Located in the ravaged urban landscape of the South Bronx, the Intervale Jewish Center is the last synagogue still in regular use in a rapidly changing neighborhood. This unique congregation represents the struggle of individuals to maintain their dignity, independence, and faith over the years. In The Miracle of Intervale Avenue, Jack Kugelmass tells the inspiring story of a community that continues to see the area as its own, as a place they steadfastly refuse to abandon despite a major shift in the ethnic demography of the South Bronx and an increase in violent crime. The Miracle of Intervale Avenue is the story of Moishe Sacks, the Intervale Jewish Center's charismatic leader, acting rabbi, master baker, and storyteller. But it is also the larger story of a small community of primarily elderly Jews and of the human quest for meaning in the face of death. A classic ethnography of American Jewish life, The Miracle of Intervale Avenue has now been brought up to date. In a new closing chapter and epilogue, Kugelmass shows how the congregation has adapted to the radical changes in the neighborhood, bringing closure to this poignant work. Now with 38 photographs of the community over the years, the book covers the slow economic resurgence of the South Bronx and discusses the revitalizing effect of the congregation's new members, including blacks and Latinos.

This is a collection of photographs of all the old men and women who live in a Bronx, New York neighborhood that was once a vibrant Jewish area of the city. Many of the buildings have been abandoned or gutted by fire and destruction, but the old Jews maintain the synagogue, despite all the odds. Sometimes it isn't easy putting together a minyan for a service. When there's nobody to serve as sexton, a passing stranger takes the job and also becomes a fine handyman. Even young blacks offer to defend the old Jewish residents.

Book Review

A classic ethnography of American Jewish life.

This story of one of the last remaining synagogues in the historic neighborhood and its congregation is “as absorbing as a good cinema verité documentary” (Booklist). On New York’s Lower East Side, a narrow building, wedged into a lot designed for an old-law tenement, is full of clamorous voices—the generations of the dead, who somehow contrive to make their presence known, and the newer generation, keeping the building and its memories alive and making themselves Jews in the process. In this book, Jonathan Boyarin, at once a member of the congregation and a bemused anthropologist, follows this congregation of “year-round Jews” through the course of a summer during which its future must once again be decided. Famous as the jumping off point for millions of Jewish and other immigrants to America, the neighborhood has recently become the hip playground of twentysomething immigrants to the city from elsewhere in America and from abroad. Few imagine that Jewish life there has stubbornly continued through this history of decline and regeneration. Yet, inside with Boyarin, we see the congregation’s life as a combination of quiet heroism, ironic humor, lively disputes, and—above all—the ongoing search for ways to connect with Jewish ancestors while remaining true to oneself in the present. Mornings at the Stanton Street Shul is both a portrait of a historic neighborhood facing the challenges of gentrification, and a poignant, humorous chronicle of vibrant, imperfect, down-to-earth individuals coming together to make a community.