Pennies for Heaven
The History of American Synagogues and Money
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- $34.99
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- $34.99
Publisher Description
In the annals of American Jewish history, synagogue financial records have been largely overlooked. But as Daniel Judson shows in his examination of synagogue ledgers from 1728 to the present, these records provide an array of new insights into the development of American synagogues and the values of the Jews who worshipped in them. Looking at the history of American synagogues through an economic lens, Judson examines how synagogues raised funds, financed buildings, and paid clergy. By “following the money,” he reveals the priorities of the Jewish community at a given time. Throughout the book, Judson traces the history of capital campaigns and expenditures for buildings. He also explores synagogue competition and debates over previously sold seats, what to do about wealthy widows, the breaking down of gender norms, the hazan “bubble” (which saw dozens of overpaid cantors come to the United States from Europe), the successful move to outlaw “mushroom synagogues,” and the nascent synagogue-sharing economy of the twenty-first century. Judson shows as well the ongoing relationship of synagogue and church financing as well as the ways in which the American embrace of the free market in all things meant that the basic rules of supply and demand ultimately prevailed in the religious as well as the commercial realm.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Judson, associate dean at the Hebrew College Rabbinical School, traces the evolution of American Jewish congregational finances in this sweeping, painstaking book meant for scholars. Drawing on research from the late colonial period to the present day, Judson begins by documenting how Jewish communities adapted their existing European practices in their new North American context. Congregations abandoned pew purchase and rental in favor of voluntary giving or structured dues, practices borrowed from neighboring Christian congregations. Judson considers how different congregations across the nation paid their clergy, raised money for new construction, and became increasingly professionalized as venues for events such as for-profit High Holidays services and campaigns for the free synagogue movement. The book becomes a vast survey of the variety of sectors where financial practice within synagogues was influenced by American fund-raising models (viewed as Protestant, from a Jewish perspective) such as philanthropic giving, capital campaigns, school fees, and bingo. This is a thoughtful contribution to American economic and religious history that draws on original archival research to shed light on a little-studied aspect of American Jewish history.
