mentalblog.com comments:
NHHDS/SCHA is a beautiful lesson in the dangers of nepotism. It run by incompetent (but related) management. No outside input is accepted, and many "board members" have left in disgust, upon realizing that it was so, some suffering vindictive revenge. Supportive alumni of its illustrious 40 + year history are very hard to find, so the school is forced to court a very small number of large donors. The atmosphere is cold and foreboding. Students generally must be extremely self motivated or get extra tutoring to catch up to equivalent grade level when they change schools. The teaching staff turns over frequently.
Compare that to Springfield. Supportive alumni are plentiful. People are proud of the school. Input is entertained. There is a warm welcoming atmosphere, and students learn at grade level.
The plentiful Deitch family is building a boys high school in NH. The threat of a mesivta got some concessions from NHHDS, but no real change. Nudge has it exactly right.
The school of R Greer is a small insular institution known as "Gan", not a real choice for the community. Originally, it was run completely as a feifdom and offered cheap or no tuition to some in order to lure from the only other school in the area. The staff was not permitted to fraternize with the larger community, particularly with Chabad, and people who lived in the "Gan" housing were discouraged from doing so. The animosity of those years between the communities largely continues to this day, though cracks of peace have occasionally shown through the armor of posturing. Community members viewed it as a way to trade the frying pan for the unknown if one were fed up enough.
The Fairfield MO school, Hillel, is also very small. Why an MO school in one of the largest richest Jewish communities in the world should be so small is beyond me. Recently, an educator has entered the scene to try and grow the school properly. It is a work in progress. Waterbury is growing and shows much promise. They have not yet established enough grades for all students, but they have built a yeshiva and a core community. I have to predict, though, that any city where there is only one institution will eventually disintegrate into what NH has become, more or less, a place where young people say that they cannot stay because there is simply no good education option. As Tzemach has it above, competition works. It is the only thing that does.
Re New haven Nudge.We seem to agree on the isues.
Now that there is a very sophisticated MO layity out there , few will move to NH BECAUSE of the lack of a MO day school.
Having been connected to NH since the early 1950's I can say that there was a time that the MO community in its 2 shuls was strong and fairly wealthy. They were either not interested in jewish education on the full day scale or more likely were willing to delegate that function of Jewish life to Lubavitch.
I agree that presently its just too late to start a MO day school especially given the fact that over the last 20 years most of the MO community has gone "left"a and are de facto supporters of a Non orthodox day school.
No, I have not ben to waterbury, and i wish it the best of luck.
But the verdict is still out about 2 items : 1. If the yeshiva will succeed. Changes in local and state politics may have a say here .
2. More importantly if a community of non Yeshiva people working in NH or elsewhere can establish itself. that is a big if. Rememebr it took Lakewood (the city ) over 40 years to become a communtiy rather than a kollel . Only in the mid 1080;s was a critical mass acheived there. Now of course its booming. So lets not go bonkers over waterbury before the verdict is in.
Bridgeport for other reasons is even more precarious.
A few further remarks.
Perhaps many of the Fairfield elementary children attend the excellent Bi-Cultural day school in Stamford, CT. This school despite its name is Orthodox. That may indeed be the reason that the Fairfield school is not doing well.
The Deitch school is a branch of Oheli Torah in Brooklyn, . It is designed for hard core Lubavitcher kids, with no secular education.Again a school with no impact on anyone besides 5 families in NH
All the various groups in NH have failed in establishing a school for the MO community and the right wing Conservative group. Intsead we have a Lubavitch day school, a branch of Ohele Tora. Can't anyone start a day school and high school dedicated to Jewish identity , textual knowledge, commitment to israel, Hebrew and Torah , while at the same time offering an excellent secular education.
In the 1950's and 1960's the NHDS was offering an education that was as good as any one in New York.
I can not resist , but add the following comments.
Yeshiva high schools, Beth medrash level schools and kollelim are very important and add much to the flavor and resources of a Jewish community.
They are however no substitute for the creation of a normative MO day school and high school on the lines of Maimonides school in Boston.
This sort of school fosters a strong Jewish identity based on identification with the state of Israel and other modern "Sinai" events such as the Holocaust and the struggles of jewish communities in other parts of the world. Hebrew is tressed and boy and girls are encouraged to deal with each other if only for purposes of preventing intermarriage.
