In the decades after World War II, American Jewish leaders debated how to preserve and produce what they considered authentic Jewish culture, fearful that growing affluence and suburbanization threatened the future of Jewish life. They pinned their hopes on residential summer camps for Jewish youth, which remain a significant influence in Jewish life today. New York University professor Sandra Fox will discuss her new book The Jews of Summer: Summer Camp and Jewish Culture in Postwar America (Stanford University Press, 2023), a finalist for the National Jewish Book Award in the category of American Jewish studies. Free and open to the public, the talk is presented by the Allen and Joan Bildner Center for the Study of Jewish Life at Rutgers University. It will be held at the Douglass Student Center, 100 George Street, New Brunswick. Advance registration is required here.
