rebecita's review
4.0
Jews in Oakland! I've been meaning to read The Short History of Jewish People, given to me by my late Grandpa Labon, but it's hard for me to dig up much enthusiasm over ancient history. This is more up my alley - engaging and well written local history. The author managed to write about which street corner every temple called home and how much their mortage was and whose wife was involved in which charity in a manner not completely boring, at least not to local readers. It helps that there are lots of colorful and influential people from this pocket of the country (from the enterprising pioneers to Gertrude Stein to 70s radicals.)
But of more general interest are the intersections of bay area/California history with broader American historical themes and the great Jewish upheavals of the twentieth century - anti-semitism, WWII, the rise of Israel. Good comparative social history and explorations of Jewish identity. Thank you 1975.
Also - religion! This is the first time I've ever read about the development of reform/conservative judaism in the US. First Hebrew, now Temple Sinai, seems to be a case study of shifting generational preference for more/less traditional ritualism.
And I can't believe I'd never heard of the Magnes museum!
But of more general interest are the intersections of bay area/California history with broader American historical themes and the great Jewish upheavals of the twentieth century - anti-semitism, WWII, the rise of Israel. Good comparative social history and explorations of Jewish identity. Thank you 1975.
Also - religion! This is the first time I've ever read about the development of reform/conservative judaism in the US. First Hebrew, now Temple Sinai, seems to be a case study of shifting generational preference for more/less traditional ritualism.
And I can't believe I'd never heard of the Magnes museum!
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