Any weakness in textual knowledge of Judaism can usually be "repaired" by a post high school year at an Israeli Yeshiva and perhaps more study at a place like YU.
Unfortunetaly many MO communities(out of town whatever that means) with hardly any indiginous "black hat" laymen or women are dependent on groups like Lubavitch, Chofetz Chaim (RSA) or Lakewood for their educational facilities.
These schools tend to separate the sexes, and stress higher talmudic study as a goal rather than Jewish identity related to issues such as Israel, the Holocaust, and Modernity.
While YU and other MO organizations have contributed much to Jewish education, many towns are still served by a sole day school of the right wing stripe.
Of course in places with a right wing community these schols are fine . But most Jewish communities with under 35,000 Jews hardly have more than a sprinkling of Charedi families (except for Chabad).
Thus in my opinion the greatest addition to Jewish education in the last 20 years in CT is the creation of a co-ed orthodox high school in Hartford serving as a regional MO school for CT and Springfield.
It is , in my opinion more important than the Waterbury yeshiva, the Stamford Yeshiva, (which is completely isolated from all Jews of Stamford) the Bpt Yeshia(a brand new entity ) etc. While a few of these schools may have outreach programs, they are in the main insular and contribute little in the war against intermarriage and the creation of local Orthodox communities.As I said they add flavor and resources to these communities but are no substitute for a normative MO day school.
Yagdil Torah VeYadiir !
Schneur, since you mention Maimonides we should remember that today is R. Soloveitchik's yahrzeit as is written on his mazeyva:
http://www.mentalblog.com/2005/
0...loveitchik.html
Maimonides school was his brainchild and as such should be a fitting monument to the Man. Having said that perhaps it is a human nature but I have not met a person who did not feel ambivalent about the school. My personal gripe is that the school had little influence on the community in Boston and it is extremely expensive. The problem with Jewish education is such a fundamental issues that at some point it must be tackled on a national level. As I wrote before the absence of the tax base and economic realities makes the schools out of reach for many. A better question is will MO movement have enough determination to make community activism a part of their agenda?
Everything and everyone has critics including Moshe rabbenu.
American Orthodox Jewry is functioning in a strange fashion.
Institutions that are expensive like schools, yeshivoth and the like can hardly make ends meet by tuition, hence they must fund raise.And rightfully so.
On the other hand kashruth supervision which is clearly a profit making enterprise seems to be in the hands of private people or "corporations" that collect the money, but do not redistribute it to yeshivoth and other educational institutions.I can mention names , but at this point I will not.
There are more than a few national kashruth agencies owned by one family. So all the kashruth money goes to that family.Sure some money goes for salaries and some for expenses, but clearly there is a profit in this.
Even if they are nice people and make some generous donations , thats hardly a significant act.
Frankly I do not know how the OU uses the tremendous money it gets. Does anyone out there have any ides.I have never read that the money goes to support causes that their own journal talks about like Jewish education etc.
In essence if a city govrnmemt were run the way Jewish life is we would have the following a multiplicity of essential city services like police, fire etc, but property taxes going to private people who have that as their little business.
Just imagine the kashruth money going to support day schools and yeshivoth in this country !!!
Another issue Artscroll Publishers, clearly a lucrative business and profit making. Not only does this money not go back to support yeshivoth, but their subsidiary Messorah sends out envelopes asking for donations for their work. Is this not the height of frum chutzpah.
Does Random House also send out soliciatations for money ?
Jewish life in America needs to be set up on normative business principles. And I bet then tuition would not be sky high and most people could afford the schools.
I heard conflicting reports on this but does OU and other kashrus agencies pay USA taxes? Certainly their supervision expenses are minimal as became clear after the Rubashkin scandal they hardly even visited the plant. Certainly the OU had little idea on what was going on there.
Why not have as a condition for kosher certification a value added tax on all kosher food products to be ear marked for education?
"Perhaps many of the Fairfield elementary children attend the excellent Bi-Cultural day school in Stamford, CT. This school despite its name is Orthodox. That may indeed be the reason that the Fairfield school is not doing well."
