By
of introduction, my name is David Herman and I live in Baltimore Maryland. I
lived in the Parkside section from 1958 to
1968 when we moved in May of that year to Cherry Hill. My dad, who passed away
last year, was the Cantor at Congregation
Beth El from 1957 until 1982 when he retired. The Synagogue was located at
Park Boulevard and Belleview Avenues from 1920 until 1968 when the Shul
relocated to Chapel Avenue in Cherry Hill. I understand the Synagogue (Shul)
complex was razed two years ago to make way for the Boys and Girls Club
facility on Park Boulevard. Lewis Katz, a prominent attorney, endowed the Boys
and Girls Club facility and he grew up literally at Beth
El along with his sister Sandy.
Parkside
[In David's time - PMC] was a homogenous mix of Jews, Greeks, Poles, Italians
and African-Americans. It was predominately Jewish until the mid 1960’s when
families began to trek to the newer developments in the suburbs. My family
first lived in a Shul owned house at 1227 Magnolia Avenue. Later, we moved to
1507 Baird Avenue (later named Boulevard) where we resided until 1968. This
property belonged to the Shul as it was expected that all Shul officiaries be
Shomer Shabbas (Sabbath observers) and live within walking distance to the
Shul. Prior to our move to 1507 Baird Avenue, Rabbi Harry B. Kellman, his wife
Ruth and their daughter Nadine lived in the house until a new modern ranch
house was built for him on Kaighn
Avenue across from Farnham park. Rabbi Kellman was the Rabbi of Beth
El from 1947 until his retirement in 1969.
Across
the street from us lived the Camden Sheriff Jersey
Joe Walcott who was a large man with a big heart and a sweet personality.
He ran a home for troubled youth in this house and I used to play with some of
the kids he took in. As you know, his real name was Arnold Cream. Next door to
us, at 1503 Baird, lived Jack Naden and
his wife. He had a son Ralph who became a big criminal defense attorney in New
York City. Jack Naden was very learned
in Judaic matters and was able to conduct services at Beth
El as well as read books of the Talmud in Aramaic and of course Hebrew. He
was also involve in the Talmud
Torah with Rabbi Riff.
At 1502 Baird lived the Cutler
family and then later the Singer family. Our home was a large four bedroom
semidetached building. Living attached to us on our right at 1509 Baird was a
Greek family and the husband was a pharmacist. They moved out in the 1960’s
and sold the property to the Fortune family. I used to play with Karen
Fortune. The Fortunes were an African-American family. Her brother used to
baby-sit me.
In
the 1960’s the Naden family moved and
sold the house to the Foster family whose daughter Ann has sent an email to
the Camden website about growing up in Parkside. They too were
African-American. Until we moved in 1968, we lived in racial harmony with our
neighbors with mutual respect. Color did not make a difference.
The
Fosters owned a dog named Minky who was always digging up Mr. Foster’s
beautiful garden and burying his dog bones. It took a long to convince Mr.
Foster I did not dig up the garden. A narrow walkway separated our house. On
our side was dirt around the side of the Herman house. On the Foster side was
concrete. The Fosters planted a vegetable garden on our side and shard the
vegetables with us. Once again, just lovely neighbors. Towards 1967-1968,
tensions surface in the area. Much of it I believe came out of Camden
High School which was about two blocks away (down the street). One time
the militant H. Rap Brown held a rally at Camden
High School. Jersey
Joe Walcott showed up and made him leave. Unfortunately the crowd was
stirred up and vandalism occurred. My dad’s car antenna was broken off.
Other cars around the area had tires slashed. Not a very proud time.
In
April 1968, Reverend Martin Luther King was assassinated. It was a Thursday
evening. Everyone was on edge for problems. Friday morning Mayor
Pierce called Rabbi Kellman and asked him to cancel late Friday evening
services at Beth
El because of concerns that our neighbors would hear singing emanating
from the sanctuary of the Shul at a time of mourning for the country and it
would not be in good taste. More than likely it was a public safety concern.
Rabbi Kellman agreed and cancelled services.
Beth
El was
really the enter of activity for the Jewish community in Parkside.
From early morning, beginning with the daily Minyan at 7:30 AM until late at
night, the building was filled with activities. Actually, it was a large
complex of buildings. Mayor
Brunner was instrumental in helping the Shul acquire the land [for the school
building- PMC].
