Susie Pak

2022 Mexico City

2022 Mexico City

Abstract: What is a Jewish bank? Is it a bank founded by Jews? It is a bank that only employs Jews? Is it a bank that provides credit to Jews? Is it even meaningful to call a bank Jewish? Definitions of Jewishness have been the subject of theological debates, civil rights cases, and philosophical discussions involving individuals, religious organizations, practices and beliefs. Yet discussions of Jewish banks and those of Jewish bankers have long been “taboo” because the concept of a Jewish bank engages so directly with the ways in which anti-Semitism has informed Jewish identity. Using data from over 200 firms in the Ford Motor Company 1956 syndicate, the paper defines Jewish banks from a relational model, meaning it starts by identifying banking houses founded by Jews and studies them over time in the context of their peers. The data show a diversity of firms led by Jewish bankers in this prominent national cohort from the East coast to the West coast. They also indicate that the identity of a Jewish bank did not consistently represent these institutions over time, particularly as family firms founded by Jews transitioned into large corporations led by non-Jews whose empirical networks were not based on religious, familial or cultural homophily. These findings suggest that the persistence of the identification of these banks as Jewish is one that is historically tied to the ideas of difference, of anti-Semitism. This paper thus argues that the history of the Jewish bank offers an opportunity to engage directly with the history of anti-Semitism in American business—its persistence and meaning.

2022 Mexico City

Abstract: What is a Jewish bank? Is it a bank founded by Jews? It is a bank that only employs Jews? Is it a bank that provides credit to Jews? Is it even meaningful to call a bank Jewish? Definitions of Jewishness have been the subject of theological debates, civil rights cases, and philosophical discussions involving individuals, religious organizations, practices and beliefs. Yet discussions of Jewish banks and those of Jewish bankers have long been “taboo” because the concept of a Jewish bank engages so directly with the ways in which anti-Semitism has informed Jewish identity. Using data from over 200 firms in the Ford Motor Company 1956 syndicate, the paper defines Jewish banks from a relational model, meaning it starts by identifying banking houses founded by Jews and studies them over time in the context of their peers. The data show a diversity of firms led by Jewish bankers in this prominent national cohort from the East coast to the West coast. They also indicate that the identity of a Jewish bank did not consistently represent these institutions over time, particularly as family firms founded by Jews transitioned into large corporations led by non-Jews whose empirical networks were not based on religious, familial or cultural homophily. These findings suggest that the persistence of the identification of these banks as Jewish is one that is historically tied to the ideas of difference, of anti-Semitism. This paper thus argues that the history of the Jewish bank offers an opportunity to engage directly with the history of anti-Semitism in American business—its persistence and meaning.

2023 Detroit, MI, United States

2024 Providence, Rhode Island