Forward.com

Imperfect Idyll: Remembering A Vacation That Made HistoryMany of us tend to think of our vacation as an inalienable right, up there with life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. But history suggests otherwise, making it abundantly clear that the vacation is a social institution much like any other, subject to bias and prejudice, nastiness and ill will. The site of unfettered expression — of release — turns out to be the site of multiple constraints as well.…Read more

Giving Galveston Its Day in the SunOf all the current national issues that seem to vex us a lot, immigration is surely at or close to the top of the list. Some Americans extend a welcome hand to those who would like to call the United States their home; others turn their backs on them, and still others talk incessantly about boundaries and fences, driver’s licenses, Social Security and workers’ visas. In each instance, what’s most striking is the constancy of the discussion: Immigration has long been a hotly contested issue. Over the years, for every American who spoke lyrically of the potential that would accrue were the nation to welcome immigration, an equal number warned darkly of its consequences.…Read more

Home for the Holidays… Or NotI sometimes wonder what historians of the 22nd century might make of American Jewry of the 21st, especially when it comes to the ways in which the latter has chosen to mark the festival of Passover. Take, for instance, holiday-related advertisements, a wonderful source of social history. Where once ads for gefilte fish, horseradish and matzo held pride of place, suggesting that American Jews routinely celebrated a Seder at home, these days, advertisements for the Ritz-Carlton and the Hyatt Regency Bonaventure dominate instead, suggesting that large numbers of American Jews much prefer to celebrate a Seder-by-the-sea.…Read more

Bingo’s Sacred HistoryWhen it comes to raising money, we have all sorts of sophisticated devices at our disposal: market research, parlor meetings, silent auctions, lavish dinners with celebrated speakers and a “development” staff at the ready. Earlier generations had the Yom Kippur Appeal and bingo.…Read more

A New Life for ‘Lifelong Learning’American Jews are often taken to task for their sins, for their indulgent appetites, dwindling attendance at synagogue and the rising rate of intermarriages. But look again. Here, there and everywhere throughout the nation, American Jews are burying their noses in books and burning the midnight oil: Adult education or, as its current iteration would have it, “lifelong learning,” is sweeping the community. In what has got to be one of the most startling — and successful — cultural initiatives in quite some time, American Jewish grownups in droves are taking classes in the Torah and the Talmud, medieval Jewish history and Israeli affairs.…Read more