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American Jewish History 90.1 (2002) 81-82



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An Ethnographic Study of an American Conservative Synagogue. By Martin Laskin. Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press, 2002. xv + 313 pp.

An Ethnographic Study of an American Conservative Synagogue could be titled more simply and accurately A History of Temple Beth Shalom. The Temple, or TBS as it is referred to, is a Conservative synagogue in Hamden, Connecticut, a suburb of New Haven, and is an outgrowth of the Hamden Jewish Community Center. Beginning with a brief history of the Conservative movement, Martin Laskin touches upon the history of the Jewish community of New Haven and its two major congregations, Mishkan Israel (Reform) and B'nai Jacob (Conservative).

Sharing mid-century prosperity, enjoying improved living conditions, and following the return of demobilized G.I.'s, Jews in the suburbs found affiliation with their city congregations inconvenient for themselves and especially for the education of their children and their becoming b'nai mitzvah. They also wanted something located nearby that would express their religious and civic identities. It is a familiar pattern.

The debate—whether to establish a synagogue or to remain a secular Jewish center—reflected the quandary of American Jews on whether to define themselves as a secular or a religious minority. Historical forces favored the religious option.

References to the older synagogues, expressed in a few well-selected interviews, are both interesting and informative. The opening chapters describe the sociological and economic forces that led to urban expansion and migration to the suburbs. Each move required the resolution of the inevitable conflict between institutional authority (that of Conservative Judaism's Rabbinical Assembly and United Synagogue) and individual freedom, as well as the need to balance the desire to modernize ritual practices against loyalty to traditional behavior. [End Page 81]

The author, Martin Laskin, considers himself both a participating observer and an outsider. He draws upon a traditional Jewish background in making his observations and, frequently, his judgments. Subject matter is discussed in the context of extensive quotations from classic authorities such as Emile Durkheim, Isaac Klein, Cecil Roth, Marshall Sklare and others. The bibliography reflects a broad area of study.

To explain the pluralistic practices in the congregation, the author describes in great detail the variety of skull-caps, the styles of prayer-shawls, women's head-covering, and the optional use of phylacteries. Gender equality and the acceptance of bat mitzvah for girls are taken for granted. Laskin occasionally veers into introspective autobiography (even to describing his planning of his son's bar mitzvah), social psychology, and subjective theology, bordering on the judgmental.

Laskin notes that the rabbis who have served the congregation are regarded more as employees than professional staff. Whether this is typical of suburban or contemporary congregations is not discussed.

His description of the observance of the festivals could well serve as a primer on Jewish holidays and festivals. Throughout the book, he treads on what is familiar territory to all but the uninformed outsider.

One would hope for better editing—ORT is more than a "Jewish women's fund raising organization" (p. 70). He describes Temple Beth Shalom, in meticulous detail even to the shape of the door handles on the front doors and belabors the obvious in repetitious detail as in "getting dressed-up for the holidays" (p. 114), or whether there are one or two people to pull the "strings" that open the ark curtain at aleinu. Lengthy quotations from bar mitzvah speeches make one wonder whether the speeches were written by the child or his teacher/rabbi?

The author occasionally lapses into jarring Yiddishisms such as kibbudim for honors and doven for praying and uses banal vernacular as in "the rabbi rarely recites Torah" (p. 128), or "the Rabbi takes on the job of doing the prayer" (p. 129), and "the way it works is that someone gets a part" (p. 130), and "the biggest turnout are on the Holidays." (p. 67).

There is little question but that Temple Beth Shalom is a typical example of a suburban Conservative synagogue with its members...

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