Over the course of American history, Jews have held many
American leaders in high esteem, but they maintain a unique
emotional bond with Abraham Lincoln. From the time of his
presidency to the present day, American Jews have persistently
viewed Lincoln as one of their own, casting him as a Jewish
sojourner and, in certain respects, a Jewish role model. This
pioneering compendium-- The first volume of annotated documents to
focus on the history of Lincoln's image, influence, and reputation
among American Jews-- considers how Lincoln acquired his
exceptional status and how, over the past century and a half, this
fascinating relationship has evolved.
Organized into twelve chronological and thematic chapters, these
little-known primary source documents--many never before published
and some translated into English for the first time--consist of
newspaper clippings, journal articles, letters, poems, and sermons,
and provide insight into a wide variety of issues relating to
Lincoln's Jewish connection. Topics include Lincoln's early
encounters with Central European Jewish immigrants living in the
Old Northwest; Lincoln's Jewish political allies; his encounters
with Jews and the Jewish community as President; Lincoln's response
to the Jewish chaplain controversy; General U. S. Grant's General
Orders No. 11 expelling "Jews, as a class" from the Military
Department of Tennessee; the question of amending the U.S.
Constitution to legislate the country's so-called Christian
national character; and Jewish eulogies after Lincoln's
assassination. Other chapters consider the crisis of conscience
that arose when President Andrew Johnson proclaimed a national day
of mourning for Lincoln on the festival of "Shavuot "(the Feast of
Weeks), a day when Jewish law enjoins Jews to rejoice and not to
mourn; Lincoln's Jewish detractors contrasted to his boosters; how
American Jews have intentionally "Judaized" Lincoln ever since his
death; the leading role that American Jews have played in in
crafting Lincoln's image and in preserving his memory for the
American nation; American Jewish reflections on the question "What
Would Lincoln Do?"; and how Lincoln, for America's Jewish
citizenry, became the avatar of America's highest moral
aspirations.
With thoughtful chapter introductions that provide readers with
a context for the annotated documents that follow, this volume
provides a fascinating chronicle of American Jewry's unfolding
historical encounter with the life and symbolic image of Abraham
Lincoln, shedding light on how the cultural interchange between
American ideals and Jewish traditions influences the dynamics of
the American Jewish experience.
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