fauxklore

After I got back from New York, I was mostly focused on getting two things done: 1) taxes and 2) preparation for Passover. I did accomplish both of those, though not without a lot of whining. I have less to say than I normally would about Passover, because I went to both seders over zoom this year. Sigh.

Fortunately, I had various distractions to keep me from going completely crazy.

We Declare You a Terorist …: My friend Cindy had a discount offer for this play, which was part of a new play series at Round House Theatre in Bethesda. I had not quite realized that the performance we were going to was the very first ever of this play and that was definitely not obvious from the performances. The story involves the 2002 siege of the Dubrovska Theater in Moscow by Chechen terrorists (including several of the women known as “black widows.”) I vaguely remembered this incident, but didn’t know much about it. The Russian government pumped in a gas that rendered everyone unconscious, then shot the Chechens. Unfortunately, about a quarter of the hostages also died from the side effects of the gas.

The play actually is actually focused on The Writer, i.e. the playwright, who has been caught trying to sneak into Chechnya and is being interrogated by an officer of the FSB (the successor to the KGB). There are flashbacks, shown via projections, in which he remembers the relationships he developed during the siege. One was with one of the black widows; the other, with a teenager who had been attending the play with her parents. All four characters are interesting and more complex than they seem at first. The projections were handled with the two actresses in a movie theatre off-stage, but interacting in real time with The Writer, by the way. That worked better than I would have expected from that description. Overall, this was an intriguing play and I am glad that I got to see it. (And, of course, it is timely in light of the Ukraine war.)

By the way, we had dinner before the play at Q by Peter Chang. I had some very tasty noodles with lamb, while Cindy got a chicken dish that she said was too spicy for her, even though she had asked for “medium.” We wouldd probably go there again but request the food be mild.

Baseball: My first live baseball game of the season was the second game for the Nationals, who were playing the Mets. I had chosen that game instead of opening day because it was Stephen Strasburg bobblehead giveaway day. It was very strange seeing Max Scherzer pitching for the Mets. (By the way, I have divided loyalties on this match-up, since I grew up a Mets fan, but feel obliged to root for the Nats while living here.) I am also annoyed by the designated hitter rule having been imposed on the National League. The bottom line is thet the Nats pitching was pretty bad. There was also a brawl after a Nats pitcher beaned a Mets batter. I should also note that there were two young women sitting in front of me who were primarily focused on discussing the upcoming wedding of one of them (who was apparently there with her parents). That and gossiping about various people they knew and talking about the bad behavior of the bride-to-be’s dog and pretty much everything but the game. It was annoying and distracting. Sigh.

By the way, four people were shot (fortunately, none fatally) right over by Nats Park the next night. That’s pretty scary.

Anyway, while I am on the subject of baseball, this season is depressing. Not only are the Nats doing terribly, so are my Red Sox. And the Royals (who I have a soft spot in my heart for because a guy from my home town used to pitch for them). And, of course, with the Source of All Evil in the Universe in first, the Grand Unified Theory of Politics, Economics, and the American League East explains why things are so miserable in the world right now.

STC Mock Trial: Every year, the Shakespeare Theatre Company puts on a mock trial, with the case based on something from a Shakespeare play and various DC luminaries participating. This year’s was also live-streamed, making it much easier to watch. The case was called “Much Ado About Margaret” and based on Much Ado About Nothing. The specific question was whether Margaret had defamed Hero by posing as her in her wedding dress, thus convincing Claudio that Hero was unfaithful to him. The presiding judge was Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, with Debra Katz (known for representing workplace whistleblowers) representing Hero and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff representing Margaret. The whole thing was reasonably amusing. And, by the way, Emhoff revealed that Kamala Harris is better at Wordle than he is. (But he lost the case.)

Randy Rainbow Book Tour: Randy Rainbow has been doing a number of events to promote his memoir and I went with another friend (Kathleen) to one at Sixth and I Synagogue. In this case, he was interviewed by CNN reporter Dana Bash. She had him read several anecdotes from the book. I was particularly interested to hear about his friendship with Stephen Sondheim. They also played one of his videos. Overall, he was funny and it was enjoyable.

By the way, since the event was during Passover, we were rather constrained with respect to dinner. Fortunately, Zaytinya had a few things on their menu that I considered acceptable to eat. But, boy is it hard to go there and not have any of their bread.

