The complex interplay of gender, social class, and religio-ethnic culture shaped the ways in which Jewish women participated in the economic, cultural, religious, and political life of the immigrant Jewish community and American society. Even as Jewish women shared a common heritage, living space, some institutions, values, and aspirations with their husbands and brothers, they also created a female culture and constructed a community different from the organized community of Jewish men. Within the Jewish community women found their situation defined and limited primarily by their gender and class, while in the society at large they confronted the additional disability conferred by their ethnicity.
Suggested Discussion Questions:
1. What kinds of restrictions did Jewish immigrant women face in America?
2. How did the Jewish immigrant community of women work within these constrictions to create their own culture?
3. How is this text a model for women's empowerment? How is it a model for immigration rights?
Time Period: Contemporary (The Yom Kippur War until the present-day)