In celebration of Jewish American Heritage Month, authors Richard Kreitner (Fear No Pharaoh: American Jews, the Civil War, and the Fight to End Slavery) and Shari Rabin (The Jewish South: An American History) discuss their new books on the broader Jewish experience from the Revolutionary era to the Civil War, how American Jews reckoned with slavery, Jewish participation in the Civil War, and some of the key American Jews who helped shape this tumultuous era. Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, moderates.
This program is presented in partnership with the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History and in celebration of Jewish American Heritage Month.
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Participants
Richard Kreitner is a historian and journalist. He is the host of Think Back, a podcast focused on American history. He is also the author of three books, including Break It Up: Secession, Division, and the Secret History of America’s Imperfect Union, and most recently, Fear No Pharaoh: American Jews, the Civil War, and the Fight to End Slavery.
Shari Rabin is an associate professor of Jewish studies and religion at Oberlin College, where she chairs the Jewish studies program. Her first book, Jews on the Frontier: Religion and Mobility in Nineteenth-Century America, was the winner of a National Jewish Book Award. Her most recent book is The Jewish South: An American History.
Jeffrey Rosen is the president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, a nonpartisan nonprofit organization devoted to educating the public about the U.S. Constitution. Rosen is also professor of law at The George Washington University Law School and a contributing editor of The Atlantic.
Additional Resources
- Richard Kreitner, Fear No Pharaoh: American Jews, the Civil War, and the Fight to End Slavery, (2025)
- Shari Rabin, The Jewish South: An American History, (2025)
- Jonas Phillips, "Letter to George Washington," (Sept. 7, 1787)
- George Washington, "Letter to the Savannah, Ga., Hebrew Congregation," (June 14, 1790)
- George Washington, "Letter to the Hebrew Congregation in Newport, Rhode Island," (Aug. 18, 1790)
- August Bondi, Autobiography of August Bondi (1833-1907), (1910)
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