Jewish American Heritage Month
May is Jewish American Heritage Month (JAHM), which recognizes more than 350-year history of Jewish contributions to American history and culture. It was officially established by President George W. Bush in 2006.
This guide will provide you with a variety of resources that will allow you to learn more about the different aspects of the lives of Jewish Americans over the centuries.
American Jews, who for the most part were of Eastern European ancestry, incorporated into their cuisine many foods and dishes that were traditionally cooked and treasured by their ancestors. I Modern times American Jews also incorporate into their cuisine traditional Jewish foods from other parts of the world.
As many Jews keep a Kosher Kitchen (these are ritually correct dietary practices - for example, meat products may not be eaten together with milk products but have each to be eaten separately with strictly designated time spans between them) you will find that many of the recipes follow these dietary practices.
Below are a few links to Jewish website that will provide you with recipes ( and some times also video tutorials) on how to prepare Jewish food:
- Moments Top Ten Jewish-American FoodsMoment Magazine's editors put their tastebuds to work to come up with a list of their ten most favorite Jewish-American foods. We’re willing to bet you eat them more often than apple pie.
- My Jewish LearningLook at the EAT Category - Jewish Recipes - It provides 84 pages of Jewish traditional recipes along with cooking video clips
- List of Popular Jewish Foods You Should Know AboutIf you have visited a Jewish household, you may have encountered traditional Jewish food that is special to that family, but new to you. This is a basic guide to some of the Jewish foods you might see, and to terminology.
Jewish Music is typified by cultural diversity and draws upon the resources of the many cultures in which Jewish people have lived. The uniqueness of Jewish Music is to be found in the way Jewish musicians have integrated outer influences and new ideas into their traditional framework. Thus Jewish Music is innovative, vibrant, adaptive, and many-sided, and yet rests upon a firm foundation of shared religious and communal experience.
- Jewish Music: An OverviewThis article provides an extensive overview of the different types of Jewish music
The Anti-Defamation League is an organization that has been fighting antisemitism and educating the public about it for decades. Antisemitism in American History is a well-written historical overview of the development of Antisemitism in America. The discussion begins with the first Jews arriving in America in 1654 and continues to show the growth and development of Antisemitism to today. "During the Civil War, for example, anti-Jewish intolerance increased dramatically on both sides, with both the Union and Confederacy making baseless accusations that Jews aided the opposing side."
- American Jewish ArchivesEstablished in 1947, the American Jewish Archives collects, preserves, and makes available for research, materials on the history of Jews and Jewish communities in the Western Hemisphere, including data of a political, economic, social, cultural, and religious nature.
- American Jewish Historical SocietyEstablished in 1892, the mission of the American Jewish Historical Society (AJHS) is to foster awareness and appreciation of American Jewish heritage and to serve as a national scholarly resource for research through the collection, preservation and dissemination of materials relating to American Jewish history. The AJHS illuminates American Jewish history through its many archival treasures, scholarship, exhibitions, and public programs. Among the treasures of this heritage are the handwritten original of Emma Lazarus’ The New Colossus, which graces the Statue of Liberty; records of the nation’s leading Jewish communal organizations, and important collections in the fields of education, philanthropy, science, sports, business, and the arts.
- Center for Jewish HistoryA collaboration of five institutions: The American Jewish Historical Society, The American Sephardi Federation, The Leo Baeck Institute, Yeshiva University Museum, and the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research.
- Jewish Women's ArchiveThe Jewish Women's Archive is devoted to making known the stories, struggles, and achievements of Jewish women in North America in order to enrich the way we understand the past and to ensure a more inclusive future.
- Museum of Jewish HeritageThe mission of this museum is to educate people of all ages and backgrounds about the broad tapestry of Jewish life in the 20th and 21st centuries—before, during, and after the Holocaust.
Streaming Films
The Jews of Chicago by Call Number: Chicago Collection F548.9.J5 C87 1996ISBN: 0252021851Publication Date: 1996-01-01
Jewish Chicago by Call Number: Reference F548.9.J5 C88 2000ISBN: 0738501301Publication Date: 2000-06-20
Chicago's Jewish West Side by Call Number: F548.9.J5 C86 2009ISBN: 9780738560151Publication Date: 2009-10-26
Gangsters and Organized Crime in Jewish Chicago by Call Number: HV6194.J4 G37 2013ISBN: 9781626191938Publication Date: 2013-11-19
The Soup Has Many Eyes by Call Number: F548.9.J5 L46 2000ISBN: 0553801597Publication Date: 2000-02-29
Emma Lazarus: Selected Poems by Call Number: PS2233.A4 H65 2005ISBN: 1931082774Publication Date: 2005-04-07
Jewish American Poetry by Call Number: PS591 .J4 J42 2000ISBN: 1584650427Publication Date: 2000-07-01
Color Me In by
Fifteen-year-old Nevaeh Levitz is torn between two worlds, passing for white while living in Harlem, being called Jewish while attending her mother's Baptist church, and experiencing first love while watching her parents' marriage crumble.
