The Evolution of the Orthodox Jewish Community in Cleveland, Ohio, 1940 to the Present
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
SJHSS 2019 DOI | 10.26613/sjhss/2.2.48 The Evolution of the Orthodox Jewish Community in Cleveland, Ohio, 1940 to the Present Ira Robinson Concordia Institute for Canadian Jewish Studies Abstract The article first summarizes the history of Orthodox Jewry in Cleveland from the mid- nineteenth century up to the Second World War, based on an article I wrote on that period that is published elsewhere. It begins to consider the postwar period by examining some significant issues with respect to Orthodox Holocaust survivors coming to Cleveland. It continues with a discussion of the founding of the Telshe Yeshiva and deals with its considerable significance in the postwar development of Cleveland Orthodoxy. It discusses the founding of the first Orthodox day school in Cleveland, the Hebrew Academy, in 1943, and the significance of the proliferation of day schools in the 1980s. It examines the establishment of Orthodox synagogues in the Cleveland Heights/University Heights area in the 1950s and later in Beachwood. It discusses developments in the regulation of kashrut in this era including the influence of the Cleveland Jewish Federation on local kashrut through the 1990s and the Haredization of kashrut standards at the end of the twentieth century. Postwar relations and tensions between Orthodox and non-Orthodox Jews in Cleveland, both institutionally and on a grassroots level, are considered. The article concludes with a survey of the Orthodox Jewish community of Cleveland in the early twenty-first century with special emphasis on its educational initiatives and the relationship between “yeshivish” and “modern” Orthodox Jews. FOREWORD: ORTHODOX JUDAISM IN CLEVELAND 1839–19401 tended to look at all of them as different from When, in the 1840s, Cleveland Jews began themselves; “Orthodox” regardless of their level to create their first synagogues, they were of Judaic observance. Eastern European Jews designed to adhere as closely as possible to the in Cleveland had perforce to establish their traditional synagogue models those Jews knew. own synagogues as well as a variety of self-help Though certain “Reform” tendencies appeared organizations. in Cleveland around mid-century, both of the The proliferation of immigrant Orthodox city’s congregations remained essentially tradi- congregations in Cleveland at the turn of the tional for some years. By the late nineteenth twentieth century followed patterns common century, however, the established Jewish com- to most North American Jewish centers. munity in Cleveland largely adhered to Reform Synagogues formed on the basis of European Judaism. place of origin. Another criterion was lit- When the late nineteenth and early twenti- urgy, with some congregations praying in the eth century wave of Eastern European Jewish Ashkenazic liturgy prevalent in much of Eastern immigrants arrived in Cleveland, the accultur- Europe while others prayed with the essentially ated German-Jewish establishment of Cleveland Hasidic liturgy of Nusach Sfard. I. Robinson Sabbath observance was another criterion. In 1929, Rabbi Judah Heshel Levenberg Though the Eastern European synagogues of moved to Cleveland from New Haven with a Cleveland were themselves completely tradi- mandate to bring his Yeshiva with him. This tional, many of their members were not strict experiment in higher Talmudic learning in Sabbath observers because of the economic Cleveland did not go well. There was internal realities of America, where jobs enabling obser- dissension among yeshiva faculty, and the vance of the Sabbath were scarce. However, Depression made for hard financial times for several Cleveland congregations at the turn of the institution. The first Cleveland experiment the century accepted only Sabbath observers as with a yeshiva ended, in 1938, with Rabbi members. Levenberg’s death. Yet another issue leading to the proliferation Cleveland’s Orthodox rabbis often fought of synagogues was internal strife. The issue of with each other. The synagogues they served separate seating of men and women, which in could not give them an adequate salary, so most particular came to define the difference between of them depended economically on positions Orthodox and non-Orthodox congregations in in the kosher meat industry. The fact that there the twentieth century, caused the breakup of were never enough such positions meant that several synagogues and the establishment of rabbis found themselves in a tight economic Orthodox breakaway congregations. competition and that constituted a major cause The insensitivity of Cleveland’s Reform- for the chaotic situation in Cleveland kashrut oriented Jewish Federation to the special needs until the 1940s. of Orthodox Jews over decades