Abstract
In this chapter, Aleisa Fishman argues that new marketplace conditions after World War II led Jews to combine novel forms of consumerism with traditional religious during this period of substantial change in America. Although suburbia has been characterized by and criticized for its consumerist tendencies, this chapter suggests that Jewish women as consumers and as cultural guardians manipulated this new culture to reinforce and enhance their traditional Jewish identity and to build Jewish community. Using a wide range of source materials, Fishman argues that Jewish suburbanization is one of the most important stories of the 1950s.
All views expressed herein are those of the reviewer, and are not necessarily those of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
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Notes
- 1.
Elliott West, Growing Up in Twentieth-Century America: A History and Reference Guide (Westport, CT, 1996), 187.
- 2.
Quoted in Landon Y. Jones, Great Expectations: America and the Baby Boom Generation (New York, 1990), 39.
- 3.
In From Steerage to Suburb, Salvatore LaGumina describes Italian life on Long Island primarily from the 1880s to the 1950s, and shows the areas of social, cultural, economic, and religious involvement and interest of one ethnic group on Long Island (Salvatore John LaGumina, From Steerage to Suburb: Long Island Italians [New York, 1988]). Similarly, in Salvadorans in Suburbia, Sarah Mahler investigates the lives of another ethnic group in this area. She challenges the stereotype of the suburbs as homogenous havens of the white middle class. Her study is useful for its discussions of the suburban ties that bind together individuals in this group, such as life-cycle rituals and community organizations (Sarah J. Mahler, Salvadorans in Suburbia: Symbiosis and Conflict [Boston, 1995]).
- 4.
Deborah Dash Moore, “War of Our Fathers: Jewish GIs in World War II,” Bernard Wexler Memorial Lecture, Washington D.C. Jewish Community Center, October 21, 1999; see also Deborah Dash Moore, GI Jews: How World War II Changed a Generation (Cambridge, MA, 2004).
- 5.
Jacob Rader Marcus, To Count a People: American Jewish Population Data, 1585–1984 (Lanham, MD, 1990), 240–42.
- 6.
See Michael Staub, Torn at the Roots: The Crisis of Jewish Liberalism in Postwar America (New York, 2002).
- 7.
On postwar Jewish life in New York City, see Eli Lederhendler, New York Jews and the Decline of Urban Ethnicity, 1950–1970 (Syracuse, NY, 2001).
- 8.
Arthur Hertzberg, The Jews in America: Four Centuries of an Uneasy Encounter (New York, 1989); Edward Shapiro, A Time for Healing: American Jewry since World War II (Baltimore, MD, 1992).
- 9.
Urban dwellers lived in a dense conglomeration of apartment buildings, schools, and businesses. But new suburbanites had to adapt to new spatial arrangements and lifestyles, no longer characterized by informal visits and chance meetings in the hallway and lobby, or on the sidewalk (Marshall Sklare, “Jews, Ethnics, and the American City,” Commentary, April 1972, 73; Albert Isaac Gordon, Jews in Suburbia [1959; Westport, CT, 1973], 76, 227–30). The car culture typical of suburban living meant that residents often had less interaction with neighbors. Lacking public transportation, parents chauffeured their children to play dates and various other after-school activities.
- 10.
Gary Cross, An All-Consuming Century: Why Commercialism Won in Modern America (New York, 2000), 93.
- 11.
Elaine Tyler May, “The Commodity Gap: Consumerism and the Modern Home,” in Consumer Society in American History: A Reader, ed. Lawrence B. Glickman (Ithaca, NY, 1999), 298–315, here 306.
- 12.
Lizabeth Cohen, “From Town Center to Shopping Center: The Reconfiguration of Community Marketplaces in Postwar America,” in The Gender and Consumer Culture Reader, ed. Jennifer Scanlon (New York, 2000), 245–66, here 245.
- 13.
James M. Mayo, The American Grocery Store: The Business Evolution of an Architectural Space (Westport, CT, 1993), 163. Sales of refrigerators in the United States increased by 82% from 1946 to 1955. Dishwashers and clothes dryers became more common in the 1960s.
- 14.
Cross, An All-Consuming Century, 94, 97, 99.
- 15.
Religious identity is difficult to measure in the United States, since the U.S. Census does not, and is not allowed to, ask about religion. Jewish historians have relied on a variety of informal and inexact methods for determining religious affiliation. One method was to address a questionnaire to member communities of CJFWF (Council of Jewish Federation and Welfare Funds), and then United Jewish Appeal data was used to estimate CJFWF non-respondents and non-members. One popular method was to tabulate synagogue membership records. For New York City, another method in the 1950s used information on religious affiliation from a special study by the Health Insurance Plan of Greater New York (HIP) in 1952 and linked those data to the non-Puerto Rican white population in each borough; see Henry Cohen, Jewish Population Trends in New York City, 1940–1970 (New York: Federation of Jewish Philanthropies, January 1956 [mimeo]), as quoted in American Jewish Year Book 62 (1961): 54. An alternate form of data collection for Jewish population statistics was the Yom Kippur Method, which estimates the number of Jewish school children—aged 5 to 13—based on the Yom Kippur absences recorded in the public schools. Using this method, C. Morris Horowitz and Lawrence J. Kaplan recorded Jewish population figures for 1958. The authors acknowledged that utilizing this method for the New York area was problematic since “a certain number of non-Jewish children take the day [Yom Kippur] off, and this number increases as the density of Jewish population increases. When Jewish absences are so high that regular classroom activity is postponed, a larger number of non-Jewish children will also tend to be absent”; Alvin Chenkin, “Jewish Population in the United States, 1960,” American Jewish Year Book 62 (1961): 56. Thus, Jewish population figures for Nassau County are hard to pinpoint year-by-year or even by decade. However, in 1937 and 1960, the American Jewish Year Book did try to do systematic surveys of the United States and thus we have some general figures for the county. Those figures may then be compared to the 1950 and the 1960 general census records for the county.