I've indeed heard good things about the Stamford school. They seem to have had some success breaking through certain barriers to attract non-Orthodox families. The Fairfield school, Hillel Academy, is doing good but not great. Their problem is that they're not on the radar of many people that should know about them. Time will tell if the new headmaster can draw a crowd; he seems to have a strong education background. What's he doing here in CT, the vast wasteland of the lost religious tribes?
"Can't anyone start a day school and high school dedicated to Jewish identity , textual knowledge, commitment to israel, Hebrew and Torah , while at the same time offering an excellent secular education."
Three reasons: lack of money, lack of money, and lack of money. Well, OK four: apathy on the part of those that could have gone for it years ago but didn't. Well, OK five: the large-scale loss of interest in a Jewish education for mainstream American Jewish families. These were the families that 1-2 generations ago attended Conservative shuls, kept kosher homes and cared about giving their kids a good Jewish education. Those people have largely faded away into the Reform movement or nothingness, leaving large suburban Conservative shuls increasingly empty.
If you want a mainstream Jewish high school education in this state, you're gonna be making the long drive to West Hartford to join the four dozen students from CT and nearly Mass families that still give a hoot about these things. Think about that number; what does it tell us? Many, many sad things, and we can't blame them most of them on Chabad schools.
I agree with New haven Nudge on almost everything he says .
However I am not certain that financial resources is the main difficulty facing estableshment of such schools.
Most MO Jews are fairly well to do and would probably pay a bit extra for a school they can identify with.
The problem in my opinion is the fact that the MO community in most New England towns and in many other places has shrunk in the last 20 years.
With the growth of MO centers like Teaneck, NJ, Riverdale, NY, Lawrence, NY and Bergen Cnty, NJ few MO people are willing to "suffer" life in places like New haven or Springfield, unless they have to. Hence today (2005) there are in my opinion not enough MO laymen in NH to support such a school. Stamford may be a different story.
The sad fact is that in 1968 there were more than enough such professionals in NH in 2 shuls to start such a school and they did not.
Instead there was an effort to import a right wing Yeshiva high school in NH by several laymen which never attracted any community support in terms of studnts or money.
I lived in a few New England towns, and went to a few of the Yeshivos there - all those communities seemed to have been shrinking steadily throughout my time there. I don't think it's only the fault of the shliach, or mosed, per-se. Small-town Yiddishkeit never seemed to make it there, or in the US b'chlal for that matter... There are many reasons for this - but first and foremost, Yidden are dependent on communities, so they flock to where there are centers of Yiddishkeit.
Does anyone have information on the current state of affairs in New London, CT? Last I heard things were looking up...
Actually as long as a shul and day school were all that was necessary to attract MO Jews to towns, Yiddishkeit outside of Metro center like NY and Baltimore was stable.
The arrival of issues and factors as pizza stores (which only became a staple of a Orthodox community in the late 1970's) and kosher eateries as well as the demand of a choice of schools and shuls basically put an end to Orthodox communities outside of the Metro regions.
Just a clarification New haven, Worcester, Bridgeport , Hartford etc were and hardly are small jewish communities. NH has over 25,ooo Jews !
Places like Waterbury, Norwich, Norwalk, Middletown, Williamantic are small jewish communities and in all except Waterbury orthodoxy either died or is in a "goses" situation.
I am not an expert on New England but I can assert that prior to 1990, NH had a very lively MO community centered in 2 shuls , with fine rabbinic leadership.
Many of these people were doctors, yale faculty, lawyers and other professionals.They were not NH natives rather transplants who CHOSE to live in NH.
By 1990 places such as Teaneck, Baltimore, Riverdale, West Hempstead etc had 'arrived" and few people chose to relocate to places without the facilities places like Teaneck or the Five towns could offer, which included not only shuls but shopping as well.
It has little to do with Lubavitch as such, but in NH the fact that the NHDS was slipping away from educational reality interfaced with a new MO lay reality and few such MO people were willing to relocate to a town without a normative day school and or proper kosher eating facilities that could be counted on.
While Orthodoxy grows in Metro NY it is rapidly disappearing in most cities and towns outside of about 15 cities in North America.
I do not have particulars about New London, but its twin city Norwich is looking for a new orthodox rabbi. And they are willing to accept a student rabbi or retired person as they only ned such rabbinical services on Saturdays..
Maybe "shani" New london , but I tend to doubt it.
Actually in many places the return to tradition and some form of halachic observance on the aprt odf a small segment of Conservative Jewry has kept Judaism alive in terms of supporting Kosher stores etc.
