Women at Wilshire Boulevard Temple (As Seen in the 1929 Mural Cycle by Hugo Ballin)

Los Angeles, CA. Wilshire Boulevard Temple. Warner Memorial Murals by Hugo Ballin (1929). Detail of Four Matriarchs on south wall. Photo: Samuel D. Gruber 2017. A better picture is here.

Los Angeles, CA. Wilshire Boulevard Temple. Warner Memorial Murals by Hugo Ballin (1929). Detail of Sarah on south wall. Photo: Samuel D. Gruber 2017.

Women at Wilshire Boulevard Temple (As Seen in the 1929 Mural Cycle by Hugo Ballin)

by Samuel D. Gruber

The Warner Memorial Murals by American Jewish artist Hugo Ballin are among the most spectacular works of synagogue art of the 20th century.  Ballin (1879-1956) was a classically trained painter who came of age in New York in the era of the American Renaissance (at the turn of the 20th century he was painting in the Donatello Studios in Florence, now used by Syracuse University).  In 1913 he gained fame for his extensive mural program at the Wisconsin State Capitol, but a few years later he began work as a designer for silent films, and soon moved to Hollywood and developed a successful career as art director, writer, and director of many silent films - often starring his wife Mabel Ballin. After the advent of talkies in 1927 he stopped making his own films and returned to fine art to become one of the country's leading muralists. In 1929, he was head of art at Warner Brothers and was hired to the task of decorating the new Wilshire Boulevard Temple. His  extensive historical, allegorical, and symbolic representation of Jewish history was financed by three of the Warner Brothers in memory of their siblings and parents, and was planned together with Rabbi Edgar Magnin. .  

I first saw and wrote about the murals for my 2003 book American Synagogues: A Century of Architecture and Jewish Community.  They hhave recently been meticulously conserved and restored by Aneta Zebala Paintings Conservation company as part of the larger restoration of the entire Temple, led by Brenda Levin, and the ongoing expansion of Wilshire Boulevard Temple facilities. The transformation is impressive and the murals are spectacular ... a unreeling saga in technicolor when films were still only in black and white.

Earlier this month, however, I was fortunate to have a morning to look at the murals in detail. Even more time is needed; the paintings are packed with historical vignettes, scenes, and symbols. They exhibit a wide range of design and painterly approaches and flourishes. The mural is brash and bold and executed with brio. The expressive, dramatic, and cinematic nature of the unreeling narrative was already remarked upon in 1929, and again most recently by Mackenzie Stevens, who sees the highlighting of the scenes as similar to the lighting techniques of the silent film era. New photos by Tom Bonner, published in the book Wilshire Boulevard Temple and the Warner Murals: Celebrating 150 Years by Tom Teicholz (ORO Editions, 2013, allow attention to detail that is not even possible on site where visibility of the high lunettes is still hampered by original (and inadequate) lighting. Caroline Luce also explores some aspects of the mural in her informative website about Ballin's extensive mural work in the LA area.

I look forward to writing more about the murals and other aspects of Ballin's career elsewhere, but right now I want to draw attention to just one aspect of the mural which is rarely mentioned, and that is the inclusion of many images of women in the narrative. This includes a prominent depiction of the Four Matriarchs of Judaism, shown seated as a group on the sanctuary south wall opposite the Ark and bimah, and set beneath the balcony and over the main door through which one passes on existing the sanctuary.  To my knowledge this is the first such representation of the four Matriarchs anywhere in the history of art.

Los Angeles, CA. Wilshire Boulevard Temple. Warner Memorial Murals by Hugo Ballin (1929). Detail of Rebecca on south wall. Photo: Samuel D. Gruber 2017

Los Angeles, CA. Wilshire Boulevard Temple. Warner Memorial Murals by Hugo Ballin (1929). Detail of Rachel  and Leah on south wall. Photo: Samuel D. Gruber 2017.

