Still Jewish: A History of Women and Intermarriage in America

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0814757308 ISBN 13: 9780814757307

Publisher: NYU Press, 2009

Over the last century, American Jews married outside their religion at increasing rates. By closely examining the intersection of intermarriage and gender across the twentieth century, Keren R. McGinity describes the lives of Jewish women who intermarried while placing their decisions in historical context. The first comprehensive history of these intermarried women, Still Jewish is a multigenerational study combining in-depth personal interviews and an astute analysis of how interfaith relationships and intermarriage were portrayed in the mass media, advice manuals, and religious community-generated literature.

Still Jewish dismantles assumptions that once a Jew intermarries, she becomes fully assimilated into the majority Christian population, religion, and culture. Rather than becoming “lost” to the Jewish community, women who intermarried later in the century were more likely to raise their children with strong ties to Judaism than women who intermarried earlier in the century. Bringing perennially controversial questions of Jewish identity, continuity, and survival to the forefront of the discussion, Still Jewish addresses topics of great resonance in a diverse America.

About the Author:

Keren R. McGinity, Ph.D. is Associate Research Scientist at the Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies at Brandeis University, Scholar-in-Residence at the Hadassah-Brandeis Institute, and Visiting Scholar at the University of Michigan’s Frankel Center for Judaic Studies.

Review:

“C. Wright Mills used the term “sociological imagination” to describe the insight a person has who “understand[s] the larger historical scene in terms of its meaning for the inner life and external career of a variety of individuals.” In this regard McGinity’s book reveals her own strong sociological imagination.”-American Jewish History

“Great poignancy.”
-Moment Magazine

“McGinity’s work makes clear the need for further study of intermarriage including experiences of Jewish men; comparisons of intermarried and in-married Jewish women; consideration of same-sex intermarriages; and, finally, larger sociological studies of contemporary women.”
-Lilith

“In [McGinity’s] new book Still Jewish, she traces the attitudes of intermarried women toward Judaism throughout the 20th century.”
-Forward.com

"McGinity creatively uses gender as a category of analysis...her approach is novel."-Journal of American Ethnic History

"This book is well written and will hold a special appeal for those who are interested in historical narrative as a means of analyzing intermarriage in general and how this impacts on American Jewish women in particular."-INTAMS

"If you thought there was nothing new to say about Jews and intermarriage, think again. McGinity’s well-researched study focuses on American Jewish women who intermarried during the twentieth century and demonstrates that many of them not only remained Jewish but, paradoxically, became more Jewish, perhaps in response to the challenge of having a non-Jewish spouse. An invaluable addition to the scant scholarly literature on intermarriage, this volume shows that in intermarriage, as in so much else, gender matters."
-Jonathan D. Sarna,author of American Judaism: A History

"McGinity's story has great poignancy. Still Jewish demonstrates how, from insular beginnings surrounded by anti-Semitism to a world of inevitable intermarriage, Jewish women with gentile partners negotiated a new way to be Jewish in America."
-Moment

“Still Jewish is a fascinating read for those interested in Jewish history or women’s history as well as for those concerned about the future of the Jewish community.”
-Jerusalem Post

“Historian McGinity (Brown) makes an effort to evoke new perspectives on the intermarriage of US Jewish women during the 20th century.The author offers a brief candid assessment of her own experience, which seems contrary to accepted views that marrying “out” is a prescription for diminished religious and social identity, leading to assimilation.”
-CHOICE