BA, Kent State University, 2018, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of History

The Story of the Jews in Mexico recounts the narrative of a community that thrived religiously and socially in a foreign land. The Jewish story in Aztec lands dates back to the year 1492, when Jewish subjects were expelled from Spain, and traveled furtively to the New World. This research shadows the lives of the Jews from the colonial era in Mexico to the present day. It is a story of challenges, achievements, failures, and triumphs. This research project is a multilingual venture. Primary sources written in Spanish, Hebrew, Yiddish, and English were utilized.

Committee: David Odell-Scott (Advisor) Subjects: History; Judaic Studies; Latin American History; Religion

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 1982, Graduate School

Committee: Not Provided (Other) Subjects: History

Master of City and Regional Planning, The Ohio State University, 1975, Graduate School

Committee: Not Provided (Other) Subjects:

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 1971, Graduate School

Committee: Not Provided (Other) Subjects:

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 1975, Graduate School

Committee: Not Provided (Other) Subjects: Education

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 1946, Graduate School

Committee: Not Provided (Other) Subjects:

Master of Science, The Ohio State University, 1964, Graduate School

Committee: Not Provided (Other) Subjects:

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 1971, Graduate School

Committee: Not Provided (Other) Subjects:

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 1970, Graduate School

Committee: Not Provided (Other) Subjects:

Doctor of Education , University of Dayton, 2024, Educational Administration

Antisemitism has a long and troubling history in the United States, often manifesting in various social settings, including organized sports. This study investigates the experiences of Jewish-American youth athletes in Central Ohio, focusing on how modern antisemitism affects their participation in sports and overall well-being. Recent data shows a resurgence of antisemitic incidents, which has prompted a need for detailed exploration of its impacts on young athletes. The problem addressed in this study is the increasing prevalence of antisemitism in youth sports and its detrimental effects on Jewish teenagers in Central Ohio. Through a Critical Participatory Action Research (CPAR) methodology, this research combines qualitative and quantitative data to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the issue. Surveys conducted with Jewish teenage athletes reveal experiences of verbal abuse, exclusion, and other forms of discrimination leading to heightened psychological distress, and negative impacts to Jewish identity and sense of belonging. This study underscores the urgent need to address antisemitism within youth sports in Central Ohio. By implementing targeted community interventions, harm can be mitigated and a supportive environment for Jewish athletes can be fostered. This research contributes to the broader understanding of how antisemitism affects minority youth in sports and provides a framework for future studies on marginalized groups. Continued efforts and collaboration among community organizations, educational institutions, and policymakers are essential to combat antisemitism and promote inclusivity in youth athletics.

Committee: Matthew Witenstein (Committee Chair); Timothy Greger (Committee Member); Barry Resnick (Committee Member) Subjects: American Studies; Developmental Psychology; Education; Health Education; Judaic Studies; Mental Health; Middle School Education; Physical Education; Public Policy; Religion; Secondary Education; Social Psychology; Social Work

Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, 1962, Sociology

Committee: Frank F. Miles (Advisor) Subjects: Sociology

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2022, History

This dissertation examines the rehabilitation and education of Polish Jewish children after the Holocaust. It argues that schools, summer camps, and children's homes in Poland were national and international sites for the rehabilitation of child survivors; therefore, they served as laboratories and arenas for debates regarding Polish Jewry's future. By comparing Zionist and non-Zionist institutions of child care, I illustrate how educators and caregivers engaged with competing ideologies to create normalcy in the best interests of the children. Rehabilitation was not just physical or mental; it required Jewish children to develop skills that would make them independent and good citizens. What did they study? What did they read? Did they learn Yiddish or Hebrew in school? Did they speak Polish in the classroom? The answers to these questions have broader implications regarding the reconstruction of Jewish communities in Poland after the Holocaust. While Jewish communists and Bundists in the Central Committee of Jews in Poland (Centralny Komitet Zydow w Polsce, CKZP) desperately fought to keep Jewish children in Poland, Zionist organizations saw no future for Jews in Poland. Through an analysis of correspondences, meeting minutes, educator conference programs, lesson plans, children's own writing, memoirs, and interviews gathered through multi-sited archival research, this dissertation exposes tension between organizations and traces how the educational and ideological goals of the CKZP Department of Education drastically evolved under the growing influence of Poland's communist government. Ultimately, studying education as a form of rehabilitation and nation-building enhances our understanding of the delicate nature of rebuilding Jewish life after war and genocide.