Because of the various problems in collecting figures on Jewish population as outlined above, the data discussed here is gleaned from incomplete and non-standard sources. Nassau County’s Jewish population is available by town from the 1937 American Jewish Year Book survey. In 1940, only 4.3% of the county’s population was Jewish (17,596 of 406,748, whereby the former number is for 1937), but by 1960, it had grown to 25% (329,100 of 1,300,171). In other words, the Jewish population increased by 1770% as compared to a county population increase of 220%. This was a dramatic increase compared to the overall Jewish population in the United States, which dropped from 3.6% in 1940 to 3.08% in 1960. In comparison, the Jewish population in nearby Westchester County increased by 232% (from 35,063 to 116,400). Similarly, the general population increase in these two suburban counties of New York City was 41% (from 573,558 to 808,891) and 10.3% respectively (from 837,340 to 923,545). U.S. Bureau of the Census, U.S. Census of Population: 1960, vol. 1, Characteristics of the Population, Part A: Number of Inhabitants (Washington, DC, 1961), 17, 20; American Jewish Year Book, v. 42 (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society of America, 1941), 254–56; Jacob Rader Marcus, To Count a People: American Jewish Population Data, 1585–1984 (Lanham, MD, 1990), 157.
- 16.
Rita Newborn interview, March 7, 2002.
- 17.
Rita Newborn interview, March 7, 2002.
- 18.
Florence Gould interview, March 8, 2002. Florence Gould and her family belonged to Temple B’nai Israel of Elmont in Elmont, NY.
- 19.
Harriet and Irving Sauerhoff interview, March 6, 2002. Sauerhoff and her family belonged to the Jericho Jewish Center in Jericho, NY. Synagogues sponsored a variety of secular social programs, including balls, musicals, theater shows, dinner dances, lectures, and parties. Women were in a position to encourage their community to make a financial commitment to establishing and running a synagogue. The establishment of a synagogue implied a commitment by members to purchase a variety of goods and services (salaries, upkeep, programming).
- 20.
Tifereth Israel in Glen Cove existed in 1900 (Edward J. Smits, Nassau, Suburbia, U.S.A.: The First Seventy-Five Years of Nassau County, New York, 1899–1974 [Syosset, NY, 1974], 164); Nassau County Yellow Pages, 1950; Nassau County Yellow Pages, 1960–61.
- 21.
Central Synagogue Bulletin, Central Synagogue of Nassau County, Rockville Centre, NY, November 2, 1951, 3.
- 22.
Churches and synagogues increasingly became women’s spaces. For example, see Benjamin Maria Baader, “Jewish Difference and the Feminine Spirit of Judaism in Mid-Nineteenth-Century Germany,” Jewish Masculinities: German Jews, Gender, and History, ed. Benjamin Maria Baader, Sharon Gillerman, and Paul Lerner (Bloomington, IN), 50–71.
- 23.
Paula E. Hyman, Gender and Assimilation in Modern Jewish History: The Roles and Representations of Women (Seattle, WA, 1995), 153.
- 24.
Sisterhoods aimed “to instill in each member a finer knowledge of Judaism, which we can bring into homes and foster in our children” (Bulletin, Midway Jewish Center, Hicksville, NY, March 1958, 7). The groups sponsored cultural, religious, and social programs to educate members, to enhance the social welfare, and to support the synagogue.
- 25.
The Sisterhood of Temple Beth-El in Great Neck held an annual charity dessert bridge and the proceeds benefited the sisterhood’s Braille Fund, Emergency Relief Fund, and the Sewing Group. The program was held on Monday, December 10, 1956, at 12:30 p.m. in the temple social hall. Tickets cost $2 (“Beth-El Sisterhood Plans Charity Bridge,” Great Neck News, November 23, 1956, 2). Earlier, Temple Beth-El of Great Neck sponsored a charity bridge event, offering bridge, canasta, gin, and mah jong. “Two dollars will pay for refreshments, door prizes, and the thrill of the game, and add much to our support of the Service to the Sightless, the Sewing Group, and the Emergency Relief Fund” (The Bulletin, Temple Beth-El of Great Neck, NY, November 2, 1951, 3). Similarly, the Sisterhood of Temple Emanu-El of Lynbrook annually sold date books containing ads for local businesses: “For every $25 worth of ads you secure, you are invited to attend a lovely luncheon at one of the fashionable restaurants” (Temple Emanu-El Bulletin, Temple Emanu-El, Lynbrook, NY, November 7, 1951, 3).
- 26.
Uniongrams, sponsored by the National Federation of Temple Sisterhoods, “serve a very special purpose. As we know, they are used as greeting cards are used. On special occasions, such as anniversaries and confirmations, attractively bound, they are an everlasting reminder of a beautiful and happy event. At the cost of 25¢ each, the funds thus raised provide scholarships at the Hebrew Union College—Jewish Institute of Religion” (The Bulletin, Temple Beth-El of Great Neck, NY, September 18, 1959, 4; see also Suburban Weekly Bulletin, The Suburban Temple, Wantagh, NY, February 10, 1960, 2; and Temple Sinai News, Temple Sinai, Lawrence, NY, December 1958, 2).
