Arise and Build: American Synagogues and Jewish Identity

West Hartford, CT. Interior of sanctuirary, restored in 2006. Photo: courtesy of Cong. Beth Israel.

Arise and Build: American Synagogues and Jewish Identity

Samuel D. Gruber lecture at Congregation Beth Israel in West Hartford, Connecticut

Sunday, October 23, 12 noon

In the last century, American Jews have built synagogues at a rate never seen in the world before, and in the process they have integrated the synagogue into the American landscape, and Judaism into the American cultural mainstream. This illustrated lecture explores the evolving form and meaning of the American synagogue, especially in the 20th century, as shaped by architects and their congregational patrons.

Through synagogue design, I'll trace changes in the organization of the American Jewish community and its relationship to American culture as a whole. The location, size, shape, and stylistic language adopted for synagogue designs throughout the century is a reflection of the changing needs and values of American Jews.

West Hartford, CT. Congregation Beth Israel. Exterior. Photo: Samuel D. Gruber (1997).Beth Israel is an apt setting for this talk. The synagogue, listed on the National Register of Historic Places was designed by Charles Greco and dedicated in 1936. The sanctuary was fully restored in 2006 - I'm looking forward to seeing it.

You can read more about the congregation and building history here. It is one of the few synagogues in america entirely contructed in the 1930s. Synagogues in Hartford, West Hartford and nearby areas are significant in their won right, but also representative of broader trends.

Lecture: Gruber to lecture in Portsmouth, Virginia on "The Architecture of Immigration: American Synagogues from 1760 to 1920"

I don't like to refer to myself in the 3rd person, but here is a notice for an upcoming lecture where I do so, in case you want to post it or pass it along. - SDG

Lecture: Gruber to lecture in Portsmouth, Virginia


"The Architecture of Immigration: American Synagogues from 1760 to 1920"

An illustrated lecture

by Dr. Samuel D. Gruber

The Jewish Museum & Cultural Center

(former Chevra T’helim Synagogue)

607 Effingham Street - P.O. Box 7962

Portsmouth, VA 23707

Tel. 757-391-9266

For information: info@jewishmuseumportsmouth.org

Admission: $15

Jews came to America in three main waves. In the 17th and 18th centuries, descendants of Spanish Jews – mostly living under Dutch or English rule – settled in the New World, and many participated in the War of Independence. By 1800, these Sephardi Jews built synagogues in five cities – Philadelphia, New York, Newport, Charleston and Savannah. By the mid-19th century, thousands of Central European Jews joined the mass emigration to the United States caused by political unrest and economic instability in Europe. Many started as peddlers but then settled in hundreds of towns throughout the American south and west, playing a pivotal role in the expansion of the American frontier and the cohesion of the new nation. A third wave of immigration from Europe was by far the biggest. Millions of Jews fled Eastern Europe, particularly those territories controlled by Russia and repressed under Tsarist rule. From the 1880s to the 1920s hundreds of thousands “Russians” settled in North, numerically overwhelming older Sephardic and “German” populations, though it took a generation and more before they established political and economic parity, and developed a synagogue architecture of their own.

This lecture traces this history through the religious buildings erected by each Jewish immigrant group. Through a rich architectural legacy, Dr. Gruber examines the history, experiences, tastes, influences and aspirations of American Jewish immigrants.

The Jewish Museum & Cultural Center

The Jewish Museum & Cultural Center opened in March 2008 in the former Chevra T'helim Synagogue, built in 1918 and closed in1985.

In 2002, the Friends of Chevra T'helim, Inc., formed a 501(c)(3) organization and stepped in to preserve this historic landmark. They acquired the building, and launched a Capital Campaign to raise $500,000. Architect John Paul Hanbury of the firm of Hanbury Evans Wright Vlattas & Company, noted for their excellence in historic preservation, oversaw the restoration.

The former synagogue, now completely restored, has been recognized by the National Trust for Historic Preservation and is listed on the Virginia Historic Register.

SAMUEL D. GRUBER is Director of the Jewish Heritage Research Center (Syracuse, NY); and president of the International Survey of Jewish Monuments. From 1989 until 1995 he served as founding director of the Jewish Heritage Council of WMF and from 1998 through 2008 as Research Director of the U.S. Commission for the Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad. Since 2001 he has been the Rothman Family and Holstein Family Lecturer in Judaic Studies at Syracuse University. He is author of American Synagogues: A Century of Architecture and Jewish Community (Rizzoli, 2003) and Synagogues (Metrobooks, NY, 1999); and author or editor of numerous articles and survey reports about Jewish monuments.

