Judaism Unbound Episode 413: Jews Across the Americas – Adriana Brodsky, Laura Leibman
Laura Leibman is an award-winning author and scholar of religion in the early Americas and currently serves as the William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of English and Humanities at Reed College in Portland, Oregon. Adriana Brodsky is an award-winning author and scholar of Sephardic Jews in Argentina and currently serves as Professor of History at St. Mary’s College of Maryland. The two thinkers join Lex Rofeberg and Dan Libenson for a conversation about their newly-published book, Jews Across the Americas: A Sourcebook, 1492–Present.
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[1] Read Brodsky and Leibman’s full biographies here.
[2] You can buy Brodsky and Leibman’s 2023 publication, Jews Across the Americas: A Sourcebook, 1492–Present, here. And be sure to check out the book’s companion website featuring extra resources, educational materials, a student hub, and more.
[3] Throughout this episode, the terms “Ashkenazi,” “Sephardi,” and “Mizrahi” are repeatedly used. See below for definitions:
Ashkenazi (adj.); Ashkenazim (n. pl.): referring to Jews of Eastern European descent
Sephardi (adj.); Sephardim (n. pl.): referring to Jews of Spanish and Portuguese descent
Mizrahi (adj.); Mizrahim (n. pl.): referring to Jews of Middle Eastern and North African descent
[4] Lex calls to mind a story from this episode with David Wilensky, Episode 388: Conversion to Judaism… But You’re Already Jewish – David A.M. Wilensky, who tells of visiting two synagogues in the Caribbean whose histories trace back farther than the oldest synagogue buildings in the United States.
[5] At one point in the episode, Adriana refers to “Ladino,” a Judaeo-Spanish language originally spoken by Jews in Spain and later spread throughout the diaspora.
[6] We’ve had quite a few of the contributors to Jews Across the Americas as guests on our podcast. See below for all of our collaborations with writers from Leibman and Brodsky’s book.
Jonathan Sarna in Episode 11: American Judaism
Dianne Ashton in Episode 43: Hanukkah in America
Noam Sienna in Episode 170: Queering the Jewish Bookshelf
Judah Cohen (in collaboration with the Museum of American Jewish History) in Sheyndele the Cantor/Sheyndele di Chazante and Irving Berlin
Susannah Heschel (alongside Tarek el-Ariss in our 2021 ShavuotLIVE learn-athon) in Arabs and Jews as Freudian Subjects
