Women and Judaism in Antebellum America
Dianne Ashton
$26.95s cloth / ISBN 0-8143-2666-8
384 pages / 6 x 9
13 b&w illustrations
1997
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Book Information | About the book | Reviews | |||||||||||||
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Rebecca
Gratz Women and Judaism in Antebellum America Dianne Ashton |
This is the first in-depth biography of Rebecca Gratz (1781-1869), the foremost American Jewish woman of the 19th century. Perhaps the best-known member of the prominent Gratz family of Philadelphia, she was a fervent patriot, a profoundly religious woman, and a widely known activist for poor women. She devoted her life to confronting and resolving the personal challenges she faced as a Jew and as a female member of a prosperous family. In using hundreds of Gratz's own letters in her research, Dianne Ashton reveals Gratz's own blend of Jewish and American values and explores the significance of her work. Legend has it that Gratz was the prototype for the heroine Rebecca of York in Sir Walter Scott's Ivanhoe, the Jewish woman who refused to wed the Christian hero of the tale out of loyalty to her faith and father. That legend has draped Gratz's life in sentimentality and has blurred our vision of her. Rebecca Gratz is the first book to examine Gratz's life, her legend, and our memory. | "A pioneering biography of one of the most influential Jewish women in antebellum America. Set in the context of Philadelphia's urban world, Rebecca Gratz explores the gendered dimensions of American Judaism as it developed before the onset of mass immigration. The book provides a wealth of rich detail and new insight." —Deborah Dash Moore, professor of religion, Vassar College; author of To the Golden Cities and At Home in America. | |||||||||||||
| American
Jewish Civilization Series $26.95s cloth / ISBN 0-8143-2666-8 384 pages / 6 x 9 13 b&w illustrations 1997 |
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