>
>
>     There may be a need to reconstruct the structure and downplay the
>     expression of a manifestation of a Jewish culture that was highly
>     sensitive and attuned to their  architectural environment and that
>     essentially evaporated at some time considerably prior to the
>     20^th century.* The religious life and/or culture (and religious
>     architecture) of the Jews in Poland didn't by any means evaporate
>     before the 20th century -- it was intentionally and systematically
>     destroyed as a matter of (German) state policy between 1939-45,
>     after having been sporadically attacked by Russians, Ukrainians,
>     Poles and damn near everybody else for centuries. *
>
Ralph,

I thank you for not letting me be sloppy. I know that the Jewish culture
of Poland did not evaporate prior to the 20th century. I don't know how
much more of reading on the holocaust, or genocides in general, that I
can handle.

What did seem to occur, leastways that I gathered from Professor
Polinsky's lecture, is that there was a profound shift in the
consciousness of the Jewish culture in Poland at a point much prior to
the 20th century. I do not know where this point was in time but I will
find out. That the shift to ignoring the "temporal" world also seems to
have frozen the particular architectural expression in time. The wooden
synagogues were developed and built during a specific time and were not
built after that time, and the end of the era of the construction of
wooden synagogues was at some point prior to the 20th century.

*Should the Jews be involved in the construction of a Disneyland
synagogue which will serve no religious purpose but which will only
serve as a Polish-run tourist trap for Jews, and  gawking Christians of
goodwill?*

Good question. The Polish were thinking of building the synagogue
already all on their own, they are very into reconstruction of lost
structures, and it was an idea as to the need to provide a bit more of a
context of authenticity of reproduction that in part drove the reaching
out to an international venue. I'm reminded of the restoration of the
synagogue in the town of Auswitch.

My interest is East-West cultural exchange and reconstitution of the
knowledge of the traditional building process that is exhibited in the
architecture of the wooden synagogue. We may never in fact get any
further than the construction of a telephone booth -- which is a severe
retraction to a less controversial structure. When we raise our hands
and say that we would like to help to build a building it brings on many
questions and problems that we had not considered previously. There is a
group at MassArt through Handshouse that has built a scale model of the
synagogue and a few weekends ago hosted hewing out of a full size corner
construction... what the trades propose is a full size model. It has
occured to me that far northern Maine may make a less controversial
location than Poland. For some reason, though, I think the activity that
generates the questions is an important one and I am not always sorry
that I am involved.

Here is a question that I got recently... try it on for size.

"Doesn't a deconsecrated synagogue sited in a building museum secure,
rather than counter, the idea of annihilated Jewish heritage? "We didn't
kill all of them (unfortunately) but we did manage to get rid of their
annoying culture, and here's the material proof: museum quality.""

I think this is a real good question.

What I do know is that there is support of the existing Jewish community
in Poland for the reconstruction of the Zabludow synagogue, as
represented by the Jewish Historical Institute, as well as the following
that I recently received:

"My friend is as far as I know the Pole in the Bialystok area who has
the most contacts with Jewish people and organizations. He is well known
over here by Jews with an interest in heritage in Eastern Poland. He
speaks English and has traveled to USA and to Israel. I think until
fairly recently he was an editor of the 2nd largest newspaper in Eastern
Poland. Recently had an article in the largest Polish political weekly.
He was a solidarity activist with jail time.  He has published several
books on Jewish subjects including synagogues and Jewish communities in
Bialystok area.  He is an independent guy. Somewhat of a Mavrick. He
also built his own traditional wooden home in the countryside. He
dreamed for years of rebuilding the zabludow synagogue. Told me years
ago he felt that his life would be complete if he could do such a thing."

My feeling is that there is a need to take a very good look at relations
within Poland with the Jewish community internal to Poland, as well as
to the Jewish community outside of Poland. I am aware that the
percpetions of the Jewish community in Poland are not very nearly the
same as the concerns that are expressed from the American side. I'm not
wanting to speculate all over the place in public, or raise a lot of
noise on the issue, but there are people who rather than asking the
questions and then making loud noises and red-flag waving -- there are
people who are quietly doing the scholarly work to find answers to the
questions. I am as concerned as anyone that we not do harm. When the sky
is falling I do not talk about it a whole lot, I go looking for a very
big stick to prop it up -- or to see if it is actually falling or not.

][<en

--
To terminate puerile preservation prattling among pals and the
uncoffee-ed, or to change your settings, go to:
<http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/bullamanka-pinheads.html>