In Fear No Pharaoh: American Jews, the Civil War, and the Fight to End Slavery, author Richard Kreitner explores the wide range of perspectives within the 19th-century Jewish community in regard to faith, slavery, and the Civil War. The book profiles six Jewish individuals who had varied and prominent roles in mid 19th Century America: Judah Benjamin, a lawyer and Confederate leader; Morris Raphall, a rabbi who defended slavery; Isaac Mayer Wise, who advocated for neutrality; David Einhorn, an abolitionist rabbi; August Bondi, a revolutionary and Union soldier; and Ernestine Rose, a feminist and atheist abolitionist. These case studies illustrate the complexities between faith, identity, and political ideology.
Kreitner delves into the broader context of Jewish life in America, highlighting the challenges of assimilation and the pressures to conform to prevailing societal norms. He effectively demonstrates that, much like their non-Jewish counterparts, Jews were not monolithic in their views on slavery, with some supporting it, others opposing it, and many grappling with the ethical implications of their positions. Kreitner also devotes significant time to discussing how Jewish Americans were perceived in American society and the varying ebbs and flows of antisemitic behavior by Americans throughout the country in the middle of the 19th Century.
Fear No Pharaoh is a significant contribution to books on Jewish history and its relationship and views on American slavery.
MY RATING: 4
