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This Hyphenated Life post four / The capital of the Jewish World
By Marco Greenberg
Tags: American Jewry 

So what is the capital city of the Jewish World? It's time to make a declaration. And, no - despite the campaign rhetoric in both Israel and the U.S. - the answer is not Jerusalem. That choice is way too obvious and needs to be disqualified.

Instead, let's ask where the majority of the world's Jews would really feel most comfortable? What's the one place they'd love to live, or regularly visit, not to mention inherit an apartment there? My vote goes to that piece of Manhattan paradise between 59th and 125th Streets, Central Park, and the Hudson River (even though defining its exact boundaries sometimes inspires more argument than discussions about what constitutes Israel's borders).

In case you didn't get it from earlier posts of This Hyphenated Life , I am part of a sub-sect of our people known as the Wandering Jews. The wanderlust, or shpilkes, is in our DNA - just check out last month's Torah portion, Masei.
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I couldn't have picked a better week to go to synagogue (I should really go more often), for just as I'm packing up the family to move (in all honesty, my wife is doing the heavy lifting), we stumble on the portion about how the Israelites went from location A to B to C etc. It made me feel less crazy about frequently pulling up stakes. Here's my very unlearned interpretation: When a Wandering Jew, circling the world, sniffs around and finally decides to settle down in one spot, it is a big decision - one we don't take lightly.

What do "we Jews" look for in a city? Other than great Asian food, there are a host of other criteria that one must review before declaring the winner.

It must be Jewish but not "too Jewish." In other words, not, Monsey, New York. There are great people there, and I happen to have met a few, including, and after some initial trepidation, on El Al flights, but I'm no Hasid, although it does bring us back to Jerusalem. Here's my take: It is way too sacred and precious, and getting up there in years, to have to enter such competitions. Plus, the vibe there is just too heavy. If one of the most popular sayings about Jerusalem is any indication, I'm in no mood to lose my hand if I forget about the city's centrality in my life. That's scary.

Don't get me wrong, Jews like to be around other Jews, and be a five minute ride away from lox (must be nova) and bagel or pastrami-on-rye, but they also like to be part of a larger urban and multicultural mix; and to be in a place that they can soak up music, art, theatre, plays and celebrate/curse the local sports team. In short, we want to be inspired and feel like we're living at the center of the universe.

Some might declare their own Jewish capital as Flatbush in Brooklyn, Golders Green in London, Brookline, Ma, even Skokie, Illinois or Fairfax in L.A. The Jewish neighborhoods of Paris, Buenos Aires and Toronto might also be quite endearing. In fact they might be your choices, and they're all fine, but not mine.

Let me show my cards by announcing that Tel Aviv is my runner up. How can a city in which everyone speaks Hebrew, the streets are named after Jewish heroes from Ben-Yehuda to Ahad Ha'am, is also the capital of renovated Bauhaus architecture, warm Mediterranean water and sandy beaches, outdoor cafes and teaming night life populated by beautiful people, a great University and a world-class symphony, opera and museums, not capture the number one position? Sorry to disappoint my former neighbors in Tel Aviv, a city I love, but they'd be the first to admit it is the Little Apple (or rather, the Big Orange as a rather uninspired PR campaign put it) compared to the Big Apple.

In addition to being the largest Jewish population outside of Israel, and being crowned with the only slightly disparaging "Jew York" title, New York meets all the above criteria and then some. After all, what city has more chutzpah than New York City? The place invented the word. But to declare all of New York City the winner is far too general. Instead, you need to be more specific. Time Square (way too touristy), Upper East Side (too waspy), Downtown (too hip), Riverdale (too far uptown). Nu, already??? The winner of the capital of the Jewish World is what is known as UWS, The Upper West Side.

I'm focusing on the UWS' contents and its people. Even Donald Trump's noveaux riche buildings haven't managed to overshadow the indigenous character of this special part of Manhattan. While you won't find I.B. Singer writing in his native Yiddish at his favorite cafe on West 72nd Street, along with many other of the historic signs of Jewish life, new expressions are popping up before our eyes.