The property actually began at the corner of Baird Avenue and Park
Boulevard and continued to Park Boulevard and Belleview Avenue. There was a
two family duplex which housed Reverend and Mrs. Dov Gilden and their children
Leon and Elaine. Reverend Gilden was the Shul shammas or sexton and he was
responsible for teaching Bar Mitzvah boys how to read the Torah, run the
Minyanim (daily services) and read the Torah when necessary. He was a gentle
soul who survived the holocaust. He unfortunately passed away several years
ago. His wife, Freida, also a holocaust survivor, taught nursery school in the
Shul nursery in the house next door facing the park. The house still stands as
well as the duplex. The other part of the two family duplex was occupied by
Rabbi Isaac Furman and his wife Molly (Mrs. Gilden’s sister) and their two
daughters Esther and Phyllis. Rabbi Furman, also a holocaust survivor, was the
principal of both the day school (which was know as the Beth El Academy) and
of the afternoon religious school which was in session on Sunday mornings and
Tuesday and Thursday afternoons from 4:00 to 6:15 PM. In the evenings, the
Shul school building, which was two stories tall, fireproof and dedicated in
1949 was alive with adult education classes, Boy Scout Troop 18 meetings,
board meetings, choral group rehearsals with Cantor Herman, etc. Again, always
activity.
Attached
to the school building was the main sanctuary and beneath that the auditorium,
scene of luncheons, shows, meetings, musical performances, wedding receptions,
Bar-Mitzvah receptions, sisterhood and brotherhood meetings and events.
Bas-Mitzvahs didn’t start at the Shul until after the move to Cherry Hill.
On
the other side of that, facing Belleview Avenue, was the original Shul
building, which was built quickly in 1920 with a small chapel on the second
floor and classrooms on the lower floor with a kitchen. The chapel was used
daily for the morning services except for Shabbas and holidays when the main
sanctuary was used and the chapel was used by the Junior congregation services
first led by Mrs. Yetta Herman, (my mother) then Mrs. Gerry Ostrov. It should
be noted that the day school was organized by Rabbi Kellman, Mrs. Yetta
Herman, and the then principal Dr. Samuel Rosenbloom. Rabbi Kellman drew on my
mother’s experiences because she had also started the Germantown Jewish
Center nursery school in Philadelphia. Both the Beth El Academy and the
religious school boasted a large attendance of hundreds of students thru the
1960’s. Congregation Sons of Israel, which by the 1960’s had relocated to
the corner of Kaighn
Avenue and Park Boulevard, a block away, also had an active Hebrew school.
Both synagogues maintained close, warm relations primarily due to the
personality of the late Rabbi
Naftali Zvi Yehudah Riff, a man who loved everyone, and everyone loved
him. It was not unusual in the late 1960’s for Beth
El to send over people to help Sons of Israel with the Minyan when they
fell short with their required ten men. The same held true when Beth
El was short and Sons of Israel would send over people.
Many
people in Camden maintained dual membership. They belonged to Beth
El but also supported and belonged to Sons of Israel out of love and
respect for Rabbi Riff who
was a scholar. It should be noted that Rabbi
Riff, though responsible for the Talmud
Torah building and educational classes on Kaighn
Avenue across from Victory Garage,
the original Sons Of Israel at 8th and Sycamore
and another Shul, “Ohev Zedeck”, and was responsible for Kosher meat in
the city, never made enough according to his accountant Ed Natal to pay taxes
during World War II. Nevertheless, Mr. Natal told me during the war Rabbi
Riff voluntarily sent $100.00 to the United States
Treasury Department as an act of gratitude to the United States government in
their efforts to defeat Fascism, and of course, Hitler. Rabbi
Riff would also go out late on Thursday nights and
personally deliver food packages for poor families for Shabbas. One time, at
3:00 AM, he was picked up by a police patrol car who observed him dropping
“something” on someone’s porch and then running away. Only after the
police woke up the family, who explained what the Reverend Rabbi was doing out
at 3:00 AM and what the package was, was Rabbi
Riff free to go. After this incident, my father, of
blessed memory Cantor Louis J. Herman and others volunteered to drive the
Rabbi around town in the wee hours on his missions of mercy.
