Fishman, Sylvia Barack 1942-

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FISHMAN, Sylvia Barack 1942-

PERSONAL: Born 1942; married; children. Education: Stern College for Women of Yeshiva University, B.A., 1964; New York University, M.A., 1973; Washington University, Ph.D., 1980. Religion: "Left-wing Orthodox Jew."

ADDRESSES: Offıce—Department of Sociology, Brandeis University, 415 South St., Waltham, MA 02454-9110. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: Brandeis University, Waltham, MA, associate professor of contemporary Jewry and American Jewish sociology. Keynote speaker and participant in seminars on feminism in a Jewish context and other topics pertaining to American Jewry.

AWARDS, HONORS: Samuel Belkin Award for distinguished professional achievement, Yeshiva University, 1991; National Jewish Book Award, 1994, for A Breath of Life: Feminism in the American Jewish Community.

WRITINGS:

(Editor with Lawrence I. Sternberg and Gary A. Tobin) Changing Jewish Life: Service Delivery and Planning in the 1990s, Greenwood Press (New York, NY), 1991.

(Editor and author of introduction and notes) FollowMy Footprints: Changing Images of Women in American Jewish Fiction, Brandeis University Press (Waltham, MA), 1992.

A Breath of Life: Feminism in the American JewishCommunity, Free Press (New York, NY), 1993.

More than Chemistry: The Romantic Choices ofAmerican Jews, Jewish Media Fund (New York, NY), 1995.

Real Americans: The Evolving Identities of AmericanJews, Jewish Media Fund (New York, NY), 1996.

Negotiating Both Sides of the Hyphen: Coalescence,Compartmentalization, and American-Jewish Values, Judaic Studies Program (Cincinnati, OH), 1996.

(Author of text and context) From Skala to RamatGan: An Educational Journey, Bar-Ilan University Jewish Studies Program (Ramat Gan, Israel), 1998.

I of the Beholder: Jews and Gender in Film andPopular Culture, Brandeis University (Waltham, MA), 1998.

Jewish Life and American Culture, State University of New York (Albany, NY), 2000.

Jewish and Something Else: A Study of Mixed-Marriage Families, American Jewish Committee (New York, NY), 2001.

Relatively Speaking: Constructing Identity in Jewish and Mixed Married Families, University of Michigan Jean and Samuel Frankel Center for Judaic Studies (Ann Arbor, MI), 2002.

Double or Nothing? Jewish Families and Mixed Marriage, University Press of New England (Hanover, NH), 2004.

Contributor to The Status of Jewish Women's Studies in the United States and Canada: A Survey of University and College Course in 1998, Brandeis University (Waltham, MA), 1998. Associate editor of book series on Jewish Women published by Brandeis University.

SIDELIGHTS: Sylvia Barack Fishman is a sociologist who has devoted her studies to understanding the process of assimilation and the changing identities of American Jews. Many of Fishman's studies address issues of importance to Jewish women or to families, including the challenges raised for Judaism by intermarriage of Jews with Christians or non-practicing spouses. Unlike some writers and scholars who see marriage outside the faith as a process that weakens Judaism, Fishman sees the potential for the positive evolution of Judaism as its tenets merge with American ideals of respect for individuality, higher education, and the equality of men and women. According to Muriel Mellow in Society of Religion, Fishman explores "the question of how Jews within the United States are to maintain their identity in the twenty-first century." Fishman, Mellow continued, "argues that the coalescence of American and Jewish culture is unavoidable and may even be a source of Jewish renewal."

One of Fishman's best-known works is Double or Nothing? Jewish Families and Mixed Marriage. Based on the 1990 National Jewish Population Survey, as well as her own extensive interviews with individuals and focus groups, Fishman offers the premise that mixed marriage "represents not a falling-away from the Jewish people but an encouraging addition to the number of American households with Jews in them," to quote Saul Singer in Commentary. To be sure, Fishman finds challenges to the faith in these intermarriages. Sometimes children raised in these households are not encouraged to pursue religious training. Families may mix traditions, for instance incorporating a Christmas tree into their holiday observances. In certain cases, Fishman found, the choice of a spouse outside the Jewish faith was part of a rebellion against the insularity or conservative values of Judaism. In her depiction of her findings, the author "shows admirable calm in discussing this charged and emotional topic," according to Singer, "and she tries to do justice to the various attempts to put intermarriage in a positive light." A Publishers Weekly critic felt that the work "reaches beyond the topic of mixed marriage to describe the complexion of American life in general." Booklist correspondent George Cohen liked Fishman's descriptions of "day-to-day realities of family life in mixed-marriage households," concluding that Double or Nothing? is "one of the best studies to date on this controversial subject."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

American Jewish History, September, 2000, Michael P. Kramer, review of Jewish Life and American Culture, p. 407.

Booklist, March 1, 2004, George Cohen, review of Double or Nothing? Jewish Families and Mixed Marriage, p. 1116.

Commentary, July-August, 2004, Saul Singer, "Keeping Faith?" p. 54.

Denver Post, May 2, 1998, Virginia Culver, "Jewish Women to Discuss Feminism," p. B10.

Library Journal, February 1, 2004, Khadijah Caturani, review of Double or Nothing? p. 93.

Publishers Weekly, March 15, 1993, review of ABreath of Life: Feminism in the American Jewish Community, p. 76; December 22, 2003, review of Double or Nothing? p. 56.

Sociology of Religion, spring, 2002, Muriel Mellow, review of Jewish Life and American Culture, p. 122.