Today, among egalitarian Jewish congregations, the most widely accepted and popular  addition to traditional liturgy is the includion of the names of the  Matriarchs in birkat avot (the blessing of the ancestors), which opens the Amidah: "Praised are You, Adonai our God and God of our ancestors, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob [Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel and Leah], great, mighty, awesome, exalted God who bestows lovingkindness, Creator of all. You remember the pious deeds of our ancestors and will send a redeemer to their children's children because of Your loving nature."  But in 1929, I think this inclusion of the matriarchs in such a prominent prayer would have imaginable to only the most progressive Jews (perhaps one of my readers - more familiar with the history of Jewish feminism would know more about the early advocacy for this change).

The four women strike poses familiar from classical and Renaissance art.  Based on form alone, they could be Greek or Roman matrons, or even goddesses, muses, allegorical virtues, or sybils - as painted  by Ballin earlier in his career. There is nothing quite like this in Jewish art since Edward Bendemann painted The Mourning Jews in Babylonian Exile a century earlier in 1832 and now in the Wallraf-Richartz Museum in Cologne, which depicts too mourning Jewish women seated next to a chained Jewish man.

Edward Bendemann, The Mourning Jews in Babylonian Exile, oil on canvas, 1832. Wallraf-Richartz Museum, Cologne.

Hugo Ballin, The Sibylla Europa Prophesying the Massacre of the Innocents, 1906. Courtesy of the Smithsonian American Art Museum

Hugo Ballin, Window in Tomb, Brooklyn, NY. Architectural League Exhibition Catalogue, 1907.

Rabbi Magnin, who had much to say about many of the Patriarchs and Prophets, said nothing about the women. But Dr. Luce speculates about their significance and also finds Mabel Ballin's presence here:

Like the female figures in his early paintings, Ballin placed the Matriarchs in a pastoral setting, removed from the realities of everyday life.  Nevertheless, their positions and poses suggest aspects of their characters and experiences as "Mothers" of the nation Israel.  On the left, Sarah, the wife of Abraham, looks down, perhaps disconsolate over her long period of childlessness or over the near loss of her only child, Isaac, at the hand of his father. Rebecca, wife of Isaac and mother of Jacob and Esau, holds a pitcher representing her hospitality at the well.  Rachel, beloved wife of Jacob, opens her arms in an embracing manner.  On the right, Leah appears disconsolate as well, perhaps because she is the unloved wife of Jacob. 

Confounding any interpretation of symbolism of the women is the fact that each of the women also resembles Ballin's wife, Mabel, suggesting that this portion of the mural is in some ways an expression of his love and admiration for his wife. Indeed, soon after his marriage, some observers noted that “traces of certain singularly attractive feminine features [were] asserting themselves more and more in his canvasses,” guessing that it might be because he, “unconsciously reproduces her [Mabel's] features in his work."¹ Ballin likely felt that Mabel embodied the qualities of each of these mothers and may have aimed to honor her contributions to his household by including the "Four Mothers" in his mural.

Mabel Ballin in Motion Picture Magazine (1920 or 1921)

Mabel Ballin in Judge (Dec 11, 1920)

Full human figures were not often represented in Jewish art, but there are many more examples than usually assumed. Images of women, however, are scarce. Before the turn of the 20th century we find representations of Judith on Hanukah lamps, but few other examples. This began to change when social artists such as Maurycy Minkowski, Abel Pann and others frequently included images of women (often holding children) in scenes of refugees from pogroms. 

Maurycy Minkowski, Po pogromie (After the Pogrom), 1905. Oil on canvas. (Tel Aviv Museum of Art)

At the same time, the first generation of Zionist artists more frequently included images of Biblical women, including Judith, often in heroic poses.  Boris Schatz created a number of relief sculptures with women subjects, and around 1908 Lesser Ury painted a striking representation of Rebecca at the Well (see illustration) which bears comparison to Ballin's Rebecca at Wilshire Boulevard Temple .

Boris Schatz, A Hebrew Mother, 1904, terracotta relief, 80x50cm. From Boris Schatz Father of Israeli Art

Boris Schatz, Judith, 1905, plaster relief.  From Boris Schatz Father of Israeli Art

Lesser Ury (German, 1861-1931), Rebecca at the Well, c. 1908, oil on canvas, Stiftung Jüdisches Museum, Berlin.

Teicholz notes that prominent placement of the matriarchs reflected attitudes within the congregation, where mixed seating of men and women was first adopted in the 1860s. Women were later counted in the minyan and before the 23rd amendment granted women the vote in American governmental election, women at Wilshire were made full members with an equal vote on synagogues matters.

