• Reform Judaism, Reconciliation Romance, and the Civil War:Nathan Mayer's Differences and Nineteenth-Century Reform Jewish American Life
• Karen A. Keely (bio)

Then he folded his arms around her, and kissed her sweet brow."United in love," he said, "notwithstanding former differences.""United forever," she replied.¹

Thus ends Nathan Mayer's 1867 novel Differences, but it could be the conclusion of any number of reconciliation romances published in nineteenth-century America: lovers, one Northern and one Southern, having been divided by "former differences"—a pleasant way to refer to the Civil War—are finally "united forever," as is, presumably, the nation. It is a standard plot…but what happens to this popular story line when these American characters are Jewish? When the "differences" of the title are not just about region but also about religion, about the future of Judaism in America? Nathan Mayer's novel, one of the first works of fiction to depict the contemporary lives of American Jews, employs the popular trope of regional reconciliation romance to explore the connections and tensions between American and Jewish identities at the close of the Civil War, a time when citizenship and identity were open questions for many Americans. Mayer criticizes some aspects of the American Jewish community and indeed deploys the standard antisemitic trope of crassly commercial merchants, while also noting that their social shallowness is echoed by that of the surrounding Gentile community. At the same time, Mayer argues that individuals can and must cultivate a deliberate and proud Jewish American identity for themselves and their families, but that this must be a specifically Reform identity, one that cares more for Jewish continuity than theology or ritual. The novel implicitly argues that, if American Jews can think of Judaism as a religion rather than an ethnicity, such that they are open to conversion while [End Page 265] still firmly maintaining their Whiteness, then the country can live up to the protagonist's name, "Welland."

Most characterizations of Jewish American fiction begin with the socalled ghetto narrative of the late nineteenth-century eastern European immigrants. However, we must push this beginning point back by at least thirty years, to the mid-century arrival of Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise in the United States. Wise, who shaped Reform Judaism in America, came to New York from his native Bohemia in 1846 and was appalled by the lack of culture that he found among American Jews. He claimed that most leaders could not "read unpunctuated Hebrew"—presumably including Torah scrolls—and did not have "the least knowledge of Judaism, its history and literature" and that "ignorance swayed the scepter, and darkness ruled." He was equally appalled at the state of Jewish "modern culture," finding that, aside from the plays of Mordecai Noah—which had no explicit Jewish content—"nothing worthy of note had been accomplished in that quarter." He hoped to remedy this deficiency, and when he settled in Cincinnati in 1854, he almost immediately began writing and publishing The Israelite (later The American Israelite), one of the first Jewish magazines in the United States. The weekly magazine regularly included fiction, for one of Wise's aims was to "familiarize the reading public with the brilliant periods of Jewish history in fictional form, in order to appeal by this means to the growing youth so as to awaken in them Jewish patriotism." His goal was twofold: to Americanize Jews and to simultaneously Judaize them, as it were; he wanted them to be patriotic about both the United States and their Jewish heritage.² The fiction in the magazine was thus historical in theme, often about the Rabbinic period. Wise's own novels, frequently published under the pseudonym "The American Jewish Novelist," were regularly serialized in his magazine and sported titles such as The Last Struggle of the Nation: or, Rabbi Akiba and His Time (1856), The Combat of the People: or, Hillel and Herod: An Historical Romance of the Time of Herod I (1858), and The First of the Maccabees (1860). Wise's periodical, the publication source of most early Jewish American fiction, obviously inclined toward reform, but Wise himself hoped that Judaism would unite across those differences; perhaps fiction...

• 改革犹太教，和解浪漫史和内战：内森·梅耶（Nathan Mayer）的分歧与19世纪的改革犹太美国人生活
• 凯伦·基利（Karen A.Keely）（生物）