Circumnavigators Happy Hour: The acting president of the Circumnavigators Club had invited members of the Travelers’ Century Club to join them at a happy hour. There were a few people there who I know from TCC, including a BBC reporter who had profiled us back in 2017. Anyway, there was lots of good travel conversation and I ended up staying longer than I’d expected to. But it also reminded me how much I miss traveling.

Artechouse: I had not actually been to Artechouse before, though I had always heard good things about it. So I was happy to accompany Cindy to their current immersive experience, which is called Pixelbloom. This is focused on springtime and cherry blossoms (and other flowers) and includes both a main exhibit that takes 20 or so minutes to watch and a few side exhibits.

Note that you apparently have to click the pictures to view the videos on flickr.

There are two side rooms with other exhibits. One ends up letting you appear to be part of the picture.

My favorite part was an area where your footsteps caused beehives (complete with bees) to form and dissolve. Because they dissolve when you move away, it was really hard to get decent pictures but this brief video (again, you will need to click through to flickr) gives you the general idea.

Mormon Temple Open House: Cindy had also gotten a parking pass to go to the open house at the LDS Temple in Kensington, Maryland. Normally, people who are not members cannot go into the Temple, but they had deconsecrated it for renovations and are doing this open house until it is reconsecrated. Since I have a long-standing interest in religious architecture, I thought this was a good opportunity.

Of course, I’ve seen the outside several times.

They also have a very nice fountain surrounded by a lot of tulips.

Everybody had to put on some covers on their shoes before going inside. We thought you weren’t supposed to take photos inside, but a lot of people were, so we went ahead. This is the Baptistry, which is where baptisms are performed. That includes baptisms on behalf of deceased ancestors. There are sculptures of oxen supporting the font. Also, the painting in the background is fairly typical of the style of painting throughout the temple. One thing about those paintings is that they show almost entirely white people, though there were two of black women with children near the end of the tour route. There was also a room off to the side where there were sets of what I assume is the famous Mormon underwear.

We went on to see Dressing Rooms where people change to white clothing worn in the temple, the Brides Room where a bride waits before her sealing ceremony, and Instruction Rooms (essentially small auditoriums) where people go periodically to watch audiovisual presentations about their religious obligations and covenants. The Celestial Room is supposed to symbolize heaven and be a place for quiet contemplation, but I thought it had the ambience of a hotel lobby (probably a Marriott, at that). The Sealing Rooms are where marriages and other sealing ceremonies take place. (For example, I know a Mormon woman who, with her husband, adopted three children and they had them selaed to her and her husband.) This is supposed to be eternal. I asked one what happens if someone is widowed and remarries, but didn’t get a coherent answer.

Overall, this was interesting and worth seeing, especially since it’s pretty much a once in a lifetime opportunity. I should also note that the Washington Temple (which is really in Kensington, Maryland) is the third largest, behind Salt Lake City and Los Angeles. Also, I had expected a bit of a hard sell, but they really weren’t pushy, just providing information.

Weekday Brunch: Kathleen had house guests from Israel (a Style Invitational Loser and her wife) and asked me to join them for a late breakfast on a weekday before they left. So we went to Bob and Edith’s Diner in Crystal City, which is pretty much your standard diner. My veggie omelet and English muffin were fine. It was surprisingly busy for a Thursday morning. It;s always good to get out of the house.

Other Stuff: Other things I did in April included a couple of story swaps, various phone calls re: planning for storytelling events, and a couple of genealogy meetings and presentations. And, of course, lots of evenings playing games (mostly Code Names) over zoom. There was also way too much time spent working on decluttering, but that requires a separate entry.

This post is a mixture of a few things, but the common bond is synagogues.

Yom Kippur: For Yom Kippur, I “attended” services put on my Shirat HaNefesh. Their cantor is a friend of a friend and it turns out that I had me their rabbi a couple of times, though she was conducting services elsewhere. Their zoom set-up worked reasonably well, with the cantor (and, in some cases, other speakers) visible in one window and the text of the service scrolling in the main window. I’d characterize the service as more or less Reconstructionist. I could have lived without the sporadic guitar music and some other less traditional elements, but it was okay under the circumstances. One thing I did like a lot was that they had various congregants talk about sections of the service. In particular, I thought that having an EMT talk about life and death was appropriate. Also, they used Ishay Ribo’s Seder HaAvoda for that part of the service (which has to do with the high priest’s Temple service), which is a great piece of music, (They played his recording for that.) I could have drifted off, but I think they skipped the Martyrology, which is fine with me. I was, alas, disappointed in the lack of the priestly blessing.

