City of Promises: A History of the Jews of New York, 3-volume box set

Visual Essay: An Introduction to the Visual and Material Culture of New York City Jews, 1920–2010

223 D I A N A L . L I N D E N In 2005, German-born Jewish photographer Julian Voloj went searching for architectural elements, historical objects, and urban ruins that hinted at traces of New York City’s rich Jewish heritage that had become obscured over time. He sought to create a visual catalog of what had been and what still exists today. Voloj assigns to us a task, if so inspired, to join his search for material remnants and to rediscover the vestiges of New York’s Jewish past that remain potent in our time.1 Literally, Voloj’s search sent him high and low, and he found himself up on the rooftop of Ahavas Israel Synagogue in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. His photograph emphasizes a Magen David (Jewish star) located atop the synagogue’s roof.2 The metal bars are forged into the now familiar six-pointed star, creating a frame within a frame that directs the viewer’s gaze to the blended Brooklyn and Manhattan skyline. The Star of David’s role as a framing device in Voloj’s work calls our attention to the constructedness of his vision and asks us to consider the role of Jewish history within the larger framework of the city. What is a New York Jew, and how are Jews pictured in the city’s visual economy? Voloj’s willingness to seek and to locate the once forgotten shows that Jewishness has not vacated New York, but rather, its nineteenth-century origins no longer command our view. Like an archeologist, Voloj unearths a hidden culture, people, and time and then brings it back to view in these contemporary times. His use of black V I S U A L E S S A Y An Introduction to the Visual and Material Culture of New York City Jews, 1920–2010 224 ■ j e w s i n g o t h a m and white for his images offers the sense of a document, a survey, and a sense of believability we used to see in newspapers. Voloj embeds the history of New York Jews within the broader fabric of the city at an unconscious level. Just as a photographer has a point of view, so does this visual essay. Rather than rely on the printed word as preserved in historical documents or memoirs , objects, photographs, ephemera, and heirlooms here testify to some of the many meanings evoked by the phrase “New York Jew” from the 1920s into the twenty-first century. This visual essay asks what unique qualities New York City brings to the equation—what attributes make New York Jews different from other big-city Jews. As writer Lenore Skenazy pointedly asked, “Are New York Jews More Jewish?”3 When Jewish culture hit the city’s pavements and matured over the course of the century, particularly from the 1920s onward , what type of alchemic transformation occurred? How has the idea of a New York Jew been made visual? And how have representations of New York Jews been distributed, by whom, and to whom? New York City has been the Julian Voloj, untitled photograph, part of Forgotten Heritage Series: Uncovering New York’s Hidden Jewish Past, 2005. (Courtesy of the artist) Visual Essay ■ 225 location for pivotal events and institutions. It hosted the 1939 and 1964 World’s Fairs and became the permanent home of the United Nations, drawing tourists to New York on the eve of World War II and during the heyday of civil rights activism. Protestors have gathered regularly in the city to comment on all manner of national and international politics and events. Jewish participation and leadership in such activities shapes perceptions of New York Jews. Both in the city and beyond, New York remains a focal point of Jewishness. This essay offers a visual gateway, enabling us to explore how both Jews and others have understood the term “New York Jew” and to consider through engagement with objects and ephemera various conceptualizations of what this term has meant, how New York Jews have been portrayed, and how they have portrayed themselves. New York City in the 1920s had much to offer to the young Jewish painter Theresa Bernstein (1890–2002). There were numerous art schools for her and galleries for the exhibition of her work, as well as like-minded artist friends.4 Theresa Bernstein, Zionist Meeting: Madison Square Garden (study), oil on canvas...