PHOTO ESSAY Left, a soap dish in decay. Bathroom, Grossinger’s Catskill Resort and Hotel, Liberty, NY RU I N S of th e BORSCHT BE LT A photo essay and conversation with documentary photographer Marisa Scheinfeld by Rabbi Yitzchok Frankfurter or me, looking at photographs is a different aesthetic experience from appreciating other works of art. A per- son’s reaction to a given piece is usually in response to its physical form and qualities; pleasure is derived from the F immediate sensory experience. When looking at photographs, however, the subject matter and its relationship to the world must also be taken into account. In other words, a pho- tograph cannot be experienced on a strictly sensory level but must also be processed intellectually. Merging sensory experience with intellect, though, allows room for ideology to influence the outcome. This entanglement seems inevitable when considering photographs. Because photos lend themselves to various interpretations and can tell different stories to different people, a person’s mind- set and beliefs can affect his understanding. When I viewed Marisa Scheinfeld’s magnificent photographs of the ruins of the Borscht Belt, they symbolized for me the story of the disappearing Jew in America through assimilation. Before me were grand hotels in various states of decay along with mere hints of the once prosperous Jewish guests who vacationed in them. What remains of both are truly only ruins. Yet she interprets the photos differently. “I don’t really look at it as a story of assimilation,” she tells me. “I see it as the universal story of Ameri- cans. It’s an epidemic where we Americans have, use, and then abandon. Americans continuously take in and expel—like Detroit, a city that was pros- perous and gave us a car industry and was then mis- managed and failed. I really look at it as a cautionary tale for the 21st century.” She is not, though, entirely dismissive of my inter- pretation. “I can appreciate your perspective, and yes, many Jews have assimilated. But as a Jew whose own family has assimilated, the feeling of being Jewish and how proud I am to be Jewish, regardless of the level of my observance, is still embedded in my heart and soul.” Coffee Shop, Grossinger’s Catskill Resort and Hotel, Liberty, NY The Persian Room, The Pines Hotel, South Fallsburg, NY 170 AMI MAGAZINE // SEPTEMBER 15, 2013 // 11 TISHREI 5774 11 TISHREI 5774 // SEPTEMBER 15, 2013 // AMI MAGAZINE 171 So her own strong Jewish identity pre- born out of a desire for Jews to experience (above) Guest Room, Jennie G. Building, Grossinger’s vents her from seeing it as the story of the an American-style vacation in the country, Catskill Resort and Hotel; (below, right) Hallway, disappearing secular Jew? while also holding on to the customs and Jennie G. Building “True, as time has gone by, many Jews observances that were sacred to them. It was have assimilated. My own family was also a big plus that the Catskills look a lot Orthodox two generations ago and I con- like the places in Europe many of the immi- Borscht Belt hotels and bungalow colonies sider myself a secular Jew. But adjectives grants came from. Most of the hotels were have been bought by Orthodox Jews, so in aside, I am a Jew. You could look at it like kosher when they started, but of course, a sense the area has been revived in a com- that if you wish. But I don’t necessarily take some were more religious than others.” pletely new way. I wish there was a way to that viewpoint. I look at it as a tale of Amer- “Aren’t there basically two Jewish stories forge more connections between the locals ica. The beauty of art is that it is open to in the Catskills, the Orthodox story and the and the summer Orthodox crowd. I’m interpretation and opinion.” non-Orthodox story?” I insist. not saying it doesn’t happen, but I under- So it’s not even a Jewish story? “I think the contemporary phenomenon stand the boundaries of each group. I know “I don’t like to say something is one or of Orthodox Jews in the Catskills is different people in both circles and find myself min- the other. To me, things are always a little from the one that previously existed. Today, gling between them.” of both. There’s a lot of Jewish history in the Orthodox Jews make up a large percentage Why does she think that the era of the Catskills as well as world history. I like to of the county’s (Sullivan County’s) summer- Borscht Belt’s magnificent