There are the vibrant houses of worship, learning and culture. If I were to conduct a mini-tour for newcomers I would start by showing you the huge variety of synagogues from all streams of Judaism, from dancing on Friday nights at Bnei Jeshurun to Orthodox families walking on Saturday morning to Lincoln Square Synagogue, kids running off to Jewish day schools, young adults studying at centers of Jewish learning like the Jewish Theological Seminary (right next door to a very vibrant young Jewish scene at Columbia University), working out at a state of the art JCC and nights out at Makor Café for a feel of Israel and modern Jewish life.

Even the New York Times has recently picked up on the UWS-Jewish connection.

More than the outward symbols of the faith, it is the heimishe feel and intellectual spirit that pervades. Yes, you can stroll into a Jewish bookstore and find an obscure text, but also buy books on seemingly any subject that are sold outside on street corners. The Upper West side is like comfort food for us Jews. It's not just a nice analogy, it's the mouth-watering cuisine from Zabars to Barney Greengrass to Murrays and scores of Israeli-owned cafes, but also the place where locksmiths (again, Israelis) let you back into your apartment when you've lost the keys, where people and families live on the same floor, and where, as a fellow father says, teenagers can't escape to the basement.

It is also the convenience of a virtual 24-hour beat yet in a very old-world kind of way. The Upper West is perhaps the last spot on earth where people walk rather than drive (many take pride in not just not owning a car but in not having a driver's license either), where terms like pre-War and post-War to describe the area's buildings are part of everyday vocabulary, where nature means Central Park, where Jewish men like me can live without shame about our legendary lack of handiness, and instead call the super to fix things that go wrong in our apartments.

For all these reasons and so many more, my family and I are being pulled back to the magnet called Manhattan, and more specifically, to the Upper West Side. It is not without much thought, and sad memories too. We are returning less than two weeks before the 7th anniversary of 9/11. More on the personal meaning of that day in my next post.

In the meantime it's literally our first night in our new apartment, and tomorrow morning I'm planning to walk the kids downstairs to celebrate our return by biting into some fresh, warm and real NYC bagels.

Marco Greenberg is a communications strategist based in New York City.

More by Marco Greenberg on Haaretz.com:
  • This Hyphenated Life, post one / A Hybrid Jew
  • This Hyphenated Life, post two / Jew me down
  • This Hyphenated Life, post three / Jewish education costs, but it works
  • Battle of the attitude / Israeli girls vs. American Jews
  • Advice to Ehud Olmert, blogger

    Related articles:
  • Who's that woman in the pulpit?
  • A Manhattan transfer.
  • Dance of drums and belief

  • 'Viva la Pluralism'

