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The Tangled History of Shuls and Real Estate

By Sandee Brawarsky

Had it been two blocks south and a bit farther east, the 16th Street Synagogue would have been included in Gerard R. Wolfe’s excellent new edition of his classic work, “The Synagogues of New York’s Lower East Side: A Retrospective and Contemporary View” (Empire State Editions/Fordham University Press). That shul, formerly the Young Israel of Fifth Avenue, is being evicted from its building, after a long dispute with a developer.

Those interested in New York City’s building genealogy and the intertwining connections between real estate interests, immigrant history, shifting populations and synagogue life will find much of interest in Wolfe’s book, first published in 1978. He details the active synagogues (12) and the “lost” or endangered synagogues (24), and also includes a great chronological chart documenting shul mergers and breakaways in New York City, 1654 – 1875.

Wolfe, an architectural historian, unpeels layers of the past behind the congregations and their buildings. He pays careful attention to the special features of the buildings (the Bialystoker Synagogue, built as a church, may have been a station on the Underground Railroad, sheltering runaway slaves) and their architects (the Erste Warshawer Congregation, First Warsaw Congregation, now repurposed to art studios and residence, was designed by Emery Roth, known for designing the Sam Remo apartment house on Central Park West); and their struggles, some ongoing.

Sadly, in this edition, Congregation Beth Hamedrash Hagadol on Norfolk Street moved from the active synagogue to the endangered section, shortly before the book went to press. That shul ‘s sanctuary has magnificent wall paintings and carvings, along with a storied history of distinguished rabbis, most recently, the late Rabbi Ephraim Oshry, who had been the rabbi of the Kovno ghetto. A group including his son-in-law and leaders of the Lower East Side Jewish Conservancy is trying to secure funding for restoration and renovation. READ MORE

]]> http://www.fordhamimpressions.com/?feed=rss2&p=4535 0 http://www.fordhamimpressions.com/?p=4100 http://www.fordhamimpressions.com/?p=4100#comments Fri, 12 Oct 2012 17:11:09 +0000 FUPress http://www.fordhamimpressions.com/?p=4100 Full Story →]]> How to Stop Religious Warfare

October 10, 2012
Huff Post | The BLOG | Religion | The Internet Newspaper: News, Blogs, Video, Community
by Nicholas Tampio

In the past few weeks, militants have tried to spark religious warfare around the world. In the United States, Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, a Coptic Christian, made and posted on YouTube a crude video mocking the Prophet Muhammad. In Libya, Muhammad Jamal Abu Ahmad, an Egyptian national with ties to al Qaeda, helped orchestrate the attack that killed U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens. Many Americans have emphasized that the U.S. is committed to the ideal of mutual respect among existential faiths (along with the right to free speech), and many Libyans have let the world know that those who attacked the U.S. embassy do not represent their country or Islam. And yet many people suspect that militants are planning further episodes to incite hatred and violence.

What can history teach us about stopping religious warfare?

Steven’s death calls to mind a pivotal event in European history: the Defenestration of Prague. In 1618, Protestant aristocrats threw Catholic diplomats out a window, and by the time the Thirty Years War had ended, 20 percent of the population of the Holy Roman Empire had been killed.

For the next two centuries, the political philosophers of the Enlightenment sought to develop a political order that would end sectarian violence. Radicals such as Baruch Spinoza argued for a secular politics and culture. Moderates such as John Locke argued that believers needed to reinterpret, not abandon, their religion. Radicals sparked the debates, but moderates enacted the lasting changes, including providing the intellectual foundation for the US Constitution.

