Our Parents' Lives

by Cowan, Neil M.; Cowan, Ruth Schwartz

• ISBN13: 9780813522968
• ISBN10: 081352296X
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1996-11-01
• Publisher: Rutgers Univ Pr

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	xi
Prologue to the 1996 Edition	xv
Prologue to the First Edition	xvi
A Note on the Text	xxvi
``Dangerous Just to Be'': Life in the Old Country	3	(36)
``In the Fireplace'': Where They Lived
``Friends or Enemies'': Their Christian Neighbors
Pogroms, War, Revolution, Emigration
``Tempest Tossed'': Learning to Live in America	39	(35)
Thy Brother's House
A Uniquely Hebrew Habit: Working at Home
``Water, Water, All You Want'': Keeping Clean
``The Children Seem To Have Been Forgotten'': Street Life Becoming Americans
Breaking Away from Torah: The Impact of American Schooling	74	(35)
From Cheder to Gymnasium: Education in Eastern Europe
``God, Country, and Home'': Jewish Children in American Schools
``My Teachers Really Gave Me Everything'': School for Jewish Girls Making Good American Citizens
The Evil Eye, the X Ray, and the Promise of Good Health	109	(35)
In the Shadow of Death
Folk Remedies and the Evil Eye
The Old Medical World and the New: The Polio Epidemic of 1916
``Happenstance'' Medicine: Diabetes and Tuberculosis
``Of Course I Was a Virgin When I Married'': Changing Sexual Mores	144	(33)
Separate Spheres: Men and Women in the Old World
``We Mustn't Talk about Things like That'': Sexual Ignorance
``I Was...No, I Wasn't'': Changing Sexual Mores
Sexual Myth and Sexual Reality
``Trapped in the Book'': Childbirth and Child Care	177	(33)
Conception, Pregnancy, and Birth
The Physician as Expert: Bed Rest and Baby Bottles
Teaching ``Good Habits'': The Baby's Schedule
Yiddishkeit: The Key to Success in America	210	(39)
Entrepreneurship in Eastern Europe
From Worker to Owner: One Path to Success
A Good Job for a Jewish Boy: The Professional Road to Success
``It's a Free Country'': Remaining Jewish in America	249	(38)
The Range of Choice: Orthodox, Conservative, or Reform
The Orthodox
Disenchantment with Judaism: The Converted
``No More Kosher Meat'': Becoming Emancipated
``I Do Believe in Jews'': Creating a New Tradition
``In America, Even Death Was Different'': Transforming Burial Rituals and Funeral Practices	287	(28)
Death and Burial in America: The Traditionalist Early Years
Death and Burial in America: The Liberal Early Years
Undertakers-Christian and Jewish
``In America, Even Death Was Different'': Tradition Transformed
Reprise-and Commentary
Notes	315	(8)
Credits	323	(2)
Index	325