resulted in the Another important structural reason for this establishment of parallel Orthodox commu- situation was conflict of interest between rabbis, nal organizations, including an Orthodox Old slaughterers, inspectors, meatpackers, whole- Age Home (1906) and an Orthodox Jewish salers, proprietors of retail meat markets, and Children’s Home (1919). Though in 1926 consumers. It was a recipe for disaster. Often Federation offered its first financial assistance to the Jewish public’s patience with Cleveland Orthodox Jewish institutions, during the lean kashrut wore thin and the industry felt its times of the Depression it refused to financially anger. Consumer discontent was given public rescue Orthodox institutions, leaving a mutual expression in strikes against the high price of bitterness that lasted for decades. kosher meat in 1906 and 1928. Orthodox Jews in Cleveland sent their chil- Despite these divisive forces, the first decades dren to the Cleveland public school system of the twentieth century also saw attempts to in the prewar years. Until the 1940s, Jewish unite Cleveland’s Orthodox community and education thus meant supplementary insti- rabbinate which could not, however, withstand tutions that met after school or on weekends. the powerful forces militating against unity. These included Sunday Schools, which met In the mid-1920s a Shechitah Board, headed once weekly, and were inspired by the dom- by Rabbi Benjamin Gittelsohn was founded. inant Reform model, and afternoon Hebrew Another attempt in the late 1920s was a Union schools, meeting several times weekly, that of Orthodox Rabbis of Cleveland, Ohio, led by could present a wider curriculum. Most prom- Rabbi Israel Porath. In 1930, rabbis and laymen inent among these was the Cleveland Hebrew founded a Vaad ha-Kashrut to support kashrut School. However, that school’s perceived secu- supervision in Cleveland. In 1932, Rabbi larist bent did not sit well with more tradition- Levenberg attempted to unite the Orthodox alist elements who established Yeshivath Adath rabbinate and lay leadership of Cleveland in a Bnei Israel [YABI], a school more in line with Federation of Orthodox Jewish Congregations traditional Judaic education, in 1915. [Va’ad ha-Kehillot]. However, other rabbis 116 Studies in Judaism, Humanities, and the Social Sciences The Evolution of the Orthodox Jewish Community in Cleveland, Ohio, 1940 to the Present organized a rival “Misrad ha-Rabbanim” of the smooth operation of its programs to help Cleveland to oppose Levenberg’s venture. the refugees.5 Alone, these Orthodox survivors The result was a Cleveland kashrut that was would likely not have been able to effectively essentially without structure. However, the situ- resist JFSA pressure to go to work. However, in ation was changed for the better in March 1940, their struggle with JFSA they had the important when a new rabbinic organization called Merkaz institutional backing of the Telshe Yeshiva. ha-Rabbonim [the Orthodox Rabbinical Council, ORC] was founded. This organiza- THE TELSHE YESHIVA tion, in partnership with Federation, would manage managed to achieve the unity that had In 1941, only three years after Rabbi Levenberg’s eluded previous Orthodox rabbinic organiza- New Haven Yeshiva of Cleveland ceased its tions in Cleveland in the postwar period. struggles for existence, the Telshe Yeshiva was established in Cleveland on East 105th Street,6 THE POSTWAR PERIOD: ORTHODOX REFUGEES after its founders, Rabbis Elya Meir Bloch ARRIVE IN CLEVELAND and Chaim Mordechai Katz, had investigated possibilities for locating their institution in One of the major issues facing Cleveland Jewry Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, and Detroit. The new in the period of the 1940s and early 1950s was Cleveland yeshiva began with ten students.7 the resettling of Jewish refugees from Europe, Practically from the start the JFSA did many of whom came to Cleveland. Because not like the Yeshiva and the newcomers to the majority of the Holocaust survivors relocat- Cleveland it attracted. As JFSA director, Rae C. ing in Cleveland were Orthodox (398 of 709 Weil, stated in 1946: or 56,5%), in welcoming them to Cleveland, We already have a large number of extremely the Jewish community agencies involved had to Orthodox people who have no opportunities take into consideration issues of kashrut with in Cleveland and have not been able to make respect to supplying housing, which in postwar any kind of economic adjustment. In most Cleveland was then in short supply.2 instances they have not fitted in well and have But kashrut was far from the only problem spent most of their time and energy trying to the orthodox refugees posed. The Cleveland get to New York.8 Jewish community also encountered problems of resettling a “large influx of religious function- The Cleveland agency’s