Egon Mayer - From Suburb to Shtetl

Originally published in 1979 by Temple University Press

Published 2010 by Transaction Publishers

Published 2017 by Routledge
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711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA

Library of Congress Catalog Number: 2009050633

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Mayer, Egon, 1944
From suburb to shtetl : the Jews of Boro Park / Egon Mayer.
p. cm.
Originally published: Philadelphia : Temple University Press, 1979.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4128-1328-0
1. Jews--New York (State)--New YorkSocial conditions. 2. Borough Park (New York, N.Y)--Social conditions. 3. Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.)--Social conditions. 4. Orthodox Judaism--New York (State)--New York. 5. Community life--New York (State)--New York. 6. Civic leaders--New York (State)--New York. 7. New York (N.Y.)--Social conditions. I. Title.
F129.B7M29 2010
305.892407471--dc22
2009050633

ISBN 13: 978-1-4128-1328-0 (pbk)

A first book, like a first child, evokes a special sense of gratitude to the ineffable power in the universe which has given one the inspiration and the strength to invest experience with meaning. I would be unworthy of this publication if I did not give expression to that sense of gratitude here.

This book was written not solely on the basis of inspiration and will. Its findings, its analyses, and its insights were acquired or created in the context of innumerable relationships with mentors, colleagues, friends, neighbors, and even strangers. I wish to acknowledge my intellectual debts and my gratitude (for these debts really cannot be repaid) at least to those whose influences and contributions I am aware of. It is in the nature of such debts that one remains unaware of the ones that are, perhaps, the most precious.

Reb Yitzchok Alster, formerly of the Kamenitzer Yeshiva, struggled mightily, and I would like to think not without some success, to teach me how to ask critical questions with a measure of humility. Professor Peter L. Berger, through courses at the New School for Social Research and at Rutgers University, through his written work, and, somewhat later, through friendship, gave me the conceptual skills with which to answer critical questions about the world of the faithful without demeaning its values or inhabitants. Professors Harry C. Bredemeier and Matilda White Riley were especially influential in helping me realize the sociologists professional obligations to theoretical and methodological principles. Professor Arthur J. Vidich, of the New School for Social Research, first recognized, in a rather simple term paper I wrote, the rich possibilities of the Jewish community of Boro Park as a subject for a dissertation and a book.

My colleagues at the Department of Sociology of Brooklyn College, my academic home, have been a source of steadfast support and intellectual sustenance. Professors Marvin D. Koenigsberg and Mervin F. Verbit have been not only colleagues and friends but also my teachers. I have continued to learn from them in all these relationships. Professor Laura W. Kitch has served as a mentor and critic, a confidante and a guide, and provided invaluable comments and suggestions throughout my work. Professor Sylvia Fava was a most helpful and generous resource on issues pertaining to urban sociology, and Professor Roberta Satow helped to clarify my thinking about theories of self and society. The various chairmen of our department, Professors Charles Lawrence, Deborah Offenbacher, Sidney Aronson, and Paul Montagna, along with Mrs. Sadie Altstein, have created an atmosphere which has fostered collegiality and creativity. Their tactful and generous managerial styles have surely enriched my career, and eased the burdens which inevitably attend the research and writing process.

Between 1972 and 1974 several generations of my students at Brooklyn College, especially those enrolled in my Sociology 19Research Methodscourse, voluntarily and generously gave their time and energy to collect information about the Boro Park community in general and its Jewish community in particular. Many conducted interviews of great depth with a sensitivity and professionalism that made me proud to be called their teacher. A few hardy souls also made their first attempts at computer-assisted data analysis. Some of the more outstanding volunteers were Laura Biderman, Joan Brandstein, Joseph Elnadav, Michelle Friedman, Heda Gelberman, Joseph Hochberg, Susan F. Hollander, Judy Horowitz, Renee Katz, Marvin Kirschner, Robert Koenigsberg, Marshall Korman, Rochelle Kurzman, Robin Lefkowitz, Norma Meyer, Naomi Nulman, Robert Solomon, Susan Weltz, and Harold Wilkes. Others whose names have faded from memory are no less deserving of my thanks.

The staff of the Brooklyn College Computer Center was helpful in all phases of data analysis. Professor James Wang, Mr. Julio Berger, Mr. Benjamin Klein, and Mr. David Pasternak consistently provided sound technical advice and good cheer.

Having lived in the Boro Park Jewish community during my formative years, I am bound to acknowledge many important relationships which contributed not only to the making of this book but to my evolution as a person. Friends at the Yeshiva Toras Ernes, the Mesivta Kamenitz, and Young Israel have contributed in complex ways to shape my conception of Orthodox Jewish life. Many of their names have faded from memory, but their images remain with me vividly. To my parents and grandmother, the primary architects of the Orthodox Jewish family that I called home for twenty-two years, I owe an emotional and spiritual debt that I will never be able to fully repay. In many ways this work is an attempt to grapple with that debt, though I doubt that they will appreciate it in that light. My father-in-law, of blessed memory, served as my model of the unflappable Jew, one who has borne the marks of twentieth century Jewish history without losing his essential dignity as a man. Susaninitially a friend, now my wife and still my frienda perpetually reluctant insider to the world of Jewish Orthodoxy and Boro Park, has continued to ask those critical questions that I should have thought of first, and has never refused to be impressed with convenient answers.

Lastly, I wish to express my gratitude to the Lucius N. Littauer Foundation and the Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture for providing the financial assistance which helped to launch the publication of this study, and to my editors, Messrs. David Bartlett and Michael Fisher, for easing the transformation of this work from manuscript into book.