Committee: Robin Judd (Advisor); Theodora Dragostinova (Committee Member); Birgitte Soland (Committee Member) Subjects: European History; History; Holocaust Studies

MA, Kent State University, 2022, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of History

Many books have been written about Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe during the early twentieth century, the reasons for their emigration from their homelands, their journey to their new countries, and the circumstances in which they found themselves. These works often assume one of two approaches: the provision of a composite picture of the immigrant experience, replete with statistics and documentary evidence, sometimes drawing piecemeal from illustrative experiences of individuals to underscore a particular point or biographies or autobiographies, many of which focus on better educated, more literate, more politically active, or more (in)famous members of the Jewish community or on Holocaust survivors. In contrast to these approaches, I examine the lives of two Jewish immigrant families at the time of their immigration to the United States, one from what is now Belarus but was once in the Pale of Settlement, and the second from what is now Poland, but also once existed within the Russian Empire. These are my families, that of my paternal and maternal grandparents. By taking this approach, we can better understand how historical events and social discourse impacted and intertwined with the lives of individual immigrants and their families and how they navigated these then-current events. Each of these chapters examines their lived experience in the context of the larger events occurring around them, over which they had no control. Each chapter refuses to fit comfortably into the master narratives that have emerged over time with regard to Jewish immigration during this period and Jewish families in general: Jewish family cohesiveness, the absence of abuse within Jewish families, Jewish abstention from alcohol. Each chapter explores, as well, the possible impact, both conscious and unconscious, of the surrounding historical events on their decisionmaking and the impact of those decisions on their family members.

Committee: Elaine Frantz (Committee Chair); Brian Hayashi (Committee Member); Mary Ann Heiss (Committee Member); Sean Martin (Committee Member) Subjects: Families and Family Life; History; Judaic Studies

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2020, History

This dissertation is a global microhistory of 15,000 Jewish refugees who found refuge in Shanghai from Nazi persecution. The Jewish refugees had chosen Shanghai out of necessity and convenience: It was one of the few places in the world in the late 1930s that did not require an entry visa owing to its “open port” status as established by Western Powers in the nineteenth century. Not until after the Second World War and Second Sino-Japanese War ended in 1945 did China reclaim full sovereignty over Shanghai. As part of national reunification efforts, the Chinese demonstrated anti-foreign sentiments to the point of compelling Jewish refugees to seek outside assistance, but not without difficulties beyond Jewish refugees' control. This dissertation explores the dynamics that hampered the Jewish refugees' ability to receive timely humanitarian aid and emigration assistance in the aftermath of Nazism. Specifically, it aims to show how Jews in Shanghai faced the multiple and overlapping forms of discrimination and the ways in which these forms compounded their sense of being unwanted. Told through memoirs, diaries, oral history interviews, correspondences found in organizational and states archives around the world, this story illustrates larger processes associated with the end of a war: the experience of liberation, the development of relief and rehabilitation policies, and the functioning of migration within the modern nation-state system. The dissertation applies insights from the vast scholarship on post-Second World War Europe's humanitarian and refugee crises to Shanghai. In doing so, it uses comparative and transnational approaches to suggest that the history of the Jewish refugees in Shanghai should be understood as a global history of the aftermath of the Second World War. From Europe to the China theater, the dissertation sheds light on the deep effects of Western imperialism and persistent Eurocentrism and antisemitism on humanitarian aid and immigration poli (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Robin E. Judd (Advisor); Marion Kaplan (Committee Member); Theodora Dragostinova (Committee Member); Christopher A. Reed (Committee Member) Subjects: American History; Asian Studies; Ethnic Studies; European History; European Studies; Gender; History; History of Oceania; Holocaust Studies; International Relations; Judaic Studies; Minority and Ethnic Groups; Modern History; Pacific Rim Studies; Social Work

MA, University of Cincinnati, 2020, Arts and Sciences: Germanic Languages and Literature

People have been memorializing the Holocaust since before it even ended, taking forms such as that of statues, plaques, entire museums, and numerous others. Many have criticized these ways of remembering the Holocaust, but at the same time plenty others see the good that comes from having these memorials, for the nation of Germany and its citizens, as well as others who visit the memorials as tourists. Looking specifically at the Denkmal fur die ermordeten Juden Europas and the Stolpersteine, this thesis closely examines Holocaust memorials, their history, and how different groups have reacted to them. These groups include politicians, everyday citizens, and also my perspective, as someone who is neither a European nor German citizen and has no personal connection to the Holocaust or its victims. The two memorials, although quite different from one another in nearly every way, are successful in commemorating their respective Holocaust victims and keeping their memory and the memory of the tragic Holocaust alive.

