Advertisements in the historical Jewish press

The main pages of late nineteenth-and early twentieth-century Jewish periodicals were filled with heated discussions concerning major issues which defined Jewish life in various places: nationalism (Jewish and non-Jewish alike), social and economic situation, cultural and ideological choices, religion and secularization, relations with non-Jews, anti-Semitism, emigration, etc.Sections with advertisements printed in the historical Jewish press alongside these discussions offer a close look at Jewish life seen from another perspective.They demonstrate how these big themes of Jewish history were translated into the everyday life of Jewish men, women, and children.Commercial (non-classified) advertisements offer glimpses into various aspects of the Jewish past: fashion, beauty products, patent medicines, religious books, education, entertainment, and many others.Similarly, press announcements (or classified advertisements) also correspond with the themes of Jewish macrohistory on a microscale level.Both types of advertisements lend themselves to the study of Jewish economic, social, cultural, religious and even political history, and yet their use as a source has not reached its full potential.While there are studies on some aspects of advertising in the context of Jewish culture and economy in the nineteenthand early twentieth-centuries, 1 the field is still relatively unexplored.The special section included in this volume of Journal of Modern Jewish Studies presents three readings of advertisements in historical Jewish press which contribute to the discussion on their potential as a source and their usefulness in exploring various aspects of Jewish history.In her article Why Are These Passover Ads Different from All Other Ads? Sephardim, Ashkenazim, and the American Jewish Consumer Identity, Makena Mezistrano analyzes advertisements for matzah in Forverts and La Vara, two important American Jewish periodicals.Both these periodicals targeted a different Jewish community in New York: Forverts, published in Yiddish (1897 to the present), was addressed to Ashkenazi Jews while La Vara, published in Ladino (1922-1948), was the voice of the Sephardic community.Mezistrano's choice of advertisements for this particular product is not

Archaeology · Judaism · Sociology · History · Jewish and Middle Eastern Studies · Jewish Identity and Society

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