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      1.   WRONG Haaretz - It`s not Jerusalem but Tel Aviv 12:44  |  B`Galil 30/08/08
      2.   so obviously... 14:36  |  ilan 30/08/08
      3.   I only got into the 2nd line and stopped reading .. 14:55  |  redmike 30/08/08
      4.   UES 15:11  |  W 30/08/08
      5.   As an ex-New Yorker, definitely it is Tel Aviv 16:20  |  Yaeli 30/08/08
      6.   Tel Aviv will always be #1 16:28  |  efman 30/08/08
      7.   Just one minute 17:04  |  Danite 30/08/08
      8.   Tel Aviv 17:07  |  Danite 30/08/08
      9.   It`s def NYC, but not necessarily the UWS 17:25  |  Jeff 30/08/08
      10.   NYC continued 17:29  |  Jeff 30/08/08
      11.   Tel Aviv much more than NY 18:28  |  SK 30/08/08
      12.   Who´s write this article cannot be a jew 18:43  |  JP 30/08/08
      13.   Jersulame was created by a Jew, and for primarly for them. 18:44  |  JP 30/08/08
      14.   B`Gallil, I figured you`d say that 21:22  |  Zev Davis 30/08/08
      15.   Center of pre-state Jewish world, son of man 22:05  |  Theodore 30/08/08
      16.   I disagree 23:02  |  Davood 30/08/08
      17.   capital of "Palestine", Amman! 02:32  |  Akiva P 31/08/08
      18.   Jerusalem 02:38  |  stnybrk 31/08/08
      19.   Tara? 04:41  |  Johnymac 31/08/08
      20.   Montreal Jew 04:57  |  Speaking Hebrew 31/08/08
      21.   And the winner is..... 05:33  |  ATLAS 31/08/08
      22.   jp 13 05:44  |  potobac 31/08/08
      23.   the capital of the Jewish people 07:53  |  Daniel 31/08/08
      24.   Capital...N0 17 08:35  |  Palestinian Brit 31/08/08
      25.   Jerusalem Is Heart & Soul 08:53  |  ILI 31/08/08
      26.   New York is the new Rome! 09:48  |  Manny Goldstein 31/08/08
      27.   Jerusalem 12:44  |  Israeli girl 31/08/08
      28.   NYC is way too expensive 13:18  |  Monk 31/08/08
      29.   efman guess what NY also has a Beach 14:15  |  Montreal Jew 31/08/08
      30.   Only a capital for spiritually devoid Jews 14:36  |  Noam 31/08/08
      31.   No. 28, Monk 15:39  |  W 31/08/08
      32.   It must be Tel-Aviv 16:10  |  Miche Norman 31/08/08
      33.   It Must be Tel Aviv 16:40  |  POP 31/08/08
      34.   Jerusalem is in the heart where ever we find ourselves. 16:57  |  Not a Jew 31/08/08
      35.   re: capital of palestine amman 17:07  |  liat 31/08/08
      36.   Give us a break from cheap journalism please 17:42  |  x-ray 31/08/08
      37.   Capital for Millionaires Only 18:30  |  Yaakov Noach 31/08/08
      38.   Jews once said Berlin was the Capital 18:51  |  Steven 31/08/08
      39.   JESUSALEN 23:26  |  cristian 31/08/08
      40.   Tel Aviv is the capital for ALL the Jews 23:51  |  Gilbert 31/08/08
      41.   Beyond Disgraceful 02:42  |  Sam 01/09/08
      42.   Shameless bourgoise bragging 10:54  |  Eli 01/09/08
      43.   Another Woody Allen, Jerry Seinfeld, et al. 14:16  |  The Right Priorities 01/09/08
      44.   NY is not the center 14:21  |  Sidney 01/09/08
      45.   US and UWS - nothing like it ! 19:58  |  David 01/09/08
      46.   Jews or American Jews? 20:39  |  Sarah 01/09/08
      47.   To David 22:02  |  Sam 01/09/08
      48.   JESUSALEN 03:02  |  cristian 02/09/08
      49.   Judaism 04:01  |  Fred Goepfert 02/09/08
      50.   The Capital 05:32  |  Shmuelshachor 02/09/08
      51.   The Capital 05:32  |  Shmuelshachor 02/09/08
      52.   liat 16:57  |  lady from USA 02/09/08
      53.   Jerusalem 17:08  |  lady from USA 02/09/08
      54.   Real jewish Capital... 17:36  |  Michael Greenberg 02/09/08
      55.   Jerusalem as founded by King David as the Capital 21:14  |  Dolly 02/09/08
      56.   What about the au pair? 09:31  |  Daniel 03/09/08
      57.   Jerusalem 10:48  |  mariapalestina 03/09/08
      58.   mariapalestina 16:50  |  lady from USA 04/09/08
      59.   Michael Greenberg of Ottawa - good food 22:13  |  David Israel 04/09/08
      60.   capital 03:28  |  miriam 05/09/08
      61.   Let`s not disqualify Jerusalem! 19:39  |  Tom 05/09/08
      62.   A TRUE Jew can only be at HOME HERE 10:30  |  Charles 06/09/08
      63.   Tel Aviv still rules 21:00  |  Yael 07/09/08
      64.   sounds boring and expensive 10:47  |  Max 08/09/08
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