From Talking Softly To Carrying A Big Shtick

Each of these elements of tension in Jewish life, though differently motivated, contain a gendered element that focuses on the male as the model of a successful immigrant, making American hegemonic masculinity the highest goal of Americanization. Antisemitism in American history has been similarly gendered, using the success (or lack thereof) of Jewish men to become American as motivation for discrimination. The persistent depiction of Jewish men as somehow outside of the masculine hegemon has been, until now, a largely unrecognized phenomenon in the history of Jewish American life. This study attempts to bring the issue of Jewish masculinity and the struggles surrounding it into the field of Jewish history, where it can help scholars better understand the history and journey of Jewish American life.