The more things change...

You know the old expression: the more things change the more they stay the same? A quick trip to the Lower East Side today showed how true it is. Today's Lower East Side is hardly the Eastern European Jewish immigrant neighborhood of the 1890s and early 1900s. It's a hipster paradise full of exclusive clubs, boutiques, and renovated buildings. It's also home to the ever expanding Chinese immigrant population and growing Chinatown area of the city. Almost half the residents of the Lower East Side speak a language other than English at home and were born outside the U.S.

But Barbara, the docent who guided me through the beautifully restored Eldridge Street Synagogue (photo above), reminded me just how much things have not changed. Her review of the synagogue's history and its building sounded like the woes of any modern congregation. They could not proceed with the building until they finally got the funding of a wealthy but uninvolved Jewish businessman. They pursued a lofty buildling plan in the hopes of attracting more new members. They suffered a split in the congregation when several members left over a series of disagreements. They gained an influx of members as another nearby congregation suffered a similar row. The synagogue installed electric lighting early in its availability, again because they believed it would be a selling point for potential new members. Again and again we heard about the issue of growing and keeping membership among a fickle population and competitive synagogue environment.

That's good news, right? It should remind us not to take our situation as too grave. Or maybe it's bad news... After all the Eldridge Street Synagogue is basically a museum today (they actually hold services and still survive as a small congregation but their real stock-in-trade is the museum). Or maybe it's both and neither. Maybe it depends who you ask and how you already feel about the future of the Jewish community in America. Maybe any discussion of the lessons we can learn from Eldridge Street and the Lower East Side will only prove "two Jews; three opinions."

I told you. The more things change, the more they stay the same.