In this Book
- Mornings at the Stanton Street Shul:: A Summer on the Lower East Side
- Book
- 2011
- Published by: Fordham University Press
summary
In these pages Jonathan Boyarin invites us to share the intimate life of the
Stanton Street Shul, one of the last remaining Jewish congregations on New York's
historic lower east side. This narrow building, wedged into a lot designed for an
old-law tenement, is full of clamorous voices--the generations of the dead, who
somehow contrive to make their presence known, and the newer generation, keeping the
building and its memories alive and making themselves Jews in the process. Through
the eyes of Boyarin, at once a member of the congregation and a bemused
anthropologist, the book follows this congregation of "year-round Jews" through the
course of a summer when its future must once again be decided.The Lower East Side,
famous as the jumping-off point for millions of Jewish and other immigrants to
America, has recently become the hip playground of twentysomething "immigrants" to
the city from elsewhere in America and from overseas. Few imagine that Jewish life
there has stubbornly continued through this history of decline and regeneration.
Coming inside with Boyarin, we see the congregation's life as a combination of quiet
heroism, ironic humor, disputes for the sake of Heaven and perhaps otherwise,
and--above all--the ongoing search for ways to connect with Jewish ancestors while
remaining true to oneself in the present.Mornings at the Stanton Street Shul
illustrates in poignant and humorous ways the changes in a historic neighborhood
facing the challenges of gentrification. It offers readers with no prior knowledge
of Judaism and synagogue life a portrait that is at once intimate and intelligible.
Most important, perhaps, it shows the congregation's members to be anything but a
monochromatic set of uniform "believers" but rather a gathering of vibrant,
imperfect, indisputably down-to-earth individuals coming together to make a
community.
Table of Contents
Download Full Book
- Illustrations
- pp. vii-viii
- To the Reader
- pp. ix-xii
- Introduction
- pp. 1-22
- Week Three
- pp. 63-82
- Week Seven
- pp. 141-154
- Week Eight
- pp. 155-164
- Week Eleven
- pp. 185-192
- Week Twelve
- pp. 193-202
- Works Cited
- pp. 203-204
Additional Information
ISBN
9780823249428
Related ISBN(s)
9780823239009
MARC Record
OCLC
760886265
Pages
226
Launched on MUSE
2012-08-07
Language
English
Open Access
No