The Rabbi Who Rejected Yiddish: Mordecai Kaplan’s Vision with Jenna Weissman Joselit
Jenna Weissman Joselit discusses Restless Soul, her biography of Mordecai M. Kaplan. Jenna begins by exploring her own family’s linguistic history, including the myth of a “Marrano bullfighter” ancestor, before diving into Kaplan’s 102-year life and massive diary that he called his “golem.” She details Kaplan’s vision of Judaism as a civilization rather than just a religion, highlighting his goal to create “plus-Jews” who embrace the joys of tradition. Jenna explains Kaplan’s rejection of Yiddish in favor of Hebrew and English and his invention of terms like “peoplehood” and “Reconstructionism”—a term likely borrowed from Upper West Side real estate development.
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Over the course of her career, Jenna Weissman Joselit has worn many hats: historian, teacher, author, monthly columnist for the Forward and Tablet, museum curator, and critic. With the forthcoming publication of her latest book, “Mordecai M. Kaplan: Restless Soul,” a “Jewish Lives” publication from Yale University Press, she adds that of biographer.
In each instance, Weissman Joselit has trained her sights on American Jews of the late 19th and 20th centuries, exploring how they went about their daily lives.
As her latest contribution makes clear, Mordecai Kaplan was at the ready, a road map in hand.
I enjoy traveling, hiking, biking, reading, and learning Kabbalah. Giving back to the community is important to me, and I volunteer by visiting elderly and sick patients at Stanford Hospital. My next personal challenge is to learn French, adding another layer to my lifelong love of learning.
