The Jewish Week September 23, 2005

Moving To A New Beat
by Rivka Bukowsky - Special To The Jewish Week

When music therapist Helene Herman moved to the Upper East Side 12 years ago, she didn’t expect to form any Jewish connections.

“[I] sort of felt alienated from Judaism,” said Herman, 58, who grew up in a nonobservant household.

Then Herman and her husband, David, discovered the Temple of Universal Judaism, a place on Park Avenue to pray and to play. Last year they led the first drum circle during Selichot services.

“What we found at TUJ was a sense of warmth and acceptance and a feeling of meaning,” said Herman.

Drum circles may seem a little avant-garde for the conservative Upper East Side, which boasts majestic synagogues and a traditional reputation. But from Central Park to the East River, dynamic leaders and laypeople are helping Jewish learning and culture evolve and increase exponentially.

The wealth of Jewish resources available now did not exist when longtime resident Raquel Oppenheim moved to the neighborhood 33 years ago.

“It used to be if you wanted something kosher, you had to go to the Upper West Side,” said Oppenheim. “The shul was empty on Shabbat.”

Now, she said, her synagogue offers five different minyanim. Signs of Judaism are everywhere, from fancy stores on Madison Avenue with mezuzot on their doors to Pizza Cave, a kosher store on Lexington Avenue that broadcasts Israeli television.

“It’s not a wasteland,” Oppenheim said. “There’s definitely Jewish pride.”

The Jewish community is changing demographically, with more young families flocking to synagogues and schools.

Rabbi Uri Goldstein, assistant rabbi at Park East Synagogue and the father of two young children, was surprised by the Upper East Side’s family-friendly atmosphere when he moved to the neighborhood a year ago.

“I did expect older, affluent, very proper,” said Rabbi Goldstein, 28. “The place is teeming with kids. The parks are always full.”

Gordon Golub, a real estate agent for Citi Habitats, said that in Manhattan’s high-priced real estate market, young people are finding they get more for their money on the East Side.

“I would say that people who considered moving downtown are finding better value [here],” said Golub. “Obviously there are good school districts here as well.”

But top-quality neighborhoods don’t come cheap: the average monthly rent for a luxury two-bedroom apartment is $4,200, or $3,400 in a non-doorman building, Golub said. Average sale prices for a two-bedroom range from $1.2 million in a luxury condo to $750,000 in a non-doorman elevator building.

Local businesses reflect their customers’ expensive tastes.

Park East Grill, a two-year old restaurant on Second Avenue and 81st Street, offers “Scotch flights” for the liquor connoisseur —three types of Scotch served at the same time in small glasses.

The prime rib burger has also been a success, said Park East general manager Michael Weltz. But the restaurant also caters to East Side residents’ social needs, offering prepaid Shabbat dinners on Friday nights.

“A lot of times people have a lot of company,” Weltz said. “It’s just too much to cook.”

Last July, the restaurant attracted a crowd of singles when it hosted a charity event for Congregation Or Zarua, a Conservative synagogue on East 82nd Street.

“They managed to pack this place like it was one of the hottest lounges in Manhattan,” Weltz said. “This didn’t look like a little shlocky party.”

Kosher Italian cuisine has also taken hold on the Upper East Side, with three options within blocks of one another: Tevere 84 on 84th Street, Domani Ristorante on First Avenue and Va Bene on Second Avenue.

When East Side residents search for spiritual nourishment, they have a host of options.

Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun, led by Rabbi Haskel Lookstein, is a focal point of the neighborhood, with 1,022 members and an established Orthodox day school, Ramaz.

Park East Synagogue, an Orthodox congregation on 67th Street, is also a popular choice, with 785 member families. Many young families send their children to a Shabbat service there featuring a special child-friendly siddur and art projects based on the weekly parashah’s themes.

“The kids love it, the parents love it,” Rabbi Goldstein said. “It appeals to parents who wouldn’t always be shul-goers.”

Spiritual leader Rabbi Arthur Schneier attracts congregants and speakers from Europe and Asia. Last Shabbat, the synagogue hosted the chief rabbi of Russia.

“He has a career on the world stage,” Rabbi Goldstein said of Rabbi Schneier. “People from all over the world come here.”

Twenty blocks uptown, Rabbi David Lincoln is actually turning people away from the full-to-capacity Park Avenue Synagogue.

“We just can’t take anymore,” Rabbi Lincoln said of the synagogue, which has 1,500 member families.

Nineteen years ago, when the rabbi first came to the East Side, the neighborhood had yet to assume a Jewish character.

“I used to be almost jealous of the West Side,” where Jewish life was more apparent, he said.

Now, “It’s nice to see people in the streets saying ‘Shabbat Shalom,’ ” said Rabbi Lincoln, 68. “I see among the young people a willingness to accept more traditions that may have been forgotten.”

The Conservative synagogue offers a daily morning minyan and a nursery school capped at 125 students, as well as a Hebrew school. Park Avenue is also committed to Zionist causes. Last year more than 100 members went on a mission to Israel.

The local Jewish renaissance has improved Rabbi Lincoln’s opinion of his adopted neighborhood.

“I don’t think you have to think that you can’t be a full Jew on the Upper East Side,” he said.

Over on Park and 85th, a smaller group at the Temple of Universal Judaism has carved out its own Jewish identity — in a church.

The 100-member Reform congregation meets monthly at the Park Avenue Christian Church, and the two sets of worshipers have formed a strong interfaith connection.

Herman said when Pastor James “Bo” Crowe saw the sukkah that temple members had placed on the bima, he wasn’t offended by the sight of a leaf-covered hut on the premises.

“He said, ‘I want to include it in my Sunday services,’ ” Herman recalled. The sukkah stayed up all week, in accordance with the holiday.

Inclusiveness is a major theme at TUJ, which welcomes gay and interfaith couples. The synagogue holds an interfaith service every January honoring the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Abraham Joshua Heschel, two visionaries representing different religions.

The free-thinking temple impressed Herman, who joined five years ago and now serves on the board.

“I grew up in a community where going to temple meant you had to dress really nicely,” she said.

For her, TUJ was a welcome change.

“We all feel very comfortable there because we don’t feel judged by anybody,” she said.

First held last year, the Hermans’ Selichot drum circle struck a chord with temple members. After the havdalah candle is lit, the Hermans lead participants in drumming, dancing and song. This year’s service will be held tomorrow night, Sept. 24.

“It’s basically a living metaphor for people to experience working together in harmony and mutual respect while giving expression in their personal and unique ways,” she said.

Herman is proud of her contribution to the Upper East Side’s burgeoning Jewish community.

“Hopefully it’s becoming a tradition,” she said.