People Walk on Their Heads: Jews and Judaism New York
  • 1981/137 pages
  • Distributed for Holmes & Meier Publishers

People Walk on Their Heads:

Jews and Judaism New York

Moses Weinberger, translated from the Hebrew and with an introduction by Jonathan D. Sarna
Paperback: $17.95
ISBN: 978-0-8419-0731-7
In 1880 a young Hungarian rabbi named Moses Weinberger arrived in New York City. Seven years later, he described—and deplored—a world turned upside down, where "people walk on their heads." In what has become a classic example of Jewish immigrant protest literature, Weinberger urges American Jews to defend their faith more forthrightly.

Jonathan Sarna's translation beautifully captures the essence of Weinberger's lively, often bitingly satiric prose; and his introduction provides context for the work, outlining the process that transformed immigrant Orthodoxy into Orthodoxy with an American flavor.


Moses Weinberger (1854-1940) arrived in New York from Hungary in 1880, a twenty-six-year-old, staunchly Orthodox, newly trained rabbi. His frustration during his first years in his new home was the inspiration for his remarkable book. Jonathan D. Sarna is Joseph H. & Belle R. Braun Professor of American Jewish History at Brandeis University and chief historian of the National Museum of American Jewish History. He is author or editor of more than twenty books, including the acclaimed American Judaism: A History.