hotels ultimately emphasize histories, in the plural.” time visitors. My family and I embrace the came to an end? Of course, there’s an undeniably and par- businesses that have sprung up—everything “There were many reasons why the ticular Jewish connection to the Borscht Belt. from the bakeries to the falafel places. Other Borscht Belt failed. Some people just didn’t “No matter the level of observance, there locals don’t have the same attitude, but the want to go to a Jewish hotel. They wanted is someone in every Jewish family with a Orthodox Jews flocking to the region each to go to Europe or Atlantic City or Las connection. The Borscht Belt began in the summer certainly provide commerce that Vegas. Others attribute it to the growth of 1920s as a reaction to discrimination. The the area wouldn’t have otherwise. You still the airline industry. Some say it was because simple fact was that Jews were banned from have Jews who aren’t Orthodox vacation- women took a more active role in the work most hotels in America. The industry was ing in the Catskills, but a lot of the old force. You could also say that everything in 172 AMI MAGAZINE // SEPTEMBER 15, 2013 // 11 TISHREI 5774 the world has its season.” “Are you a professional photographer?” I Wh en I viewed Marisa ask. “Yes. I’ve been taking pictures since I Sch einfeld’s magnificent was 15. In high school I learned all about film and how to develop photographs in a photographs of th e ruins darkroom. That’s when I got hooked. I have both a Bachelor of Fine Arts [degree] and a of th e Borscht B elt, th ey Master of Fine Arts [degree] in photogra- phy.” symbolized for me th e “Which period of art history interests you the most?” I inquire. story of th e d isappearing “I suppose my favorite would be the period of the 1800s, when photography J ew in America through was first invented. I’m fascinated by how its discovery changed the world. Photog- a s s i m i l at i o n . raphy allowed people to see beyond their own living rooms and towns and gave them lived in Flatbush, but shortly afterwards my father and his sister were born, they also a glimpse of different customs, traditions we moved to the Bronx. My parents both came along. The Catskills were a big part of and lifestyles around the world. Photogra- grew up in Brooklyn, my father on Ocean our family life, way before me. My whole phy allowed for an exploration of the world Parkway and Avenue J, and my mother in family is embedded in its hills.” for those who couldn’t actually travel; that’s Sheepshead Bay. My father’s father is from “Where did you grow up?” how the term ‘armchair travel’ was coined.” Poland. My grandparents, Ruth and Jack, “We lived in the Bronx until I was six, “Which part of the world were you born actually met in the Catskills. After my when my dad finished medical school. He in?” grandparents got married they used to go had been going to the Albert Einstein College “I was born in Brooklyn. My parents up to the Catskills all the time, and when of Medicine and was now looking for a job. 11 TISHREI 5774 // SEPTEMBER 15, 2013 // AMI MAGAZINE 173 He didn’t want to raise a family in the city to deteriorate when I was a teenager. The Ice Skating Rink, Pines Hotel, South Fallsburg, NY and was offered a position in the Catskills. entire economy of the country (the Catskills So that’s how we ended up [living] up there. region) was built around the hotel industry, “Some of my earliest Catskill memories and when they closed the whole county about countless times in literature and per- are of going to these Borscht Belt hotels with took a downturn. And along with the hotel sonal memoirs. There were many archival my grandparents, especially Kutsher’s and industry, a sense of pride in the area was images and postcards, but as far as I knew the Concord, because we lived right in the also lost. there had never been a comprehensive fine middle between both hotels. I remember “Do you live in New York now?” art photographic documentation of the playing bingo and cards and going for the “On the Upper West Side.” region. So I began to do something known Jewish holidays and going to the café and “When did you become interested in as re-photography. Re-photography is the the pool. These hotels were immense com- the Borscht Belt from a photographic per- process of ‘now and then’ photography: pounds, and I could run around and be spective?” the act of taking an old picture or postcard free.