Mornings at the Stanton Street Shul

Jonathan Boyarin is Diann G. and Thomas A. Mann Professor of Modern Jewish Studies in the Departments of Anthropology and Near Eastern Studies at Cornell University.

• Illustrations Acknowledgments Introduction WEEK One WEEK Two WEEK Three WEEK Four WEEK Five WEEK Six WEEK Seven WEEK Eight WEEK Nine WEEK Ten WEEK Eleven WEEK Twelve Works Cited Glossary Index

"Academic Boyarin goes popular with a journal of the 12 weeks in 2008 that he faithfully attended morning prayers at the 90-plus-year-old synagogue-the shul-of his Modern Orthodox home congregation on Manhattan's Lower East Side. Besides the daily suspense over whether enough men for a minyan will show up, he records the regulars and others who do; their personalities, concerns, relations, and life in the congregation; the congregation's history, relations with other Orthodox synagogues and institutions, and efforts to keep its historic character and building intact; and the ever-changing face of the neighborhood, now as obviously part of Chinatown as it once was a locus of East European Jewish immigrants. He mentions his dreams, as long as they're pertinent to the shul, and family events within the context of shul life. The big congregational to-do during the period is over one rabbi's departure and the search for his successor. As absorbing as a good cinema verite documentary, Boyarin's personal ethnography may make Lower East Side tourists of many readers hooked by its abundant charm." -Booklist "This is a fascinating tale of a neighborhood in transition and rejuvenation, and Mornings at the Stanton Street Shul: A Summer on the Lower East Side is a most pleasurable read." -- Ben Rothke -Times of Israel "'Mornings at the Stanton Street Shul' is inviting, provocative, funny, and stimulating..." -- -Emily Katz H-Net Reviews "[Boyarin] illustrates in poignant and humorous ways the changes taking place in a historic neighborhood facing gentrification." -Carolina Arts & Sciences