These four are not the only women represented in the mural - there are several other generic women shown as wives and mothers.  Women are also represented in "The Messianic Age" in the western lunette.  In the spandrels over the east arches, there are scenes representing the sacred books, and the Book of Proverbs is shown with female figures, one weaving and the other giving drink to the thirsty, representing the passage about "A Woman of Valor." The Song of Songs is interpreted as a sensual love poem rather than an allegorical one, and it is represented by a beautiful and somewhat exotic woman seen in profile at the western end of the arches. With her feather headress, bangles, and chic loose outfit dropping in vertical folds to the ground, she might have felt as at home in a 1920s Paris nightclub as on the wall of synagogue.

Likewise, the image of Beruriah, the ancient Talmud-scholar wife of Rabbi Meir, is shown as a young and comely woman, looking over her husband's shoulder - either commenting upon or guiding his work. The large full-length image of Maimonides is shown before a supplicating woman and child.

Los Angeles, CA. Wilshire Boulevard Temple. Warner Memorial Murals by Hugo Ballin (1929). Detail of Bururiah and Rabbi Meir. Photo: Samuel D. Gruber 2017.

In the spandrels over the west arches are scenes of Jewish festivals and women are shown at both the seder celebration and lighting the Sabbath lamp. There is a decidedly pre-modern feel to these. The hanging lamp is one of the German Judenstern type, widely recognized as a Sabbath standard by it frequent appearance in the scenes by Moritz Daniel Oppenheim in the 19th century.

Los Angeles, CA. Wilshire Boulevard Temple. Warner Memorial Murals by Hugo Ballin (1929). Detail of seder scene. Photo: Samuel D. Gruber 2017.

Los Angeles, CA. Wilshire Boulevard Temple. Warner Memorial Murals by Hugo Ballin (1929). Detail of Sabbath lamp lighting. . Photo: Samuel D. Gruber 2017.

USA: Buffalo, New York's Oldest Synagogue Building Threatened with Demolition

 Buffalo, NY. Former Ahavath Sholem synagogue.  A. E. Minks and Sons, architects (1903). Photo credit: David Torke, fixBuffalo.  Click here to see more photos.

USA: Buffalo, New York's Oldest Synagogue Building Threatened with Demolition
by Samuel D. Gruber

(ISJM) The former Ahavath Sholom Synagogue at 407 Jefferson Avenue in Buffalo (google map), built in 1903,  is threatened with demolition.  Jewish use of the building ended in the 1960s, and it became home to the Greater New Hope Church of God in Christ.  The structure is now empty and in disrepair.  The building is one of the last standing synagogue of the "facade-dome" type that was popular at the end of the 19th century.  

Architecturally, the building is most readily notable for its single 'onion' style dome set over the central entrance bay of the facade.  Variations of this type of arrangement are known in synagogue architecture beginning in Europe in the mid-19th century.  One example is the destroyed synagogue of Jelgava, Latvia.  The style was especially common in Moorish style buildings such as Ahavath Sholom.  Major American examples include Temple Sinai in Chicago (Dankmar Adler, arch.) and Temple Beth El in New York (Brunner & Tryon, archs.) which were demolished decades ago. Tiny Gemiluth Chassed in Port Gibson, Mississippi survives. Time may not be long for Buffalo's Ahavath Sholom, but local efforts to save the building may stave off the wrecking ball.

 Port Gibson, Mississippi.  Congregation Gemiluth Chassed (1891-92).  Photo: ISJM.

Jelgava, Latvia. Former synagogue (1890?) from a postcard.

I'll be writing more about the plight of the former Ahavath Sholom and the effort to save it soon.  Meanwhile, look at this extensive flickr series of photos of the current condition.  Views of original building blueprints are included.  From these you can see that originally more Moorish details had been planned.

According to the blog fixBuffalo:

In December, Housing Court Judge Patrick Carney issued an order to demolish the City's oldest synagogue, one of the last remaining vestiges of Jewish life on the City's East Side.    The familiar onion domed landmark on Jefferson Avenue was designed by A. E. Minks and Sons and built in 1903.  With the cooperation of Rev. Jerome Ferrell and his congregation, the Greater New Hope Church of God in Christ, this historic structure was designated a local landmark by the City's Preservation Board in 1997.  

