The Jewish Historical Society of North Jersey: July 1 Newsletter

It was thirty years ago that Sylvia Firschein, z”l, posted a request for volunteers to conduct oral interviews in an effort to record and preserve the history of the Paterson Jewish Community. Sylvia was the librarian at the Y in Wayne, formerly the Paterson Y. The response was encouraging and led to almost 100 interviews conducted primarily by Reeva Isaacs, as well as Florence Hein, z”l, and others. It was a beginning. Those early interviews, including Holocaust remembrances, are on cassettes and in fragile condition. We are attempting to find a source capable of transferring these memories to discs before they disappear. Henceforth, our oral interview cassette collection will be known as the Sylvia Fay Haft Firschein Memorial Oral History Collection.

I recently found a book among our collection by Howard Simons — Jewish Times — Voices of the American Jewish Experience. It is the story of Jewish life in America in a series of interviews conducted by Mr. Simons over a four-year period. He had travelled across America and recorded childhood and family stories. It is the story – told in the singular voices of the subjects of a very special immigrant group and of a three-hundred year effort to realize the ‘American Dream.’ These memories are important and must be preserved. They tell us about how and why we are here and why we were so lucky to have avoided the Holocaust.

We originally came to America because of bad economic conditions in Europe and to escape from persecution. We fled oppression for the “goldina medina.” American Jews provided a haven for Jews fleeing the Holocaust and for survivors through organizations such as HIAS and the Joint Hebrew Sheltering and Immigrant Aid Society, among others. These are stories that still need to be recorded and preserved as well as the coming to America. We need people to do interviews, be they adults or teenagers. We would ask those who wish to, to write their memories and their family’s memories. We have made a home here in America and have participated in making it a home for our children and others. Those early immigrants formed ‘landsmanschaften’,a few still exist - to live near those who came from the same area or to lay in death near to those they knew and loved. The Jewish Historical Society of North Jersey has been in and out of cemeteries, photographing stones and responding to requests from around the world from people seeking lost family. What we do is similar to remembering the Holocaust. Our history cannot and should not be lost. So much has already been lost through fires, floods and indifference. Families come in when a loved one moves or passes on and unknowingly trash memorabilia and items that had been saved for generations. Help us to preserve that “what was.”

We read in newspapers and hear on the radio and television about millions being spent to build new museums and libraries yet our imperiled collection appears to be ignored. Have we done something wrong? Are we doing something wrong? We need people who are interested in serving on our Board to step up and insure the future of our collection. Museums and congregations are expanding and building new additions. For over thirty years we have been striving and struggling and need a place to settle permanently so we can sort, catalog and preserve what we have collected. Universities would like the collection, but they have neither space nor funds to house and maintain us and they want only paper records, not artifacts nor religious objects. We hear and read about the millions in contributions for various operations, but we are ignored, even by the Jewish Federation of Northern New Jersey! We try to publicize ourselves as much as possible but have limitations. We need funds and supplies, recorders to conduct interviews and acid-free materials. We especially need an archivist. Few appear to really understand our position. Apparently, only after the collection has been consigned to a larger out-of-state depository will the Jewish communities become concerned. We have requested that anyone interested in our goals to please join our group in order for us to re-organize. Where is that special someone interested enough to come forth and lead our operation? Our president is getting old and tired. We greatly need people interested in serving on our Board to step up and insure the future of our collection. For over thirty years our mission has been to collect and preserve our stories and our history. People have recorded their memories on Facebook and we are grateful to Roni Liebowitz for putting us on that site. To those people who have photos, documents, memories and other memorabilia we ask for copies or donations of original items before they are lost. Sadly, responses to our newsletter have been minimal. We have asked people for Jewish business / professional cards — for those cards that are current we ask that they autograph the face. Old and new they show who has been here and what they have done. Occasionally I go out speaking. Sometimes the Society is compensated, most times not. Rarely do I come away with collectibles to enrich our collection. We are indebted to Ahmed Tanveer for setting us up with a Google phone number and voice mail. Our number is: 1-862-239-4103. You can leave a message and someone will get back to you. Enjoy the summer and hopefully we will be back September 1st with our next newsletter.

Have you checked your closet lately? We want to hear from YOU!!

Jerry Nathans, President

Alison Faubert

Lou Mechanic

Ahmed Tanveer

The Jewish Historical Society of North Jersey

Barnert Medical Arts Complex

680 Broadway – Suite 2

Paterson, NJ 07514

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