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This book tells the story of mid-20th century Jewish America through the eyes of Bernice Cohen Schwartz, born in NYC in 1923, whose life reflects much of American Jewry´s 20th century history: the Great Depression, WWII, Jewish educational and Institutions, the response to Israel, and the development of Jewish suburbia.

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This book tells the story of mid-20th century Jewish America through the eyes of Bernice Cohen Schwartz, born in NYC in 1923. The oldest daughter of a family of Eastern European origin, Bernice had an American-born mother, but in other things was similar to her contemporaries, reflecting the lives of a generation of pre-WWI urban Jews in America with immigrant parents.

Her life story reflects much of the development of American Jewry during the middle of the 20 th century: the Great Depression, the Second World War, the development of Zionism, the response to the new State of Israel, and the development of Jewish suburbia. We follow Bernice´s school years during the Depression, her connection with the Bronx Y, her college studies, her stint in the Women´s Land Army, study trip to Israel in 1949, and marriage to Arthur Schwartz, a young army veteran and social work student from Nyack, NY.

After the couple´s odyssey through several East Coast Jewish communities, they and their sons settled in Teaneck, New Jersey. We follow Bernice´s response to her oldest son immigrating to Israel, and the couple´s move to Riverdale, NY and life there during their "Golden Years" in the 21st century.

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Introduction to Part I: The Genesis of a Book - How it all Began - The Education of Bernice Cohen (1923-1939) - The Second World War and the Women´s Land Army (1939-1945) - The Bronx Y: Bernice´s Home Away From Home (1930-1951) - Israel 1949: "A Wilderness of Magnificent Beauty" - Introduction to Part II: The Courtship of Bernice Cohen - Arthur Schwartz: A Boy From Nyack - East Coast Adventures (1950-1960) - The Schwartzes of Teaneck (1960-1999) - Closing the Circle: A Son Makes Aliyah (1967-1974) - The Schwartzes of Riverdale (1999-) - Epilogue: The Reconstruction of a Family - Family Tree - Glossary of Foreign Terms - Bibliography - Photographs - Index names - Index places - Index organizations, institutions

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"Written in a pleasant way and offering not only a huge amount of information but also an interesting approach with sociological and psychological accents, the book of Juditz Tydor Baumel-Schwartz [...] is an important contribution to the understanding of the way how the second generation of Jewish people who emigrated into USA in the last part of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th one have become part of the new state and its life keeping some of its customs, loosing or winning new wishes, learning or teaching their new neighbours."
(Iuliu-Marius Morariu, Astra Salvensis, VI/2018)

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