然后他双臂抱住她，亲吻她甜美的额头。他说：“尽管有分歧，但他们相爱了。” 她回答：“永远团结。” ^1个

至此，纳森·梅耶（Nathan Mayer）1867年的小说《差异》（Differents）结束了，但这可能是在19世纪美国发表的许多和解史上的结论：恋人，一个北方人和一个南方人，被“以前的分歧”（一种称呼内战的令人愉快的方式）分开了，终于被“永远团结在一起”，大概就是这个国家。这是一个标准的情节...但是当这些美国人物是犹太人时，这个流行的故事情节会发生什么？当标题的“差异”不仅与地区有关，而且与宗教有关时，是否与犹太教在美国的未来有关？内森·梅耶（Nathan Mayer）的小说是描述美国犹太人当代生活的第一部小说作品之一，该小说运用了广为人知的区域和解浪漫话语来探索南北战争结束时美国和犹太身份之间的联系和紧张关系，在这个时代，公民身份和身份对于许多美国人来说是一个开放的问题。梅耶（Mayer）批评了美国犹太人社区的某些方面，并确实部署了残酷的商业商人的标准反犹太主义者，同时还指出周围的外邦人社区也反映出他们的社会肤浅。同时，迈耶认为，个人可以并且必须为自己和家人树立一个刻意而自豪的犹太美国人身份，但这必须是一种特别的改革身份，这种身份更关心犹太人的连续性，而不是神学或仪式。小说隐含地指出，如果美国犹太人可以将犹太教视为一种宗教而不是一种种族，那么他们就可以在宗教信仰转变的同时保持conversion依。梅耶（Mayer）批评了美国犹太人社区的某些方面，并确实部署了残酷的商业商人的标准反犹太主义者，同时还指出周围的外邦人社区也反映出他们的社会肤浅。同时，迈耶认为，个人可以并且必须为自己和家人树立一个刻意而自豪的犹太美国人身份，但这必须是一种特别的改革身份，这种身份更关心犹太人的连续性，而不是神学或仪式。小说隐含地指出，如果美国犹太人可以将犹太教视为一种宗教而不是一种种族，那么他们就可以在宗教信仰转变的同时保持conversion依。梅耶（Mayer）批评了美国犹太人社区的某些方面，并确实部署了残酷的商业商人的标准反犹太主义者，同时还指出周围的外邦人社区也反映出他们的社会肤浅。同时，迈耶认为，个人可以并且必须为自己和家人树立一个刻意而自豪的犹太美国人身份，但这必须是一种特别的改革身份，这种身份更关心犹太人的连续性，而不是神学或仪式。小说隐含地指出，如果美国犹太人可以将犹太教视为一种宗教而不是一种种族，那么他们就可以在宗教信仰转变的同时保持conversion依。同时还指出，他们的社会肤浅与周围的外邦人社区相呼应。同时，迈耶认为，个人可以并且必须为自己和家人树立一个刻意而自豪的犹太美国人身份，但这必须是一种特别的改革身份，这种身份更关心犹太人的连续性，而不是神学或仪式。小说隐含地指出，如果美国犹太人可以将犹太教视为一种宗教而不是一种种族，那么他们就可以在宗教信仰转变的同时保持conversion依。同时还指出，他们的社会肤浅与周围的外邦人社区相呼应。同时，迈耶认为，个人可以并且必须为自己和家人树立一个刻意而自豪的犹太美国人身份，但这必须是一种特别的改革身份，这种身份更关心犹太人的连续性，而不是神学或仪式。小说隐含地指出，如果美国犹太人可以将犹太教视为一种宗教而不是一种种族，那么他们就可以在宗教信仰转变的同时保持conversion依。[结束第265页]仍然坚定地保持自己的白度，那么该国可以辜负主角的名字“ Welland”。

美国犹太人小说的大多数特征都始于19世纪晚期东欧移民的所谓的贫民窟叙述。但是，我们必须将此起点至少推迟三十年，直到拉比·艾萨克·梅耶·怀斯（Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise）进入本世纪中叶为止。怀斯（Wise）塑造了美国的“改革犹太教”，于1846年从他的家乡波西米亚来到纽约，他在美国犹太人中发现缺乏文化，对此感到震惊。他声称大多数领导人无法“读懂标点符号的希伯来语”（大概包括摩西五经卷），并且“对犹太教，其历史和文学知识不甚了解”，并且“无知左右了权杖，黑暗统治了”。他同样对犹太人的“现代文化”状态感到震惊，发现，除了末底改挪亚的剧本（没有明显的犹太人内容）外，“在那一刻没有任何值得一提的成就。” 他希望弥补这一不足，1854年在辛辛那提定居时，他几乎立即开始写作和出版。以色列人（后来的美国以色列人），美国最早的犹太杂志之一。每周杂志定期包括小说，因为Wise的目的之一是“使读者以虚构的形式了解犹太历史的辉煌时期，以便以此方式吸引正在成长的青年，以唤醒犹太人的爱国主义。 ” 他的目标是双重的：使犹太人美国人化并同时将他们犹太化；他希望他们对美国及其犹太遗产既爱国。^2个因此，该杂志中的小说是具有历史意义的主题，通常是关于拉比时代的。怀斯自己的小说经常以化名“美国犹太小说家”出版，并定期在他的杂志上连载，并使用诸如《最后的民族斗争》或《拉比·阿基巴及其时代》（1856年），《人民的战斗》等体育小说作为标题。：或者，希勒尔和希律：《希律一世的历史浪漫史》（1858年）和《第一只马加比》（1860年）。怀斯（Wise）的期刊，是美国早期犹太小说的出版地，显然倾向于改革，但怀斯本人希望犹太教能够团结起来解决这些分歧。也许是小说...