NEW YORK (RNS) — On a Tuesday morning in early November, 16 adults and a child in a stroller huddled in a gaggle close to the statue of Adam Clayton Powell Jr. in Harlem. Regardless of the chilliness within the air, all eyes had been intent on Barry Judelman as he delivered a quick historical past of the neighborhood’s Jewish group.
The group, gathered that day for the Jewish Harlem Strolling Tour, was principally older and Jewish. That is typically true of the contributors within the numerous Jewish historical past excursions he leads round New York Metropolis, Judelman stated. “That’s one of many unhappy issues about it.”
In response to Judelman, as a rule, individuals all in favour of such excursions have a household connection to the Decrease East Facet or components of Brooklyn, the place there may be nonetheless a big Orthodox Jewish inhabitants. Youthful Jews, he stated, typically don’t have “the background curiosity and extra importantly, information of the truth that they dwell in what was this large Jewish group. Certainly, the beginnings of the American Jews.”
Rising up in South Africa, Judelman was at all times all in favour of Jewish historical past. His curiosity in his heritage took him to Israel after which later to the U.S. to review the historical past of Jewish Individuals. He has been tracing that historical past in New York for the previous two years and has been sharing his information by way of excursions throughout town, in collaboration with the Decrease East Facet Jewish Conservancy.
“I believe instructing and imparting in an thrilling, modern and artistic method — not the old style, boring method — is so essential proper now, greater than ever,” stated Judelman.
The previous Temple Israel is now Mount Olivet Baptist Church, seen on Nov. 2, 2021, throughout a strolling tour in Harlem. RNS picture by Nidhi Upadhyaya
Stretching north of Central Park, Harlem is most well-known as a historic Black neighborhood, but it surely additionally as soon as housed the second largest inhabitants of Jews in America — about 175,000. The motion of Jews from the Decrease East Facet of town north to Harlem started within the 1870s and have become extra established within the early 1900s, after the introduction of the subway system in Manhattan.
Starting their tour at what was as soon as Blumstein’s, a division retailer owned by German Jewish immigrant Louis Blumstein, the group adopted Judelman eastward, to have a look at outdated worship facilities and brownstones as soon as inhabited by well-known Jewish celebrities akin to Richard Rodgers, Harry Houdini and Gertrude Berg.
By Nidhi Upadhyaya · November 11, 2021
One can simply think about the dimensions of the Jewish group within the space based mostly on the variety of synagogues that existed — Temple Israel, Commandment Keepers, Shaare Zedek, Ohab Zedek, Institutional Synagogue and the Ansche Chesed. All of those have now been transformed to church buildings, a sworn statement to the drastic change within the demographic of the locality’s residents.
All through the stroll, members of the group chimed in with their very own experiences and the historic synagogues they’ve seen. At one level when standing exterior the Bethel Method of the Cross Church of Christ, previously the Shaare Zedek Synagogue, a dialogue started on how one ought to renovate synagogues. Some missed the appeal of conventional worship areas whereas a majority agreed they don’t seem to be as useful and are very troublesome to take care of.
The tour ended exterior Harlem Hebrew Language Academy, the place everybody dispersed to seize lunch or a freshly made rugelach, a crammed pastry, from a bakery close by.
Barry Judelman. Picture by Jan E. Prokop
After the tour, Judelman famous what he sees as main components impacting the Jewish group within the nation.
“The nice risk to Jews feeling a lot at house in America is that they’ll rapidly turn into assimilated,” he stated. “Many Jews not solely have married out of the religion however have principally misplaced the religion. , they simply don’t observe they usually don’t determine.”
And with antisemitism on the rise, he stated, there may be rising discomfort inside the group. Even in New York, he stated, there’s been “an enormous wake-up name.”
“Individuals at all times thought New York is resistant to all of that due to the dimensions of the group,” stated Judelman. “However I believe all these illusions are actually lengthy gone.”
“The security and luxury degree Jews have felt in America, the bottom is starting to shift and shake slightly bit,” he added.
That is the rationale why he continues to point out up, even on a chilly and grey day, to escort his tour teams across the metropolis.
“I believe in the end, American Jewish identification may be very a lot strengthened by individuals having a historic perspective.”
The previous Synagogue for the Commandment Keepers Ethiopian Hebrew Congregation of the Residing God Pillar & Floor of Reality, Inc. in Harlem, New York, on Nov. 2, 2021. The property is now owned by English poet James Fenton and his associate Darryl Pinckney. It’s being renovated for them. RNS picture by Nidhi Upadhyaya