Remarks on the Friedman Medal

Abstract

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

• Remarks on the Friedman Medal
• Beth S. Wenger (bio)

2022 Lee Max Friedman Medal: Dr. Beth Wenger

The Lee Max Friedman Medal, established in memory of a past president of the American Jewish Historical Society, is awarded biennially to a scholar of American Jewish Studies for excellence in research and teaching, and for outstanding service to the field.

Beth Wenger, the Moritz and Josephine Berg Professor of History at the University of Pennsylvania, was the recipient of this award in 2022. Dr. Wenger ranks among the leading historians of American Jews; her outstanding scholarship is matched by her leadership in several influential initiatives designed to disseminate knowledge of American Jewish history to a broad public. In addition to important books and articles about American Jewish life during the Great Depression, Jewish women and gender, and the formation of American Jewish historical consciousness, Wenger was one of the founding historians who created the core exhibition at the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History. She has also reached a considerable audience as author of The Jewish Americans: Three Centuries of Jewish Voices in America, the companion publication to the 2008 PBS documentary series.

Wenger has displayed an almost peerless commitment to building and diversifying the field of American Jewish history. At her home academic institution, she served as the Jewish Studies Program's director for nearly a decade. She participated in the development of thematic fellowship years at Penn's Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies and at the University of Michigan's Frankel Institute for Advanced Judaic Studies. She has served as the chair of the Center for Jewish History's Academic Advisory Council, and as co-chair of the Jewish Women's Caucus of the Association for Jewish Studies. Finally, Wenger has contributed to the vitality of the American Jewish Historical Society, serving as the chair of its Academic Council from 2010-2014 and organizing two of its biennial conferences.

Beth Wenger accepted the Friedman Medal at the 2022 Biennial Scholars Conference in American Jewish History, which was held that year at Tulane University in New Orleans. American Jewish History is please to print her remarks from that event. [End Page 781]

The following is a list of past awardees of the Lee Max Friedman Medal:

Bernard Wax	1992
Henry L. Feingold	1994
Moses Rischin	1995
Arthur Goren	2000
Jeffrey S. Gurock and Marc Lee Raphael	2002
Naomi W. Cohen	2004
Gerald Sorin	2006
Leo Hershkowitz	2008
Pamela S. Nadell	2010
Deborah Dash Moore	2012
Gail Reimer and the Jewish Women's Archive	2014
Jonathan Sarna	2016
Hasia Diner	2018
Riv-Ellen Prell	2020

[End Page 782]

Thank you so much to my colleagues on the Academic Council and in the American Jewish Historical Society. And thank you, Lila, for your generous introduction and kind words. I am genuinely humbled and honored to receive this award.

The American Jewish Historical Society has been such a valuable intellectual home to me throughout my career, and I am deeply grateful to those who have sustained the Society throughout its long and rich history. As a young scholar, I recall coming to the AJHS archives and finding a welcoming and engaged staff eager to help a beginning researcher investigate the American Jewish past. That feeling of support has been a constant throughout my scholarly career. But the AJHS is much more than its wonderful archives; it has been, for me, a source of community that has brought cherished teachers, friends, colleagues, and students into my life. I am truly grateful for the community of scholars that has nurtured me through the years in this Society.

Although my family is not here in New Orleans this weekend, they are very much a part of my journey and of whatever successes I have managed to achieve. I grew up in a family of physicians without much familiarity with the historical profession, but I enjoyed unqualified support in my decision to pursue a different path. My parents, siblings, and extended family have encouraged my interests from the start, listened to more stories about archives and writing than they ever imagined, and been my unwavering champions.

Those who know me well appreciate that I am not...