\nAmerican Jewish Historical Society and the Center for Jewish History are proud
\nto highlight the AJHS Counter Culture Collections<\/a>, a set
\nof over 170 linear feet of 25 smaller collections documenting Jewish involvement
\nin left politics, the Jewish Renewal movement, the Peace movement, and Jewish
\nstudent activism in the 20th<\/sup> century. \u00a0Materials in the Counter Culture Collection
\ndate as early as anti-war activism in the 1940s to the explosion of
\ncounter-cultural output during the 1960s and 1970s to the contemporary
\nsuccessor organizations of the counter cultural movement.<\/p>\n
The Cover <\/i>\u00a0<\/p>\n AJHS also holds the records of an early founder Virginia Snitow lights candles on Israel Jewish Cover of \u201cAn Abbreviated History of Jews In addition to being Flier Waskow was also a member of Breira<\/a>, founded in 1973 and one of the first Jewish “We’ve Students and other young people were influential Cover of \u201cJewish Student Review,\u201d November Other collections at AJHS focused on Counter Culture include the Jewish Also materials in these collections focus on a number of issues often All these collections are open for public use in the Lillian Goldman Reading By Nicole Greenhouse, Archivist The American Jewish Historical Society and the Center for Jewish History are proud to highlight the AJHS Counter Culture Collections, a set of over 170 linear feet of 25 smaller collections documenting Jewish involvement in left politics, the Jewish Renewal movement, the Peace movement, and Jewish student activism in the 20th century. \u00a0Materials in the Counter Culture Collection date as…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[74,19,111,9,110,112,113],"class_list":["post-1256","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog-post","tag-ajhs","tag-archives","tag-counter-culture","tag-jewish-history","tag-politics","tag-protest","tag-resist"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.cjh.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1256","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.cjh.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.cjh.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cjh.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cjh.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1256"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cjh.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1256\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.cjh.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1256"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cjh.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1256"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cjh.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1256"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nearliest materials in Counter Culture Collection focus on Jewish activism
\ncombating war. In 1941, the Jewish Peace Fellowship<\/a>
\nwas founded to support Jewish conscientious objectors in World War II. Over
\ntime, the Jewish Peace Fellowship also supported objectors during Vietnam War and wars in the Middle East up
\nuntil the present day. <\/p>\n![\"image\"](\"https:\/\/78.media.tumblr.com\/f029793558c7920768f28081330f31ab\/tumblr_inline_or8rt1zKqg1r0yq0k_540.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n
\nof of \u201cJPF Tidings\u201d, Fall 1956; Jewish Peace Fellowship Records; I-189; Box 25,
\nFolder 9<\/i><\/a>; American Jewish Historical Society.<\/i><\/p>\n
\nof the Jewish Peace Fellowship, Arthur
\nLelyveld<\/a>, who was an activist
\nrabbi in Omaha and Ohio. He was most known for his civil rights activities, as
\nwell as his work for the American Jewish Congress (AJC). AJC also had other
\nactivist members, including Virginia
\nSnitow<\/a>, who fought for equal
\nrights for women and was an outspoken opponent on issues of racial inequality, the
\nVietnam War, and nuclear power.<\/p>\n![\"image\"](\"https:\/\/78.media.tumblr.com\/09ef91edce0fb26cf06d7bf3a43880c1\/tumblr_inline_or8rxs2Obp1r0yq0k_540.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n
\nBirthday cake at Convention Banquet, with Rabbi Arthur Lelyveld, Shad Polier,
\nMichael S. Comay, and Theodore Bikel; American Jewish Congress Records; I-77;
\nBox 745; Folder 31; American Jewish Historical Society.<\/i><\/p>\n
\nsolidarity with people of color during the Civil Rights movement also appears