 Read the entire post here.

You can read more about the synagogue in this article by Chana Kotzin from the February 10, 2012  issue of the Buffalo Jewish Review.  Kotzin runs the Buffalo Jewish archives and has been collecting history about the building, its congregation and the old East Side Jewish neighborhood. 

The synagogue was designated a local protected site in 1997, but that did not lead to its restoration.  You can read here the entire local landmark designation application from 1997, made available for wider distribution on fixBuffalo with Tim Tielman's assistance.  The building is clearly eligible for National Register listing, and preservationists plan to submit a nomination form to the state soon.  NR designation can be crucial for qualifying for a variety of government sponsored grants and tax credits for any restoration or redevelopment project for the building.
  
My thanks to Cynthia Van Ness and David Torke for helping me with this entry.

USA: Syracuse University Library has acquired the personal papers of architect Morris Lapidus

Miami Beach, Fl. Temple Menorah, 1962. Morris Lapidus, arch. From D. Desilets, Morris Lapidus: The Architecture of Joy (New York: Rizzoli, 2010), 167. This photo is now part of the Lapidus Collection at Syracuse University.

USA: Syracuse University Library has acquired the personal papers of architect Morris Lapidus.

Syracuse University Library has acquired the personal papers of the flamboyant and trend-setting architect Morris Lapidus (1902-2001). Although clearly an architectural original, and a man who worked and pleased a varied clientele, Lapidus can also has serious credentials as a Jewish architect. He designed several synagogues, and his Miami architecture was especially in tune with a unique phase of American Jewish leisure life.

The Lapidus papers join other collections at the Syracuse University Library Special Collections and Research Center (SCRC) of the other leading modern American architects who also happened to design synagogues, including Marcel Breuer, Pietro Belluschi, Minoru Yamasaki and Werner Seligmann.

Pikesville, MD. Temple Beth Tfiloh, 1961. Morris Lapidus, arch. From D. Desilets, Morris Lapidus: The Architecture of Joy (New York: Rizzoli, 2010), 167.

Though his interior design and hotels are better known, Lapidus's synagogues deserve study, if only to see have they compare with contemporary work. His Temple Menorah in Miami Beach, for instance, bears at least a superficial resemblance to Gropius and Leavitt's Oheb Shalom in Baltimore, built just about the same time. I'm sorry I did not include any of Lapidus's work when I published my American Synagogues (Rizzoli) book in 2003.

Baltimore, MD. Oheb Shalom. Walter Gropius and Sheldon Leavitt, architects. Photo: Paul Rocheleau (2002).

Miami Beach, Fl. Temple Menorah, 1962. Morris Lapidus, arch. Photo: Julian H. Preisler.

According to the release from the Syracuse University Library:

Lapidus, who died in 2001, is perhaps best known for hotels like the Fontainebleau, Americana, and Eden Roc in Miami Beach, Fla., buildings which embodied the growth of leisure in American life during the 1950s and 1960s. The Fontainebleau has served as a backdrop for variety of iconic scenes in American film, including the James Bond thriller "Goldfinger" (1964). Most of Lapidus' buildings exhibited a mélange of historical styles--French provincial, Italian and Baroque--and anticipated the post-modernism of later architects.

Lapidus was born in Odessa, Russia, in 1902, but his family immigrated to the United States soon thereafter. As a wide-eyed youth, he marveled at the splendor of Coney Island and he would later impart a similar spirit of excess to his work as an architect. That spirit would place him at odds with his function-minded modernist peers. However, contrary to the editor's choice of title for his 1996 autobiography, "Too Much is Never Enough," Lapidus was interested less in hedonism than he was in a "quest for emotion and motion in architecture."

Frustrated by his sometimes antagonistic relationship with the architectural establishment, Lapidus destroyed many of his firm's records when he retired in 1984. However, he retained a core collection of especially valuable papers that he entrusted to his last collaborator and confidant, architect Deborah Desilets. The archive includes a large collection of photographs dating to the 1920s, conceptual drawings, manuscript drafts of his written works and correspondence with his long-time friend, mystery writer Ellery Queen.

