race4, e th n ic ity , and
id e n tity are among the m a ny areas w hich anthropologists have
researched.
As W alter Zenner (1988) has acknowledged, co n trib u tio n s fro m
"social historians, fo lk lo ris ts , psychologists, and jo u rn a lis ts have a ll
contributed to o u r understanding o f w hat it means to be Jewish in
America( 1988:6)." Sociologists have contributed a m a jo rity o f the
lite ra tu re on the subject, p a rtic u la rly w ith regard to dem ographics and
economics o f Am erican Jew ry.5 In addition, w riting s b y scholars o f
Judaic Studies (in clu d in g A m erican Jewish H istory, Jewish Education,
Jewish Thought) have added g reatly to the lite ra tu re o n A m erican Jews.
For the purposes o f o u tlin in g anthropology's c o n trib u tio n , however, I
w ill lim it m y references and h isto rica l background to th e w o rk o f
anthropologists.
EARLY WORKS
A lthough Jews ha d been in Am erica since its in ce p tio n , "the
ethnography o f Jewish life is a re la tiv e ly new fie ld w ith roots
extending no fu rth e r th a n th e late 1940's and w ith num erous gaps s till
w aiting to be fille d (Zenner 1988:3)." One o f the firs t an thro po lo gical
studies o f Jews was conducted in the wake o f W orld W ar n . From 1947 to
1953, a team o f 120 people assembled by M argaret Mead an d Ruth
Benedict interview ed em igres fro m seven foreign cu ltu re s. Referred to
4 For discussions about w hether the American Jewish com m unity should be
considered a "race" see W irth (1 9 2 8 ), Boas (1945), and Boyarin (1 9 9 7 ).
5Charles Liebman, Samuel C. Heilman, Nathan Glazer, Seymour Lipset, Theodore
Lowi, Marshall Sklare, Eric Rosenthal, M urray B. Seidler, Mel Jerome Ravitz,
W illiam Shaffir, Stephen Sharot, Carolyn Weiner, and others.
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as e ith e r "C u ltu re a t a Distance," "The S tud y o f N ational C haracter," o r
"Research on C ontem porary C ultures," th is six year e ffo rt resulted in
th e book, S tudy o f C ulture A t a Distance (1953) edited b y Mead and Rhoda
M etraux. The study centered around a proposed m ethod o f researching
cu ltu re s w h ich were unreachable b y e ith e r s p a tia l o r tem poral
re stra in ts. Bom o u t o f th e constraints o f do in g a n th ro p o lo g ica l
research d u rin g W o rld W ar n, researchers w anted to devise a m ethod
fo r understanding th e cultures w ith o u t a c tu a lly being in physical
con tact w ith them . C om bining the m ethods o f anthropologists,
h isto ria n s, psychoanalysts, and c h ild developm ent specialists, the
c u ltu re a t a distance researchers used in te rvie w s, film s, an d docum ents
to re co n stru ct the c u ltu re o f the group being studied. These methods
co u ld also be used i f a country's borders w ere closed, o r i f a given study
focused on an h is to ric a l period.
Several ethnographies o f Eastern European Jews w ere produced
as p a rt o f the project. N atalie Joffe (1949) focused on the concept and
p ra ctice o f m itzvot, o r good deeds, among Jews, and Life is w ith People
(1952), b y M ark Zborow ski and Elizabeth Herzog, focused on the cu ltu re
o f th e East European Jewish shtetl (sm all to w n ). Zborow ski and Herzog
com bined th e ir research on shcetls across Eastern Europe to present 'a
com posite p o rtra it':
D espite countless local va ria tio n s, th e Jews o f Eastern
Europe had one culture, possessing th e characteristics
th a t m ark a cu ltu re : a language, a re lig io n , a set o f values,
a specific constellation o f social m echanism s and
in s titu tio n s , and the feeling o f its m em bers th a t th e y
belong to one group (1952:23).
A lth o u g h the research intended to le a rn a b o u t life in Eastern Europe,
th e in te rvie w s w ere ca rrie d out w ith A m erican Jewish im m igrants and
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th e re su ltin g in fo rm a tio n was th e re fo re about A m erican Jews and th e ir
opinions, ideas, and m em ories o f the lives o f Jews abroad. W ritte n in the
eth n ographic present, aging Jews describe th e ir m em ories o f pre-w ar
life , exposing th e ir views o f Judaism and A m erica th ro u g h descriptions
o f m en's and wom en's roles, holidays, fa m ily structures, an d death.
Using recent im m igrants as in fo rm a n ts, Zborow ski and Herzog were
able to b o th create a p ictu re o f life in th e shte tl and to docum ent the
m em ories and sense o f loss fe lt by the Jewish im m igrants a fte r the
H olocaust. W ith a forew ard b y M argaret Mead, th is e th n o g ra p h y soon
became a classic. In fact, T.ife is w ith People is co n sta n tly referenced in
the a n th ro p o lo g ica l lite ra tu re on A m erican Jews and th e e th n o g ra p h y
has n o t gone o u t o f p rin t since 1952.6
A n o th e r outgrow th o f th e Research in C ontem porary C ultures
was the cro ss-cultu ral stud y o f ch ild h o o d in con tem p ora ry cultures.
M argaret Mead and M artha W olfenstein ed ited the results o f studies on
c h ild -re a rin g lite ra tu re , c h ild re n 's fantasies, c lin ic a l studies, and
in te rvie w s w ith parents and c h ild re n o f Balinese, Soviet Russian,
Frenc h , Chinese, Am erican, and Jewish fam ilies. Based o n observations
m ade in a child-guidance th e ra p y c lin ic in New York, W o lfen stein
contrasted patterns o f m o ther and ch ild re la tion s in h e r a rtic le , "Two
Types o f Jewish M others" (1955). By loo kin g a t an Eastern European
Jewish and an A m erican Jewish m o th e r-c h ild re la tio n s h ip , W olfenstein
explored the feelings o f h o s tility and self-righteousness o f the fo rm e r
and the avoidance o f dom inant a u th o rity o f the la tte r (1955:438).
R elying h e a vily on Freudian psychoanalysis she d e te rm in e d th a t the
^O ther ethnographies and research on shtetl life include Bienenstock (1 9 5 0 ,1 9 5 2 ),
Joffe (1 9 4 8 -4 9 ), Landes and Zborowski (1 9 4 9 ), and Zborowski (1 9 4 9 ).
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two m others had fixa te d o n d iffe re n t phases o f th e ir c h ildrens'
developm ent. W olfenstein adm ittedly, however, d id n o t exp lore the
tra n sitio n fro m one fo rm o f m otherhood to the other.
ACCOMODATION, ASSIMILATION, AND ACCULTURATION
A nother im p o rta n t w o rk in the post-w ar p e rio d was A lb e rt
Gordon's Tews in T ra n sitio n (1949). He focused on "the changes th a t
have occurred in the beliefs, practices, and in s titu tio n s o f the European
Jews who took up residence in M inneapolis, M innesota (1 9 4 9 :v ii)." As a
resident o f M inneapolis, G ordon had the o p p o rtu n ity to s tu d y the
com m unity as a p a rtic ip a n t observer fo r over sixteen years. The book
"is concerned w ith adaptations in the o rig in a l c u ltu ra l p a tte rn s o f the
Jews as a result o f contact w ith the cultures o f o th e r peoples; and w ith
w hy and how these adaptations occurred (1 9 4 9 rvii)." In h is fin a l
chapter, "Livin g in two cu ltu re s," Gordon sum m arized th e Jewish
com m unity in M inneapolis since 1866 as a people who:
sought to re ta in n o t o n ly th e ir religious beliefs an d
practices b u t the ways th a t were associated w ith th e ir
nationa l cultures . . . . Foreign language and dress, ideas
w ith respect to co u rtsh ip , m arraige, and pa re n ta l
disciplines, to m e n tio n b u t a few, were g ra d u a lly changed
(1949:300).
These changes were m ade to accomodate the c u ltu ra l ideas and practices
o f the Am erican m a jo rity .
M elford Spiro (1955) sum marized studies o f the a ssim ila tion and
acculturation o f im m ig ra n t com m unitites in Am erica. S piro discussed
the research on a c c u ltu ra tio n done by M e lville H erskovits (1937) and
the im portance o f lo o kin g a t "tra d itio n s in c o n flic t." He lis te d six
publications in w hich Jews were studied, fo u r o f w h ich discuss Jewish
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and G entile re la tio n s and interm arraige. A ccording to W a lte r Zenner,
"the m ost com m on them e [Spiro] traces in these p u b lica tio n s is the
endogam y o f the Jewish com m unity w hich persists despite a high ra te
o f a ccu ltu ra tio n (Zenner 1988:4).”
As a "n a ive native," Sol Tax w rote ab out Jewish concerns fro m the
anthropological perspective in a 1981 book, Tewish life in the U nited
States, w hich in clu d e d essays fro m a v a rie ty o f social science
perspectives. Looking back on the past fifty years, Tax gave his
im pressions " o f how the perception o f being Jewish in Am erica, and the
concerns o f th e Jewish C om m unity have changed," and o ffere d his
proscriptio ns fo r fu rth e r anthropological research. Tax perceived the
m ajor concern o f the c u rre n t Jewish co m m u n ity to be "dem ographic
a ttritio n (1981:298)." He found su rviva l to be an im p o rta n t value fo r
Am erican Jews as th e y are the 'largest post W o rld W ar H Jewish
com m unity' a n d he noted three threats facin g Jewish su rviva l: a
fa llin g b irth ra te , a grow ing loss o f p ra cticin g Jews, an d geographic
m o b ility w h ich threatens to increase the ra te o f a c c u ltu ra tio n and
a ttritio n .
THE JEWISH FAMILY
The Jewish fa m ily has often been a to p ic o f a n thro po lo gical
research. As a c u ltu ra l group, "Jewish Am ericans are o fte n seen as
having strong k in netw orks (Zenner 1985:121)." W illia m M itch e ll and
Hope Leichter (1967) analyzed Jewish kin sh ip structures as p a rt o f a
p roject d ire cte d b y The Jewish Fam ily Service. T h e ir book, Kinship and
Casework, was a stud y o f kinship structures, values, groups, and
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conflicts am ong A m erican Jewish, fam ilie s. The research p ro je c t was
intended to im prove th e effectiveness o f social w ork and the w o rk o f
social science professionals.
M itc h e ll co n tin u e d to research Jewish fam ilies, co m p le tin g an
ethnography o f Jewish fa m ily clubs in 1978, M ishookhe: A S tudv o f
New York C ity Tewish F a m ily Clubs . He discussed Jewish 'fa m ily circle s'
and 'cousins clubs' w hich "a tte m p t to keep relatives tog eth er even as
th e indom itable forces o f u rb a n iz a tio n and in d u s tria liz a tio n c o n tin u e to
rend them ap art (1978: l l ) . " 7
AMERICAN-JEWISH IDENTITY
The id e n tity o f th e A m erican Jewish com m unity, and sub-sections
o f the com m unity, has also been w id e ly researched b y a n th ro p o lo g ists
and sociologists.8 As p a rt o f a cross-cultural analysis, Zenner (1991)
discussed the "facade o f Jewish so lid a rity." He referred to A m erican
Jewry as a "p lu ra lis tic co m m u n ity, being e n tire ly v o lu n ta ry , b u t
m arked b y a co m bina tion o f co m p e titio n and cooperation, la ckin g any
'um brella stru ctu re ' . . .a v o lu n ta ry , laissez faire A m erican p lu ra lis m
(1991:72)." Zenner considered th e v a rie ty o f national o rig in , class, and
occupation as the c e n tra l problem s p ro h ib itin g Jewish com m unal
so lid a rity and success.
