Jewish History scholars have written reams of books and articles about American Jews and Jewish communities. Their histories explore diverse topics—waves of Jewish immigration, the varieties of Judaism as a religion, places where Jews lived, and even Jewish foodways. Past chair of the Academic Council of the American Jewish Historical Society, Pamela Nadell, is a leading scholar in this field. She has written about East European Jewish immigrants’ journey to America, the religious movement Conservative Judaism, women becoming rabbis, American Jewish women’s history, and antisemitism in the US.
In her op-ed in the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Historian Pamela Nadell, author of Antisemitism, an American Tradition, shares a stark warning: Cuts to the NEH’s Public Scholars program risk silencing essential stories — from 16th-century Jewish life in colonial Mexico to 1930s Hollywood spy rings — that help us confront the rise of antisemitism and understand America’s diverse past.