|
The E.S.H.I. Family | |
Welcome Memories Community Center West Valley Reunions Forums Sister Site Contact us
|
|
The E.S.H.I. Family | |
"The photograph of the Tompkins Square Boys' Lodging House in 1890 with the Streetscapes column on March 31 caught my attention, but I was surprised to learn its original purpose as it is the main locale of a memoir I have almost completed.
"In the late 40's and early 50's, we not only called it ESHI, for East Side Hebrew Institute, but our "second home". Not homeless children, but the offspring of Orthodox Jewish immigrants, enrolled in the Talmud Torah housed there, we spent every afternoon after public school and on Sunday mornings attending classes on the third floor. On Friday evenings, Saturday mornings, and every Jewish Holiday, the second floor arched windowed Synagogue echoed with prayers led by male teenagers for the adult congregation evoking a response of lusty singing by all.
"On Sabbath afternoons, separated by gender, we sat in wooden folding seats in the classrooms at our self-run clubs, Shimshon and Shimshona, discussing the United Nations debates about establishment of a State of Israel. After the meetings, we joined together in the waiting room on the first floor to dance the hora and Eastern Europe folk dances to a capella melodies until time for evening prayers. On Sunday afternoon, we could use a record player in the social hall in the basement so one of the older boys could teach us to Lindy, fox-trot, cha-cha and mambo to 78 rpm's.
"The alleyway pictured to the right in the Photo was our succah, painted brick walls, a roof of straw and hangibng fruit symbolized the desert huts of the Jews of Exodus, where we ate a communal meal on the holiday of Tabernacles.
"We has always assumed the former occupant had been a church, so it was a great interest to read its history."
 |  |