Fifteenth International Conference on Interdisciplinary Social Sciences

Abstract

“Bubbes on the Beach: Judaism, Gender, and the Retirement Frontier,” explores how ethnicity, religion, and gender shaped later life in mid-twentieth-century Miami. Although the white middle- and working-classes composed the majority of Florida retirees, it is a mistake to assume that all of the seniors who crowded the state’s park benches and shuffleboard courts experienced old age in similar ways. Florida was an ethnically diverse setting that included Cuban, French-Canadian, Italian-American, and Finnish-American retirement communities, among others. As growing numbers of Jewish Americans from the Northeast and Central United States joined the gray migration, they formed tight-knit enclaves within Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties. “Bubbes on the Beach” highlights aspects of history and culture that helped to shape the later lives of these migrants. This paper asks: What did Jewish traditions and contemporary sermons teach about social responsibility for aging relatives and community members? How did American Jewish culture and experience influence the living arrangements and social support networks among retirees, particularly older immigrant women? As American elders grow increasingly diverse, what lessons can be learned from ethnic communities like the ones that flourished in South Florida?