Steven R. Weisman

“Weisman’s meticulously researched and fluently argued book is a compelling story of a glorious past. It is also a guide to the foreseeable future. The chosen wars rage on, but now, at least, we have a manual to help us fight them more mindfully.”—The Wall Street Journal The Chosen Wars is the important story of how Judaism enhanced America and how America inspired Judaism. Steven R. Weisman tells the dramatic history of how Judaism redefined itself in America in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries—the personalities that fought each other and shaped its evolution and, crucially, the force of the American dynamic that transformed an ancient religion. The struggles that produced a redefinition of Judaism illuminate the larger American experience and the efforts by all Americans to reconcile their faith with modern demands. The narrative begins with the arrival of the first Jews in New Amsterdam and plays out over the nineteenth century as a massive immigration takes place at the dawn of the twentieth century. First there was the practical matter of earning a living. Many immigrants had to work on the Sabbath or traveled as peddlers to places where they could not keep kosher. Doctrine was put aside or adjusted. To take their places as equals, American Jews rejected their identity as a separate nation within America. Judaism became an American religion. These profound changes did not come without argument. The Chosen Wars tells the stories of the colorful rabbis and activists, including women, who defined American Judaism and whose disputes divided it into the Reform, Conservative, and Orthodox branches that remain today. Isaac Mayer Wise, Mordecai Noah, David Einhorn, Rebecca Gratz, and Isaac Lesser are some of the major figures in this wonderful story.

How Judaism Became an American Religion

The Chosen Wars

Arvind Subramanian

Euijin Jung

This PIIE Briefing published by the Peterson Institute for International Economics traces the complex economic relationship between India and the rest of the world, focusing on the United States. The various chapters, by leading experts, emphasize the contrast between political ties between Washington and New Delhi, which have steadily improved since the 1980s, culminating in the landmark nuclear agreement in 2005, and economic ties, which have lagged despite intensive negotiations and pledges of cooperation. The current moment of uncertainty and turbulence may not seem to be the time for a new collaborative chapter in this frequently contentious economic relationship. But the authors argue instead that a crisis can compel leaders of both countries to rethink their failed policies and expand, not reduce, their economic cooperation. By examining the record of international economic policies in the world’s two most populous democracies, this volume can illuminate a path forward. There are no illusions in these essays about the costs and obstacles. Their assumption is that learning the lessons of the past can guide the way for progress in the future.

Steven R. Weisman

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