What does it mean to be Jewish in America? For some it is the observance of particular high holy days, while for others it is much more of a cultural identity than a religious one.
Scholar and writer Judith Ruderman has spent a lot of time thinking about this question, and in her new book she turns to literature for an answer. Ruderman interrogates the strategies Jews have used throughout history to 鈥減ass.鈥� From exploring the role of nose jobs and name changes to the battle of assimilation versus cultural appropriation, she reveals the complexity of Jewish American identity at a time when attacks against Jews are on the rise. Host Frank Stasio talks with Ruderman, former vice provost and adjunct professor at Duke University, about the research behind 鈥溾�� (Indiana University Press/2019).