7See also Leonard Plotnikov (1 9 6 8 ) "First and Second Generation Am erican Jewish
Families: Sources o f Conflicts and Tensions," Steven M. Cohen and Paula Hym an
(1986) The Changing Tewish Fam ily, and M artha Wolfenstein (1955) "Two Types o f
Jewish Mothers."
8See for example, W alter Zenner( 1985,1 991), Jack Kugelmass (1 9 8 8 ), Frida K em er
Furman (1989), Janet Dolgin (1 9 7 7 ) and Sol Tax (1981). Issues o f id e n tity are also
discussed throughout m any o f the anthropological writings on Am erican Jews
already cited.
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Ia his 1985 a rticle , "Jewishness in A m erica: a s c rip tio n and
choice," Zenner discussed th e changing na tu re o f w hat i t means to be
Jewish in Am erica. He chose to use the te rm 'Jewishness' ra th e r than
'Jewish e th n ic ity ' because th e existence o f a re lig ious com ponent
separates Jewish id e n tity fro m o th e r eth n icities such as Ita lia n , o r
N ative Am erican. He also discussed that Jews have a h is to ry o f
m em bership, "m ost Jews are members o f the group on account o f th e ir
ancestry (1985:117)." These 'ancestral elem ents' separate Jewish
id e n tity fro m C atholic o r P rotestant id e n titie s. Zenner stressed th e
religious aspects o f Jewishness and concludes th a t "am ong Jews, fo r a
va rie ty o f reasons the e th n ic o r descent elem ent was b o u n d m ore
in tim a te ly w ith the re lig io u s tha n in other groups (1985:129)."
The m ain p o in t o f Zenner*s article is th a t 'Jewishness' fo r m ost
Am erican Jews "is being transform ed in to a preference, ra th e r th a n an
ascribed status, a la caste o r race (1985:118)." Am erican cu ltu re , the
value o f in d iv id u a lity in p a rtic u la r, is considered to be a m a jo r
influ ence on Jewishness. Also, the econom ic success o f A m erican Jews,
th e ir adoption o f 'A m erican id e n tity 1 and the tra n sfo rm a tio n o f some
Jewish ritu a ls and observances, a ll m ark the changes fro m Jewish life
in the la st ce n tu ry to m odern Am erican Jewish life .
Jack Kugelmass (1988) described A m erican Jew ry as "people
[who] agree to share an id e n tity and ye t are organized o n ly in fo rm a lly .
. . A lth o u g h the bonds th a t jo in group members to one a n oth er m ay be
used to gain com petitive advantage in trade and com m erce, the fa ct
rem ains th a t the bonds are b y custom ra th e r than by law . Since the
group cannot im pose m a n d a to ry codes o f behavior on its m em bers, it
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lacks a coherent id e n tity — a fa c t th a t m ay be as tro u b lin g to the social
scie n tist stud ying the group as it c e rta in ly is to the la y o r religious
leaders determ ined to preserve o r enhance the group's id e n tity . O f
course, the d iv e rs ity o f Am erican Jew ry stems n o t o n ly fro m the
in fo rm a l n a tu re o f the group's social o rg a n iza tio n b u t also fro m its
h is to ry as an im m ig ra n t co m m u n ity fo rm e d th ro u g h successive waves
o f im m ig ra tio n 9 (Kugelmass 1988:2)."
F rida K em er Furman stu d ie d Jewish id e n tity a t an a fflu e n t
R eform synagogue in the late 1980's. In h e r ethnography, Beyond
Y iddishkeit: The Struggle fo r Tewish Id e n tity in a Reform Synagogue
(1989), Furm an critiq u e d the m ove away fro m ritu a l and tra d itio n
e vid e n t a t Tem ple Shalom and m ore generally, in m odem Am erican
Jewish life . "The 'm elting p o t' ide olog y [in Am erica] produced a
le ve lin g e ffe ct on ethnic p a rtic u la ritie s as im m ig ran ts were urged to
become 'fu ll-fle d g e d Am ericans.' . . .Acceptance in to [Am erica] was
co n tin g e n t upon subm ersion o f e th n ic distinctiveness (1987:122)."
Furm an addressed the struggle between un iversa lism and p a rticu la rism
in th e co n stru ctio n , transform ation, and ide olog y o f Jewish id e n tity and
concluded th a t the emphasis on u n ive rsa lism and ra tio n a lity could not
sup port a strong Jewish id e n tity and th a t the Tem ple failed to help the
members "co u n te r the anom ie o f m odem life (1987:133)."
Each o f these studies discussed the fa c t th a t American-Jewish
id e n tity has changed over the past few generations in response to an
increased level o f wealth, geographic m o b ility , and a desire to become
9 Refer to the e arlier overview o f Am erican Jewish History.
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"Am erican." The results o f "A m ericanization" w ill be exp lore d in the
fo llo w in g chapter.
SEPHARDIM: AND ASHKENAZIM
As m entioned e a rlie r, Jews can be d ivid e d c u ltu ra lly in to
Sephardim and Ashkenazim . Steven B irm ingham researched the lives
o f these tw o groups in A m erica in two ethnographies, The Grandees:
Am erica's Sephardic E lite (1971) and "The Rest o f Us": The Rise o f
Am erica's Eastern European Tews (1984). In The Grandees. B irm in g h a m
w rote about the h is to ry o f Sephardim in A m erica as a separated social
e lite . He described them as "th e n o b ility o f Jew ry w ith th e longest
richest and m ost ro m an tic h is to ry . . .they were the oldest A m erican
Jewish fam ilies," and th e y traced th e ir heritage back to Spain and
Portugal. Some o f these Jews also entered the U nited States "d u rin g the
fir s t three decades o f the tw e n tie th cen tury as refugees fro m the fire s
o f re vo lu tio n in T urkey, th e Balkans, and Asia M in o r" and (d u rin g the
1960's) were liv in g in "such places as C edarhurst, Long Island, and the
Bronx (1971:2)." In 1984 B irm ingham w rote the second book, "The Rest
o f Us" about Am erica's Eastern European Jews and th e ir social success.
According to B irm ingham , th e y were an e xtra o rd in a ry group, "a mass
m ig ra tio n o f m illio n s o f people who have m anaged to become, w ith in
the lifespan o f a single ge neration, an essential p a rt o f o u r social fa b ric
and civic landscape (1 9 8 4 :xi)." A lthough he p ro file s the success o f some
m ain business fam ilies, B irm ingham m aintained th a t his book centers
upon the h isto ry, experiences, and legacies o f the Eastern European
im m ig ran t fam ilie s, and "th e ir im p rin t on o u r c u ltu re in term s o f the
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news and e n te rta in m e n t m edia, the fashion and b e a u ty industries, the
arts and m usic (1984:xvh)."
The Seder a t Ada's house combines the c u ltu ra l practices o f both
the Sephardic Jews and th e Ashkenazic Jews because o u r fa m ily
descends fro m b o th c u ltu ra l groups. In o rd e r to in co rp o ra te the
heritage o f m y fa th e r, whose fa m ily is Sephardic, m y m o th e r prepares
some dishes she lea rne d fro m h e r m o th e r-in -la w . One o f the sym bolic
Passover foods, haroset, is made two ways each ye a r— one recipe is from
Ada's m o th e r Sarah and the o th e r is fro m m y fa th e r's m other, V ictoria.
JEWISH HOLIDAYS
Several a n th ro p o lo g ists have stud ied th e m eanings and
perform ances o f the m any Jewish holidays. Shlom o Deshen (1979)
explored th e Kol N idre re c ita tio n w hich opens th e Yom K ip p u r (th e
Jewish Day o f A tonem ent) evening service. He considered th is p o rtio n
o f the Yom K ip p u r service to be a ritu a l process, s p e c ific a lly a ritu a l o f
separation and lim in a lity . Deshen ap p lie d a th o ro u g h anthropological
analysis o f ritu a l in o rd e r to be tter understand Yom K ip p u r as a rite o f
tra n s itio n and Kol N idre as a rite o f separation.
S h i f r a Epstein (1987) considered the im p lic a tio n s and practice o f
great and little tra d itio n s d u rin g the Jewish h o lid a y o f P urim among a
group o f H asidic Jews, th e Bobover H asidim . She n o te d th e tra d itio n s o f
reading the m e gillah, exchanging presents, an d eating a ritu a l meal.
Then she discussed in d e ta il the fo lk dram a o f th e p ire m s h p iy l, o r Purim
play, w h ich m any co n sid e r to be the o rig in s o f m o d e m Y iddish theater.
Epstein described the p ire m s h p iy l as "a ritu a l o f in c o rp o ra tio n and
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cam araderie (1987:214)" and b y using the contradictions and oppositions
o f the inversion aspects o f the P urim h o lid a y, she found th a t the
Bobover Hasidim "d e fin e and m a in ta in re la tiv e ly clear boundaries
between themselves and others (1987:215)."
Beatrice W einreich (1953), Barbara Frankel (1980) and R uth
Cemea (1995) explored the Passover Seder. Frankel analyzed the
stru ctu re o f her ow n fa m ily's Seder, Cemea considered the sources and
m ean in gs o f ritu a l va ria tio n s th ro u g h a com parative study o f Jewish
Seders, and W einreich traced th e effects o f A m ericanization on the
h o lid a y o f Passover (See discussion o f th e A nth rop ology o f Passover
la te r in this chapter and the A m e rica n iza tio n o f Passover in C hapter
F our).
RITUAL INNOVATION
Riv-Ellen P re ll has w ritte n a b o u t "th e case o f ritu a l in n o va tio n ,
focused on the question o f gender, in an A m erican Jewish com m unity
(1987:171)." In h e r study, the lin k between com m unity and prayer
posed e xp licit problem s fo r w om en whose "concern was w ith the text o f
prayers, w hich seemed e q u a lly to neglect them , [so they] created a
ritu a l . . . . In th is ritu a l th e y a lte re d the pra ye r constituents. They
refocused M inyan com m un ity, a lte re d halacha, and more n a rro w ly
defined what in te rp re ta tio n allow ed (1987:174)." Prell believed th a t this
M inyan "raised c ru c ia l issues in h e re n t in th e paradox o f m a in tain in g
c o n tin u ity w hile in itia tin g change (1987:171)."
Barbara M y e rh o ff also researched ritu a l and the effects o f
p erfo rm ing ritu a l on its p a rticip a n ts. In h e r book w ith Sally F. Moore,
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Secular R itual (1977). M e ye rh o ff analyzed the com bina tion o f secular
and sacred ritu a l in the G raduation Siyum at the Israel Levin Senior
Center in Venice, C a lifo rn ia . T h irty-o n e students, a ll o v e r e ig h ty years
old, had com pleted one year o f Y iddish h is to ry lessons. To m ark th e ir
achievem ent, the students pla nne d a com bination g ra d u a tio n (a secular
cerem ony w hich celebrates the com pletion o f a course o f stu d y) and
siyum (a religious cerem ony recognizing the com pletion o f a course o f
self-assigned Jewish sacred te xt). According to M e yerhoff, "th e ritu a l
was a to ta lly unique event, blending the sacred and secular, and
successfully lin k in g tw o e n tire ly d is tin c t realm s o f m eaning and
experience in to a strong, convincing ritu a l dram a (1977:203)." In
a d d itio n to m any articles, M y e rh o ff s research led to the film N um ber
OurDays, as w ell as th e w ell-know n ethnography o f the same name.