Call Number: Curriculum Collection PZ7.1.D499 Col 2019ISBN: 9780525578239Publication Date: 2019-08-20
Extraordinary Jewish Americans by
Presents short biographies of more than sixty Jewish Americans who have flourished in careers including law, finance, entertainment, writing, politics, and science.
Call Number: Curriculum Collection E184.J5 B7429 1998ISBN: 0516206095Publication Date: 1998-03-01
Gittel's Journey by
"Brings to life a not too distant history of immigration to Ellis Island. When it's time for nine-year-old Gittel and her mother to leave their homeland behind and go to America for the promise of a new life, a health inspection stops any chance of Gittel's mother joining her daughter on the voyage. Knowing she may never see her mother again, Gittel must find the courage within herself to leave her family behind"
Call Number: Curriculum Collection PZ7.N47988 Gi 2019ISBN: 9781419727474Publication Date: 2019-02-05
Is It Night or Day? by
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In 1938, Edith Westerfeld, a young German Jew, is sent by her parents to Chicago, Illinois, where she lives with an aunt and uncle and tries to assimilate into American culture, while worrying about her parents and mourning the loss of everything she has ever known. Based on the author's mother's experience, includes an afterword about a little-known program that brought twelve hundred Jewish children to safety during World War II.
Call Number: Curriculum Collection PZ7.C3667 Is 2010ISBN: 9780374177447Publication Date: 2010-03-16
The Jews by Call Number: Curriculum Collection E184.35 .H67 2000ISBN: 0778702014Publication Date: 2000-03-15
Jews in America by
Examines the migration and background of those Jews who came to America, their adaptations to their new life, the rituals, traditions, and organizations of Jewish Americans, and their contemporary situation.
Call Number: Curriculum Collection E184.J5 D4929 1999ISBN: 0195106784Publication Date: 1999-01-07
Lily Renée, Escape Artist by Call Number: Curriculum Collection DS134.42.R46 R63 2011ISBN: 9780761360100Publication Date: 2011-01-11
Three Stars in the Night Sky by
At the age of 12, Gerda Katz fled Nazi Germany and came to America all by herself. Decades before the label gained recognition, she become whats now know as an "unaccompanied minor." Gerda's story of family separation reflects the dislocating trauma, culture shock, and excruciating loneliness many unaccompanied minor immigrants experience. As Gerda becomes an American, she never stops longing to be reunited with her family. Three Stars in the Night Sky illuminates the personal damage of racism in three countries--Nazi Germany, the Dominican Republic, and the United States during the 1930s and 40s--and the emotional devastation of a child coming to a new country alone.
Call Number: Curriculum Collection PZ7.C3667 Thr 2018ISBN: 9780996472548Publication Date: 2018-06-20
A Place at the Table by
A timely, accessible, and beautifully written story exploring themes of food, friendship, family and what it means to belong, featuring sixth graders Sara, a Pakistani American, and Elizabeth, a white, Jewish girl taking a South Asian cooking class taught by Sara's mom. Sixth graders Sara and Elizabeth could not be more different. Sara is at a new school that is completely unlike the small Islamic school she used to attend. Elizabeth has her own problems: her British mum has been struggling with depression. The girls meet in an after-school South Asian cooking class, which Elizabeth takes because her mom has stopped cooking, and which Sara, who hates to cook, is forced to attend because her mother is the teacher. The girls form a shaky alliance that gradually deepens, and they make plans to create the most amazing, mouth-watering cross-cultural dish together and win a spot on a local food show. They make good cooking partners... but can they learn to trust each other enough to become true friends?
Call Number: Curriculum Collection (6th Floor) ; PZ7.1.F373 Pl 2020ISBN: 9780358116684Publication Date: 2020-08-11
- American Jewish ArchivesEstablished in 1947, the American Jewish Archives collects, preserves, and makes available for research, materials on the history of Jews and Jewish communities in the Western Hemisphere, including data of a political, economic, social, cultural, and religious nature.
- American Jewish Historical SocietyEstablished in 1892, the mission of the American Jewish Historical Society (AJHS) is to foster awareness and appreciation of American Jewish heritage and to serve as a national scholarly resource for research through the collection, preservation and dissemination of materials relating to American Jewish history. The AJHS illuminates American Jewish history through its many archival treasures, scholarship, exhibitions, and public programs. Among the treasures of this heritage are the handwritten original of Emma Lazarus’ The New Colossus, which graces the Statue of Liberty; records of the nation’s leading Jewish communal organizations, and important collections in the fields of education, philanthropy, science, sports, business, and the arts.
- Center for Jewish HistoryA collaboration of five institutions: The American Jewish Historical Society, The American Sephardi Federation, The Leo Baeck Institute, Yeshiva University Museum, and the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research.
- Jewish Women's ArchiveThe Jewish Women's Archive is devoted to making known the stories, struggles, and achievements of Jewish women in North America in order to enrich the way we understand the past and to ensure a more inclusive future.
- Museum of Jewish HeritageThe mission of this museum is to educate people of all ages and backgrounds about the broad tapestry of Jewish life in the 20th and 21st centuries—before, during, and after the Holocaust.