The Kosher Bookworm: remembering the Lower East Side

The Kosher Bookworm

by Alan Jay Gerber

For over the a century, the Lower East Side of Manhattan was regarded by most major historians as the largest Jewish immigrant community in America. The Lower East Side was the area of first settlement when Jews arrived upon these shores. They were to spend their first, and for many families, their second generations in that neighborhood, assimilating to a new and strange culture that was to alter their lifestyles and religious observances almost beyond recognition.

By the beginning of the 21st century, this area of first settlement has become the focus of nostalgia by the forth and fifth generations of the original immigrants who now make occasional forays into “der alter heim,” to satisfy old sentimental notions or just plain curiosity.

For this writer, a native of that community, my interest lies within the religious roots of American Judaism as personified by the experiences of the original settlers so long ago.

Recently, a detailed history and new guide to the sites of this community was published by the Columbia University Press. Titled, “Lower East Side: Remembered and Revisited,” the book was written by Joyce Mendelsohn, a lecturer on the history, culture and architecture of New York at the New School.

What makes this guide so special is that it is not just some ordinary tourist trap brochure. It is a serious historical as well as geographic guide to a neighborhood that I hold dear to this very day. The sights and sounds from my childhhood to early adulthood resonate within the pages of this book. This guide is truly a volume of history, fact, and a study of a community that still lives in the lives of its descendants, wherever they live, from the Five Towns to Beit Shemesh. Consider the following facts:

Every Young Israel shul owes its origins to those Lower East Siders who, 98 short years ago, established the first Young Israel in this community. Every graduate of Yeshiva University owes their education to those Lower East Siders who first established their yeshiva in these humble surroundings. Every American yeshiva boy and Bais Yaakov girl owes their day school education to the founders of the Rabbi Jacob Joseph School, “der mama yeshiva,” and the original Bais Yaakov school, first founded and nurtured on the Lower East Side.

The greatest poskim of that generation, who, each in their own way, set the pace for Jewish Halachik responsa on the American continent for generations to come. Rav Moshe Feinstein, Rav Eliyahu Henkin and Rav Tuvia Goldstein, all of sacred and blessed memory, lived their lives and saw their teachings flourish first in the Lower East Side community.

The histories of the shuls alone are worth the read. Here are just some of the shuls discussed: The still vibrant Bialystoker Shul, once the pulpit of the great Rabbi Dr. Mitchell Eskolsky, father and grandfather to the Dr. Fred Rosner and Rabbi Sholom Rosner families; the Bais Medrash Hagadol, once pulpit to Rav Ephraim Oshry, whose responsa during the Holocaust stand to this day as a monument to the strength of our religious traditions; and, The Young Israel of Manhattan, where it all began for the revival of Orthodox Judaism in America under the spiritual leadership of Rabbi Dr. David Stern.

Whether one buys and reads this book as a prep for visiting the neighborhood or just as an exercise in reading history, both efforts are worth your while. In addition, if you choose to visit, might I suggest that you contact The Lower East Side Tenement Museum (www.tenement.org) and the Lower East Side Jewish Conservancy (www.nycjewishtours.org) who will serve as valuable resources in planning for a visit.

However, do not forget the guide. A good reading before a visit will put you in good stead and make your visit all the more informative.