- 27.
Temple Sinai News, Temple Sinai, Lawrence, NY, March 1959, 2.
- 28.
Bulletin, Temple Emanu-El of Long Beach, NY, March 1960, 3.
- 29.
In addition, the synagogue held its first Bat Mitzvah during the coming winter. “The very progressive attitude in our Synagogue should be an example to many other Conservative Temples” (Bulletin, Temple B’nai Shalom, Rockville Centre, NY, November 13, 1953, 2).
- 30.
The piano cost $350 and the curtain $475 (Bulletin, Midway Jewish Center, Hicksville, NY, May–June 1958, 10). In another example, Wantagh Jewish Center’s 1955 fashion show netted $534 (they grossed $1100.05) (The Newsletter, Wantagh Jewish Center, Wantagh, NY, October 1955, 4).
- 31.
Temple Israel Bulletin, Temple Israel, Long Beach, NY, December 1947, 2. Similarly, the Sisterhood of Temple Beth Elohim (Old Bethpage) contributed $1000 to the congregation in 1957. The gift was announced at the synagogue’s annual fundraiser dinner dance at the Garden City Hotel (Mid Island Herald, April 25, 1957, 5).
- 32.
Rita Newborn interview, March 7, 2002.
- 33.
The Woodmere Chapter of Hadassah in its newspaper announcement for its opening meeting of the year—to be held at the Capri Beach Club in Atlantic Beach—explained that this year “the chapter plans to make even greater efforts than before to continue its work of healing, teaching and research in Israel” (“Hadassah Will Meet At the Capri Club,” South Shore Record, September 4, 1958, 4).
- 34.
Women at Midway Jewish Center (Hicksville) were encouraged to pledge money to the National Women’s League’s Torah Fund in support of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America’s efforts to train rabbis, cantors, leaders, and teachers: “As Jewish women, it is up to us to see that our traditions and customs are carried on from generation to generation. By contributing to the Torah Fund, you maintain these Jewish principles” (Bulletin, Midway Jewish Center, Hicksville, NY, November 1957, 2). The National Council of Jewish Women included among its projects a dental clinic, a volunteer bureau, Camp Louemma, Ship-a-Box, scholarships, and a thrift shop (Nassau Herald, September 10, 1954, 2). Correspondingly, the North Shore Women’s Division of the Federation of Jewish Philanthropies of New York held a Special Gifts luncheon in 1945 at the Great Neck home of one of its members. At the event, seventy-five women announced pledges toward the $30,000,000 campaign. “The fund will be used for the furtherance of research, and for expansion and modernization of the Federation’s 116 hospitals and medical and welfare agencies—a network of institutions serving 300,000 persons a year” (“Federation Gifts To Be Announced,” Great Neck News, November 2, 1945, 19). Women were similarly encouraged to participate in other national Jewish associations, such as the Federation of Jewish Women’s Organizations. The organization’s 63rd convention was held on January 14, 1959, at the Waldorf-Astoria, and Temple Emanu-El of Long Beach suggested that women “interested and ambitious in organizational work” should participate in the conference themed “Tensions and Tranquilizers” (Bulletin, Temple Emanu-El, Long Beach, NY, November 1958, 4).
- 35.
The Bulletin, Temple Beth-El of Great Neck, NY, March 18, 1959, 3. UJA of Greater New York raised money for several Jewish organizations, including United Israel Appeal, Joint Distribution Committee (including ORT), United Service for New Americans and New York Association for New Americans, National Jewish Welfare Board, and American Jewish Congress. In 1953, the budget was over $144 million. The major tasks of UJA included: cooperating in the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine; transporting men, women, and children from the DP (Displaced Persons) camps in Europe to Palestine; facilitating the immigration of European Jews to America under quota regulations; providing for the welfare of the remaining European Jews as to hasten their progress toward self-support; and preserving and defending basic human rights and liberties throughout the world (“Great Neck UJA Unit Starts Fund Drive,” Great Neck News, March 19, 1948, 2).
- 36.
During the previous year, the Women’s Division raised a record $120,000 for the United Jewish Appeal of Greater New York (“Sponsor Luncheon To Aid UJA,” Nassau Herald, April 9, 1948, 1, 4).
- 37.
“Great Neck UJA Unit Starts Fund Drive,” Great Neck News (March 19, 1948): 2. Similarly, the East Meadow Women’s Division of UJA held a Dessert Tea during which the group hoped to raise significant sums; “please remember to be as generous as possible when you are asked to help your less fortunate brothers overseas” (The Voice, Temple Emanu-El, East Meadow, NY, February 1959, 2).
- 38.
The Scribe, Roslyn Jewish Community Center, Roslyn Heights, NY, April 17, 1953, 1.
- 39.
