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Beyond the Synagogue
Jewish Nostalgia as Religious Practice
Rachel B. Gross
NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS
New York
NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS
New York
© 2021 by New York University
All rights reserved
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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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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