RECENT WORKS10
Harvey G oldberg discussed the "m u tu a l relevance o f
A nthropology and Judaic Studies" in the in tro d u c tio n to his anthology,
Tudaism Viewed fro m W ith in and from W ithou t (1987). In com piling the
essays, he explored a "com bined approach .... [Classical Jewish] texts
com bined w ith in s ig h t d e rive d fro m the m ore conventional
anthro po lo gical m ethods o f inte rview , observation, and p a rtic ip a tio n
10A good overview o f the most recent anthropological literature on American Jews
can be found in four m ajor anthologies: Harvey Goldberg's Tudaism Viewed from
W ithin and from W ithout (1 9 8 7 ), W alter Zenner's Persistence and Flexibility:
Anthropological Perspectives on the American Tewish Experience (1 9 8 8 ). Jack
Kugelmass' Between Two Worlds: Ethnographic Essavs on Am erican iew rv (1988),
and Jonathan Boyarin's Tews and O ther Differences: The New Tewish Cultural
Studies (19971.
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(1987:32)." Goldberg fo u n d R obert R edfield's (1956) challenge o f
re la tin g sim ultaneaously to a great tra d itio n and a little tra d itio n to be
"p a rtic u la rly sharp in th e case o f Judaism (1 9 8 7 :2 ).”
W alter Zenner s im ila rly no ted th a t c u ltu ra l anthropology's
d istin ctio n s between 'id e a l1 an d 're a l' c u ltu re p a ra lle l the distin ctions
between 's c rip tu ra l re lig io n ' and 'fo lk re lig io n ' (1988:6). In his survey
essay, "The C u ltu ra l A n th ro p o lo g y o f A m erica n Jew ry,” Zenner w rote
th a t in the la te 1960's there was a "rise [in ] e th n ic consciousness among
the general p u b lic . . .w hich pushed 'e th n ic ' social scientists to stud y
th e ir own (1988:6)."
Jack Kugelmass' anthology, Between Tw o W orlds: Ethnographic
Essavs on Am erican Tewrv (1988) focused o n th is ve ry issue, presenting
the w ork o f Jewish anthropologists who a ct as b o th 'insiders and
outsiders.' A ccording to Kugelmass:
the need fo r a se lf-re fle xive volu m e, p a rtic u la rly on the
subject o f A m erican Jewish e th n o g ra p h y, stems in p a rt
fro m c u rre n t re co g n itio n o f th e va lu e o f re fle x iv ity in
anthropological research (R uby 1982) and in p a rt from
the special con dition s o f th e e th n o g ra p h y o f Am erican
Jewry, as Samuel H eilm an (1982) notes, consists fo r the
m ost p a rt o f research done b y Jews to be read ch ie fly by
Jews (1988:1).
He is, however, q u ick to exp lain th a t his b o ok is n o t intended o n ly fo r a
sm all audience and "although i t is b y no m eans a com plete in ve n to ry, it
tells us a great deal about the cu ltu re , o r perhaps b e tte r stated, the
cultures o f the group (1988:2)."
Jonathan B oyarin also discussed Jew ish ethnographers and th e ir
co n trib u tio n s to a n th ro p o lo g y in his book, Tews and O ther Differences:
The New Tewish C u ltu ra l Studies (1997):
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The d is c ip lin e o f c u ltu ra l anthropology offers an acute
exam ple o f one o f th e areas o f silence this volum e [his
c u ltu ra l studies a n th o lo g y] is intended to help overcom e.
On one hand, a d isp ro p o rtio n a te num ber o f N orth
A m erican ethnographers, b o th in the 'fo u n d in g'
generations a t th e tu rn o f th is century and m ore re cently,
have com e fro m Jew ish backgrounds. On th e o th e r hand,
Jews as an e th n o g ra p h ic specialty have long been
m a rgina lized (1 9 9 7 :x ii).
Since the "C ultures a t a Distance" project firs t b ro u g h t the
a n th ro p o lo g ica l stu d y o f A m erican Jews in to the academ y, Jewish
a n th ro p o lo g ists have w ritte n extensively on Jewish practices, fa m ilie s,
holidays, ritu a ls , race, id e n tity , accu ltura tion, and s e lf-re fle x iv e ly o n
w ha t i t means to be a Jewish ethnographer. As the tre n d tow ard
'stu d yin g y o u r ow n' continues, I believe Jewish a n th ro p o lo g ists w ill
co n tinue to explore th e a ttitu d e s and practices o f the A m erican Jewish
com m unity. The C om m ittee fo r th e A nthropology o f Jews and Judaism
(CAJJ), in fact, is now a sub-section o f the Com m ittee fo r General
A n th ro p o lo g y w ith in th e A m erican A n th ro p o lo g ica l A ssociation.
ANTHROPOLOGYOFFOOD
A lth o u g h m any e a rly anthropologists to o k an in te re st in fo o d
because o f its ce n tra l ro le in m ost cultures, the an thropology o f fo o d as
a su b fie ld grew o u t o f the fie ld o f m edical anthropology in the 1970's.
Recent "fo o d -o rie n te d ethnographies" have explored the re la tio n s h ip
between fo o d and alm ost a ll o th e r aspects o f life — sex, p o litics, fa m ily ,
poverty, id e n tity , and death (C ounihan and Esterik 1997).11
f Anthropological studies related to food also cover such issues as food as an
economic resource and m edium o f exchange (Okere 1983; Nyerges 1997), dietary
practices and food habits (A m o tt 1975; Baer 1988; Robson 1979), diet and disease
(Harrison and W aterlow 1990), the changes o f food preferences and taste (MacBeth
1997), food policy (M cM illan 1991), nutrition and m alnutrition (B arrett and Frank
1987; Shils, Olson, and Shike 1994), and famine (Downs, Kem er, and Reyna 1991).
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A n th ro p o lo g ist Theodore Gaster, w ritin g in 1949, rem arked th a t
"eating together is a standard method, a ll ove r the w orld , o f establishing
ties o f kin sh ip and alliance, the idea being th a t a com m on substance and
essence is th e re b y absorbed (1949:17)." He refers to the sharing o f
bread and w ine as cerem onial enactments o f the fo rm a tio n o f p o litic a l
alliances in m any cu ltu re s. As m any fo lk lo ris ts have discovered, food-
centered ritu a ls p la y a m a jo r role in b o th cre a tin g and sign ifyin g
com m unity (Brow n and Mussell 1985; H um phrey and H um phrey 1988;
Sacks 1989) and foo d-relate d behavior is fre q u e n tly im p o rta n t in
generating a sense o f self fo r in d ivid u a ls and co lle c tiv itie s (Kalcik
1985).
G illia n F eely-H am ick's, The Lord's Table (1981). is an extended
com parison o f the E ucharist and the Passover supper, focusing on the
intertestam ental p e rio d . H er firs t chapter, "A n th ro p o lo g y and the
Bible," includes a section on anthropology and foo d. The book "makes
the argum ent th a t fo o d was very im p o rta n t to Jews, in clu d in g those
Jews who became C hristians, because the y had no graven images. Food,
therefore, was u se fu l as an em bodim ent o f p o litic a l differences and a
vehicle fo r id e n tity claim s (Gewertz 1 1 /5 /9 8 personal com m unication)."
Feely-H am ick posits th a t the meanings o f fo o d are in te g ra lly related to
where the foo d originates:
Even as th e im agery o f slavery speaks p o w e rfu lly to social
processes o f abstracting people fro m kno w n places, so
feeding speaks to processes o f re -g ro u n d in g people in
re la tio n to one another through com plex sensory
m em ories a n d experiences anchored in places— tables,
tablets, houses, homelands. G astronom y is geography;
foods are in tim a te ly linked to the place-tim es o f th e ir
grow ing, m aking, and eating (1 981 :xvi).
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According to Peter Farb and George Armelagos, authors o f
Consuming Passions: The A nth rop ology o f Eating . food is in te g ra lly
related to b e lie f systems and c u ltu ra l practices. Indeed, "in a ll societies,
both sim ple and com plex, eating is the p rim a ry way o f in itia tin g and
m ainta in in g hum an re la tio n sh ip s (1980:4)." Farb and Armelagos
discuss the "intense em otional significance" o f food and the ways in
w hich "w hat is eaten establishes one's social, religious, and e th n ic
memberships (1980:6)." They urge anthropologists to consider w ha t
cultures eat when try in g to disce rn th e w ay that society fu n ctio n s,
because i f one fin d s o u t "w here, when and w ith whom the food is eaten,
ju s t about everything else can be in fe rre d about the relations am ong
the society's members (1980:40)." In addition , Farb and Armelagos
explore the sym bolic value o f foods and food taboos in various cultu res
as a means o f exploring c u ltu ra l id e n tity .
A recent c o n trib u tio n to this subfield, Food and C ulture: A Reader.
was edited in 1997 by Carole C ounihan and Peggy Van Esterik. This
collection o f essays explores th e meanings o f food in various cultures,
food as re cip rocity, food and th e body, and the com m odification o f food.
The purpose o f this reader is to explore life through the study o f fo o d
because "fo od is b o th a sch o la rly concern and a re a l-life concern
(1997:1)." The reader also focuses on the ways in w hich food relates to
gender and com m unity:
Eating is an endlessly e vo lvin g enactm ent o f gender,
fa m ily and com m un ity re la tion ships. In this volum e we
see how food-sharing creates so lid a rity, and how food
scarcity damages the hum an com m unity and the hum an
s p irit. We see how m en and wom en define themselves
d iffe re n tly th ro u g h th e ir foodways, and how women
across cultures so o fte n speak th roug h food and appetite
(1997:1).
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ANTHROPOLOGY OF PASSOVER
In the a n th ro p o lo g ica l lite ra tu re o f Jewish h o lid a y practices,
there have been several w ritin g s on the h o lid a y o f Passover. As
m entioned ea rlier, b o th Barbara Frankel (1980) and R uth Cemea (1995)
conducted a n th ro p o lo g ica l fie ld research on the Passover Seder, its
meanings and sym bolism . In a d d itio n , fo lk lo ris t Sharon Sherman has
w ritte n about the dynam ics o f th e Seder and about the experience o f
doing fie ld w o rk w ith h e r ow n fa m ily (See C hapter One). Beatrice
W einreich (1953) and Theodore Gaster (1949, 1951) w rote specifically on
the A m ericanization o f Passover and w ill the refore be discussed in
greater de pth in th e fo llo w in g chapter.
Barbara Frankel (1980) considered Passover to be "perhaps the
m ost im p o rta n t and durable fe stiva l o f th e Judaic re lig io u s calendar
(1980:575)" and described the Seder as a blend o f "Judaic tra d itio n w ith
fa m ilia l s o lid a rity and n u rtu ra n ce (1980:587)." She concentrated he r
stud y on the Seder, o r Passover Feast, w ritin g an eth no gra phy o f the
event a t h e r grandm other's hom e in o rd e r to d is tin g u is h how the "ritu a l
is a ctu a lly perform ed" fro m how i t is "id e a lly supposed to be carried
o u t." Frankel analyzed the Seder as a p la y w ith fo u r acts and fifte e n
scenes, a cast o f characters, and th e perform ance o f a s c rip t (the
Haggadah). T hrough h e r analysis, she hoped to fin d "th e subjective
m eaning o f a p a rtic u la r group observance fo r th e p a rtic ip a n ts therein,
and the tra nsfo rm atio ns w hich m ay be w ro u g h t up on the form al
stru ctu re w hen it is acted o u t in a specific so cio -cu ltu ra l context
(1980:575)." Frankel fo u n d th a t o th e r descriptions o f the Seder in
p o p u la r and theological lite ra tu re "describe a 'generalized' Seder
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com pounded o f unknow n p ro p o rtio n s o f ide al and real, fo rm a l an d
in fo rm a l behavior (1980:576)." A fte r a detailed study and analysis o f
h e r own fa m ily's Seder in 1970 P hiladelphia, she categorized the events
o f the Seder in to the "id e a l/fo rm a l" an d the "re a l/in fo rm a l" to juxtapose
th e proscribed ritu a l w ith th e actual enactm ent by the pa rticp a n ts.
Frankel concluded th a t she had observed "a secular Seder in w h ich the
u ltim a te ly valued sym bols are Man, S ocial Justice, and F am ily ra th e r
tha n G-d, the Law, and Isra e l (1980 :62 6).” She fe lt th a t the re a l m eaning
o f this secular Seder m ust be sought in the context o f the fa m ily:
A t the Seder the generations are jo in e d in feasting,
m erry-m aking, sin g in g , and d rin k in g . These are p rim a ry
pleasures w hich cross-cut b o th th e fo rm a l and in fo rm a l
structures o f the Seder, and th ro u g h these pleasures the
bonds o f kin sh ip a n d the re a lity o f Jewish id e n tity are
sym bolized and reinvested w ith v ita lity fo r yet a n o th e r
year (1980:626).
Ruth Cemea also researched th e Passover Seder. In h e r book,
The Passover Seder: An A n th ro p o lo g ica l Perspective on Tewish C u ltu re .
Cemea studied a w ide v a rie ty o f Jewish fam ilies' observances and th e
m any practices and ritu a ls su rro u n d in g th is holiday. Cemea presents
the Seder as p a rt o f "an o rd e re d universe," a reflection o f Jewish la w
and custom regard in g p rin cip le s o f o rd e r and purpose (1995:25). The
term "Seder" lite ra lly means "o rd e r." Cemea also researched the m any
versions o f the Passover Haggadah, th e service w hich is read
responsively a t each Seder table. The Haggadah, "recounts the Exodus
sto ry and instructs a ll people taking p a rt in the celebration to
rem em ber the purpose o f th e h o lid a y: to stress freedom , rem em ber the
bitterness o f slavery, and e n jo y the com pany o f fa m ily (Gross
1991:146)." The Passover Haggadah has been p rin te d in over 3500
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ed itions and is one o f o n ly tw o Jewish documents p e rm itte d to in clu d e
images o f the events described.12 It is therefore com m on to fin d
ela borately decorated copies o f th e Haggadah, however th e basic o rd e r
o f the Seder a ctivitie s always rem ains the same.
Cemea describes the Seder as "a liv in g d o cu m e n t. . .adaptable and
re s ilie n t in w id e ly diverse settings and w ith w id e ly diverse fam ilie s and
com m unities (1995:xv)." In h e r ethnography, she discusses the "Seder
o f the Jews o f central and Eastern Europe" as an "id e a l fo rm " because
m ost Am erican Seders are based upon Ashkenazic custom s. A lthough,
Cemea allows th a t "any p a rtic u la r Seder w ill, o f course, co n ta in its own
im p ro vise d varia tion s as th e celebrants create a liv in g , expressive
m edium from the ideal m odel (1995:11)."
D avid Gross, a u th o r o f m any books on Judaism and the Jewish
people, echoed Cemea's n o tio n o f the fle x ib lility o f the Seder:
There is a rh y th m to conducting the service th a t d iffe rs
fro m household to household. Some people skip over the
prayers and concentrate o n th e songs; others focus on
the food and th e cam araderie; and others recite every
prayer, discuss e ve ry nuance o f every sto ry recounted,
indicate the Seder p la te w ith its sym bolic foods, and try to
tra n sfo rm the eve n in g in to a m em orable re lig io u s-
s p iritu a l-c u ltu ra l-fa m ily -fe s tiv e a ffa ir th a t w ill be
remembered u n til th e h o lid a y ro lls around the ne xt year
(1991:146).
Cemea find s a "u n ity o f past, present, and ete rna l tim e " a t the
Seder, exhibited by the stru ctu re o f the Haggadah w hich is d iv id e d in to
three m ain parts, the e xp la n a tio n o f "th e deliverance fro m Egypt," the
festive meal, and messages o f "hopes o f fu tu re deliverance." Cemea
fin d s th a t, "in locating the m eal between past and fu tu re , the Haggadah
rein forces the sense o f present com m union as p a rt o f a h is to ric a l
12 The other document is the Scroll o f Esther, or megillah.
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process, in between past slavery and fu tu re redem ption (1995:98)."
Gross notes th is process o f freedom and lib e ra tio n as the m ain focus o f
th e h o lid a y itse lf:
The p rin c ip a l them e o f the h o lid a y is freedom and
redem ption, and at the Seder tab le . . .each person at the
tab le is urged to th in k o f h im s e lf as one o f the escaping
slaves - and therefore n o t to take his freedom fo r granted.
(1991:144-5).
Cemea's study also presents th e ritu a l com ponents and mea n in gs
o f each stage o f the Seder, in clu d in g an extended explanation o f each
ite m placed on the Seder plate. Cem ea also explains the search fo r
hometz, o r leavened products, the im p o rta n ce o f matzah, o r unleavened
bread, th e reading o f the fo u r questions, re c ita tio n o f the ten plagues,
the reading the exodus story, the blessing ove r the w ine, and the
a d d itio n a l w ine cup fo r the p ro p h e t E lija h .
Cemea's focus on the stru ctu re o f the Seder recalls the theories
o f Claude Levi-Strauss and V ic to r T u rn e r regarding ritu a l. In his book,
The O rigins o f the Seder (1984), Baruch Bokser refers to T urner's n o tio n
o f communitas saying th a t "how ever d iffe re n t the Passover m eal m ay
be fro m the ritu a ls T u rn e r describes, i t c e rta in ly sim plifies social
re la tion ships, emphasizes m yth ic h is to ry , an d sets up an atm osphere o f
com m unitas in w hich the cu ltu re 's ce n tra l values m ay be exam ined
(1984:81)."
F o lk lo ris t Sharon Sherman also re fe rre d to the sense o f
com m unitas in her research on Passover. In a d d itio n to producing a
videotape o f he r fam ily's Seder in Canada, Sherman has w ritte n about
h e r p ro d u ctio n experience and the ritu a l and fa m ily dynam ics o f the
Passover Seder. Sherman refers to Passover as "a hom e-centered
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festiva l" which, "creates a sense o f com m unitas w ith Jews th ro u g h o u t
tim e (1988:27)." H er aim was to observe the "m u lti-la ye re d dynam ics o f
prescribed and personal fo o d sym bolism [and] the fa m ily in te r
relationships w h ich u n d e rlie the Seder ritu a l and serve to shape the
event (1988:28)." T h ro u g h interview s w ith various fa m ily m em bers,
Sherman fo u n d th a t in d iv id u a l differences such as status and ro le ,
generation, experiences w ith Judaism and previous Seders, a ll serve to
shape each p a rtic ip a n ts ’ le v e l o f involvem ent. In a d d itio n , Sherm an
fo u n d th a t "in th is p a rtic u la r setting, foodways (i.e. p a rtic ip a tio n in th e
prepa ratio n and con sum p tion o f Seder meals) can be as im p o rta n t as the
un d e rlyin g ritu a l its e lf in th e d e te rm in a tio n o f communitas (1988:40)."
CONCLUSION
As presented in th is chapter, there have been a n u m b e r o f
studies in to A m erican-Jew ish id e n tity , Jewish holidays, ritu a l
inn ovatio n, th e connections between foo d and id e n tity , and th e
expression o f gender th ro u g h food. O ur stu d y o f the Passover Seder
touches on m any o f these them es.
In p a rtic u la r, W a lte r Zenner's discussion o f "Jewishness" as a
preference ra th e r tha n an ascribed status rings tru e fo r Bernice, Ada,
and Brenda. A lth o u g h th e y each take great p rid e in th e ir Jew ish
heritage, th e y choose w hen and where to assert th e ir Jewish id e n tity .
Ada discussed a s h iftin g in an d o u t o f Jewishness over the course o f
one’s life tim e in response to various life stages (See C hapter Four).
The Seder a t Ada's house in an exam ple o f w hat Barbara
M ye rh o ff called "secular r itu a l" — the com bination o f sacred an d secular
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practices. Although, the Haggadah is read each yea r b y the Seder
p a rticip a n ts and th e sym bolic foods o f the Seder p la te are always
presented, there are a series o f hum orous songs w h ich are sung a fte r
the m eal and ce rta in food is always m ade b y frie n d s and neighbors
(adding a b it o f p o t-lu c k to the foods w h ich A da prepares). The songs
and extra dishes have become im p o rta n t y e a rly ritu a ls — invented
tra d itio n s .
The h o lid a y o f Passover, centering on th e evening o f the Seder, is
considered one o f th e most com m only celebrated Jewish practices in
Am erica (Cohen an d R itterband 1984) and Jewish id e n tity is
strengthened th ro u g h both the ritu a l b e h a vio r o f the Seder and the
religious and c u ltu ra l activities su rro u n d in g th e foods o f Passover. The
Seder is therefore an excellent site fo r researching th e religious and
c u ltu ra l id e n titie s o f Am erican Jews.
In Steven Cohen's 1989 survey o f Jewish beliefs and attitudes, he
fo u n d th a t n in e ty-tw o percent o f A m erican Jews a ffirm th a t the m ajor
Jewish holidays m ake them feel connected to th e ir Jewish heritage and
th a t e ig h ty percent o f Am erican Jews fe e l th a t some o f th e ir best
feelings ab out the m a jo r Jewish holidays are connected w ith ce rtain
foods (1995:414). As Farb and Armelagos discussed above, the em otional
significance o f fo o d is a re fle ctio n o f a cu ltu re 's s tru c tu re and values.
The im portance o f the ritu a l foods as w e ll as the c e n tra lity o f the festive
m eal in th e observance o f the Passover Seder places th e anthro po lo gical
stud y o f the h o lid a y o f Passover w ith in th e re alm o f the anthropology o f
food.
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The studies o f the h o lid a y o f Passover discussed above focus on
the sym bolism o f the ritu a ls o f the Seder its e lf and the fle x ib ility o f the
ritu a ls to re fle ct changes in th e lives o f the participants- In o u r study,
we focused on the changes in th e m atrilineage o f one fa m ily as
experienced th ro u g h th e p re p a ra tio n and consum ption o f the foods o f
Passover. We recognized a re la tio n sh ip between women and fo o d in the
perpetuation o f Jewish id e n tity (discussed in Chapter Two) and in the
fo llo w in g chapter, I w ill explore the effects o f A m ericanization on
Am erican Jews, the h o lid a y o f Passover, and the lives o f Bernice, Ada,
and Brenda.