Two lessons from the Enlightenment remain timely. . . . READ MORE

]]> http://www.fordhamimpressions.com/?feed=rss2&p=4100 0 http://www.fordhamimpressions.com/?p=3025 http://www.fordhamimpressions.com/?p=3025#comments Sun, 06 Nov 2011 21:33:56 +0000 FUPress http://www.fordhamimpressions.com//?p=3025 Full Story →]]>

by Edward Rohs and Judith Estrine

The New York Times
BOOKSHELF

By SAM ROBERTS
Published: November 4, 2011

In “Raised by the Church: Growing Up in New York City’s Catholic Orphanages” (Fordham University Press), Edward Rohs, a state mental health worker, recalls an odyssey that began when he was 6 months old and his unwed parents left him at the Angel Guardian Home in Brooklyn to be raised by the Sisters of Mercy. He couples a moving first-person account of coping with a system that separated orphans by age and gender with a historical perspective on child care in the 19th and 20th centuries.

“I remember being lonely,” he writes, “but I was never alone — not ever.” Being an orphan was Mr. Rohs’s secret until he shared his experience at an alumni awards ceremony at Fordham University, where he was honored for his social work. He “saw jaws drop and tears shed” and decided to make his unpublished memoir public with the help of a writer friend, Judith Estrine.

READ MORE…

Even though I’d been to the Botanical Gardens dozens of times, I did not know anything about Enid A. Haupt. While I was waiting on line across from a carefully constructed model of the Statue of Liberty, I read that she was an avid horticulturalist and through her philanthropy she saved the Botanical Gardens from being demolished. However, she was also editor and chief of Seventeen Magazine. Publishing is everywhere!

Soon the lines dissipated inside the heart of the conservatory and we were free to mill about looking at the amazing creations out of twigs and bark that make up New York City landmarks.

One of my favorites is the Edgar Allen Poe house, which I remember seeing as a little girl when the exhibit was outside. I love the way the gnarled porch wound around the house and small berries framed the windows. I’ve never been to the actual house, which is located on the Grand Concourse and East Kingsbridge Road.

This year, my friend’s daughter saw the train show for the first time. It’s always great to see how children react. Life is still magical for them and she loved watching the trains weave around Yankee Stadium, the New York Public Library, and of course, St. Patrick’s Cathedral.

I myself am always amazed at the bridges that are so carefully constructed. The Brooklyn Bridge is as stunning as a well-crafted miniature as it is in life-size stone.

If you are interested in reading more about the landmarks of NYC that are brought to life at the Botanical Gardens, I would suggest All Around the Town: Amazing Manhattan Facts and Curiosities, Second Edition by Patrick Bunyan for great snapshots of information.

However, if you’re the focused reader, looking for a lot of detail on individual landmarks, I would suggest picking up Intersections: The Grand Concourse at 100 for a look into the area the houses one of our greatest American Gothic writers or Brooklyn Is—Southeast of the Island for the restless prose of James Agee that captures the spirit of the borough.

For our digital reader, I’d suggest Fifth Avenue Famous: The Extraordinary Story of Music at St. Patrick’s Cathedral by Salvatore Basile. Just out on the Kindle, as well as the Nook and Sony Reader, Sal Basile explores the colorful history of St. Patrick’s Cathedral.

Merry Christmas!
Katie Sweeney

But this only scratches the surface of what Loyola and his followers believed in. Fordham offers several titles to help you delve deeper into understanding the Jesuits and their teachings:

Black Robes & Buckskin: A Selection from the Jesuit Relations , forthcoming in November, focuses on The Jesuit Relations, written by Jesuits in the New World about their beliefs, and the work of converting native peoples. Since the original runs an astounding 73 volumes, Catherine Randall has thoughtfully selected the most informative and relevant pieces for Black Robes & Buckskin. It’s a must-read for all interested in understanding the foundations of this important religious movement.

In January, we have Jesuit and Feminist Education: Intersections in Teaching and Learning in the Twenty-First Century, a book which examines the overlap of Ignatian educational thought and feminist educational theory by presenting a lively dialogue about the shared goals between the two philosophies.

Friends on the Way: Jesuits Encounter Contemporary Judaism, new in paperback in September, is a collection of essays illustrating the long-standing mission of the Jesuits to bridge the gap between Catholicism and Judaism.