In NH , the only Conservative synagogue in the city proper BEKI is a very traditional shul with a number of "shomer shabbat" memebers and any number of traditional academic types as memebrs and even a few JTS grads as members. Most people there are kosher and some walk to shul on Shabbes. In general this shul is more alive than the local orthodox shuls in terms of activities and programming. Of course this excludes Chabad which is always active.
I was born in Norwich, and lived there until I was 9; my grandmother still lives there.
In those days the kids from New London used to come to the day-school in Norwich. Norwich also had the Mikva. But by the time we left, I think N. London had the bigger community.
I've been back there since, and there is nothing happening, Yiddishkeit-wise, in Norwich - but N. London has a daily minyan, and I've heard that a Lubavitcher came to town and started giving shiurim, and making events, with some success.
Rabbi Shlomo Bluming had been there a while back, but I don't think there was great success then...
Just in response to some of the comments above
1) Bi-cultural school in Stamford has great academics but is extremely weak in its Judaic studies. The few kids from there who go on to MO High schools like Ramaz, Frisch, MTA or Central are often way behind in their judaic studies and need to catch-up. The problem there is in fact that there are many non-frum families with kids in the schoola nd often they just don't care that the Judaic studies are so poor.
2) Most of the younger families in NH are very transient and this presents yet another obstical to forming a school there.
The purpose of day schools can be several. In a more perfect Orthodox scoiety (Europe, Satmar today etc) day schools or chedorim were places where students picked up knowledge.In the present Orthodox world, they serve 3 purposes knowledge, socialization into the contemporary Orthodox society and secular studies.
However in communities facing the dangers of assimilation day schools hief function in my opinion is just plain socialization in the Jewish communit with the inculcation of Jewish identity.
Having atteneded out of NY day schools , I saw how hours after hours were spent studying talmud, with students who in fact later intermarried or assimilated.
Perhaps if more class hours were spent on studying Jewish history, the Bible, Israel, the Holocaust and the meaning of Judaism some of these kids would still be Jewish.
So even without knowing the facts I will not condem the Stamford school
I have seen young men and women go to israel for 14 months and come back very well versed in Talmud and Codes perhaps better than most 8-9 year day school graduates !!
The fact that most NH younger Orthodox families are transient is symbolic of the problem, few MO families move to the city on a more permanent basis. This despite the city being a major center of drug research, the home of Yale University, U. OF NH, Quinnipiac U and Law school etc etc.
In my opinion as long as no normative day school is functioning people will choose to live elsewhere or commute from other towns with such schools (Monsey, Stamford, Hartford Fairfield).
On a lighter note, all this will change as KOSHER CHINESE hits New Haven in a few weeks. We're going to be the only place in between New Rochelle and Boston where you can satisfy those cravings for General Tso's chicken and Won Ton soup complete with the fake pork dumplings. Let's see how many MOs can drag themselves away from this town now.
See you there in line, Schneur? Isn't this fun trying to figure out who we all are in this thread?
Shneur
Are you saying that NHDS is not modern, or that it is Chabad? Like most other day schools of its genre, it is extremely modern (given the leanings of the gevir of any particular time), though it is Chabad style. For a definition, look up "kosher style".
Schneur,
Listen - I have first hand knowledge of the school in Stamford as I lived in that city for 2 years. I think it would be putting it mildly when I say that kids (even from MO homes) come out knowing so little it is frightening. Also, there are whole classes with only one or two frum kids in it. Socially this becomes a problem when kids want to get together outside of school with regard to Shabbos, Kashrus, etc. I am not sure that having very little knowledge and just good feelings about Judaism is a way to stave off intermarriage and assimilation. The bottom line is that anyone who is almost everyone who is serious about O Judaism in Stamford sends their kids to Westchester or Fairfield.
Also, NH has always had the most kosher restaurants of any city in CT. But still the people do not stay there.
So give me some answers here. What does it take to "take back" New Haven and turn it into a viable city for permanently-residing MO/Liberal-ishO Jews?
Okay, we have a coffee shop, we'll have Chinese food, now we need some intellectual sustenance. Can we make a school? Can we make a high school (the closest one is in Hartford and is very small. What does it take? Are we ready to start making some solid commitments and stop blaming the tarnsients/ the Lubovitchers/the ???.