Desilets approached Syracuse, which has held a small Lapidus collection since 1967, and a gift of the material was finalized in December. Speaking on her decision to place the archive with Syracuse, Desilets says, "The archive is an extremely important missing link in the discourse on Lapidus' influence on 20th-century architecture. I am thrilled to place it in such a distinguished research institution where it will be available for use by generations of students and scholars."

In Syracuse's Special Collections Research Center, the Lapidus archive will reside in one of the most important mid-century modern collections in the country. Among the other architects represented are Marcel Breuer, William Lescaze and Richard Neutra, as well as designers like Russel Wright and Walter Dorwin Teague.

Syracuse School of Architecture faculty member Jon Yoder offered this assessment of the Lapidus archive's value for teaching and research: "The recent proliferation of architect-designed boutique hotels, coupled with the pervasive disciplinary focus on architectural effects suggests that Lapidus was indeed one of the most influential architects of the 20th century. This acquisition of his personal archive comes as welcome news to designers and scholars who are finally beginning to reassess the lavish contributions of this much-maligned architect across a surprisingly broad spectrum of design disciplines."

For more information, contact Sean Quimby, senior director of Special Collections, at 315-443-9759 or smquimby@syr.edu.

USA: Hanukah Celebration at New York's Kehila Kedosha Janina, December 18th

New York, NY. Kehila Kedosha Janina, interior. Photo: Vincent Giordano

New York, NY. Kehila Kedosha Janina. Bar Mitzvah. Photo: Vincent Giordano

USA: Hanukah Celebration at New York's Kehila Kedosha Janina, December 18th

One of my favorite Jewish spaces in New york is the tiny Kehila Kedosha Janina (KKJ) on Broome Street on the Lower East Side. This is the home to the region's Greek (Romaniote) Jewish community - an enormously hospitable extended family. The synagogue and its small museum continues services and is open to the public on Sundays. Next week is a great time to visit - to celebrate Hannukah with traditional Greek-Jewish Hannukah treats (boumwelos) and to honor John and Christine Woodward of Woodward Gallery at 133 Eldridge Street.

The congregation wants to fill the sanctuary (not too hard given its small size) with joy!

Where: Kehila Kedosha Janina, 280 Broome Street (between Allen and Eldridge)When December 18

New York, NY. Kehila Kedosha Janina. Torah scroll. Photo: Vincent Giordano

Here's some history from museum curator and community historian Marcia Haddad Ikonomopoulos:

In the early 20th century, as Jews from the Balkans began to arrive on the Lower East Side, Shearith Israel (the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue uptown on West 70th and Central Park West) established institutions to help the new immigrants. Foremost among these were the settlement house and synagogue originally created at 86 Orchard Street. Soon the small dwelling was insufficient to house the growing population of Balkan Jewry and it was necessary to find larger quarters.

In 1914, the synagogue, now named Berith Shalom, was moved to 133 Eldridge, where the facilities were now larger and could include a Talmud Torah. As the neighborhood changed and the Balkan Jews moved to the outer boroughs and the suburbs, Berith Shalom was closed and the building at 133 Eldridge went through many incarnations. In May of 2007, John and Kristine Woodward moved their gallery to 133 Eldridge Street and, in the process of restoration, uncovered a piece of decorated plaster wall from the old synagogue. John lovingly restored and mounted the section and presented it to Kehila Kedosha Janina as a gift. It now hangs in our synagogue/museum.

USA: Syracuse, NY, Temple Concord Sanctuary A Century Old: Re-Dedication on September 18, 2011

Syracuse, NY. Temple Concord in winter and summer. Photos: Samuel D. Gruber

USA: Syracuse, NY, Temple Concord Sanctuary a Century Old: Re-Dedication on September 18, 2011
by Samuel D. Gruber

(this text adapted from my article that appeared in the Jewish Observer)

On September 23, 1911 Syracuse, NY dignitaries gathered on the steps of the newly-built Temple Society of Concord to dedicate Central New York’s newest place of worship and the grandest Jewish building in Upstate New York. On September 18th, 2011 at 2:00 pm Rabbi Daniel J. Fellman, congregants and public and religious leaders will join together to re-dedicate the stately classical-style Temple for another century of Jewish worship in Central New York.