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CHAPTER FOUR
"Americanization"
Beatrice W einreich, in h e r 1953 a rticle , "The A m e rica n iza tio n o f
Passover," defines th e te rm "A m ericanization" as "c u ltu re change tha t
occurred in A m erica— w h e th e r th is be b o rro w in g fro m th e A m erican
cultu re, loss o f o ld tra its , o r new inventions fro m w ith in th e Jewish
com m unity its e lf (1 953 :36 3)." A m ericanization is n o t necessarily
accu ltura tion o r assim ila tio n . Rather, it is the co m b in a tio n o f Am erican
cu ltu re w ith a m in o r ity c u ltu re w hich results fro m c o -h a b ita tio n and
cro ss-in flu e n ce .
"A M ERICA NIZA TIO N" O F THE T E W S
The o p p o rtu n itie s and tensions present in the com plex Am erican
society affected th e w ay th a t Jews saw themselves and the w ay they
practiced th e ir re lig io n and th e ir ritu a ls. A ccording to R obert Seltzer,
e d ito r o f the 1995 co m p ila tio n The Am ericanization o f th e Tews :
Am erica u n d e rm in e d and energized Jewish com m itm en t.
. . .Despite ra p id and severe a ccu ltu ra tio n , Jewishness was
honed as an independent variable in the m o tiva tio n s o f
m ore tha n a few o f its Am erican adherents— a n d has
rem ained so, even though Jewish in s titu tio n s , ideologies,
and even Jew ish values have been reshaped b y A m erica to
such a degree th a t m any Jews o f the past m ig h t n o t
recognize as Jewish some o f w hat constitutes A m erican
Jewishness (1995:5).
As we have proposed (1997) a new group o f Jews, th e Non-
A ffilia te d Jews, have em erged as a phenom enon in A m erica in response
to the increased le ve l o f w ealth, exposure to a lte rn a te re lig io n s, lack o f
re striction s on area o f residence, and the general d e clin e in religious
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devoutness ch a ra cte ristic o f con tem p ora ry u rb a n liv in g . Non-
A ffilia te d Jews do n o t fo rm a lly associate w ith the re lig ious doctrine o f
Judaism , th e y se le ctive ly a p p ro p ria te Jew ish ritu a ls and teachings—
fa v o rin g th e ce le b ra tio n o f holidays o ve r re lig io u s ly -o rie n te d
practices, an d th e y express an a ffin ity fo r th e c u ltu ra l heritage o f the
im m ig ra n t generation o f Am erican Jews (Rousso and S chindler 1997).
The N o n -A ffilia te d Jews are ty p ic a lly th ir d a n d fo u rth generation
Am ericans, fu lly e n cu ltu ra te d in to b o th Jew ish and Am erican cultures
and ideals.
Jack Kugelmass, e d ito r o f Between Tw o W orlds: Ethnographic
Essays On Am erican Tewrv (1988), notes th a t "fo r m ost Am erican Jews
[to day] Judaism is p ra ctice d less as a re lig io n th a n as a cu ltu ra l life style
and a social a ffilia tio n (1988:5)." This s h ift in emphasis is a result o f the
tendency o f Jewish people to accomodate to th e ir host culture:
I f we co u ld d e fin e Am erican Judaism , i t w ould be in terms
o f a re lig io u s expression . . .[th a t] seeks some balance
between th e need to le g itim ize b e h a vio r in te rn a lly , that is
w ith reference to Judaism 's ra b b in ic a n d fo lk tra d itio n s,
and the v e ry pronounced tendency to accomodate
b e h a vio r to the surrounding w o rld (1 988 :4)."
Charles Liebm an has noted an em phasis o f celebration over ritu a l
am ong A m erican Jews in his book D eceptive Images: Toward a
R edefinition o f A m erican Tewish T.ife (1 988 ). Steven Cohen paraphrases
th is idea b y saying th a t:
To th e extent th a t Am erican Jews v ie w the [tra d itio n a l
Jewish laws] as a collection o f custom s and sym bols that
th e y m ay v o lu n ta rily a p p ro p ria te w hen p e rson ally
m ea n in gful ra th e r than as a corpus o f D iv in e ly ordained
oblig atio ns, th e y also w ill be m ore a ttra c te d to acts o f
cele bra tion th a n to ritu a l perform ance (Cohen 1995:402).
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Liebm an discussed A m erican Judaism in term s o f th e e lite and fo lk
tra d itio n s, m uch lik e R edfield's d is tin c tio n between G reat and little
tra d itio n s (See C hapter Two).
The A m erica nizatio n experience o f the Jews has bred a new
perspective on re lig io u s ritu a ls and tra d itio n s as p u re ly c u ltu ra l events,
as w e ll as a m ore personal in te rp re ta tio n o f the re lig io n . Women in
p a rtic u la r, tra d itio n a lly m ore hom e-bound tha n th e ir m ale
counterparts, have adapted th e ir tra d itio n s in the process o f becoming
A m erican Jews.
Jenna W eissm an Joselit, in h e r a rticle , "A Set Table: Jewish
Domestic C ulture in the New W orld, 1880-1950” (1990), and her book, The
W onders o f A m erica (1994), explored and evaluated the changes th a t
Jewish fa m ilie s u n derw ent in the process o f becom ing Americans.
Joselit described th e in te rw a r years in Am erica as a tim e when "few
homes had a n y th in g b u t the barest o f Judaica collections . . .[sig n ifyin g
an] absence o f an id e n tifia b ly Jewish atm osphere in m ost homes
(1990:49)." Jewish com m unity leaders began e ffo rts to reverse this
decline o f tra d itio n a l Jewish culture. S pecifically, Joselit credits
M a th ild e S hechter and o th e r po pula r authors as "dom estic reform ers
[who were] p rim a rily concerned w ith the s p iritu a l and em otional
properties o f the hom e .... [They] placed the ideology o f 'home
observance' a t th e cen ter o f th e ir th in k in g , seeking to fashion a
p ositive a ttitu d e to w a rd Jewish ritu a l perform ance (1990:49)."
Schechter, th e w ife o f the chancellor o f the Jewish Theological
Sem inary, called fo r a "re b u ild in g " o f the Jewish hom e and focused h e r
crusade on the Jew ish housewife. "She is responsible fo r keeping alive
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the Jewish home in w hich a ll th a t is notable in Judaism is bred and
fostered (1990:51)."
As discussed in Chapter Two, the Jewish home, p a rtic u la rly the
kitchen, is considered the center o f Jewish life fo r the Jewish fa m ily.
And, as discussed in the anthro po lo gy o f fo o d lite ra tu re , the foodways o f
a culture are in e x tric a b ly lin ke d to the id e n tity o f a culture:
The surest w ay o f discovering a fa m ily's eth nic origins is
to look in to its kitchen. Long a fte r dress, manners, and
speech have become in d istin g u ish a b le fro m those o f the
m a jo rity, the o ld food habits con tinue as the last vestiges
o f the previous cu ltu re (Farb and Armelagos 1980:6)."
Food customs and behaviors have been m odified and m odernized
over tim e and the Passover recipies passed fro m m others to daughters
have been altered and updated th ro u g h o u t the years. The "o rig in a l"
matzoh b a ll soup m ay now have h a lf the fa t and the g e filte fis h is o fte n
served pre-m ade fro m the M anischewitz ja r rather than made a t home
fro m scratch. The sym bolic im p lica tio n s o f these food changes re fle ct
the life style and perspective changes o f th e Am ericanized women who
serve them a t the Seder table.
For these reasons, the stud y o f Jewish women and th e ir
celebration o f the h o lid a y o f Passover connects several avenues o f
investigation: the c o n tin u ity o f c u ltu re as carried through the
preparation and presentation o f its foodways, women as the leaders o f
cu lin a ry cu ltu re and hom e-centered aspects o f re lig io n , and the
changes in cu rre d on b o th by the process o f A m ericanization.
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"A M ERICANIZATIO N" O F PASSO V ER
O ver fo rty years ago Beatrice W einreich (1953) n o te d changes in
the observance o f Passover in Am erica. H er discussion is s till re le va n t
as these changes c o n tin u e to affect the way Passover is p ra ctice d today.
W einreich situ a te d h e r research w ith in "th e general fra m e w o rk o f the
culture-contact s itu a tio n " in Am erica (1953:342). In h e r a rtic le , she
com pared th e observance o f Passover in East European s h te tl c u ltu re
and the observance o f Passover in urban Am erica. She d iv id e d h e r
m aterial in to e xte rn a l changes and in te rn a l changes, focu sing on
urban ization and cro ss-cu ltu ra l adaptation as "e xte rn a l" and responses
to h is to ric events (such as the Holocaust and the establishm ent o f the
State o f Israel) and th e general societal tre n d tow ard se cu la riza tio n as
"in te rn a l."
W einreich n o te d th e persistence o f the p re p a ra tio n s fo r Passover
but w ith a "m o dem " tw is t. On the evening before the Seder a search fo r
leavened fo o d is co n ducted throughout the home. T ra d itio n a lly a candle
lit the way and a fe a th e r q u ill was used to gather up a n y crum bs. I f this
search is conducted to d a y, a fla sh lig h t and brush are ty p ic a lly used.
According to W einreich, "th e tra d itio n o f th e search is an an cie n t one,
and has sym bolic m eaning, b u t . . .the means by w hich th e search is
conducted do not, a n d so the substitution o f m ore m odem equipm ent is
easily made (1 9 5 3 :3 4 4 )." A nother prepa rato ry tra d itio n is the purchase
o f new clo th in g . H is to ric a lly , a v is it to the tow n ta ilo r was in order,
however a shopping tr ip to local clothing stores easily replaces th a t
tra d itio n . "One o f th e reasons fo r the ten acity o f this custom is p ro b a b ly
the in d ire c t r e in fo rce m e n t w hich it receives fro m th e near-
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coincidence o f Passover w ith Easter, w hen Am ericans g e n e ra lly are in
the h a b it o f buying new bonnets and clothes (1953:344)." In a d d itio n ,
th e tra d itio n o f a fu ll and inte nse house cleaning coincides w ith th e
general tra d itio n o f "spring cleaning" and so has rem ained a p a rt o f
Passover preparation, a lb e it u s u a lly in a less strenuous form .
The p ro d u ctio n o f packaged Passover food products has changed
th e w ay Am erican Jewish w om en cook fo r th e Passover Seder.
W einreich noted the "re cip ro ca l character" o f Am erican c u ltu re and
Jewish culture. M any A m erican m anufacturers o f food adapted to the
d ie ta ry restriction s o f the Jew ish h o lid a y b y getting ra b b in ic a l
approval fo r th e ir products (i.e . Coca-cola, M axwell House, H einz, etc.)
Also, an in d u s try o f Passover-related foods has developed o ffe rin g such
conveniences as Passover chocolates, Passover wines, and square-
shaped machine made and packaged m atzah (unleavened bread). W hat
used to be a com m un ity and fa m ily practice o f baking Passover m atzah
has come to an end, however:
In spite o f the in d iv id u a liz a tio n th a t comes w ith urban
life, some new quasi-custom s have arisen around the
purchase o f foo d fo r th e Passover celebration [such as]
placing the com plete "Peysach o rd e r" at one tim e w ith a
p a rticu la r Jewish grocer (1953:349).
In term s o f the Seder its e lf, W einreich finds th a t u rb a n iza tio n
and m echanization have n o t generated m any changes. In co n tra st,
anthropologist R uth Cemea (1 995 ) considers the Seder and the
Haggadah to be "a c o n tin u a lly e vo lvin g process o f social cre a tio n [an d
th a t each fa m ily Seder is] a cre a tio n o f and response to life in th e
Diaspora (1995:3)." A ccording to Cemea, "a n y p a rticu la r Seder w ill, o f
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course, contain its ow n im p ro vise d va ria tio n s as the celebrants create a
livin g , expressive m edium fro m the id e a l m odel (Cem ea 1995:11)."