Suburban women involved in Hadassah purchased new items to donate to charity. Committed primarily to philanthropic Zionist work, Hadassah chapters raised money to “to heal the sick, to educate the youth, to rescue the homeless, [and] to rebuild the land” in Israel. In the United States, Hadassah participated in efforts to extend democracy in the United States, to support the United Nations, to help establish world peace (Temple Israel Light, Temple Israel, Great Neck, NY, March 1955, 15). Founded in 1912 by Henrietta Szold, the organization was dedicated to the Zionist cause and building Israel (Allon Gal, “Hadassah and the American Jewish Political Tradition,” in An Inventory of Promises: Essays on American Jewish History in Honor of Moses Rischen, ed. Jeffrey Gurock and Marc Lee Raphael [New York, 1995], 89–114, here 89). In April 1948, the Great Neck Chapter of Hadassah held a Palestine Supplies luncheon. Admission was one article of new bed linen, toweling, or “wearing apparel” that could be used by the Hadassah Hospital in Palestine (“Hadassah to Hold Lunch for Palestine Supplies,” Great Neck News, April 9, 1948, 3). The Roslyn chapter held a similar “linen shower” to gather new clothing and linen to send to Israel: “The significance of putting new clothing on the back of an Israeli immigrant … cannot be overestimated” (“Hadassah Unit Sponsors Fashion Show,” Roslyn News, April 10, 1953, 6). Through these efforts, suburban Jewish women fulfilled their cultural obligation to consume with their religious obligation to give charity. Like Hadassah, B’nai B’rith had many facets to its mission, including vocational guidance and scouting, hospitals, Institutes of Judaism, donations to Israel, and civic affairs. Perhaps the most well-known facet of the organization, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) sought (and continues to seek) to eliminate discrimination and remedy injustice against Jews. Also within the purview of B’nai B’rith were university and college Hillel Foundations, which provided a “Jewish home base” of religious and social programs on campuses (Temple Israel Light, Temple Israel, Great Neck, NY, April 1955, 15). The Great Neck Lodge and Chapter of B’nai B’rith held an annual Hanukkah party with dancing, entertainment, and refreshments. Guests were asked to bring a gift for veterans at a local hospital. Great Neck B’nai B’rith members would present the gifts at the hospital’s Christmas party (“B’nai B’rith to Hold Annual Hanukkah Party,” Great Neck News, December 8, 1950, 1).
- 40.
Sylvia Barack Fishman, A Breath of Life: Feminism in the American Jewish Community (Hanover, NH, 1993), 73.
- 41.
Such a role was not unusual for women. In the early part of the twentieth century, women volunteers had visited jails, tenement houses, and juvenile courts, but over time, professionals assumed such efforts. By the 1930s, they were involved in efforts of self-education and fundraising, although they continued to visit hospitals and senior citizen homes. As the communal structure became more complex, Jewish federations were formed to oversee the various social service organizations. Women’s divisions of these federations began to appear in the 1930s, serving mainly as fundraising arms (see June Sochen, “Some Observations on the Role of American Jewish Women as Communal Volunteers,” American Jewish History 70, no. 1 [September 1980], 22–34, here 30).
- 42.
Fishman, Breath of Life, 72–73.
- 43.
Sociologist Albert Gordon found that suburban Jewish women chose schools; reared and guided children; chose religious, organizational, and social affiliations; decided on home religious ritual and the extent of worship; and determined the extent of observance expected of children (Gordon, Jews in Suburbia, 62). Temple Israel in Great Neck pointed out that in the Jewish home “it is the function of the mother to light the [Sabbath] candles, preferably in the presence of her children” and recite the Hebrew blessing, and that “actions, they say, speak louder than words” (Temple Israel Light, Temple Israel, Great Neck, NY, October 1955, 15). Her actions told her children that Sabbath observance was important in their home. The sisterhood president at the Wantagh Jewish Center agreed, asserting that because a child inherits the faith of the mother, this “strongly indicates the mother’s responsibility for the spiritual welfare of her children. … By embracing the study and practice of our faith, we can strengthen and make more meaningful … the attachment of our children to our faith. We must learn to initiate and intensify our Jewish interest within our homes and our community. Expending our time and our efforts towards religious aims is a meaningful investment in our future.” (“Woman to Women,” The Scroll, Wantagh Jewish Center, Wantagh, NY, June 1959, 4)
- 44.
Bulletin, Temple B’nai Shalom, Rockville Centre, NY, May 11, 1956, 7–8; Temple Israel Light, Temple Israel, Great Neck, NY, December 1956, 18. Rabbi Max Routtenberg, of Temple B’nai Shalom in Rockville Centre, spoke to this point: “One simply cannot have a meaningful Jewish life without a knowledge of the Torah. We are trying to teach that Torah to our children in the Hebrew School, but the difficulties and obstacles are tremendous. Not that our children are dull or incapable of learning; on the contrary, they are very alert and able to absorb a tremendous amount of information. But no one can learn who does not want to learn, who is not interested in learning. And our children, alas, not all of them but many of them, have a negative attitude to Hebrew School. Believe me, they did not develop that attitude by themselves. They came to it very legitimately, from a home environment in which Torah is not prized, in which Jewish living is non-existent, or from association with pupils who came from that type of indifferent background. The whole climate of opinion must be transformed in order to achieve a wholesome program of Jewish education in our community.” (“The Curse of Bigness,” sermon by Rabbi Max J. Routtenberg, Temple B’nai Shalom, Rockville Centre, NY, January 28, 1955, located in the Jewish Theological Seminary, Ratner Center for the Study of Conservative Judaism, Max Routtenberg Papers, Box 2, Folder 1)
- 45.
The Bulletin, Temple B’Nai Shalom, Rockville Centre, NY, March 25, 1955, 4.
- 46.
Bulletin, Midway Jewish Center, Hicksville, NY, January 1959, 2.
- 47.