Temple Concord began the celebration of the building’s construction last September, when the congregation celebrated the centennial of the laying of the building's cornerstone. In the past year Temple Concord has hosted a series of historical, cultural and community events to celebrate 100 years of Reform Judaism on the “Hill.” Events have included concerts, lectures, historically inspired religious services, and a benefit auction.



The year will conclude with the weekend celebration; a gala dinner dance on September 17th celebrating the congregation’s centennial families – those members whose families have maintained continuous membership and service at Concord since this building opened; and Sunday’s rededication. The congregation will especially recognize life-long member 97-year old artist Fritzie Smith, whose grandfather Louis Glazier served as assistant to Rabbi Guttman, who presided at the building dedication, and also served as the congregation’s cantor and Hebrew teacher even before the new Temple was built. Other families honored will be the Holsteins, whose ancestor Adolph founded the Syracuse Ornamental Company (SYROCO) in 1890 and donated the present pulpit, lecterns and arm chairs as a memorial to his parents. “Our place of worship is our religious home,” said his grandson, life-long member Alexander Holstein. “The beautiful building and its walls hold treasures of the happy and sad times of our family life for four generations.” Octogenarian Michael Moss’s family will be honored – his parents Jacob Moss and Frances Silverstein were among the first to be married by Rabbi Guttman in the new sanctuary on June 4, 1912. The congregation will also recognize the Dan Harris family, which on the Rosenbloom side has been associated with the temple for many generations.

When Concord Rabbi Adoph Guttman and then congregation President Gates Thalhiemer addressed their audience of the city’s political and business leadership and a large ecumenical assembly of clergy in 1911, they knew they were doing something extraordinary – testimony to the struggles and success three generations of American Jews is Syracuse. In 1911 the city of Syracuse was not yet a century old, and Jews had organized in the city only seven decades before. Temple Concord had been founded by Jewish immigrants from Central Europe in 1839. Could those Jewish leaders have imagined that their congregation and their new building would remain intact and strong for another century?

It was an age of optimism, and that was surely their inspiration, though the tumultuous and transformative events of the 20th century could not have been anticipated. But through horrific world wars and the destruction of the Holocaust; the expansion and contraction of Central New York’s economy, industry and population; the spread of electricity, the automobile, air and space travel, and computers and so many other technological, social, demographic, economic, military, artistic and political changes; Temple Concord has always maintained Friday night worship services, a religious school, and a caring, welcoming community. The congregation has changed and modernized, but its stately building, designed by architects Alfred Taylor and Arnold W. Brunner, has changed little inside and out.

Brunner, who at the time of the Temple’s construction was president of the New York Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, and was overseeing the completion of his grand Federal Building in Cleveland, is also notable as the first successful American-born Jewish architect. He was probably recommended to the congregation by the great lawyer and human rights advocate Louis Marshall, who remained associated with Temple Concord all his life, even when he served as President of Temple Emanu-El in Manhattan.

For generations, Temple Concord has been a bedrock institution in Syracuse, and since 2008 its building has been designated as a landmark for the nation, listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

On September 18, 1911 the Post-Standard reported that

“Simplicity and dignity, two marked characteristics of the new house of worship, were emphasized at the dedication of the massive synagogue of the Temple Society of Concord … The new temple is one of the most impressive buildings in Syracuse. Having followed out the Doric Renaissance style of architecture, with four immense columns, the general effect is not unlike that of the ancient temples, and the interior, with its old ivory finishes, subdued lights and Circassian walnut trimmings, is equal in beauty to any recent work of art along architectural lines in this city.”

Gates Thalheimer, president of Temple Concord in 1911

At the 1911 dedication Thalheimer said: “In this country no Jew needs to be ashamed of his religion. Under the protection of the Stars and the Stripes we are permitted to worship God according to the dictates of our heart. All that is required of us is to be upright and honest in our dealings with fellow men and be good American citizens. The better Jews we are the betters Americans we will be.” A century later, these sentiments remain as true as ever.

