By learning the multiracial Jewish association Hatzaad Harishon, Janice W. Fernheimer’ s Stepping into Zion considers the query “ who's a Jew?” — a severe rhetorical factor with far-reaching results for Jews and non-Jews alike.

Hatzaad Harishon ("The First Step") was once a brand new York-based, multiracial Jewish association that labored to extend attractiveness and legitimacy for Black Jews within the sixties and seventies. In Stepping into Zion, Janice W. Fernheimer examines the heritage and documents of Hatzaad Harishon to light up the moving definitions and borders of Jewish id, that have severe relevance to Jews of all traditions in addition to to non-Jews.

Fernheimer specializes in a interval while Jewish id used to be in flux and deeply stimulated via the Civil Rights and Black strength pursuits. In 1964, white and Black Jews shaped Hatzaad Harishon to foster interplay and team spirit among Black and white Jewish groups. They raised the query of who or what constitutes Jewishness or Jewish identification, and in looking for a solution succeeded— either traditionally and rhetorically— in gaining elevated reputation for Black Jews. Fernheimer strains how, regardless of deep confrontation over definitions, individuals of Hatzaad Harishon have been in a position to create universal flooring in a method she phrases "interruptive invention": an incremental version for rhetorical luck that permits various teams to start and proceed vital yet tough discussions once they proportion little universal floor or make unequal claims to institutional and discursive strength, or whilst the character of universal floor is exactly what's at stake. for that reason, they supply a realistic means out of the possible incommensurable stalemate incompatible worldviews present.

 

Through insightful interpretations of Hatzaad Harishon's archival fabrics, Fernheimer chronicles the group's successes and screw ups in the greater rhetorical heritage of conflicts that emerge while cultural identities shift or expand.