Making Jews Modern: The Yiddish and Ladino Press in the Russian and Ottoman Empires

"An engaging and thought-provoking analysis,... a pioneering foray into a new field of study, 'Jews and Empires in History.'" --Slavic Review

On the eve of the 20th century, Jews in the Russian and Ottoman empires were caught up in the major cultural and social transformations that constituted modernity for Ashkenazi and Sephardi Jewries. What did it mean to be Jewish and Russian, Jewish and Ottoman, Jewish and modern? To answer these questions, Sarah Abrevaya Stein explores the texts most widely consumed by Jewish readers: popular newspapers in Yiddish and Ladino. This skillful comparative study yields new perspectives on the role of print culture in imagining national and transnational communities and the diverse ways in which modernity was envisioned under the rule of empire.

"Making Jews Modern is a major contribution to an understanding of modern Jewish history. It asks numerous historiographical questions and in so doing, traverses traditionally sealed terrains with regards to place and cultural groupings.... This is a complex and thought-provoking book." --Slavonic and East European Review, Vol. 88, no. 4, October 2010 Indiana University Press Indiana University Press

On the eve of the 20th century, Jews in the Russian and Ottoman empires were caught up in the major cultural and social transformations that constituted modernity for Ashkenazi and Sephardi Jewries, respectively. What language should Jews speak or teach their children? Should Jews acculturate, and if so, into what regional or European culture? What did it mean to be Jewish and Russian, Jewish and Ottoman, Jewish and modern? Sarah Abrevaya Stein explores how such questions were formulated and answered within these communities by examining the texts most widely consumed by Jewish readers: popular newspapers in Yiddish and Ladino. Examining the press's role as an agent of historical change, she interrogates a diverse array of verbal and visual texts, including cartoons, photographs, and advertisements. This original and lively study yields new perspectives on the role of print culture in imagining national and transnational communities; Stein's work enriches our sense of cultural life under the rule of multiethnic empires and complicates our understanding of Europe's polyphonic modernities.

Analyzes how the Jewish popular press in the Russian and Ottoman empires helped construct modern Jewish identities

Sarah Abrevaya Stein is Associate Professor of History at the University of Washington.

List of Figures

Acknowledgments

Note on Transliterations, Dates, and Terms

Introduction: Making Jews Modern

Part One. The Yiddish and Ladino Press in the Russian and Ottoman Empires

1. Creating a Yiddish Newspaper Culture

2. Creating a Ladino Newspaper Culture

Part Two. Imaging Culture

3. Iconographies of Agitation

4. The Science of Healthy Living

Part Three. Advertising Aspiration

5. Images of Daily Life

6. Advertising Anxiety

Epilogue

Notes

Works Cited

Index