USA: Shearith Israel Cemeteries in Manhattan

New York City, NY. remains of the first Jewish cemetery of Congregation Shearith Israel. Photos: Samuel D. Gruber

USA: Shearith Israel Cemeteries in Manhattan

Every few years there is an article on the cemeteries or former synagogues of New York's Congregation Shearith Isreal, the oldest Jewish congregation in the United States. Its a great demonstration of how long Jews have been in NYC (since the 1640s!), but also how populations have moved "uptown" geographically and socially. This is a good thing, since in New York - or at least Manhattan - there are there is always a new audience that needs to know these things.

The latest article in the tradition is by Adam Chandler from Tablet Magazine. Its a pretty good piece, with a few correctives added by readers at the end. The last paragraph, however, seems to indicate that the 1860 synagogue on 19th Street, sold in January 1895, still survives in some much modified form. The building that may survive would have been O'Neill's Dry Goods Store behind the cemetery, not the synagogue itself. I'm pretty sure the synagogue was a long block away on West 19th St. near 5th Avenue, not between 20th and 21st Street near Sixth, where the cemetery is.

Here is the 19th Street synagogue, one the few Roman Baroque style synagogues in America, and one of the earliest (the first?) with a dome.

New York, NY. Former Congregation Shearith Israel at 19th St.. Photo: Kings Handbook of New York (2nd edition, 1893). The building was sold in 1894.

Also, a little more information on the damage caused by nearby construction work in 2006 would be worth knowing. At the time there was legal wrangling over who was responsible, and who had to pay for repairs. Since then, I don't recall reading about repairs done at all - though I hope they were!


Buried
by Adam Chandler (Tablet Magazine, August 26, 2011)

There’s a small Jewish cemetery tucked away on an unlikely block in Manhattan, behind some condominiums on West 21st Street. It’s just a few minutes from Tablet Magazine’s new office on Tin Pan Alley, and I recently stumbled upon it. As it turns out, it has two siblings further downtown, and, taken together, the trio offer a window into the history of both the city and its Jewish community.

The three historic Manhattan cemeteries belong to Congregation Shearith Israel, a Spanish and Portuguese synagogue in Manhattan and the oldest Jewish congregation in North America, established in 1654. They are perhaps the most durable legacy of New York City’s long-ago Jewish past. The Shearith Israel congregation was founded by 23 Jewish refugees, descendents of Spanish Jews, exiled during the Inquisition, who fled from Recife, Brazil, after it was taken from the Dutch by the Portuguese. They were fleeing anti-Semitism but were greeted coldly by Peter Stuyvesant, the Dutch director-general of the colony of New Netherland. From 1654 until 1825, Shearith Israel was the only Jewish congregation in New York City. In its long history, membership of the congregation has included Supreme Court Justice Benjamin Cardozo, three founders of the New York Stock Exchange, and the poet Emma Lazarus, whose famous words from “The New Colossus” are affixed to the Statue of Liberty. Shearith Israel—the name translated is “Remnant of Israel”—owns a Torah that dates to the American Revolution.

Read the entire article here.

Publication: New Book on Eldridge Street Synagogue Restoration

New York, NY. Eldridge Street Synagogue. Restored facade. Photos: Samuel D. Gruber (March 2011)

New York, NY. Eldridge Street Synagogue. Restored 19th century sanctuary and new "rose" window above Ark. Photos: Samuel D. Gruber (March 2011)

Publication: New Book on Eldridge Street Synagogue Restoration
by Samuel D. Gruber

Beyond the Facade: A Synagogue, a Restoration, a Legacy: the Museum at Eldridge Street by Roberta Brandes Gratz, Larry Bortniker and Bonnie Dimun (Museum at Eldridge Street and Scala Publishing, 2011), highlights the almost thirty-year effort to restore New York's Eldridge Street Synagogue. The new book contains an evocative and informative essay by Roberta Brandes Gratz, one of the initiators of the project and the energetic organizer and definer of the work in its early formative phases. As Gratz writes of this and any similar project "There was no time to be discouraged. Restoring a landmark that has been abandoned by those most connected to it historically is only for the young, the persistent, and the deeply committed, and surely not for the faint of heart."

