Kesher Talk

Jews in odd places: the California Gold Rush: Among the waves of risk-takers flooding the Sierra foothills in the late 1840s and early '50s were masses of Jews from Germany willing to brave a rough-hewn life in order to stake their claim, pan for gold and hit the big time.

"Much of (this California history) is omitted from most of what you'd call general history books of Jewish history, which really means New York Jews, " says Marc Dollinger, who holds the Richard and Rhoda Goldman endowed chair in Jewish Studies and Social Responsibility at San Francisco State University. Dollinger and Ava F. Khan, a historian of western Jewish life who has served as a visiting professor of history at UC Berkeley and UC Davis, have edited a large-format book, California Jews (Brandeis University Press; $34. 95), which spotlights some of this hidden history.

The book's 15 essays highlight other lesser-known aspects of Jewish history as well: the influence of women; the lives of ordinary people; the efforts to help the Japanese interned during World War II; and the denial by Jews of the Israel expatriates who settled in Southern California.

posted by William @ 12/31/2003 08:29:00 AM