Bottom line is that it was fine under the circumstances, but not really quite what I was looking for. I suspect I need to go to an Orthodox shut to get the level of tradition I want.

Grandpa: As I’ve mentioned before, my paternal grandfather was a cantor and there were some years he was hired to do the High Holiday services at our shul. I had this realization this year, when I was thinking about him, that, since he was born in 1906, he would have been 62 (the age I am now) in 1968. Which is when I was 10 years old. I tend to think of him as being much older. I’m not sure that means anything, but it’s interesting.

Synagogue Art and Architecture: In October, the Orange County (California) Jewish Community Scholar Program had a three part lecture series on synagogue architecture with Samuel Gruber, who is a well-known expert on the subject. I’m not sure where I heard about this - somewhere on Facebook, I assume - but it was right up my alley. The lectures are actually available on YouTube, including a bonus lecture (a continuation of Lecture 2) because Dr. Gruber was ambitious in how much material he intended to cover.

Lecture 1 had to do with Great Synagogues of the World. A key point was the multiple uses of the synagogue, which include a house of meeting (Beit Knesset), house of prayer (Beit Tefillah), and house of study (Beit Madras) and, in early times, also included use as a hostel. (I believe that is not necessarily limited to early times, as there are folktales where people sleep in the synagogue of a town they are visiting.) Dr. Gruber listed a lot of historic synagogues in places ranging from Alexandria, Egypt to Vilnius, Lithuania, from Sydney, Australia to Fez, Morocco. One interesting feature was what he called the “bipolar” plan, in which the bimah (reading desk) is at one end and the aron kodesh (ark where the Torah scrolls are kept) is at the other, with seating along the sides. Another interesting seating arrangement was in the Kehila Kenosha Yeshen (Old Synagogue) in Ionian, Greece, where seats faced outside, as well as inside. He also noted that painted synagogues were the norm in Eastern Europe. As for synagogue exteriors, he discussed the rise of the Moorish style in the 19th century.

Lecture 2 was titled Arise and Build: American Synagogues and Jewish Identity. It was interesting to learn that there was not, in general, any resistance to synagogue building in the United States in the 18th and 19th centuries. The dominant arrangement of interiors of those earlier synagogues was the “bipolar” one and the “theatre” style came later. Some of the synagogues were originally churches (and, of course, some synagogue buildings later became churches). As a result, there are some with stained glass derived from Christian Bible pictures. There were a variety of architectural styles, including Greek revival, Federal, and Egyptian revival. The biggest development in interiors was the rise of the Reform movement, which replaced the women’s balcony with an organ loft (and, in some cases, a choir loft). In the mid-19th Century, the Romanesque Revival style became popular with Central European congregations,, while the Gothic style was popular with German congregations. Almost none of the Gothic style synagogues are used as such now, however. The Moorish style became popular under the Reform leader Isaac Meir Weiss, who envisioned a “Jewish Alhambra.” By the 1880’s, all of these styles merged, with the Moorish dominating and that style (notable for having two towers, often topped with cupolas) was adopted by Orthodox congregations, too.

What made these synagogue buildings uniquely American was the eclectic mix, which also included styles from other American civic buildings, e.g. town halls. Dr. Gruber also noted that “Americans like change.” But the Moorish style predominated, with horseshoe arches, cupolas, and arabesque decorations. Eastern European congregations favored painted interiors, some of which still exist, with scenes of Zodiac signs (“mazole” in Hebrew) and Holy Land landscapers dominating. However, another common style, particularly in rural areas, was the vernacular wooden synagogue, derived from a common form in Poland and Lithuania. This was a rectangular building with a gabled roof. Those also often had elaborate paintings and carved arks. He showed several pictures of a mural from a shul in Burlington, Vermont. The building became an apartment building, but the mural was intact and has been conserved.