Dr. Gruber received his B.A. degree in Medieval Studies from Princeton University, and his Ph.D. degree from Columbia University in the History of Art and Archaeology. He is a Fellow of the American Academy in Rome. He has recently received research grants from the James Marston Fitch Charitable Foundation, the AIA New York Chapter the Cahnmann Foundation and the Delmas Foundation. Dr. Gruber serves on many charitable boards and advisory committees. He is President of the Preservation Association of Central New York and Co-Chair of the Building Centennial Committee of Temple Concord in Syracuse.

USA: Museum at Eldridge Street On-Line Publications

USA: Museum at Eldridge Street On-Line Publications
by Samuel D. Gruber

New York City's Museum at Eldridge Street has posted some worthwhile publications on-line.

The Academic Angles 2007-08 lecture series sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities is now online in the form of a complete booklet, and as individual essays. In addition, audio files of some of the lectures are also posted.

Eight lectures look at the history and restoration of the Eldridge Street Synagogue from different "academic angles." Marilyn Chiat and I both contributed essays focused on historic preservation. My written topic is The Choices we Make: Eldridge Street Synagogue and Historic Preservation. My somewhat longer talk (those who know me know how long my talks can be!) - in audio form - also deals with the architectural history of the American synagogue, especially in New York City (for the record, I have not gone back to listen to what exactly I said when I went off-script). Marilyn Chiat's essay, which draws especially on her experiences preserving historic synagogues and other religious sites in the Minnesota and the Midwest is Saving and Praising the Past. Other contributors are historians Deborah Dash Moore, Jeffrey Gurock, Jeffrey Shandler, Tony Michaels, Riv-Ellen Prell and Daniel Soyer.

Historian Annie Polland, who helped organize these lectures and is the author of her own history of Eldridge, Landmark of the Spirit, has left the Museum to take up a similar role at the Lower East Side Tenement Museum. Annie's presence there is a good omen of what we can expect to be a growing and continuing cooperation between the two important Lower East Side cultural institutions. I wish Annie well in her new position and look forward to reporting on her programs.

The Museum at Eldridge has also posted its 2008 Annual Report on-line. This is a tremendous resource for any historic synagogue organization as it provides so many examples of creative and effective programming, and when read carefully, can also serve as a primer in fund-raising.

USA: New Exhibition Planned for DC's Lillian & Albert Small Museum

USA: New Exhibition Planned for DC's Lillian & Albert Small Museum

Jonathan Sarna and Pamela Nadell will discuss the future look for the 1876 former Adas Israel Synagogue

(ISJM) Scholars of American Jewish history, award-winning museum designers Gallagher & Associates, and Society staff will discuss plans for a new exhibition in the first synagogue building in the nation's capital.on Tuesday, July 7, 2009, from Noon to 1:00 p.m.

To read about the synagogue building and its history click here.

The lunchtime discussion features:

* Prof. Jonathan Sarna,
Joseph H. and Belle R. Braun Professor of American Jewish History
Brandeis University

* Prof. Pamela Nadell,
Inaugural Patrick Clendenen Professor of History
Director of the Jewish Studies Program
American University

Lillian & Albert Small Jewish Museum
701 Fourth Street, NW (at G St.)
Washington, D.C.
Metro: Judiciary Square

Enjoy this unique opportunity to learn stories of the men and women who built the 1876 synagogue and see historic images and objects from the building's history.

Bring your own lunch or order a box lunch for $15. Drinks provided.

This free program is made possible by a grant from the Humanities Council of Washington, D.C., an affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Historic Preservation Office of the D.C. government's Office of Planning.

Several years ago I had the privilege of working on the historic structures report for this small but important building. I am pleased to see that the Jewish Historical Society of Great Washington Continues to work to make visiting the the site a significant experience.

Lecture (Today): Jewish Life in Mr. Lincoln's City (Washington, DC)

Lecture Today in Washington, DC: About Exhibition Jewish Life in Mr. Lincoln's City

Tuesday, May 19, 2009, Noon - 1:00 p.m.

Join Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington Executive Director Laura Cohen Apelbaum and Archivist/Curator Wendy Turman as they discuss the Society's new exhibition, Jewish Life in Mr. Lincoln's City. Free and open to the public.

Location: Library of Congress, Jefferson Building, Second Floor
African/Middle Eastern Reading Room (floorplan)
10 First Street, SE (between Independence Ave. and South Capitol St.)

