Jewish Bialystok and Its Diaspora

by Rebecca Kobrin

Overview

The mass migration of East European Jews and their resettlement in cities throughout Europe, the United States, Argentina, the Middle East and Australia in the late 19th and early 20th centuries not only transformed the demographic and cultural centers of world Jewry, it also reshaped Jews' understanding and performance of their diasporic identities. Rebecca Kobrin's study of the dispersal of Jews from one city in Poland—Bialystok—demonstrates how the act of migration set in motion a wide range of transformations that led the migrants to imagine themselves as exiles not only from the mythic Land of Israel but most immediately from their east European homeland. Kobrin explores the organizations, institutions, newspapers, and philanthropies that the Bialystokers created around the world and that reshaped their perceptions of exile and diaspora.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780253221766
Publisher:	Indiana University Press
Publication date:	05/07/2010
Series:	The Modern Jewish Experience
Pages:	380
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.10(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Rebecca Kobrin is Assistant Professor of Jewish History at Columbia University. She is author (with Adam Shear) of an exhibition catalog, From Written to Printed Text: The Transmission of Jewish Tradition.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix

Note on Orthography and Transliteration xiii

Introduction: Between Exile and Empire: Visions of Jewish Dispersal in the Age of Mass Migration 1

Chapter 1 The Dispersal Within: Bialystok, Jewish Migration, and Urban Life in the Borderlands of Eastern Europe 19

Chapter 2 Rebuilding Homeland in Promised Lands 69

Chapter 3 "Buying Bricks for Bialystok": Philanthropy and the Bonds of the New Jewish Diaspora 131

Chapter 4 Rewriting the Jewish Diaspora: Images of Bialystok in the Transnational Bialystok Jewish Press, 1921-1949 176

Chapter 5 Shifting Centers, Conflicting Philanthropists: Rebuilding, Resettling, and Remembering Jewish Bialystok in the Post-Holocaust Era 207

Epilogue: Diaspora and the Politics of East European Jewish Identity in the Age of Mass Migration 244

Notes 253

Bibliography 313

Index 351

What People are Saying About This

"A work of truly extraordinary scope, driven by admirable intellectual ambition. It is exhilarating to come across a work of such imagination and originality."

Martin Gilbert

"... fascinating from first page to last." —Sir Martin Gilbert

J. Haus

Kobrin (Jewish history, Columbia) analyzes the Jewish migration experience from Bialystok in the 19th and 20th centuries. Adopting a transnational perspective, she seeks to place Jewish migration from eastern Europe to the US in a broader global context in which the US is not a land unto itself, but one of several locales in which migration and integration occurred. In doing so, Kobrin argues that Bialystok Jews constructed a transnational self-perception, melding together their eastern European Jewish heritage and their new homelands. They subsequently expressed this new sense of identity through cultural and philanthropic organizations focused on Bialystok emigrants and their descendants as a specific group with their own specific diaspora experience. This migration, she concludes, 'radically revised and reconfigured the ideological cornerstones of modern Jewish life.' Kobrin's study builds upon previous work by scholars like Nancy Green who utilize a divergent analysis of migration—not studying merely one destination, but comparing the experiences of immigrants in different cities or countries. Kobrin's well-written, well-researched book advances this approach, providing a valuable resource for scholars and students alike. Summing Up: Recommended. All levels/libraries. — Choice

Universityof Toronto - Derek Penslar

An imaginative and original work. It offers an intriguing argument that in the first half of the 20th century, diaspora Jewish identities were defined through a constant, dynamic process of interaction between the place of origin and the several sites of immigration.

J. Haus]]>

Kobrin (Jewish history, Columbia) analyzes the Jewish migration experience from Bialystok in the 19th and 20th centuries. Adopting a transnational perspective, she seeks to place Jewish migration from eastern Europe to the US in a broader global context in which the US is not a land unto itself, but one of several locales in which migration and integration occurred. In doing so, Kobrin argues that Bialystok Jews constructed a transnational self-perception, melding together their eastern European Jewish heritage and their new homelands. They subsequently expressed this new sense of identity through cultural and philanthropic organizations focused on Bialystok emigrants and their descendants as a specific group with their own specific diaspora experience. This migration, she concludes, 'radically revised and reconfigured the ideological cornerstones of modern Jewish life.' Kobrin's study builds upon previous work by scholars like Nancy Green who utilize a divergent analysis of migration—not studying merely one destination, but comparing the experiences of immigrants in different cities or countries. Kobrin's well-written, well-researched book advances this approach, providing a valuable resource for scholars and students alike. Summing Up: Recommended. All levels/libraries. — Choice

Jonathan Frankel]]>

A work of truly extraordinary scope, driven by admirable intellectual ambition. It is exhilarating to come across a work of such imagination and originality.