Last, but certainly not least, is Thoughts of St. Ignatius Loyola for Every Day of the Year. This volume shares 365 of the iconic theologian’s maxims for integrating God into daily life. The book gives daily spiritual guidance and inspiration and is truly a gift.

Ecospirit: Religions and Philosophies of the Earth, edited by Laurel Kearns and Catherine Keller, examines the increasing shift toward awareness, even as the intensity of environmental destruction continues. The essays in this volume posit that nothing short of an epic epiphany in global thinking can begin to reverse the damaging effects we’ve wreaked on the planet thus far. This change in thinking would involve the very overhaul of the way we practice religion and philosophy–what Ecospirit proposes is a shift so profound, it would challenge the very foundations of the way humans have talked about, written about, and studied the Earth for thousands of years. It’s a radical challenge, but a call to action we all need.

Also from Catherine Keller, and Chris Boesel, comes Apophatic Bodies: Negative Theology, Incarnation, and Relationality, a study of Apophatics, or the study of negative theology, in which God is described in what CANNOT be said about the divine. This volume pursues the unlikely conjunction of apophasis and the body, not for the cachet of the “cutting edge” but rather out of an ethical passion for the integrity of all creaturely bodies as they are caught up in various ideological mechanisms—religious, theological, political, economic—that threaten their dignity and material well-being.

New this Spring, Apophatic Bodies contributor Virginia Burrus has collaborated with Mark D. Jordan and Karmen MacKendrick on Seducing Augustine: Bodies, Desires, Confessions. Seducing Augustine analyzes the iconic Confessions, exploring religion and theology in a sexual context–a perspective not often tackled by critics. Often ambivalent but always passionately engaged, their readings of the Confessions center on four sets of intertwined themes—secrecy and confession, asceticism and eroticism, constraint and freedom, and time and eternity.

Discussion of the Earth and the environment has its roots in theology, philosophy, and human nature itself. Join the discourse with Fordham!

Fordham offers a wealth of new titles that study Catholic history in New York, the history of music at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Jesuit history, a modern reading of Augustine’s groundbreaking Confessions, and a Catholic view of the Holy Land debate.

Here’s a list of more backlist titles to help you remember the roots of the Easter tradition:

Being in Love

Believing Scholars

Between Dancing and Writing

Cathedrals of Bone

The Catholic Church and the Jewish People

Catholicism at the Millennium

Citizens or Papists?

Fears and Fascinations

Finding God in All Things

Let it Shine!

Method and Catholic Moral Theology

Thoughts of St. Ignatius Loyola for Every Day of the Year

This is just the beginning of Fordham’s Religion titles. For more titles, please check out the full catalog!

“For most people, race and religion probably seem like separate matters. But an ongoing legal case in Britain suggests that this is a false dichotomy. State-funded religious schools in Britain may base their admissions policies on students’ faith, but not on their race. However, one of the most salient distinctions between Judaism and Christianity rests upon their distinct understandings of the relationships between faith and race. Christianity is built upon the idea that faith in Christ negates racial and national distinctions; by contrast, Judaism is built upon the identification with Jewish ancestors, particularly those described in the story of Exodus. Anti-racist movements have often invoked Christian notions of universal brotherhood to argue for the rights of all humans, regardless of their ethnic or racial ancestors. While Christian understandings of the irrelevance of race have become the norm in most secular Western societies, the question of who’s a Jew complicates this norm.”

To read the rest of the piece, visit Eliza’s blog. 

During the interview, His All Holiness explained his role in the church as leader of 300 million Christians worldwide, as well as discussed the reason for his visit to the United States, his sixth. He participated in the eighth international interfaith and interdisciplinary environmental symposium in New Orleans.  Environmentalism is a cause that is important to Patriarch Bartholomew, as he explains:  “Usually we speak about the education of our children and the good food of our children, but what about the air that they breathe and the water they drink?  Now and tomorrow and after tomorrow we have to think of the coming generations, the posterity.  That is a duty of the church and that is why the Ecumenical
Patriarchate initiated this symposium and environmental activity.”

You can read the entire interview here.