The Haggadah in p a rtic u la r, has been adapted in various ed itions
to "include references to contem porary events in the fo rm o f a d d itio n a l
readings o r actions, and occasionally tra d itio n a l passages are restated to
make them m ore 're le van t' (1995:8)." C e rta in ly it is m ore com m on
nowadays to read the Haggadah in English as w e ll as in Hebrew, and
some Am erican songs have been added to the tra d itio n a l fo lk songs
ty p ic a lly p rin te d on the la st few pages o f th e Passover Haggadah.
Looking at several surveys o f A m erican Jewry, Jack Kugelmass
concluded th a t among th ird generation Am ericans, there exists an:
increased significance o f ra b b in ica U y less
sig n ifica n t holidays such as H anukkah and the
Passover Seder. The hom e-centeredness ra th e r
than the synagogue-centeredness o f b o th o f these
holidays make them less onerous to celebrate fo r
those n o t w ell versed in esoteric ritu a l. A t the same
tim e, the ready association o f bo th holidays w ith
key Am erican sym bols o f freedom fro m ty ra n n y
and re vo lu tio n len d them selves to celebration, even
fo r those who otherw ise eschew re lig io u s ritu a l
(Kugelmass 1988:5-6)."
Two salient points arise fro m these com m ents, (1) the increased
involvem ent in the celebration o f th e h o lid a y o f Passover in the
Am erican com m unity and (2) th e c o n fla tio n o f Passover as a h o lid a y o f
freedom fro m Egyptian slavery w ith a h o lid a y o f n a tiona l freedom fro m
a ll tyra n n y.
CHANGES IN OBSERVANCE: PASSOVER AS A FAMILY CELEBRATION
Observing the developm ent o f the Jewish fa m ily in A m erica,
Jenna Weissman Joselit (1990; 1994) noted th a t "Am erican Jews
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understood and celebrated [Passover] . . .as the dom estic occasion par
excellence. As e a rly as the tu rn o f the ce n tu ry A m erican Jews had
recognized th e fa m ilia l q u a litie s o f the Passover h o lid a y (1990:53)."
Joselit studied Jewish magazines and newspapers, such as The Jewish
Daily News and The Jewish Home Beautiful, recognizing th a t th e
published descriptions o f the h o lid a y were re fle ctive o f the changing
observance practices o f A m erican Jews. She fo u n d th a t:
B u ild in g on the organic connection am ong fa m ily ,
m em ory, and th e Seder narrative, A m erican Jews extended
the m etaphor to the p o in t at w hich the ritu a ls o f Passover
and those o f the 'fa m ily reunion' became th o ro u g h ly
in te rtw in e d . . . .Because it broug ht together u n d e r one
ro o f and a t one table extended fa m ilies n o rm a lly separated
b y geographical distance and heightened the sense o f
fa m ily s o lid a rity , Passover developed in to the
q u in te sse n tia l A m erican in s titu tio n o f togetherness
(1990:53).
Joselit also fo u n d th a t m any Am erican Jews w ho d id n o t usually
observe the Jewish d ie ta ry laws o f kashrut, o r kosher, abided by the
proscribed d ie ta ry re strictio n s d u rin g the week o f Passover. Others,
"generally unaccustom ed to eating typ ica l Jewish foods, de lig hte d in
serving tra d itio n a l Jewish cuisine at the Seder m eal; g e filte fish , roast
chicken, and o th e r Jewish c u lin a ry staples became an in trin s ic p a rt o f
the h o lid a y ritu a l as w e ll as 'g re a t fu n ' (1990:55)."
CHANGES IN MEANING: PASSOVER AS A HOLIDAY OF FREEDOM
Beatrice W einreich described changes in the m eaning o f the
ho lid a y and the grow ing association o f Passover w ith "freedom ideals"
during the 1950's:
Sermons, ra d io broadcasts, magazine and newspaper
articles, and schoolroom lectures have o f la te been
em phasizing the them e th a t Passover celebrates a k in d o f
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freedom th a t is s im ila r to, i f n o t id e n tic a l w ith , w h a t a ll
Am ericans celebrate on the Fourth o f Ju ly. Thus there
seems to be a tre n d away fro m the Jewish h o lid a y tow ard
th e un iversa l elem ents, and, m ore sp e cifica lly, a tendency
to id e n tify ce rta in com ponents o f the dogm a w ith
A m erican tra d itio n (1953:352-353).
Theodor Gas te r (1951) com m ented th a t "[T here is a] c u rre n t tendency to
transm ute the p a rtic u la r in term s o f the general . . -,[o f] propounding
approxim ate equations. The Covenant o f Sinai, fo r exam ple, . . .is [called
by] ce rta in overzealous enthusiasts . . .a Hebrew D eclaration o f
Independence . . ., Moses an Israelite Lincoln (1 951 :31 4)." As noted in
th e last chapter, D avid Gross (1991) considers freedom and lib e ra tio n to
be the m ain focus o f th e h o lid a y o f Passover. The Seder n a rra tive , the
sto ry o f the Exodus, is ab out the freedom and lib e ra tio n o f the Jews fro m
slavery in Egypt, tra v e lin g in the desert fo r fo rty years u n d e r the
guidance o f Moses, u n til fin a lly reaching th e ir "P rom ised Land" o f
Israel. For m an y Jewish im m igrants the n o tio n o f a "P rom ised Land"
can also be invoked to describe Am erica.
W einreich also n o te d th a t "in Am erica (as m ig h t be expected fro m
th e id e n tific a tio n o f th e h o lid a y w ith A m erican ideals o f lib e rty ) it is
n o t uncom m on am ong less observant Jews to in v ite non-Jew ish friends
to witness and p a rticip a te in the 'freedom ce le b ra tio n ' (1953:353)."
Cemea agreed, saying th a t, among o th e r m odem ritu a l m o dificatio ns,
the presence o f non-Jews a t this fo rm e rly exclusive cerem ony:
corresponds to th e w id e n in g o f the conceptual c irc le o f
th e Seder. By presenting fo rm e rly exclusive concerns o f
freedom , m o ra l p e rfe ctio n , and peace as u n ive rsa l values,
the Jew emerges n o t as a m an isolated fro m the
surrou ndin g p o p u la tio n b u t as one u n ite d w ith others
th roug h social ideals (1995:154).
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W einreich- noted th a t Passover has undergone m any changes in its
h is to ry fro m a sp rin g tim e a g ric u ltu ra l fe stiva l to a fa m ily fe stiva l. She
find s it "questionable, how ever, w hether th is h o lid a y has ever
undergone so m any changes in so sho rt a tim e as i t has in the hands o f
im m igrants and th e ir descendants in th is c o u n try d u rin g the last h a lf
century (1953:360)."
THE "AMERICANIZATION" OF THREE SISTERS
Bernice, Ada, an d Brenda often make reference to the great
changes in th e ir lives as A m erican Jewish w om en com pared w ith the
fives o f th e ir m o ther a n d grandm others. By e xp lo rin g th e histories o f
these women and ob servin g th e ir cu rre n t practices, I w anted to
determ ine the areas an d scope o f change the y re fe r to, as w ell as to
id e n tify the practices a n d values w hich have endured th e passage o f
tim e and the influences o f m odem fife in Am erica.
GROWING UP JEWISH
C ertainly m ost c h ild re n desire to “ belong” and to be considered
“ the same” as the o th e r c h ild re n around them . For Bernice, Ada, and
Brenda it was d iffic u lt grow ing up as Jewish c h ild re n . I asked them to
explain how i t fe lt:
B: I never fe lt good about being Jewish to be p e rfe c tly
honest.
A: N or d id I.
BR: No.
A: It made me fe e l d iffe re n t.
B: Yes. I d id . I fe lt le ft out.
BR: Yeah.
A: We w e re n 't encouraged to feel good a b o u t being Jewish.
B: Feel proud . None o f that.
A: No, no.
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BR: I th in k w e were encouraged to k in d o f h id e it and n o t
ta lk about i t because being Jewish, in the areas th a t we
liv e d in , c le a rly was somebody d iffe re n t.
A: I rem em ber being to ld I k ille d Jesus [w hen I was a k id ].
BR: Oh yeah. I rem em ber being accused o f te rrib le things
because I was Jewish and the Jews d id th a t so rt o f s tu ff.
A: Yeah.
BR: But yet a t the same tim e I, I d o n 't rem em ber, n o t lik in g
being Jewish. I rem em ber feeling d iffe re n t because I was
always the [o n ly ] Jewish person in school. In high-school
in p a rtic u la r I was “ the Jewish g irl.” I d id n o t have
Jewish frie n d s u n til I w ent to college and th e n I d id n 't
even know how to deal w ith them because th e y were so
d iffe re n t th a n I was. B ut I can't ever r ememb e r w an ting
to n o t be a Jew.
A: B ut it was a burden, I th in k it was always a burden.
For these three young Jewish girls, liv in g m ost o f th e ir childh oo d
in p re d o m in a n tly non-Jew ish neighborhoods, the festiva ls o f
C h ris tia n ity held m ore a ttra c tio n than the festivals o f th e ir ow n
c u ltu re :
B: I rem em ber v e ry clea rly, th a t a t Christm as tim e, I was
v e ry unhappy and I'm sure m y sisters were too. Because
in those days, H anukkah, was a v e ry m ino r h o lid a y - n o t
lik e today - it's become ce rta in ly m ore im p o rta n t in the
Jewish calendar. In those days it was v e ry u n im p o rta n t.
B ut Christm as was the “ be all, end a ll” o f holidays and in
school the C hristm as fe stivitie s were alm ost
overw helm ing to the fe w Jewish kids. A nd I rem em ber
th e songs, th e carols, th e gifts, and a ll the preparations,
and the food - the w hole thing. We were ve ry le ft out.
BR: I rem em ber o f course a lo t o f C hristian decorations.
A nd I rem em ber w anting that. I rem em ber th a t we m ust
have made m y m other's life m iserable, ju s t aw ful. A nd
she was strong. And she d id not say "you can" and give in,
n e ve r.
A lth o u g h Bernice d id rem em ber one year w hen Sarah allow ed
Christm as to enter th e ir house:
B: I rem em ber th a t we com plained and crie d and
wheedled and teased m y m other so m uch th a t one
p a rtic u la r yea r she broke down, gave in , and b o u g h t a
little tree. A nd we called i t a “Hanukkah bush.” A nd she
decorated it w ith blue and w hite lig h ts. B ut she was so
embarrassed and so ashamed o f doing that, th a t she h id
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the tree o n the flo o r in a com er o f the d in in g room ,
where nobody could see it.
Easter was aLso a tim e o f jealousy. Easter often occured a t th e same tim e
o f year as the h o lid a y o f Passover, du ring w hich a ll leavened fo o d is
p ro h ib ite d . Ada rem em bered lo n g in g fo r he r neighbors’ Easter baskets
“fille d w ith a ll kin d s o f candy and chocolate bunnies . . .and we were
stuck w ith m atzah.”