BTW, there are many Yalies who've opted to stay on after they graduated. A lot are at BEKI (Conserv. shul).
New Haven will only be changed by force. When the surrounding cities are viable options, the powers that be in New Haven will have no choice but to dance to the tune playing. Competition is the only way.
Hello,
I will not be in line at the new Chines place , because I dislike Chinese food.
I am old enough to remember Kosher Burger in NH and several other attempts at serious kosher eateries in NH and they all failed .
While I wish the place all the best, I would not advise my dear ones to invest in such a enterprise on a purely profit motive.
The first step in making NH as a serious community is the creation of a new day school grade by grade .
Next a YU type kolel should be brought to the Westville Synagogue(which has a fine new rabbi who can leade if given the permission to do so) which could also serve as faculty for the new day school. I bet that both these steps would make the city a attractive place for MO families to live in.
The eateries are fine but except for the new one , and perhaps Claires the others are not open in the evenngs. A pizza store is more important than a expensive Chinese place.
Of course the Waterbury yeshiva may exert some influence on NH but NH's future is as a MO community , unless we seek to build another community like Stamford's yeshivs etc.
One of our MO shuls has got to take BEKI head on and offer women's prayers and other services ala Avi Weiss in order to take back the poeple from BEKI.
Of course Chabad can play a role here too especially if they can be convinced to bring a serious shliach to NH. Not a real estate developer or a fund raiser but someone like Yoffe from Hartford. That person could establih a modern chabad shul catering not to the Deitch clan but to the broader community.
But the key is a normative day school leading to a high school.
I have little doubt in response to the blog about the Stamford day school that a student attending a school like Ramaz has a MUCH LESS chance of inter marrying than a student attending ,lets say Fieldstone School or some other fancy prep school . I am certain that any Jewish school drastically lowers the chance of intermarriage.
On the other hand I have met girls in NH who graduated the Hannah Academy run by NHDS and Lubavitch that are happily married to non-Jews.
By the way I think NH should have a good right wing MO day school like Manhattan Day school.
As far as NH eateries while technically there are more than a few (which include bakeries, dellies a Old age home, the Slifka center designed for the Yale community etc) , none except for Claires keep evening hours . Thats the time people need a place to socialize etc.
Popular demand in other MO communities shows that what teen agers and young familes want is a Pizza- falafel place rather than a fancy restaurant.
In conclusion NH is hardly the boondocks , there are schools, shuls and food places , but not the type that can build a young MO community.
As I have written before the problem with NHDS is not its Chabad affiliation..
It is the fact that it is run in a nepotistic manner.
The school needs a principal of judaic studies independent of the ruling family. It needs other such safeguards.
It needs to add the serious study of Hebrew, jewish history etc in its Judaic curriculum..
As of now its much too liberal and modern to satisfy the Chabad community.
It is much too Chabad and conservative to appeal to the average MO family. And its much tooChaabd to appeal to any Yeshish community.
Therfore everyone is not happy. Eventually the waterbury yeshiva community will force the rulers of NHDS to chose a derech.
Schneur
As "right on" as anyone can possibly be.
I have heard of the new Chinese Restaurant in NH. Who is running this and where is it to be located.
I was somewhat involved in the old KOSHER BURGER on Forrest Rd. in 1972 (?) and it was completely mins managed from top to bottom as there were too many "managers" and halakhic authorities.
While I remain a sceptic , I wish this place success.
A friend tells me that the New Haven Chinese place is to be run a Chinese chef who already has made some kosher establishments under his belt. His concept is to make food that people will travel for, (located on a main travel route) and not to price gouge. Apparently, he understands and wants to cater to the needs and finances of large families. It may be under the OK (Would that they had such a concept of not price gouging.) One of the primary contacts is the rabbi of "Bikur Cholim", an ashkenazic, but respectful of Chabad, MO synagogue. (I had a hard time believing that was a real animal.) The primary concern so far is that they build an establishment that everyone in town, except the hard core "I won't go if they are going" types will accept.
It sure seems to be built on the right derech. I just hope we will not have to say in the end (as is famously misquoted frequently):
"They're nice guys. They will finish last." Maybe, as I am through the place, I will see you in line for eggrolls.
