That Pride of Race and Character: The Roots of Jewish Benevolence in the Jim Crow South

“It
has ever been the boast of the Jewish people, that they support their own poor,”
declared Kentucky attorney Benjamin Franklin Jonas in 1856. “Their reasons are
partly founded in religious necessity, and partly in that pride of race and
character which has supported them through so many ages of trial and
vicissitude.” In That Pride of Race and
Character, Caroline E. Light examines the American Jewish tradition of
benevolence and charity and explores its southern roots.

Light provides a critical ...