For example, during the first seven days of Succoth, part of the holiday celebration includes eating and drinking in the temporary dwelling, succah in Hebrew, to remind Jews of the forty years their ancestors wandered in the desert after the exodus from Egypt (Illustrated Hebrew-English Calendar and Handbook of Information [S.l.: General Foods Corporation, ca. 1933], 6). Likewise, eating and drinking rich foods and beverages as joyously as possible characterizes the celebration of Purim. An elaborate feast, seudah, is served before sunset on Purim day. It is also traditional during Purim to eat hamantaschen (triangular-shaped cookies made of cake dough filled with poppy seeds) to demonstrate that Haman (in the Book of Esther) failed to kill all the Jews, who instead increased in number, “countless like poppy seeds” (Customs and Traditions of Israel [New York, 1955], 27). Of particular importance in the chronicle of Jewish food is the Passover Seder, during which the story of the exodus from Egypt is told. During the Seder, those gathered eat a variety of foods special to the occasion. Similarly, The Midway Jewish Center (Hicksville) Sisterhood instructed: “The High Holidays are almost here and it is up to us as Jewish Wives and Mothers to strive to make this Rosh Hashonah [sic] Holiday More meaningful and enjoyable than ever” (Bulletin, Midway Jewish Center, Hicksville, NY, September 1957, 4). Women could ensure a meaningful New Year’s celebration by purchasing and serving, along with kosher wine and a round challah (representing the cyclical nature of the year), apples, and honey signifying hope for a sweet new year.
- 48.
The Temple in Jerusalem had been desecrated after a three-year battle between Jews and Assyrian-Greeks. At the conclusion of the battle in 165 B.C.E., Jews found just enough oil in the Temple to keep the Eternal Light (Ner Tamid) lit for just one night and it would take eight days to produce more oil. Hanukkah celebrates the miracle that this single day’s worth of oil lasted eight days (Donin, To Be a Jew, 258).
- 49.
Nassau Herald, April 8, 1949, 13.
- 50.
Great Neck News, April 8, 1949, 18.
- 51.
Great Neck News, March 28, 1958, 5. Dairyland in Plainview offered the sisterhood of Midway Jewish Center (Hicksville) a discount on all Passover food. In fact, with the sisterhood discount women paid full price for the items, but a percentage of each purchase went into the sisterhood treasury. (Bulletin, Midway Jewish Community Center, Hicksville, NY, February 1956, 6) Although sisterhood members were making donations to their organization, they needed the food regardless of the discount and their charity benefited in the process.
- 52.
Rita Newborn interview, March 7, 2002.
- 53.
Rita Newborn interview, March 7, 2002.
- 54.
The event was clearly geared toward women since it was sponsored by the Sisterhood and PTA and was held at 11 a.m. (“Passover Seder To Be Given At Beth-Sholom,” Nassau Herald, April 4, 1952, 1). Similarly, women on The Community Synagogue’s Committee on Religion in Family Life led a discussion “on every aspect of Passover ranging from games and traditional cooking to the ethical and spiritual ramifications.” Participants also viewed a model Seder table, decorations, and an “exhibition of unusual ceremonial vessels and Hagaddahs” (Bulletin, The Community Synagogue, Port Washington, NY, March 1953, 2).
- 55.
Bulletin #15, The Community Synagogue, Port Washington, NY, December 8, 1959, 4.
- 56.
Each night they could give children gifts of Jewish significance, such as Jewish books, records, and albums (Bulletin, Temple B’nai Shalom, Rockville Centre, NY, December 8, 1952, 4). For Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, the sisterhood also encouraged women to serve special foods, including honey for a sweet new year (Bulletin, Temple B’nai Shalom, Rockville Centre, NY, September 24, 1954, 3).
- 57.
See Jenna Weissman Joselit, “‘Merry Chanuka’: The Changing Holiday Practices of American Jews, 1880–1950,” in The Uses of Tradition: Jewish Continuity in the Modern Era, ed. Jack Wertheimer (New York, 1992), 303–25, esp. 317–18.
- 58.
Dianne Ashton, Hanukkah in America: A History (New York, 2013), 4.
- 59.
Ashton, Hanukkah, 4.
- 60.
“Some Christmas Reflections of a Jew,” sermon by Rabbi Max J. Routtenberg, Temple B’nai Shalom, Rockville Centre, December 17, 1954, located in the Jewish Theological Seminary, Ratner Center for the Study of Conservative Judaism, Max Routtenberg Papers, Box 2, Folder 1.
- 61.
Temple Emanu-El Bulletin, Temple Emanu-El, Long Beach, NY, December 1955, 3. Harriet Sauerhoff said that she took it for granted that Jews did not have Christmas trees in their homes (Harriet and Irving Sauerhoff interview, March 6, 2002).
- 62.
Bulletin, The Community Synagogue, Port Washington, NY, December 1952, 2; see also Temple Israel Light, Temple Israel, Great Neck, NY, December 1958, 13.
- 63.
Andrew Heinze has suggested that Jewish adoption of the custom of gift giving “implied the alteration of a Jewish festival, not the acceptance of a Christian belief.” He asserts that Jewish celebration of Christmas was an “effort to embrace the American spirit” and had little to do with the religious meaning of the holiday (Andrew Heinze, Adapting to Abundance: Jewish Immigrants, Mass Consumption, and the Search for American Identity [New York, 1990], 76–77).
- 64.
