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218 <strong>American</strong> <strong>Jewish</strong> <strong>Archives</strong><br />
tory and women's history give a fuller account of the recreation at<br />
settlement houses for immigrant females. In particular, Hyman<br />
claims that at the Educational Alliance, "Whereas boys had to partici-<br />
pate in athletics and were encouraged to compete with teams from<br />
other settlement houses, so that they might refute the charge that<br />
<strong>Jewish</strong> men were physically weak and lacked courage, girls were<br />
enrolled in more demure activities"(107). My own research in the<br />
Educational Alliance <strong>Archives</strong> indicates that girls, too, were en-<br />
couraged to engage in physical education classes and participated<br />
in various gymnastics and sporting activities as a way to achieve<br />
health and avoid the immoral pursuits of urban life; gender cer-<br />
tainly shaped the physical recreation offered women, but reformers<br />
and physical educators tried to promote health and physical activi-<br />
ties, not only at settlements but at the Young Women's Hebrew Asso-<br />
ciations. Hyman's lack of discussion on the importance of the Young<br />
Women's Hebrew Association is puzzling given this institution's aim<br />
to foster the assimilation of women. Moreover, Hyman states, "The<br />
purpose of physical activity for girls was to teach them poise and<br />
grace; strenuous games like basketball, field hockey, and all track<br />
competition were deemed inappropriate for females" (108). Delv-<br />
ing into the primary records of the Educational Alliance and other<br />
<strong>Jewish</strong> settlements manifests a different situation; while certainly<br />
gender limited sporting opportunities, <strong>Jewish</strong> women indeed played<br />
basketball, especially since Senda Berenson, a <strong>Jewish</strong> immigrant<br />
from Russia who was physical education director at Smith College<br />
in the 189os, altered the rules for women's basketball to be more<br />
team-oriented and less rough than the men's game, popularizing bas-<br />
ketball for females. The Educational Alliance had a girls Athletic<br />
Club, and several YWHAs offered basketball classes and leagues to<br />
<strong>Jewish</strong> immigrant women. The physical well-being, as well as the<br />
spiritual well-being, of <strong>Jewish</strong> <strong>American</strong> women deserves closer analy-<br />
sis in the treatment of assimilation. Hyman's interpretation still proves<br />
cogent when she states: "<strong>American</strong>ization of young immigrant<br />
women, as <strong>Jewish</strong>reformers understood it, entailed adopting of Ame-<br />
rican middle-class gendered norms and values"(1og). Some <strong>Jewish</strong><br />
women asserted their roles in more public realms, and Hyman com-<br />
ments that womenUutilized their acceptance of gender differences<br />
in family life to expand the education of women as well as their do-
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