LOSING KASHRUT
The three sisters grew up in a kosher home, using separate sets o f
dishes fo r m ilk-re la te d foods and m eat-related foods. W hen the fa m ily
m oved to Cleveland, O hio, however, th e ir adherence to th e laws o f
k a s h ru t waned:
B: W hen we m oved to Cleveland, m y parents d id n o t five
near stores w here [m y m o ther] could bu y kosher food,
p a rtic u la rly the bu tcher. So, little by little by little she
weened h e rs e lf away fro m the kosher home, and I
rem em ber h e r being v e ry upset about th a t. It bo the red
h e r very, v e ry m uch . . . . But once she fin a lly
accom plished the feat, she discovered how easy it was!
A nd she never looked back a fte r that, she was h a p p y th a t
she d id it. But I th in k deep down, there was a ce rta in
fee ling o f re g re t.
R ather than com plete ly re lin q u is h a ll ties to kosher laws, Sarah chose
to m a in ta in a "kosher-style," home, b u t it was n o t s tric tly kosher. M ilk
and m eat were never served together, but one set o f dishes was used fo r
a ll meals and products w h ich w ere n o t c e rtifie d as kosher fo u n d th e ir
way to the fa m ily 's table. Barbara K irshe nbla tt-G im b lett w rite s about
the "detachm ent o f tra d itio n a l cuisine fro m the requirem ents o f
kash rut" as an A m erican phenom enon:
The re su lt is 'kosher-style' food, its e lf the expression o f a
sentim ental attachm ent to cu lin a ry tra d itio n s on th e p a rt
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o f those who have rejected the d ie ta ry laws. A t the
extrem e, c u lin a ry Judaism , o r Fressfrom igkeit as it was
know n among Germ an-speaking Jews, is a te rm a p p lie d to
those whose p ie ty is expressed alm ost e xclu sive ly b y
eating the a p p ro p ria te h o lid a y foods (1990:88-89).
WORKING WOMEN
As young g irls , th e th re e sisters grew up in N orw ich,
C onnecticut, w hich A da described as "pe rfe ct sm all to w n A m erica." The
g irls were encouraged to v is it the local lib ra ry and a tte n d sum m er
concerts on the beaches in ne arb y New London. As th e y grew older,
th e y were given a rt, b a lle t, and pia no lessons. "G row ing up, m y m o th e r
always wanted us to do things th a t she d id n 't do," A da explained. T h e ir
m other, Sarah, who ne ver had a college education, encouraged h e r
daughters to practice th e ir lessons. She w ould ask them , "do you w an t to
end up scrubbing floors?" im p ly in g th a t a young w om an o f a rtis tic
talents w ould rise in econom ic status and m ove o u t o f the lower-class
ranks o f dom estic w orkers. The piano in p a rtic u la r is noted b y Jose lit to
be sym bolic o f the desire to become up w ard ly m obile, "im m ig ra n t Jews
were acutely sensitive to th e c u ltu ra l im p lica tio n s o f ow ning and
playing a piano. For them , . . .the 'sweet tones' o f th e piano had m uch to
do w ith creating a p ro p e r, s u ita b ly dom esticated hom e e n viro n m e n t
(Joselit 1990:36)."
A lthough Bernice, Ada, and Brenda came fro m a fa m ily th a t
"never had m uch m oney," it was always assumed th a t th e y w ou ld
receive a college education. A ccording to Ada, " it was unusual fo r
wom en to w o rk,” and so Sarah was a busy housew ife w ho to o k care o f
h e r ch ild re n and h e r husband. She d id encourage h e r daughters in
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school, however, and h e r concerns m atched th e expectations o f wom en
at the tim e:
A: She w anted us a ll to be teachers because "teachers
could w o rk when th e ir c h ild re n were in school, and th e y
were o ff in th e sum m er, an d th e n if y o u r husband d ie d
you w ould have som ething to do, and you s till could be
around w hen y o u r c h ild re n w ere home." So it was k in d o f
a m antra.
A ll three women w ent on to becom e teachers, although Ada la te r
attended law school and became a tax attorney. Brenda has ta u g h t
English to m iddle-school c h ild re n fo r o ve r th ir ty years and has an M.A.
in English and a Ph.D. in E ducation, and Bernice earned a M aster's
degree in Special Education a n d ta u g h t em otionally d istu rb e d boys a t a
re sid en tial treatm ent center u n til she re tire d in 1995. The th re e young
g irls eventually became strong and in d iv u a lis tic career w om en and
have also encouraged th e ir daughters to pursue careers:
A: I d o n 't have any ro le m odels growing up o f wom en w ho
were achievers. A ny ro le m odels I have come fro m books
o r from reading about the m in magazines o r in the
newspapers, b u t n o t an yb o d y th a t I know who w ent to
college and achieved. In m y generation I know m any
m any women who are super-achievers and so m y
daughters have m any ro le m odels who are women, n o t ju s t
men.
PASSOVER RITUALS
W hen the sisters w ere you ng g irls th e ir p a te rn a l g ra n d fa th e r
Oscar w ould come to th e ir hom e to lead the fa m ily Seder:
A: It started a t sundow n, and it was conducted in Hebrew,
and it w ent on fo r hours and I never understood a w ord,
and we ate late in th e evening . . . . I rem em ber m y
m other getting the house re a d y fo r Passover and she
w ould o rd e r the Passover fo o d so there w ou ld always be a
Passover order. It w o u ld be delivered— a ll the boxes o f
matzah and a ll the fo o d th a t she w ould need. A nd the
house w ou ld be th o ro u g h ly cleaned and she w ou ld take o u t
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th e Passover dishes because the y were always ke p t
separate. A nd i t re a lly was a big event in the fa m ily .
In la te r years, th e Seders were conducted in th e ir m o th e r Sarah's
apartm ent in P hiladelphia. The three sisters p a rtic ip a te d w ith th e ir
fam ilies and Ada's husband, m y father Sam, le d the cerem ony. Both Ada
and Brenda spoke o f th e ir m other's Seders w ith reverence:
A: M y m o ther's Seders were always w o n d e rfu l because
she made a ll o f the tra d itio n a l food . . .she made the most
fabulous chopped liv e r in the w orld, b u t we d o n 't eat
chopped liv e r anym ore so we d o n 't do th a t. . .oh, the food
was great a t m y m other's house because she m ade
e ve ryth in g fro m scratch, she d id n 't b u y it.
Now, th e fa m ily Seder is held a t Ada's hom e in M aryland. Each
year, she prepares the Seder meal fo r a t least fifte e n guests. Fam ily and
friends o fte n b rin g a dish o r two to add to the festive b u ffe t meal. The
menu is a co m b in a tio n o f dishes made fro m Passover cookbooks, recipes
fro m Ada's m o th e r and m other-in-law , and new er recipes fou nd in
magazines and newspapers w hich have become ye a rly staples. Some o f
Sarah's recipes have been altered to f it a m ore m odern and health
conscious d ie t an d to f it a tig h te r preparation schedule. The gefilte fish,
fo r exam ple has been prepared in a num ber o f ways ove r the years:
BR: I rem em ber d rivin g down to Pearl S treet to the delis
and the m arkets— and m y m other w o u ld b u y the d iffe re n t
fis h and w o u ld m ake her own g e filte fis h .
A: In th e la te r years she bought i t and do ctore d it up, like
I do. B ut w hen I was a kid she made h e r ow n g e filte fish.
BR: She w o u ld recook i t .. .p u ttin g in m ore vegetables and
spices.
Today Ada fo llo w s the recipe fo r "lazy-m an's g e filte fis h " w hich Brenda
copied fro m th e ir m o ther's w ell-w orn cookbooks.
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In m y parent's hom e, th e annual Seder has in c o rp o ra te d
tra d itio n a l practice w ith some m odem innovations, creating a
com bination o f secular ritu a l a n d re lig ious tra d itio n . The Haggadah is
read responsively b y the Seder guests, m o stly in English. Sam explains
the sym bolism o f the foods o n th e Seder plate and the youngest in
attendance asks th e fo u r re q u is ite questions. A fte r the m eal, A da always
leads in the singing o f a few Passover songs:
A: A frie n d o f m ine a n d I always lik e to sing songs even
though we have no clu e w ha t th e words are, we do kno w
the m usic. So we hum th e m usic .... And we have some
v e ry p a rtic u la r songs, lik e we have a Jewish rap. A n d we
have a new song “These are a fe w o f m y fa v o rite th in g s .”
It's sung to th a t tun e a n d w e're gonna teach eve rybo dy
th a t song. A nd the n th e re 's one o th e r th a t I d o n 't re a lly
rem em ber. It's sung I th in k to the tune o f “ M y D a rlin g
C lem entine.” [We’ll] sing th a t one also. So we have fu n .
We d o n 't sing ju s t the tra d itio n a l Jewish songs, b u t we
have some fu n songs too .
The food, the service, a n d the songs have a ll been adapted to
m atch the preferences o f th e y e a rly attendees and th e ir p h ilo sop hies
regarding ritu a l and re lig io n . In te re s tin g ly , the id io s y n c ra tic d e tails o f
Ada's Seder— the fr u it com pote, the in fo rm a l banter and jo k in g d u rin g
the Seder, “ The Exodus Rap” — have fo u n d th e ir places as expected ritu a ls
as necessary to the Seder as th e p roscribe d cup fo r E lijah o r th e salt
w ater d ip p in g o f th e b itte r herbs. The fa m ily Seder is an exam ple o f
"c u ltu ra l Judaism " in p ractice, w here re lig io n is n o t the focus, ra th e r,
the celebration o f fa m ily is th e focus:
A: Passover w hen I was a k id and Passover in m y house
are p ro b a b ly tw o co m p le te ly d iffe re n t things. Passover
when I was a k id d id n 't have the connotation o f fu n th a t it
has now. Passover in m y house is a lo t o f fu n . It's re a lly
lik e a p a rty, it's lik e a huge d in n e r p a rty. It w asn't a huge
d in n e r p a rty w hen I was a kid , i t was a solemn occasion.
But, b u t i t is n 't anym ore, it's a fu n tim e.
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B: The Seders themselves are q u ite d iffe re n t because A)
th e y’re m o re m odem , B) the re’s English inte rspe rsed
w ith th e Hebrew, and C) a lo t is le ft o u t - because m y
b ro th e r-in -la w , I have the fee ling, is having a w o n d e rfu l
rim p d o in g i t b u t the sooner it's over the b e tte r. So tha t's
ju s t fin e . A nd the fo o d is delicious. A nd the cam araderie
between us an d o u r friends is j’ust w o n d e rfu l an d it's a
ve ry special tim e now .
BR: A n d to me, Passover is such a fa m ily, th e h o lid ays are
such a fa m ily th in g th a t it's an o p p o rtu n ity to get
to g e th e r an d share and ta lk ab out w hat w e've been doing.
It's th e lik e th re e tim es a year we can s it dow n as sisters
and j'u st re a lly be close.
AMERICAN JEWISH WOMEN
The th re e sisters considered th e ir m o ther to be a superstitious
woman, b u t n o t necessarily a s p iritu a l woman. Sarah became more
in vo lve d in h e r Tem ple as an older woman, the ty p ic a l p a tte rn as Ada
describes below . She w orked in the Tem ple g ift shop and made friends
in the con gre gatio n. Brenda recalled w atching Sarah lig h t F riday
n ig h t Sabbath candles in h e r home every week “ u n til she was unable to
do so.” The fa m ily w en t to synagogue on the H igh H o ly days, b u t were
n o t active m em bers.