"One of the primary contacts is the rabbi of "Bikur Cholim", an ashkenazic, but respectful of Chabad, MO synagogue. (I had a hard time believing that was a real animal.) "
Bikur Cholim Sheveth Achim a MO shul? Oh my God, it just took me several minutes to stop laughing hard enough to type this reply. It's about as non-MO as you can get - not that there's anything wrong with that. Rabbi David Avigdor is a nice man, and the old men that comprise the majority of the shul population are sweet enough, but MO? Just because the rabbi shaves doesn't make them MO. They daven from the Chabad sidur and have Chabad rabbis in regular attendance. I guess that mechitza is high enough!
The new (meat) Chinese place will be at Amity Center (just off of Rt. 15 before/after the tunnel through the hill) in place of a former non-kosher place and may have "OK" supervision (not clear at this point). The Chinese owner is supposed to be experienced at owning/running such a place, and he had a brother that runs the same type of place in NJ near Teaneck. Only time will tell if enough people will open their pocketbooks to support the cost of a meat establishment in this area. Attention New Haven (and CT) Jews: don't screw this chance up like you've blown it with the day schools!
Anon
You must be disabused of the idea that "modern" is some sort of insult (though admittedly, this may take anti-cult, anti-brainwashing techniques if you have ever been to a yeshiva, and don't deny it :D). Whether a man shaves or not is not an indicator. His outlook on education, the importance of yichus, whether he is given to practical solutions, rather than purely dogmatic ones, all play into modernity, and it is high time that we all start giving it the time of day.
I have confirmed the fact that they use the Chabad siddur, but do not adhere to other Chabad customs and stringencies, and it seems to be a remnant of the compromise bylaws of the synagoogue, from a decades old merger with a Chabad minyan. They also say the prayer for the state of Israel etc. I gotta stick with MO here. The mechitza also seems to be the remnant of a political compromise. Oy, such tzaras.
The fact that Chabad rabbis attend the synagogue shows that there is still hope that unity will be a priority, even in the wacky land of Chabad 2005. It also holds promise for my original point, that the restaurant will be managed with Jewish unity in mind.
Modern orthodoxy is a "big tent " term.It can refer to synagogues with separate seating and no mechitza, congregations like the Riverdale syn. of rabbi Avi Weiss, (which have Women's prayer groups and unusual mechizoth) most Young Israel shuls,(which are fairly strict and include some Bnai torah in its ranks) old line shuls like the Jewish center of the West Side, and still others types .
Bikur Cholim in NH and its constituient Shevath Achim were originally synagogues of the "first settlement "(old time American shuls) , later on after their merger they were Modern orthodox in the sense of "less " rather than orthodox and fell into the category of what the late sociologist of american orthodoxy Dr. Charles Liebman called residual orthodoxy (no mechitzah, most memebrs not sabbath observant etc.) in his landmark essay on American orthodoxy in the American Jewish yearbook of 1965.As a regualr worshipper in the Orchard Street Shul, I rarely if ever set foot there asit had no Mechitza yet was called orthodox.
Since the appointment of its incumbent rabbi and especially since its move to its current location it is has become a MO shul by the nature of the majority of its worshippers (and its rabbi) if not by default.
Is it yeshivish No .Is it a charedi shul No. Is it Chabad , No, since residual orthodoxy and Old time American orthodox are things of the past this shul can best be defined by the term MO.
As far as its Chabad connection , Bikur Cholim was started by Jews from the White Russian town of Kurentitz who emigrated to the US. Most of these people were children of Lubavitcher chasidim but not real Lubavitcher excepting a dozen or so.
hence they insisted on some Lubavitch traditions being observed, especially the Nusach in a merger compromise.
On a personal note by the time my late father also from Kurenitz came here (the US) in 1950 there was little left of authentic Chabad in that shul. I recall my father recalling how a "landsman" took him to New Haven's chasidic shul and my father was shocked that these chasidim were just about all clean shaven and the rav had a goatee ! Perhaps good people and fine Jews but Chasidim ?
Orchard Street had a balcony for the women, hence no mechitza. Bikur Cholim had NO mechitza originally in the big shul building 25 years ago. Can you imagine? They made Westville look hardcore!
