Cover; Contents; Acknowledgments; Introduction: Sara F.'s Kosher Pork; Note on Transliteration; 1. Antireligious Propaganda and the Transformation of JewishInstitutions and Traditions; 2. From Illiteracy to Worker Correspondents: Soviet YiddishAmateur Writing; 3. Amateur Local Yiddish Theaters; 4. Soviet Yiddish Songs as a Mirror of Jewish Identity; 5. Soviet in Form, National in Content: Russian Jewish PopularCulture; Conclusion; Notes; Bibliography; Index
Summary
Anna Shternshis's fascinating study traces the creation of a Soviet Jewish identity that disassociated Jewishness from Judaism. The cultural transformation of Soviet Jews between 1917 and 1941 was one of the most ambitious experiments in social engineering in the past century. During this period, Russian Jews went from relative isolation to being highly integrated into the new Soviet culture and society, while retaining a strong ethnic and cultural identity. This identity took shape during the 1920s and 1930s, when the government attempted to create a new Jewish culture, ''national in form'' a