Committee: Tanja Nusser Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Svea Braunert Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Germanic Literature

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2020, Interdisciplinary Arts (Fine Arts)

This dissertation examines the role music plays in performances of religious devotion and the construction of social identity of Lemba and Rusape Jewish communities in Zimbabwe. A study of the musical practices of Lemba Jews reveals a combination of local music styles with Hebrew text to create a new genre of Jewish liturgical music. In contrast, composers of the Rusape Jewish community create new music for worship in the vernacular dialect while similarly incorporating local music practices. This document offers ethnographic reflections and data on the ongoing efforts of both Lemba and Rusape Jewish communities as they continue their efforts to develop new Jewish music as observed during fieldwork conducted in the cities of Harare, Mapakomere, Masvingo and Rusape in 2019. Black Zimbabwean Jewish identity is a component of a complex constellation of characteristics for both Lemba and Rusape Jews and this research explores how members of these communities use this new music to instigate a rejuvenated sense of identity and build bridges to other Jews internationally. There is a sense of great pride and legacy amongst these communities and a desire to establish a connection to the outside Jewish world. Music is an important vessel in which they choose to perform their identity. I ask: how do these Jewish communities use music in the post-Mugabe era to express religious devotion, interact with neighboring ethnic groups, and establish different identities in Zimbabwe's complex political landscape.

Committee: Garrett Field Dr. (Committee Chair); Andrea Frohne Dr. (Committee Member); Richard Wetzel Dr. (Committee Member); Jeffrey Summit Rabbi (Committee Member) Subjects: African Studies; Fine Arts; Judaic Studies; Music

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2019, Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies

From the medieval era to the 1950s, European and Euro-American cultures often accused Jews of “deviant” masculinity—asserting that Jewish men lack penises or even menstruate, while deeming Jewish women “mannish.” These masculine stereotypes reinforced the racial stigma on Jews, who were often deemed nonwhite or not-quite-white “Asiatics,” “Semites,” or “Orientals” until the 1950s. Although (light-skinned) American Jews are usually considered white today, debates linger about where Jews “fit” racially—for example, when the 2017 Charlottesville neo-Nazi rally chanted “Jews will not replace us.” These questions link with ongoing stereotypes of deviant Jewish masculinity, like media images of nebbishy Jewish men or aggressive Jewish women. Yet feminist scholarship on race and masculinity often overlooks Jews by conflating them with white gentiles. And despite the masculine stigmas on Jewish women, studies on Jewish masculinity tend to examine only men. Likewise, Jewish studies rarely analyzes how anti-Semitic ideas about race or masculinity impact Jews of color. These gaps limit analysis of Jews and race even as anti-Semitism regains public attention in the United States and Europe. Millennial Jewish Stars: Masculinity, Racial Ambiguity, and Public Allure fills these gaps by examining six young Jewish stars in the U.S. media: the mixed-race rapper Drake, comedic rapper Lil Dicky, film actors Seth Rogen and Zac Efron, and TV comedy duo Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer. I study how these stars repackage historical notions of Jewish race and masculinity to comment on white male supremacy. In turn, these cultural commentaries fuel each star's appeal. Using a “star studies” methodology, I analyze each star's performances (films, TV shows, music videos, stand-up sets, and podcasts) alongside interviews, social media posts, and publicity materials. I advance Jewish, feminist, queer, and critical race studies by showing that the racial position of American Jews is best studie (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Linda Mizjewski (Advisor); Shannon Winnubst (Committee Member); M. Joseph Ponce (Committee Member); Laura Levitt (Committee Member) Subjects: Film Studies; Gender Studies; Judaic Studies

BA, Oberlin College, 2018, Art

This paper examines the appearance of matzo, the unleavened bread consumed by Jews on Passover, in Spanish medieval manuscripts. Through a close analysis of decoration present in these depictions, this project will answer the following questions: why are matzot embellished in a certain way, where does this decoration come from, and what does this decoration signify? Given the constantly shifting power dynamics and cross-cultural relations in Iberia, I argue that the social and political climate of Iberia influenced how the matzo was viewed and depicted in Haggadot. Furthermore, I emphasize that the decoration of the matzot wafers were not inspired by a single source, but, rather, drew simultaneously from several different kinds of arts that coexisted in the Iberian Peninsula. In addition, I argue that the cultural borrowing and sharing evident in these depictions had a much larger significance, and directly related to the cultural situation which surrounded their creation. In other words, through extensive research presented in this project, I argue that the decorative nature of the matzot holds a cultural significance for Jews, one that addressed and responded to the continuous oppression of Spanish Jewry in the 14th century. Analyzing these images that grew out of this diverse region will ideally provide a better understanding of how Jewish interpretations and depictions of significant objects adapted and adjusted under various parties of influence.

Committee: Erik Inglis (Advisor); Matthew F. Rarey (Committee Chair); Farshid Emami (Committee Member) Subjects: Art History; Judaic Studies; Religious History

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 1998, Graduate School

Committee: Not Provided (Other) Subjects: Literature

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 1982, Graduate School

Committee: Not Provided (Other) Subjects: Education