Harriet Sauerhoff noted that she purchased books and music at a local Jewish shop for her family to enjoy. She went to Cinnamon’s in Hicksville (Harriet and Irving Sauerhoff interview, March 6, 2002).
- 65.
In 1943, the Jewish Book Council of America (sponsored by the National Jewish Welfare Board) instituted Jewish Book Month, which encouraged every family to have a shelf of Jewish books (on Jewish religion and history, Israel and modern Jewish problems, Jewish poetry, art, drama, and fiction) in their home. See Bulletin, Temple B’nai Shalom, Rockville Centre, NY, November 13, 1953, 5. Books on display included prayer books, novels, and other volumes published by the Women’s League of the United Synagogues of America (“To Display Jewish Books at Beth-El Sisterhood Session,” Nassau Herald, October 24, 1947, 1).
- 66.
Temple Emanu-El Bulletin, Temple Emanu-El, Long Beach, NY, December 1955, 2. Likewise, Temple Emanu-El of Lynbrook suggested that for $1 members should purchase copies of the Union Haggadah for use during the Passover Seder. “It is a modern service, with complete detailed explanations, and so arranged that regardless of previous experience or knowledge of Hebrew, you can conduct a successful Seder…. The book itself is beautifully printed and bound” (Temple Emanu-El Bulletin, Temple Emanu-El, Lynbrook, NY, March 11, 1953, 2).
- 67.
Congregants who took advantage of this offer “would be assuring themselves of regular additions to their library of significant Jewish books; and at the same time, they will have the satisfaction of knowing that they are supporting the only Jewish organization of its kind in America” (The Bulletin, Temple Beth El of Great Neck, Great Neck, November 9, 1951, 4); see also Bulletin, Midway Jewish Center, Hicksville, NY, April 1958, 3. Such book groups were popular at this time, and the Central Synagogue of Nassau County (Rockville Centre) encouraged membership in a Jewish one by saying “most of you belong to one or another of the well-known book clubs” (Bulletin, Central Synagogue of Nassau County, Rockville Centre, NY, April 4, 1947, 2).
- 68.
Banner Records’ artists included such well-known contemporary performers and stars of the Yiddish stage as Molly Picon, Menasha Skulnick, and Moishe Oysher (Long Island Israel Light, October 17, 1947, 3).
- 69.
The Scribe, Temple Sinai, Roslyn Heights, NY, January 27, 1955, 4.
- 70.
The synagogue gift shop was run by women, who often had more flexible schedules than their husbands particularly during the day when children were in school. See Joellyn Wallen Zollman, “Shopping for a Future: A History of the American Synagogue Gift Shop,” (PhD diss., Brandeis University, 2002).
- 71.
Joellyn Wallen Zollman, “The Gifts of the Jews: Ideology and Material Culture in the American Sysnagogue Gift Shop,” American Jewish Archives Journal 58, nos. 1 & 2 (2006), 52–54, here 52.
- 72.
Temple Israel Light, Temple Israel, Great Neck, NY, December 1954, 4. The Judaica Shop at Temple Sinai in Roslyn Heights instructed women, “Don’t leave your Chanuko shopping to the last minute. Visit … the Judaica Shop, NOW” (The Scribe, Temple Sinai, Roslyn Heights, NY, November 25, 1955, 3).
- 73.
Central Synagogue Bulletin, Central Synagogue of Nassau County, Rockville Centre, NY, November 16, 1951, 3.
- 74.
Perhaps the newly married couples and young families living in the area had not yet purchased this religious item, so the school provided “one temporary, inexpensive Menorah per family” (Central Synagogue Bulletin, Central Synagogue of Nassau County, Rockville Centre, NY, November 16, 1951, 3).
- 75.
See Joselit, “‘Merry Chanuka’,” 318. “If you’ve been burning one of those tin Menorahs all these years, why not make Chanukah the beautiful holiday it is … this festival of lights merits a Menorah which befits the occasion, and displayed all during the year is not only a decorative piece, but compliments the home and at the same time creates a Jewish atmosphere,” encouraged Temple Israel Light (Temple Israel Light, Temple Israel, Great Neck, NY, December 1954, 8). New families and homeowners might have waited to find the design, style, and size to express their idea of themselves, or perhaps had other financial priorities. Yet the small, inexpensive Hanukkiah (nine-pronged menorahs lit during Hanukkah) offered by the sisterhood allowed women to maintain the family’s Hanukkah observance while pursuing pressing issues faced by a newly suburban growing family.
- 76.
The Community Synagogue’s Judaica Shop also sold Let’s Celebrate Chanukah issued by the UAHC (Union of American Hebrew Congregations), which contained “all the necessary written material, music and suggestions for games and decorations” (Bulletin #16, The Community Synagogue, Port Washington, NY, December 15, 1959, 2). Likewise, Temple Israel Light (Great Neck) encouraged mothers to purchase a new book by Bloch Publishing entitled Jewish Holiday Party Book by Lillian Leiderman and Lillian Abramson. The school office sold copies of it for $1.50 because it served as a practical guide for mothers in planning Jewish holiday parties for children ages five through twelve (Temple Israel Light, Temple Israel, Great Neck, NY, January 1955, 15).
- 77.
The Newsletter, Wantagh Jewish Center, Wantagh, NY, January 1953, 6.
- 78.
