Beyond the Synagogue. Rachel B. Gross

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Beyond the Synagogue

      Beyond the Synagogue

      Jewish Nostalgia as Religious Practice

      Rachel B. Gross

      NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS

      New York

      NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS

      New York

       www.nyupress.org

      © 2021 by New York University

      All rights reserved

      References to Internet websites (URLs) were accurate at the time of writing. Neither the author nor New York University Press is responsible for URLs that may have expired or changed since the manuscript was prepared.

      Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

      Names: Gross, Rachel B., author.

      Title: Beyond the synagogue : Jewish nostalgia as religious practice / Rachel B. Gross.

      Description: New York : New York University Press, [2021] | Series: North American religions | Includes bibliographical references and index.

      Identifiers: LCCN 2020015030 (print) | LCCN 2020015031 (ebook) | ISBN 9781479803385 (cloth) | ISBN 9781479803361 (ebook) | ISBN 9781479803408 (ebook)

      Subjects: LCSH: Jews—United States—Identity. | Jews—Cultural assimilation—United States. | Homesickness—Europe, Eastern. | Nostalgia. | Judaism—United States.

      Classification: LCC E184.36.E84 G76 2021 (print) | LCC E184.36.E84 (ebook) | DDC 305.800973—dc23

      LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020015030

      LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020015031New York University Press books are printed on acid-free paper, and their binding materials are chosen for strength and durability. We strive to use environmentally responsible suppliers and materials to the greatest extent possible in publishing our books.

      Manufactured in the United States of America

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      Also available as an ebook

      In memory of my grandparents, who had mixed feelings about nostalgia.

      Ethel Scher Gross

      Lawrence Samuel Gross

      Harold Louis Wesley

      Lois Birner Wesley

      Build me a clock I can feel

      Every minute is history.

      [ . . . ]

      I want an archaeology of the living.

      Give me a calendar that can record

      without reducing.

      —Jennifer Margulies, “Timepiece”

      Contents

      List of Figures

      Introduction: Feeling Jewish

      1. How Do You Solve a Problem like Nostalgia?

      2. Give Us Our Name: Creating Jewish Genealogy

      3. Ghosts in the Gallery: Historic Synagogues as Heritage Sites

      4. True Stories: Teaching Nostalgia to Children

      5. Referendum on the Jewish Deli Menu: A Culinary Revival

      Conclusion: The Limits and Possibilities of Nostalgia

      Acknowledgments

      Notes

      Index

      About the Author

      Figures

      Figure I.1. Eldridge Street Synagogue exterior, New York

      Figure 1.1. Mezuzah depicting the façade of the Jewish Museum of Florida

      Figure 2.1. Treelines family history story, “How the Yorkers Immigrated to Philadelphia”

      Figure 3.1. The Jewish Museum of Florida, Miami Beach

      Figure 3.2. The Vilna Shul, Boston

      Figure 3.3. Touro Synagogue, Newport, Rhode Island

      Figure 3.4. Touro Synagogue interior, Newport, Rhode Island

      Figure 3.5. Eldridge Street Synagogue interior with 1944 glass blocks in east window

      Figure 3.6. Eldridge Street Synagogue interior with 2010 east window by Kiki Smith and Deborah Gans

      Figure 3.7. Carol Hamoy, Welcome to America

      Figure 3.8. Hana Iverson, View from the Balcony with projected images of hands sewing

      Figure 3.9. Hana Iverson, View from the Balcony installation in empty stairwell shaft

      Figure 4.1. Cover of When Mindy Saved Hanukkah

      Figure 4.2. Interior depicting the Eldridge Street Synagogue, When Mindy Saved Hanukkah

      Figure 4.3. Rebecca Rubin doll and Meet Rebecca book, American Girl

      Figure 4.4. Rebecca’s school set

      Figure 5.1. Saul’s Deli, Berkeley, California

      Figure 5.2. Challah food truck at a wedding

      Figure 5.3. Gefilteria gefilte fish slice and box

      Figure C.1. Kiki Smith, Below the Horizon: Kiki Smith at Eldridge

      Introduction

      Feeling Jewish

      The visitors to the Museum at Eldridge Street sat in the pews of the restored 1887 Eldridge Street Synagogue. Looking upward, they admired the elaborate Moorish-style interior. A docent described Eastern European Jewish immigrants’ lives and aspirations at the turn of the century, when they worshipped in the grand synagogue. The Eldridge Street Synagogue was the first synagogue building the immigrants constructed in the crowded Lower East Side neighborhood. But, over the years, the congregation dwindled and the building decayed. The cavernous sanctuary was shut up for four decades. Finally, after two decades of effort, preservationists restored it to its former glory. When the docent finished her story, she started to lead the group out of the sanctuary.

      On her way out, the docent paused at the back of the room. She instructed her group to assemble in an open space where the Museum had removed pews. “Step into the indentations in the floorboards,” she told them. Soon, people had arranged themselves into straight lines. Pointing to the pattern of indentations, she asked, “Why do you think these are here?” Slowly, the group realized that they stood in footprints of former male congregants. The indentations had been made by men shuckling, rocking back and forth in front of their pew as they prayed in a traditional Jewish fashion. Over the years, they had left their mark in the soft pine floorboards. The docent demonstrated the movement, and others copied her. A few tourists were familiar with the rocking motion from their own synagogue services. Most shuffled more awkwardly, if enthusiastically.1

      Standing in the footprints of former congregants provides an immediate, sensory connection to the past, one that engages visitors’ entire bodies. The experience is a highlight for many tourists. As one wrote on Yelp, “You literally feel the history at your feet.”2 Roberta Berken, who has served as a docent at the Museum at Eldridge Street for over a decade, relates as she shows people the floorboards: