The Synagogues of New York's Lower East Side: A Retrospective and Contemporary View, 2nd Edition - Hardcover

Wolfe, Gerard R.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0823250008 ISBN 13: 9780823250004

Publisher: Empire State Editions, 2012

Synopsis

It has often been said that nowhere in the United States can one find a greater collection of magnificent and historic synagogues than on New York's Lower East Side. As the ultimate destination for millions of immigrant eastern European Jews, it became the new homeland and hoped-for goldene medinah (promised land) for immigrants fleeing persecution, poverty, and oppression. Yet to many visitors and students today these synagogues are shrouded in mystery, as documentary information on them tends to be dispersed and difficult to find. Gerard R. Wolfe gives readers unparalleled access to the story of how the Jewish community took root on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Using archival photographs taken by Jo Renee Fine and contemporary shots taken by Norman Borden alongside his text, Wolfe focuses on the synagogues built or acquired by eastern European Ashkenazi Jewish immigrants during the great era of mass immigration, painting vivid portraits of the individual congregations and the new and vital culture that was emerging. The synagogues in which these immigrants worshiped remain as a poignant visual reminder of what had become the largest Jewish community in the world.

About this title

Product Description:

The Synagogues of New York's Lower East Side An essential and accessible source for those who want to understand the varied and rich history of New York's Lower East Side and its Jewish population Full description

Review:

This book bears vital testimony to the central place of religion in immigrant social ties, to the architectural legacy constituted by grand and modest synagogue structures, and to the presence of the past in perhaps the most fascinating corner of a fascinating city. Author: ―Jonathan Boyarin Source: author of Mornings at the Stanton Street Shul

Gerard R. Wolfe, joined by the photographers Jo Renee Fine and Norman Borden, has completely overhauled “The Synagogues of New York’s Lower East Side” (Empire State Editions, $29.95), originally published in 1978. This volume, which is illustrated with black and white photographs and has a foreword by The Times’s Joseph Berger, uses historic houses of worship as a prism to explore immigrant life and culture. Author: ―Sam Roberts Source: The New York Times

Readers interested in Judaism, architecture, history or New York City will all find something to learn from and enjoy in Wolfe's book. Source: ―Greater Phoenix Jewish News

This book stands as a loving tribute to Jewish life on the Lower East Side. It is filled with Wolfe's erudite narrative and beautiful archival and contemporary photographs of synagogues, Jewish life, and the restoration projects. Source: ―Jewish Book Council

[The] love for a history all American Jews share―four out of five of descendants of the eastern European immigrants of the late 1800s and early 1900s trace their beginning to the Lower East Side―is palpable in this valuable and important book. Author: ―Joseph Berger Source: from the Foreword

Wolfe, an architectural historian, unpeels layers of the past behind the congregations and their building. . .[An] excellent new edition . . . Source: ―The Jewish Week

About this edition

• Publisher: Empire State Editions
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 0823250008
• ISBN 13: 9780823250004
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 232