Limmud Miami 2020

The play The Melting-Pot was first performed in 1908, in Washington, DC, in the midst of the great wave of Jewish immigration from the Russian empire to the United States. This large migration initiated a backlash, and Israel Zangwill, a well-known Anglo-Jewish writer, feared that the US would begin to impose restrictions, as the UK had already done. The Melting-Pot was an attempt by the playwright to show both the necessity of a land of refuge for Jewish immigrants and the value of Jews and other immigrants to the United States. The play became wildly popular, especially among Jewish audiences, and contributed a metaphor to studies of immigration and ethnicity. But ultimately The Melting-Pot did not succeed in its goals and in 1924 the US imposed devastating immigration restrictions. In this session we will discuss the play, its context and reception, the controversies it caused, and its relevance to immigration and Jewish life today.