Sarah’s daughters rem em ber th e ir m o ther p ra c tic in g Judaism in
a p riva te way:
BR: I d o n 't rem em ber a lo t o f Jewishness in th e house, b u t
y e t I re m em b er—
A: I rem em ber d is tin c tly being Jewish
BR: A b solu tely, th a t's what I was going to say. I
rem em ber kno w in g about Judaism fro m being in the
house an d the w ay M other conducted the house. But I
d o n 't rem em ber th e ritu a ls o f Judaism.
Sarah ta u g h t h e r daughters how to be Jewish b y exam ple. Bernice, Ada,
and Brenda each p ra ctice th e ir Judaism in a som ewhat p riv a te way,
how ever th e y enj'oy th e social aspects o f the fa m ily ga the ring together
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to celebrate the holid ays. A nd they take p rid e in th e ir h e ritag e and the
h is to ry o f the Jewish people.
In o u r interview s w ith Bernice, Ada, and Brenda we discussed
th e ir conceptions o f Jew ish s p iritu a lity and th e ir personal practices.
Brenda to ld us:
BR: I have always believed th a t an in d iv id u a l does n o t
need a b u ild in g to be w ho they are. I do n o t need to go to
services on a re g u la r basis to know th a t I am a Jewish
person. I th in k p ro b a b ly m y Jewishness is s p iritu a l,
because it ’s so m u ch a p a rt o f me .... I’m u n iq u e ly who I
am because I am a Jewish woman. It is, it is me. I’ve
never been tem pted, to be anything else. W ell, ta ll and
blo nd and th in , I co u ld be tha t [laughs] . . .but n o t n o t
Jew ish.
Ada had a la rg e r social in te rp re ta tio n o f re lig io n . Her d e scrip tio n is
based on ch ildh oo d experiences and the experience o f ra isin g children:
A: I th in k tra d itio n a lly , and maybe it's ju s t n a tu ra lly ,
people and th e ir re lig io n change th a t re la tio n sh ip as they
go th ro u g h life . W hen yo u 're a c h ild yo u 're in vo lve d in
yo u r re lig io n because yo u 're learning about it. That's
when yo u go to S unday School o r Hebrew School, and yo u
p roba bly are close to i t fo r a certain period and th e n as
yo u 're a young a d u lt o r you're raising a fa m ily yo u seem
to get away fro m i t . . . . As your own c h ildren reach the
age w here they need to be taught then you get back in to a
religious atm osphere and maybe you stay a fte r th a t tim e
o r m aybe you distance you rself a little b it and th e n you
get back in to it as yo u age, but I th in k it's k in d o f a norm al
p a tte rn w ith h o w people relate to th e ir re lig io n .
A da explained th a t Judaism was very im p o rta n t in her life now,
although it made he r fe e l lik e an outsider as a child:
A: I w ould ra th e r have been som ething else. B ut as I've
grow n up and m atured, I re a lly appreciate i t as a re lig io n
because I th in k it's v e ry lib e ra l. I t allows you to th in k
fre e ly and to do th in g s fre e ly th a t I observe o th e r
re lig ions d o n 't a llo w and so I love being Jewish.
Bernice has become m ore in vo lve d in Judaism since she “ stopped
w o rkin g ,” the p re fe rre d a lte rn a tive phrase fo r “ re tire d .” For m ost o f
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h e r a d u lt life she considered h e rse lf to be a secular Jew, however, she
recently jo in e d a Reform synagogue and has begun to le a rn m ore about
Jewish h is to ry and practice. She is careful n o t to place too m uch
em otional emphasis o n re lig io n , however:
B: I have to say th a t I do n o t want to feel th a t I use m y
re lig io n as a cru tch. I d o n 't w ant to som ehow o r o th e r feel
th a t every tim e som ething upsets me o r som ething bad
happens, th a t I have to ru n to the Rabbi. O r ru n to the
Bible to gain strength. I s till want to able to d ra w upon
m yself fo r in n e r strength. But I do fin d th a t there's
som ething outside o f m e th a t is giving me stre ngth. A nd
it's very ha rd to p u t in to words w hat th a t is b u t I guess
m aybe you co u ld ca ll it feeling s p iritu a l.
CONCLUSION
"Transform ation" has been a m ajor them e o f th is thesis. As I
have discussed, the h o lid a y o f Passover transform ed in to an idealized
celebration o f fa m ily and freedom , a religious fa m ily transform ed in to a
N on -A ffilia ted fa m ily o ve r ju s t a few generations, young g irls
transform ed in to wom en, and the women's m ovem ent transform ed
housewives in to w o rkin g women.
Ada's Passover Seder— w ith its updated recipes, secular ritu a ls,
and com parison to T hanksgiving o r "a huge d in n e r p a rty "— reflects the
changes undergone b y the Seder participants in th e A m erican context.
The Am erican Jewish co m m u n ity today places a greater em phasis on
celebratory holidays, as discussed by Liebman (1988), and a decreased
emphasis on religious ritu a l, as discussed by Kugelmass (1988). The
ho lid ay o f Passover as celebrated by Bernice, Ada, and Brenda can be
viewed as an exam ple o f these changes in the A m erican Jewish
co n d itio n .
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Raising ch ild re n in A m erica was a com plex endeavor fo r m any
Jewish fam ilies and as generations o f women were raised ou tsid e o f the
tig h t-k n it shtetls and ghettos o f th e ir forem others, Jewish ritu a ls w ere
o fte n replaced by a m ore general sense o f Judaism. As Brenda to ld us, " I
rem em ber knowing about Judaism fro m being in the house an d th e way
M o ther conducted the house. B ut I d o n 't rem em ber the ritu a ls o f
Judaism ." In each succeeding ge neration, religious ritu a ls an d ra b b in ic
know ledge have been less em phasized, creating a co m m u n ity o f Jews
w ho fe e l a sense o f "Jewishness," b u t w ho display little o u tw a rd
association w ith one another. Leonard Fein ap tly described th is state o f
A m erican Jewry in his 1988 book W here Are We?, b y saying th a t " a ll wr e
know is th a t we are, in some fun da m en tal way, Jews, heirs to a legacy
we cannot flu e n tly describe, p a rtn e rs in a destiny we can not d e fine,
'people o f a book' we have n o t read (1988:62-63)." A lthou gh A m erican
Jews are seen as b a rely resem bling th e Jewish com m unities o f past
generations, they are s till considered "People o f the Book." The ritu a l
inn ovatio ns o f Ada's Seder co u ld be considered evidence o f assim ila tio n ,
how ever I believe these changes in the Seder are a n a tu ra l p a rt o f the
fle x ib ility o f the h o lid a y its e lf, and th e y are a n a tu ra l p a rt o f c u ltu ra l
e v o lu tio n .
As tim e has passed, the th ird generation o f A m erican Jew ish
wom en has faced new challenges and experiences w hich separate the m
fro m th e ir m other:
A: M other raised us and the n I d o n 't th in k she, she g o t
past understanding w ho we were once she gave us goals
and we achieved those goals and then
BR: And w ent fu rth e r.
B: Yeah, yeah, sure.
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However, as discussed in this thesis, Jewish wom en s till feel a strong
sense o f connection to the wom en be fore them and to th e ir Jewish
heritage. These connections are fo u n d in th e kitchen.
Though fem inism and the w om en's m ovem ent have made positive
changes in wom en's lives, Jewish w om en do n o t necessarily w ant to
fu lly re je ct th e ir o ld roles as hom em akers and fo o d providers. M any
fe m in ists c ritiq u e the image o f th e 'w om an in th e kitchen,' however,
m ost A m erican Jewish women s till em brace the kitche n as a positive
base o f th e ir id e n tity . They fee l im p o rta n t personal connections to the
re sp o n sib ilitie s and m em ories associated w ith the kitchen and view the
k itch e n as a com fortin g and fu lfillin g space, representative o f the love
passed dow n to them fro m th e ir m others an d grandm others.
W hile prepa ring the foods o f th e Seder, Ada rem arked, "n o th in g
equals the smells o f Jewish cooking!" The sm ells o f m atzoh-ball soup
an d g e filte fis h b rin g back m em ories o f past generations and past
fa m ily gatherings. Brenda discussed the connection she feels to her
Jew ish heritage and to the w o rld Jew ish co m m u n ity du ring Passover
w hen "everybody's p u ttin g th e ir fo rk in to some g e filte fish."
In m y fie ld w o rk experience, I re a liz e d th a t fem inism 's re je ctio n
o f th e kitch e n had n o t been com plete ly em braced b y the three sisters.
A lth o u g h Bernice to ld me th a t, a fte r reading B etty Friedan's The
Fem inine M ystique (1963), she "g o t up o ff th e kitchen flo o r, stopped
baking chocolate chip cookies, and w e n t back to school," she also
boasted th a t h e r new neighbors on Long Isla n d praise her skills as a
b a ke r.
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A m biva le nt feelings such as these were also e vid e n t in Ada's
d e scrip tio n o f he r Passover preparations:
A: Passover . . .d e fin ite ly is a woman's ho lid ay. The
wom en do the cooking, th e women do the cleaning up.
The men, the m en go to the p a rty store and p ick up the
tables th a t have been re n te d and the dishes th a t have
been rented. Um , and h e 'll take out the garbage. . . A n d
h e 'll cut, h e 'll carve th e tu rke y. But it's d e fin ite ly
wom an's w ork. . . .A nd n o t th a t that's a good th in g , it
could, i t should be evenly shared, but it's not. W e've done
i t so m any years th is w ay i t ju s t continues to be done th is
way. . . .I'm so used to [it] th a t I th in k i f m y husband were
hom e and in m y way, h e 'd be in m y way. A nd I d o n 't w an t
h im to take ove r the things th a t are m ine to do th a t I lik e
doing.
In conclusion, I believe th a t the women’s m ovem ent encouraged
Bernice, Ada, and Brenda to develop fu lfillin g careers outside the home
and to m ove beyond th e ir m other's advice to w o rk "ju s t in case y o u r
husband died." These sisters, however, did n o t fu lly accept a ll the tenets
o f the wom en's m ovem ent. M ost evid ent fro m this fie ld w o rk is th a t
Bernice, Ada and Brenda d id n o t accept the image o f the kitc h e n as a
place o f fem ale su b o rd in a tio n because fo r them , the k itc h e n represents
a connection to th e ir he ritag e and is a positive and v ita l aspect o f th e ir
id e n tity .
The re lig io u sly p lu ra lis tic atm osphere o f A m erica today, and the
changes in emphasis fro m s tric t re lig ious ritu a l to fa m ily cele bra tion,
has enabled the three sisters to reshape th e ir “ Jewishness” in to a
positive, “ fu n ,” and “ in c lu s iv e ” aspect o f th e ir id e n titie s. The in te rp la y
between tra d itio n a l fa m ily life , the practices and beliefs o f Judasim , and
the secular career-oriented w o rld has created and shaped a new
generation o f "A m ericanized" Jewish women.
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Creator Rousso, Nicole Dyann (author)

Core Title "People of the (cook)book": The enculturation of American Jewish women

School Graduate School

Degree Master of Arts

Degree Program Visual Anthropology

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag American studies,anthropology, cultural,OAI-PMH Harvest,sociology, ethnic and racial studies,sociology, individual and family studies,women's studies

Language English

Contributor Digitized by ProQuest (provenance)

Advisor Simic, Andrei (committee chair), [illegible] (committee member), Lutkehaus, Nancy (committee member)

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