Ms. Gratz was never faint of heart, and she committed as large chunk of her life to saving the grand synagogue and to recovering and retelling the history of the building, its congregation and its role in the American immigrant saga. Gratz was helped by hundreds along the way, and followed in a leadership role by Amy Waterman who advanced the project in substantial ways - raising new awareness and especially large sums of money through various wards and grants.

Innovative restoration methods were developed, especially the excavation and use of a sub-basement level for new mechanical systems, restroom and other necessities. Bonnie Dimun was date brought in a director in 2007. As she says in her afterward to the book, her mandate was to "Get it Done." In just nine months she did just that, making some tough decisions in order to bring the decades-long project to completion. Since then she and her staff have worked to reinvent the building and the project, including the installation of new "rose" window about the Aron-ha-Kodesh, designed by artist Kiki Smith. The original window was destroyed in the 1930s and after debate, the decision was made not to re-create an approximation (since the original design was not known),but rather to create something entirely new, moving the restoration out of the past and into the present.

Since the 1980s the sustaining narrative at Eldridge was about the restoration itself. Now that the most obvious work is done, the presentation has had to shift. Continuing a process begun under Ms. Waterman, Eldridge is now as much about history, family, neighborhood, immigration and cultural life as about architecture and restoration. The new window in the thinking of the project's new leadership bridges the generations. Importantly, in regard to audience, it makes the synagogue both a sacred historic site and a vibrant contemproary art space, too.

This new book doesn't dwell on such issues. It is essentially an annotated photo album of the restoration process that makes it hard to forget all the hard work that lies behind the synagogue's present-day pristine appearance - no matter what direction the building and musuem head in future years. These pictures will make hard to forget how dilapidated the building, now so intact, once was.

Every restoration project should keep such an album, even they cannot afford in the end to publish. With online construction blogs and You-tube posts it is easy to record the process of restoration. The process itself is part of the purpose. At Eldridge Street and elsewhere the process - especially when it is a long one - allows the opportunity to explore and educate, to advocate and debate and to plan for building use for a long sustainable future.

New York, NY. Eldridge Street Synagogue. Stairway. An elevator is now installed in the location of the second stairwell. Photos: Samuel D. Gruber (March 2011)

In Gratz's words "Actually, the slow road to success worked in our favor. We had time to do serious historical research about both the building and the people who used it. If we had had all the money early, we might have ruined the building, replaced things that could have been salvaged, refinished others that could have been conserved and in many ways, erased the patina of time. In the mid-1980s the world of historic preservation, restoration, and conservation was not nearly at its current level of sophistication and nuance."

I first visited the restoration at Eldridge in 1989 soon after I began work as the Director of the Jewish Heritage Council of the World Monuments Fund (WMF). Though WMF chose to look abroad for its Jewish heritage projects - especially after 1989 to Eastern Europe, the image and influence of Eldridge were strongly felt. Conservators, activists and historians from Eastern Europe attending WMF's Future of Jewish Monuments conference in New York in November 1990 visited the restoration and came away educated and inspired.

Soon after, when WMF undertook the restoration of the great Tempel Synagogue in Krakow, Poland, we looked to the Eldridge experience for method. Since then, scores of restoration projects in the U.S. and abroad influenced by the example of Eldridge were completed - ironically long before the actual re-dedication of the Lower East Side synagogue in 2007. Still, they owe a lot to Eldridge as the Jewish monument restoration laboratory par excellance.

This new book is not a history of the synagogue - Annie Polland's Landmark of the Spirit already covers that ground. Neither is it a primer on restoration; a series of specialized conservation studies and reports; or a critical review of the the various stages of work at Eldridge. It is, however, a beautiful and celebratory testimony to the long and difficult work done on the building - an achievement that many people in the 1980s, when it all began, believed a crazy endeavor that would never end. Along the way there were rough patches, some bruised egos, dismissed architects, strained friendships and professional disagreements. But through it all there remained a constancy of vision, an optimism of spirit and a tenacity of commitment that
has hardly been equaled in the annals of historic preservation.

To the hundreds of professionals and volunteers who have worked on the Eldridge Street Project and the thousands of financial contributors to the resotration: Congratulations!