\nthroughout the collections, especially in Jews for Urban Justice
\nRecords<\/a>, an organization formed in 1966 in Washington DC,
\nto end discriminatory practices within the Jewish community.\u00a0 Jews for Urban Justice was also a sponsor of
\nthe first Freedom Seder in 1969, written by Arthur Waskow<\/a>,
\nan interfaith event held on the
\nfirst anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.\u2019s death.<\/p>\n![\"image\"](\"https:\/\/78.media.tumblr.com\/f9dff74785ccdf6d85540def6a5f16ba\/tumblr_inline_or8rzahceG1r0yq0k_540.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n
\nfor Urban Justice\u201d; Jews for Urban Justice (Washington, D.C.) Records; I-159;
\nBox 1; Folder 7; American Jewish Historical Society.<\/i><\/p>\n
\ninvolved in the political aspects of the Counter Culture movement, Jews also began to focus on anti-establishment
\nand alternative practices in Judaism. Waskow
\nand other rabbis, like Goldie
\nMilgram<\/a>, were leaders in the
\nJewish Renewal movement, which featured nontraditional aspects of
\nJudaism\u2014mysticism and egalitarianism. Havurah were also a significant aspect of
\nthe Jewish Renewal movement; both Shira
\nEve Epstein<\/a> and Riv-Ellen
\nPrell<\/a> studied Jewish
\ncommunes and prayer groups that identified as havurot.<\/p>\n![\"image\"](\"https:\/\/78.media.tumblr.com\/216ae2d42f5ca4377db89b132109701b\/tumblr_inline_or8s0er9Jo1r0yq0k_540.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n
\nfor Beit Havurah Legal Defense Fund Benefit; <\/i>Riv-Ellen Prell Papers;
\nP-795; <\/i>Box 1; Folder 6; <\/i>American Jewish
\nHistorical Society.<\/i><\/p>\n
\norganizations to advocate for a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine.
\nAlthough Breira was short lived, it led to the establishment of other Jewish
\norganizations that worked toward a two-state solution, including both the New
\nJewish Agenda<\/a> and Brit
\nTzedek v’Shalom<\/a>. Both
\nBreira and the New Jewish Agenda were co-founded by Gerald
\nSerotta<\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"image\"](\"https:\/\/78.media.tumblr.com\/3c3c93d281e02288e7995491531f5675\/tumblr_inline_or8s7eD6Cn1r0yq0k_540.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n
\nGot Your Back, Mr. President: A Pledge to Support for President Obama’s Pursuit
\nof Israeli Palestinian Peace\u201d Postcard, 2008; <\/i>Brit Tzedek
\nv’Shalom\/Jewish Alliance for Justice and Peace Records; I-587; <\/i>Box
\n10; Folder 13; <\/i>American Jewish
\nHistorical Society.<\/i><\/p>\n
\nin pushing for progressive change in the Jewish establishment. In 1969, a group
\nof students organized a series of disruptions at the Council of Jewish
\nFederations and Welfare Fund’s General Assembly. Out of these demonstrations
\ngrew the North American Jewish Students Appeal<\/a>, an umbrella organization made up of student
\norganizations on college campuses. Member groups like <\/b>the
\nNorth American Jewish Students Network, Progressive Zionist Caucus, Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry, and Lights
\nin Action<\/a> aimed to promote Jewish life on college
\ncampuses, often through activism. Student organizations were also prolific
\npublishers, in addition to NAJSA\u2019s Jewish
\nStudent Press Service<\/a>\u2019s publishing
\nefforts, AJHS also holds hundreds of other student publications in their Jewish
\nStudent Organizations Collection<\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"image\"](\"https:\/\/78.media.tumblr.com\/cdbda88664b316c3be317665dac7a0dd\/tumblr_inline_or8shsB9N71r0yq0k_540.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n
\n1970; Jewish Student Organizations Collection; I-61; Box 27; Folder 1; American
\nJewish Historical Society.<\/i><\/p>\n
\nLabor Committee Records<\/a>, Vermont
\nChapter of the New Jewish Agenda Records<\/a>, Trees and Life for Vietnam Records<\/a>, Leonard
\nFein Papers<\/a>, Ruth
\nAbusch-Magder Papers<\/a>, Jack
\nJacobs Papers<\/a>, Jack
\nNusan Porter Papers<\/a>, and the
\ngeneral Jewish Counter Culture Collection<\/a>. <\/p>\n
\nassociated with the Left, such as feminism, nuclear disarmament,
\nenvironmentalism, LGBT rights, global peace, workers rights, racial inequality,
\nand criticism of Israeli policy.\u00a0\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\nRoom, come visit the Center for Jewish History to study these records from our partner the American Jewish Historical Society.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"