How to Celebrate Passover at Home was written by Rabbi Albert Gordon and published by the United Synagogue of America (n.d.). Judaism in the Home Project–Passover was published by The National Women’s League of the United Synagogue of America (n.d.) (The Newsletter, Wantagh Jewish Center, Wantagh, NY, April 1954, 9). The Suburban Synagogue’s sisterhood also sold Passover macaroons (Suburban Weekly Bulletin, The Suburban Synagogue, Wantagh, NY, March 16, 1960, 2).
- 79.
Wallen Zollman, “The Gifts of the Jews,” 61.
- 80.
Women living in a new community with a young congregation or without a synagogue entirely (and thus without a synagogue gift shop) could purchase Judaica at local religious goods stores. The Nassau County yellow pages also listed a number of religious goods stores located in New York City. The Israel Book Shop in Far Rockaway advertised that it stocked “All Hebrew Religious Articles,” including a complete line of Passover products: plastic tablecloths “to protect your linen,” Seder trays, matzo covers, Haggadahs, records, and coloring books (The Bulletin, Central Synagogue of Nassau County, Rockville Centre, NY, December 5, 1958, 4; Nassau Herald, April 13, 1951, 10). Residents living near the center of the county purchased items at Theo S. Cinnamon’s. Launched in the basement of the Cinnamon home, the Hicksville store stocked “Hebrew Books, Religious Articles, Gifts” (Nassau County Yellow Pages, 1960–1961, 875). Harriet Sauerhoff recalled that she never traveled into Manhattan to purchase religious goods, because Cinnamon’s had everything she needed (Harriet and Irving Sauerhoff interview, March 6, 2002).
- 81.
The Bulletin, of Temple Beth-El of Great Neck, NY, November 2, 1951, 3. For further information on the Sisterhood gift shop, see Wallen Zollman, “Shopping for a Future.”
- 82.
Bulletin, Temple B’nai Shalom, Rockville Centre, NY, February 2, 1953, 4.
- 83.
Wallen Zollman notes that demand and supply of Israeli goods increased after the establishment of the state (Wallen Zollman, “Shopping for a Future,” 183, 185, 189).
- 84.
South Shore Record, September 23, 1954, 8.
- 85.
This was not an advertisement for particular products; rather, the bulletin editors decided to encourage the purchase of Israeli goods (Bulletin, Temple Israel, Long Beach, NY, April 1949, 1).
- 86.
Moe Kolpen interview, December 7, 2001.
- 87.
Wallen Zollman, “Shopping for a Future,” 202.
- 88.
Harriet and Irving Sauerhoff interview, March 6, 2002.
- 89.
On the concept of “American Jewish domestic culture,” see Jenna Weissman Joselit, “The Jewish Home Beautiful,” in The American Jewish Experience, ed. Jonathan D. Sarna. (New York, 1997), 236–44, here 239; and Wallen Zollman, “Shopping for a Future,” 187.
- 90.
Harriet and Irving Sauerhoff interview, March 6, 2002.
- 91.
Joselit, Wonders of America, 294.
- 92.
Albert Gordon found in his study that 66% of suburban families did not observe the dietary laws within their homes, and 93% did not observe them outside their homes. He also found that no more than 10% of families purchased kosher meat (Gordon, Jews in Suburbia, 130–31). Marshall Sklare found in his study that 9% of his suburban respondents abstained from serving pork products, while only 5% bought kosher meat. However, 45% of the respondents’ parents abstained from serving pork products, and 46% bought kosher meat (Marshall Sklare and Joseph Greenblum, Jewish Identity on the Suburban Frontier: A Study of Group Survival in the Open Society [1967; New York, 1979], 52).
- 93.
Victor Mayer’s catering career began shortly after his 1937 arrival in the United States from Germany. Wishing to improve his English-language skills, Mayer enrolled in a class at a nearby synagogue. While trying to locate the correct classroom, he entered the wrong door, which lead to the catering office for Dornstein Caterers. Having no prior experience with catering or the food business, this chance encounter launched his catering career (Marion Mayer interview, October 3, 2001).
- 94.
Florence Gould interview, March 8, 2002.
- 95.
Beth S. Wenger, New York Jews and the Great Depression: Uncertain Promise (New Haven, CT, 1996), 125.
- 96.
Harriet Feiner interview, March 8, 2002.
- 97.
Getting kosher food was not always easy. Rita Newborn recalled her trek to purchase kosher food in the first months after her arrival in Plainview in 1953. Since her husband drove to work in their car, Newborn placed her three small children into a stroller and set off for the grocery. There, she recalled, “I found it very difficult to get [kosher] meat. But I heard … there was a kosher butcher in Hicksville…. And I called them and they said they would deliver” (Rita Newborn interview, March 7, 2002). Home delivery was an important amenity offered by stores in suburbia. Housing developers had spatially arranged the suburbs so that homes and businesses were often located at some distance from each other (Kenneth T. Jackson, Crabgrass Frontier: The Suburbanization of the United States [New York, 1985], chap. 3). With little public transportation existing to bridge the gaps, women without a car or driver’s license relied on food delivery services. Between 1945 and 1960, the number of kosher meat markets in Nassau County more than quintupled from thirteen to seventy, and the number of kosher delis increased from two to seventeen (Nassau County Yellow Pages, 1945–1960). This data from the yellow pages reveals that as the Jewish population of the county grew, nearly every town was able to support its own kosher meat market. As a result, residents did not have to travel far to obtain kosher meat. Riger & Sons Kosher Meats & Poultry advertised themselves in the yellow pages as “One of L.I.’s oldest, most reputable firms … serving Hicksville & all L.I. Strictly Kosher meats—poultry, home freezer orders” (Nassau County Yellow Pages, 1960–1961, 634). The Nassau County yellow pages included a listing for Riger & Sons in Hicksville beginning in 1953 (Nassau County Yellow Pages, 1953–1954, 524). Similarly, Berman’s Delicatessen advertised “Kosher catering all occasions, platters, salads, hors d’oeuvres, easy parking in rear” (Nassau County Yellow Pages, 1960–1961, 312).
