Grass/Roots: American Jews in Suburbia - Exhibition and Website Planning

FAIN: GE-50020-08

Yeshiva University (New York, NY 10033-3201)
Gabriel M. Goldstein (Project Director: September 2007 to June 2010)

Planning of an exhibition and website that focus on American Jews and their post-World War II move from the cities to the suburbs, where they adapted established traditions and practices even as they adopted new modes of life.

Yeshiva University Museum requests support to plan an exhibition and Website that focus on Grass/Roots: American Jews in Suburbia. In the massive post W.W. II population shift, one third of American Jews, like so many others, moved from the cities to the suburbs. Already well integrated into American society, Jews faced distinctive issues as they both embraced the American dream and strove to retain their ethnic and religious identity. In the process, they adapted established traditions and practices even as they adopted new modes of life. As it examines the nature of suburbanization, Grass/Roots aims to open perspectives on the complex issues shared by so many Americans in maintaining a special identity within a heterogeneous society.