From
June of 1968 until September when the last Beth El service was held in
Parkside, my father and other members of Beth
El staff had to take rooms at the Oasis
Motel [on Admiral
Wilson Boulevard- PMC] for Shabbas and walk up the hill to Park Boulevard
for services at Beth
El as most of the Jewish community had left Parkside
by that time and there was no place to house the personnel for Shabbas.
Suffice it to say, it wasn’t an enjoyable experience to spend Shabbas where
you have on one side men of God in the building and on the other side of the
motel ladies of the night.
During
the summer and fall convoys of trucks carrying tomatoes packed in baskets from
top to bottom rolled down Baird Avenue on the way to Campbell Soup. It
was not unusual that youngsters would wait until the truck would stop for the
red light at Kaighn
and Haddon and pull out the bottom basket thereby creating an avalanche of
tomatoes which they quickly scooped up and brought home.
The
park [Farnham Park- PMC] until the late 1960's was well maintained until a
series of floods brought the Cooper River over it’s banks. There were
trails, pavilions, climbing gyms, swings, see-saws and fountains for drinking
that actually worked.
In
early 1960, across from Beth
El, the city came up with an idea to build an ice
arena in the park. Trees were destroyed, excavation began and finally Rabbi
Kellman prevailed upon the mayor and city fathers that the rectangular
building would be an eyesore. Common sense prevailed. The hole in the ground
was filled in, construction stopped, but sadly, the lost trees were never
replaced.
More
on Rabbi
Riff. When he retired in 1966 to move to Bnei Brak
Israel, he was honored at a farewell dinner. I think the dinner was at the
Cherry Hill Inn although the Walt
Whitman Hotel is a possibility. Rabbi
Riff, with his great sense of humor, reminisced
about his over 50 years in Camden. My father of blessed memory told the
following as he participated in the program and sang in honor of Rabbi and
Mrs. Riff. Rabbi
Riff told the large audience in Yiddish "When I
first came to Camden I had a long black beard the neighborhood was white. Now
as I am retiring, I have a long white beard the neighborhood is black.” You
have posted a picture of Rabbi
Riff in front of Kaighn Avenue Talmud
Torah. On the far right, the gentleman with the gray
beard who is standing, is Rabbi B.L. Levinthal, Chief Rabbi of Philadelphia
and a dean of Talmudic studies at Yeshiva College, later know as Yeshiva
University in New York.
Rabbi
Riff & Study Group
Congregation Sons of Israel
-
1944 |
|
Rabbi Riff is seated, front row center,
in front of Congregation Sons of Israel. On the far right, the gentleman
with the gray beard who is standing, is Rabbi B.L. Levinthal, Chief
Rabbi of Philadelphia and a dean of Talmudic studies at Yeshiva College,
later know as Yeshiva University in New York.
|
I’ve
included some information on the late world renown Cantor Yossele Rosenblatt.
My late father sang in his famous choir from 1925 to 1927 and traveled with
him. (Red Buttons also and in the choir although not with my dad). Cantor
Rosenblatt sang in the fist talking film “the Jazz Singer” with Al Jolson.
The Cantor made frequent visits to Camden to the Victor Talking Machine
Compnay studios [later known as R.C.A.-Victor] to make his world famous
records. My father accompanied him to Camden to make these recordings and he
even sang on some of the records. It is ironic that over 30 years later the
young soprano from Cantor Rosenblatt’s choir would return to Camden now as a
tenor to become Cantor at Beth
El! Also in the choir was Michael Bursook brother of
the child star Bobbie Breen.
During
my father’s career, he sang for or worked with the following notable people;
General Allenby who capture Palestine from the Turks; Chaim Weitzman, first
president of Israel; Abba Eban, Israeli ambassador to the United Nations and
statesman; Lou Jacobi, actor; Lorne Green, Jewish star from Toronto and actor
on the Bonanza television show; Michael Landon, Wayne and Shuster, comedians
and stars on Ed Sullivan's TV show; actor Ben Blue; actor Lloyd Bochner; Merv
Griffin, and Robert Alda (Alan Alda’s father). The list goes on and on. At
another time, if you are interested, I’ll provide you with newspaper
clippings and pictures.
Sincerely,
Rabbi
David E. Herman