Jonathan Frankel

A work of truly extraordinary scope, driven by admirable intellectual ambition. It is exhilarating to come across a work of such imagination and originality.

Rutgers University - Jeffrey Shandler

Challenges and refines long-standing assumptions about Old World/New World dynamics generally and Jewish immigrants to America in particular. . . . Original and smartly conceived, grounded in careful, extensive research and thoughtful analysis.

Editorial Reviews

"Kobrin (Jewish history, Columbia) analyzes the Jewish migration experience from Bialystok in the 19th and 20th centuries. Adopting a transnational perspective, she seeks to place Jewish migration from eastern Europe to the US in a broader global context in which the US is not a land unto itself, but one of several locales in which migration and integration occurred. In doing so, Kobrin argues that Bialystok Jews constructed a transnational self-perception, melding together their eastern European Jewish heritage and their new homelands. They subsequently expressed this new sense of identity through cultural and philanthropic organizations focused on Bialystok emigrants and their descendants as a specific group with their own specific diaspora experience. This migration, she concludes, 'radically revised and reconfigured the ideological cornerstones of modern Jewish life.' Kobrin's study builds upon previous work by scholars like Nancy Green who utilize a divergent analysis of migration—not studying merely one destination, but comparing the experiences of immigrants in different cities or countries. Kobrin's well-written, well-researched book advances this approach, providing a valuable resource for scholars and students alike. Summing Up: Recommended. All levels/libraries. — Choice"— J. Haus, Kalamazoo College, February 2011

". . . fascinating from first page to last."—Sir Martin Gilbert

"This is a stimulating, pathbreaking book, and it is a pleasure to read."—Jewish History

"Carefully researched and clearly written, this book offers a rich picture of a transnational Jewish community. Kobrin's novel approach to the study of Jewish history is significant for scholars committed to understanding the complex threads that wove together the early twentieth-century Jewish world."—American Historical Review

"[T]his illuminating case study sheds useful comparative and conceptual light, first and foremost on the notions of transnationalism and colonialism and the relationship between homeland and diaspora."—Austrian History Yearbook

"Rebecca Kobrin is to be commended for her stimulating and thought-provoking study."—Shofar

"This thoughtful, strikingly original work of scholarship possesses the added value of being readable (and, one hopes, appreciated) by an audience beyond specialists in the field. . . . In sum, this book's contribution to Russian, east European, American, and 'diapora' studies is truly extraordinary. Vol. 70.3, Fall 2011"—Slavic Review

"Kobrin's wide-ranging analysis draws on huge and impressive variety of sources and many of the scholarly debates that her work relates to are very well explained . . . [This book] is a rare contribution to contemporary debates about migration"—H-Judaic

". . . fascinating from first page to last.leave per JBR"—Sir Martin Gilbert

"This well-researched and innovative study is both an account of the history of Jewish Bialystok and of the way its diaspora was mobilized to support Jewish life in the town from abroad. . . . It . . . provides a new way of examining the relation between East European Jewish emigrants and the lands from which they set out to make new lives elsewhere. Vol. 70.2, April 2011"—The Russian Review

"Kobrin's well-written, well-researched book [provides] a valuable resource for scholars and students alike. . . . Recommended."—Choice

"This excellent study very forcefully and convincingly shows that 'many early twentieth-century East European immigrant Jews saw the pain of exile not only in relation to ancient Zion but in reference to East Europe', demostrating that 'Jews have always harbored a complex web of longings for many real and imagined homelands'.Autumn 2013"—Journal of Jewish Studies

"In addition to original and illuminating research, Jewish Bialystock and Its Diaspora is to be commended for its lucid style of writing. Kobrin knows how to tell a story, arousing the reader's curiosity from the very first page."—Studies in Contemporary Jewry

"This ambitious study is rigorous and highly impressive in its scope and methodology . . . There is no doubt that Jewish Bialystok and its Diaspora is a field-shaping study, which crosses quite a few disciplinary borders marked by Jewish history, diaspora and migration studies and transnational communication, as well as memory and identity studies.12.1 2013"—Journal of Modern Jewish Studies

"Challenges and refines long-standing assumptions about Old World/New World dynamics generally and Jewish immigrants to America in particular. . . . Original and smartly conceived, grounded in careful, extensive research and thoughtful analysis."—Jeffrey Shandler, Rutgers University

"A work of truly extraordinary scope, driven by admirable intellectual ambition. It is exhilarating to come across a work of such imagination and originality."—Jonathan Frankel, author of Crisis, Revolution, and Russian Jews

"An imaginative and original work. It offers an intriguing argument that in the first half of the 20th century, diaspora Jewish identities were defined through a constant, dynamic process of interaction between the place of origin and the several sites of immigration."—Derek Penslar, University of Toronto

From the Publisher

Kobrin's well-written, well-researched book [provides] a valuable resource for scholars and students alike. . . . Recommended.