- 98.
In 1945, only two meat markets existed in Great Neck, but by 1958, there were five (Nassau County Yellow Pages, 1945–1946, 149–50; Nassau County Yellow Pages, 1958–1959, 601–4).
- 99.
The Roslyn News, April 15, 1959, 28. Similarly, Harriet Sauerhoff purchased kosher meat from the kosher butcher in the newly built Mid-Island Plaza shopping mall in Hicksville (Harriet and Irving Sauerhoff interview, March 6, 2002). Mid-Island Kosher Meat and Poultry began advertising in the yellow pages in 1957, the year after the mall was built (James T. Madore, “The Malling of Long Island: Developers transform old air fields into open-air, covered versions of downtown” Newsday, https://web.archive.org/web/20031224235248/http://www.newsday.com/extras/lihistory/specbiz/bizmall.htm). Sauerhoff explained that in the 1950s it was not unusual to have food retailers in the shopping mall. Mid-Island contained at the time several food stores, including a grocery.
In the 1950s, Kolpen Distributors sold kosher food to Nassau County groceries. Moe Kolpen recalled, “the Jewish population was growing in Nassau County, and they’d go in and shop and [say]…, ‘hey, I want Mother’s.’ ‘Well, we don’t sell it.’ ‘Well, if you want me to shop here, I want Mother’s gefilte fish. I want Mother’s borscht. I want Streit’s matzos’” (Moe Kolpen, interview by author, December 7, 2001).
- 100.
Nassau County Yellow Pages, 1950–1960.
- 101.
The Nassau County yellow pages listed his business beginning in 1948 (see Nassau County Yellow Pages, 1948–1949, 128).
- 102.
Remarked Harriet Sauerhoff, a former sisterhood president at Jericho Jewish Center: “Victor Mayer was always the caterer. I don’t think we ever used a different caterer in New York. …He did a great job.” (Harriet and Irving Sauerhoff interview, March 6, 2002).
- 103.
As for her own role in the catering business, Marion Mayer helped book parties and served as the coordinator for these strictly kosher events (Marion Mayer interview, October 3, 2001).
- 104.
The Voice, Temple Emanu-El of East Meadow, East Meadow, NY, February 1959, 3.
- 105.
Nassau Herald, April 2, 1954, 2; see also Bulletin, Temple Emanu-El, Long Beach, NY, November 1955, 6.
- 106.
The Voice, Temple Emanu-El of East Meadow, East Meadow, NY, April 1959, 3.
- 107.
The Scroll, Wantagh Jewish Center, Wantagh, NY, December 1959, 9.
- 108.
Joselit, Wonders of America, 33–4.
- 109.
Gordon, Jews in Suburbia, 143.
- 110.
“The Splendor of the Unfinished,” sermon by Rabbi George B. Lieberman, Central Synagogue of Nassau County, Rockville Centre, October 11, 1959, located in the American Jewish Archives, MS Collection #280, Box 7, Folder 5. Similarly, congregations encouraged members to keep the Sabbath holy by not holding social functions or attending such functions on Friday evenings, “as this not only precludes their attending the Temple Friday Evening Services, but prevents others from attending also” (Bulletin, Central Synagogue of Nassau County, Rockville Centre, NY, January 3, 1947, 2).
- 111.
Nonetheless, the Mayers preferred catering at a synagogue that owned kosher dishes and utensils. At non-synagogue locales, Victor Mayer Caterers employed a mashgiach, who ensured that the kitchen was properly cleaned. Once the kitchen was “kashered,” the staff began organizing to serve the meal. Most food items were prepared at their Hewlett facility, a former candy factory. They generally hired Jews to help in the kitchen, although the staff did not themselves have to keep kosher, just know the dietary restrictions. Since they only served meat meals, the Mayers did not worry about staff inadvertently using the wrong utensils. Although Victor Mayer catered many different events—brises, bar mitzvahs, engagements, weddings, and anniversary parties—they did not cater funerals. According to Marion Mayer, most people purchased a platter of cold cuts from a local deli to serve after a funeral (Marion Mayer interview, October 3, 2001).
- 112.
Jackson, Crabgrass Frontier, 240–41.
- 113.
Sociologist Marshall Sklare and Rabbi Albert Gordon noticed an increased tendency toward standardization and conformity in suburbia. The idea of social approval was not new, but the degree was. They saw uniformity of food, dress, homes, and thought—consequences of mass production and advertising—and feared its impact on Jewish observance. Sklare and Greenblum, Jewish Identity on the Suburban Frontier; Gordon, Jews in Suburbia, esp. Chap. 8.
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Fishman, A. (2022). Mrs. Blumenthal Builds Her Dream House: Jewish Women and Consumer Culture in Postwar American Suburbs. In: Lerner, P., Spiekermann, U., Schenderlein, A. (eds) Jewish Consumer Cultures in Nineteenth and Twentieth-Century Europe and North America. Worlds of Consumption. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-88960-9_7
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