Lecture 3 was focused on Modernism. Dr. Gruber noted that we tend to think of modernism as dating from the 1930’s, but “yesterday’s modernism is today’s tradition.” In the late 19th century, classicism was considered modern, especially among the Reform movement. The 1893 Columbian Exhibition in Chicago was a major influence and the so-called White City was picked up by the City Beautiful movement. However, he noted, that Shearith Israel in New York (aka the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue) had always been classical because its architect, Arnold W. Brunner, thought that was appropriate based on excavations in Palestine. What also arose during the early 20th century period was the Jewish Center movement, with synagogues also hosting classrooms, gyms, and even a swimming pool. However, few of those buildings survived the depression. Other modern features that arose were domes (applied to all styles, starting in the early 20th century), art nouveau, and art deco. Orthodox synagogues came to favor the stripped down International style. By the 1950’s classroom wings became as important as the sanctuary. Under the influence of Percival Goodman, a lot of synagogues came to resemble high schools.

The trend now is for smaller, more flexible spaces. This is true even at Orthodox synagogues. There is also a trend to use natural materials and art made by congregants. The lifespan of American synagogue buildings is typically 20-40 years. Finally, Dr. Gruber suggested that you should view photographing a synagogue as if you are the last person ever to see it.

Overall, this was an excellent lecture series and I am glad I stumbled upon it. It was very information dense, with lots of photos of specific synagogues and information about architects, so what I wrote above is a very brief summary. The Community Scholar Program has a lot of other lectures recorded and I intend to watch some of them when I have time.

Three Specific Synagogues: I have attended some High Holiday services at Sixth and I Synagogue in Washington, D.C. which is interesting for having been successfully restored and revitalized in 2004, after having become a church when Congregation Adas Israel moved to the Cleveland Park area in Northwest D.C. (where it remains) in the late 1940’s. It is also a major cultural center with an active program of lectures and concerts in normal times.

The Vilna Shul on Beacon Hill in Boston has, alas, become more or less a museum and cultural center, but has not had an active congregation since 1985. My understanding is that it was pretty much the victim of urban renewal, which destroyed the Jewish community in that part of Boston. I went to High Holiday services there (along with a few friends) during my undergraduate years. It was obviously struggling since, without the four or so young men from MIT who went there, they would have been unable to have a minyan even on Yom Kippur. I liked the connection to my Litvak heritage (my grandfather was born in Vilna, after all), though apparently the building had been altered enough as not to completely reflect that, with the wall murals having been painted over to a bland American beige. While I was sad about this, somebody once reminded me that we are supposed to think of all synagogues in galut (i.e. exile, the Diaspora) as temporary).

Finally, the synagogue I grew up going to was the Jewish Center of Island Park, aka Congregation Beth Emeth. It merged with another congregation some years ago and became the South Shore Jewish Center. I was last there in 2014, when my mother died, and found that they were no longer using the main sanctuary upstairs because too many members of an aging congregation couldn’t handle the stairs. Anyway, it occurs to me that I don’t know much about when the building was erected, as it was already there when we moved to town in 1961. The congregation was apparently founded somewhere around 1950ish (I have seen both 1948 and 1952). I was growing up during a time of rapid growth and there was an expansion added, which was used as a social hall for bar mitzvahs (and, presumably, weddings, though I have to admit not knowing of any). It was also used for services on the High Holidays. I think it was built in the late 1960’s. I should actually know, since my father (who was a civil engineer) chaired the building committee, but my memory is fuzzy on the details. Anyway, in light of Sam Gruber’s lecture series, it would be interesting to spend some time documenting its history - and the history of suburban Long Island synagogues more generally. Because, you know, I don’t have enough projects to spend time on.

Crossposts: https://fauxklore.livejournal.com/477324.html

I slept later than I had planned to so didn't make it to the Perfume Museum. I did walk through much of Andorra La Vella. My homing instincts found a yarn shop, but it was closed. There are a few cute bits, but Andorra does not really compare well with the other European microcountries.

In Barcelona, I braved the long wait and saw La Sagrada Familia. To close out the day, I went to another Gaudi work , namely Casa Batllo. Both were interesting and I do appreciate his use of light, but I find much modern architecture to feel uncomfortable.