Choice

Kobrin's wide-ranging analysis draws on huge and impressive variety of sources and many of the scholarly debates that her work relates to are very well explained . . . [This book] is a rare contribution to contemporary debates about migration

H-Judaic

[T]his illuminating case study sheds useful comparative and conceptual light, first and foremost on the notions of transnationalism and colonialism and the relationship between homeland and diaspora.

Austrian History Yearbook

This ambitious study is rigorous and highly impressive in its scope and methodology . . . There is no doubt that Jewish Bialystok and its Diaspora is a field-shaping study, which crosses quite a few disciplinary borders marked by Jewish history, diaspora and migration studies and transnational communication, as well as memory and identity studies.12.1 2013

Journal of Modern Jewish Studies

Carefully researched and clearly written, this book offers a rich picture of a transnational Jewish community. Kobrin's novel approach to the study of Jewish history is significant for scholars committed to understanding the complex threads that wove together the early twentieth-century Jewish world.

American Historical Review

Rebecca Kobrin is to be commended for her stimulating and thought-provoking study.

Shofar

This well-researched and innovative study is both an account of the history of Jewish Bialystok and of the way its diaspora was mobilized to support Jewish life in the town from abroad. . . . It . . . provides a new way of examining the relation between East European Jewish emigrants and the lands from which they set out to make new lives elsewhere. Vol. 70.2, April 2011

The Russian Review

. . . fascinating from first page to last.

Sir Martin Gilbert

This excellent study very forcefully and convincingly shows that 'many early twentieth-century East European immigrant Jews saw the pain of exile not only in relation to ancient Zion but in reference to East Europe', demostrating that 'Jews have always harbored a complex web of longings for many real and imagined homelands'.Autumn 2013

Journal of Jewish Studies

This is a stimulating, pathbreaking book, and it is a pleasure to read.

Jewish History

In addition to original and illuminating research, Jewish Bialystock and Its Diaspora is to be commended for its lucid style of writing. Kobrin knows how to tell a story, arousing the reader's curiosity from the very first page.

Studies in Contemporary Jewry

This thoughtful, strikingly original work of scholarship possesses the added value of being readable (and, one hopes, appreciated) by an audience beyond specialists in the field. . . . In sum, this book's contribution to Russian, east European, American, and 'diapora' studies is truly extraordinary. Vol. 70.3, Fall 2011

Slavic Review

Kobrin (Jewish history, Columbia) analyzes the Jewish migration experience from Bialystok in the 19th and 20th centuries. Adopting a transnational perspective, she seeks to place Jewish migration from eastern Europe to the US in a broader global context in which the US is not a land unto itself, but one of several locales in which migration and integration occurred. In doing so, Kobrin argues that Bialystok Jews constructed a transnational self-perception, melding together their eastern European Jewish heritage and their new homelands. They subsequently expressed this new sense of identity through cultural and philanthropic organizations focused on Bialystok emigrants and their descendants as a specific group with their own specific diaspora experience. This migration, she concludes, 'radically revised and reconfigured the ideological cornerstones of modern Jewish life.' Kobrin's study builds upon previous work by scholars like Nancy Green who utilize a divergent analysis of migration—not studying merely one destination, but comparing the experiences of immigrants in different cities or countries. Kobrin's well-written, well-researched book advances this approach, providing a valuable resource for scholars and students alike. Summing Up: Recommended. All levels/libraries. — Choice

J. Haus

"An imaginative and original work. It offers an intriguing argument that in the first half of the 20th century, diaspora Jewish identities were defined through a constant, dynamic process of interaction between the place of origin and the several sites of immigration." —Derek Penslar, University of Toronto

Derek Penslar

"Challenges and refines long-standing assumptions about Old World/New World dynamics generally and Jewish immigrants to America in particular.... Original and smartly conceived, grounded in careful, extensive research and thoughtful analysis." —Jeffrey Shandler, Rutgers University

Jeffrey Shandler

"A work of truly extraordinary scope, driven by admirable intellectual ambition. It is exhilarating to come across a work of such imagination and originality." —Jonathan Frankel, author of Crisis, Revolution, and Russian Jews

Jonathan Frankel