The current small BCSA building has both a mechitza and the balcony, the latter of which preserves the Orchard Street tradition of being a hot, desolate ghetto for the women on the high holidays. Ah, tradition. Still, it's a cute shul, and I adore the old Yiddish speaking men, even if they are all so old and deaf that they shout conversations at each other in the middle of services.
Kosher Chinese update: place has a big sign up which reads, "Kosher Express". How corny - but sure to attract every kosher Jew that has misty eyed memories of NY/NJ kosher places with their similarly inventive names. I spoke with the owner; he expects to open within 1-2 weeks. He went with OK supervision, and the long beards have "done their thing" with the kitchen, in the owner's own terms.
Nu, any word on if the chinese place has opened yet? I guess I could just drive by, but finding out ahead of time would be quite helpful.
As far as the comments on Bi-Cultural in Stamford, I can personally attest that, after 9 years there, it *does not* prepare you for any yeshiva high school, whether it be Ramaz, Westchester, Frisch, etc. One needs to have supplemental Judaic studies if they are going to pass the exams to get into a Jewish high school in the New York area. While I was educated there in the 70s and 80s, I believe not much has changed. Sure, there may be a few more frum kids there than when I attended, and the student population is larger, but this doesn't mean they've done much to beef up on their Judaic studies program. Why else was it called "Bi-Cultural" in the first place? The founders of the school knew that in Fairfield County, at the time, a school with the word Hebrew or Jewish in its name wouldn't do well. At least that's what I have been told. And, speaking of the school leadership....well, I won't go there.
I will say that I received a terrific secular education there as I was blessed with excellent math and English teachers, depending on the year.
Thought I would post this email I received:
To Members of the New Haven Community;
It is with great enthusiasm that I finally and formally announce the
grand opening of the first Glatt Kosher Chinese Restaurant in the
State of Connecticut. "Kosher Express" located in the Amity Shopping
Center will open its doors for business on May 25, 2005.
I have been working on this project for the past six months and I am
very proud and pleased to report that the proprietor has spared no
expense in bringing us top notch Chinese food under the OK Kashrus
label. Outstanding food at very affordable prices will be a wonderful
new addition to our community that will add to! the attractiveness of
visiting and living in New Haven.
Copies of the new menu may viewed in the window of the store located
at 132 Amity Road, New Haven. If you have any questions, feel free to
call me at 203-387-9991.
I hope that you all will enjoy this new enterprise as much as I will.
Rabbi David Avigdor
Orchard St shul where I davened from 1956-1969 did have a mechitza the balconey. A balconey is a mechitza!
Frankly I am a tad bothered in the comparison of Orchard St. shul to present day BIkkur Cholim .
Orchard St shul was built as a shul with a mechitza , bima a beautiful aron kodesh 2 daily shachrith minyonim etc. bima in the middle etc .
The present bikkur Cholim structure was built as an Episcopalian Church (This is not a Protestant denomination. Espiscopalian priests are able to become RC priest with little new training) . The Responsa literature isa tad hazy about the permisability of using such a building as a shul.
Clearly Chasidim and Anshe maase are not thrilled by the use of such a building.
The late Satmarer rebbe Rav Joel Teitelbaum once told a chasid of his Rabbi Amsel who wanted to be a chazan in such a shul in a former Church bldg - that its okay if you wish to be on the bima with oso haIsh-.
Hot desolate ghetto balconey ? "man dikara shme" . what are you talking about ?
The women davened there with more kavonnah and tears on the high holidays than I ever saw in any other shul in NH or NYC.
The men's section was also not AC but what we lacked in creature comforts , we made up in spirituality in our members and the rabbonim who davened with us.And I will include the Yiras shomayim of our lay worshippers as well.
"The women davened there with more kavonnah and tears on the high holidays than I ever saw in any other shul in NH or NYC."
It was sweat falling, not tears. My wife spent time up there and reports it was a dusty, discusting mess. I should believe you over her?
It's three years since the last post and I need to tell everyone that Bikur Cholim is air conditioned -- and has been for several years. And while we have the mechitza on the main floor of the sanctuary, the women's balcony affords a nice option for sitting above the fray. Its a good place to nurse an infant or instruct a child. During the high holiday evening services the view of the lighted Bima is so beautiful it really does enhance kavanah. Though BCSA is small, it has one foot in the old world and one in the new, making for a solid stance in a rocky world. Now all we need is a day school...
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