Contact the Library of Congress at (202) 707-3779 for more information.

About the The Exhibition: Jewish Life in Mr. Lincoln's City

One of the most important events in our nation's history, the Civil War forever altered American life. Washington and Alexandria were sites of intense activity. This new, original exhibition tells stories of Jewish life in Civil-War Washington and across the river in Alexandria.

Mounted as part of national celebrations of Lincoln's bicentennial in 2009, this exhibition includes images from our collections, supplemented by photographs from the Library of Congress and other local repositories.

Tours

February 13 - July 2009
Washington Hebrew Congregation
3935 Macomb Street, NW, Washington, D.C.
Call (202) 362-7100 for visiting information.

July 2009 - December 2009
Beth El Hebrew Congregation
3830 Seminary Road, Alexandria, VA

For more information contact the JHSGW

Lectures: Sandor Gilman to deliver Sherman Lectures at the University of Manchester

Lectures: Sandor Gilman to deliver Sherman Lectures at the University of Manchester

Next week Prof. Sandor Gilman of Emory University will be in England delivering the Sherman Lectures at the University of Manchester. Gilman, who has written extensively on the intellectual life of German Jews will focus on the topic of German-Jewish Exiles in London from 1933-1950. Of course, many renowned and even mroe lesser known artists, architects and art historians passed through London or settled there during the 1930s. Art history is treated in a lecture Ernst Kris, E. H. Gombrich and Edgar Wind. Architecture and Architectural History are not included in the week long presentation. That leaves out one of my favorite Jewish architects - Fritz Landauer - and, of course, the German-Jewish-English dean of modern architectural history and arbiter of taste Sir Nikolaus Pevsner. Still, if you are in the UK, Gilman is not to be missed! - SDG

2009 Sherman Lectures: German-Jewish Exiles in London 1933-1950

The 2009 Sherman Lectures are being delivered by Prof. Sander Gilman (Emory University) between 10 and 14 May on “German-Jewish Exiles in London 1933-1950”. With the exception of the Community Lecture (details below) these will be held at 5.15pm each day in the Arts Lecture Theatre, Samuel Alexander Building (formerly Lime Grove, building 67 on campus maps).

Booking is not necessary, but we would be grateful if you could indicate your intention to attend so that we have an idea of numbers. Email cjs@manchester.ac.uk.

Sunday 10 May (Community Lecture): “Mark the Music”: Jews, Music, and Modern Life. The Community Lecture will be held at Manchester Jewish Museum, 190 Cheetham Hill Road, Manchester at 7.30pm for 8.00pm.

Sander L. Gilman will explore why Jews were so prominent in the world of high music a hundred years ago and how high culture became a tool for integrating into European society. The question about what 'Jewish music' could be was hotly debated, even shaping early Zionist thought and notions about the future State of Israel. Gilman's illustrated talk will connect the passionate violin performances of one of the most legendary Jewish exiles, Albert Einstein, with the role of minorities in our contemporary classical music scene.

Monday 11 May: Freuds: Sigmund and Anna Confront the Present in the Past. Followed by informal kosher reception, kindly sponsored by Mr Joe Dwek.

Looking at Sigmund Freud's celebrity arrival in London, we can begin to sense the contours of an exile response to British society in the 1930s, with its complexity distorted by the sense of refuge given to the exiles. Anna's response is quite different than her father's - as it mirrors her experience of the war.

Tuesday 12 May: Anti-Freud: Elias Canetti and the Jews

Elias Canetti's seeing the Past in the Present is mirrored in the reception that his novel Auto-de-Fe, published in Vienna, has in the UK and Canetti's own struggle with the culture of England, including that of the exiles, and what it came to mean to be a Jew in a London seemingly obsessed with Sigmund Freud.

Wednesday 13 May: Learning to See: Ernst Kris, E. H. Gombrich and Edgar Wind Confront the Present in the Past

Ernst Kris and E. H. Gombrich come to England and create a new art history that sees the past in the present in its attempt to provide an overarching theory of art and politics. Humor plays a major role in their initial use of psychoanalysis to provide a theory of seeing.

Thursday 14 May: After the Shoah: H. G. Adler – From Terezin to London

After 1945 the new exiles such as H.G. Adler arrive in London from their experiences in the concentration and death camps. They react to the exiles already present in British culture. Their experiences come to be absorbed in the creative life of the child exiles who had come much earlier and whose creative lives extend into the present.