Thursday, November 26, 2009
Rabbi Irving J. Block Memorial Lecture at Brotherhood Synagogue
LOOKING AHEAD by Wally Dobelis
The Seventh Annual Irving J. Block Memorial Lecture on Sunday, November 15, at the Brotherhood Synagogue brought out a memorable group of friends of all faiths and congregants, to hear Phyllis Block speak of the founding of Brotherhood in Greenwich Village and its remarkable rebirth in the former Friend’s Meeting House on Gramercy Park.
The event was opened by Rabbi Daniel Alder, who had been, starting as a seminarian, Rabbi Block’s assistant for five years before taking over the full function in 1992. Mrs. .Block was introduced by Brotherhood’s President Debbie Pearlstein, who spoke of her Mrs. Block’s 30 years of writing the Temples monthly bulletin and preparing its publications, besides being a mother and a professional editor. Mrs. Block, who holds Hunter College undergraduate and master’s degrees in French literature, also earned a PhD at Columbia University, and, before her marriage in 1964, worked as French teacher at Columbia and Rutgers and translator in the French Embassy, with a subsequent 30 year career as writer and editor of foreign language teaching material at Holt, Rinehart and Winston. In speaking she was assisted by their son, Herbert, who at the age of 12 became active in local politics, and, while still at school, had an early career as Mayor David Dinkins’s advisor. He is a graduate of Ramaz Hebrew Day School, Columbia College and Brooklyn Law School. Now a family man himself, he is an Assistant Executive VP at the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee and works on restitution of Jewish communal properties throughout Eastern Europe.
The introductions were concluded by Robert Wolfe, chair of Brotherhood’s Board of Trustees and co-chair of the landmarked former Friends Meeting House’s 150th Anniversary Committee, who announced the concluding events in the memorial celebrations. At a gala party on December 3, docents dressed as Quakers will conduct invited guests through a history walk, and, on December 18, a final commemoration on the Shabbat service on the last day of Chanukah, which coincides with the date of the first Friends’ religious service in the building, on December 18, 1859.
Mrs. Block’s presentation was equally impressive. Speaking from memory, after a lead-in by Executive Director Phillip Rothman, she held the audience spellbound with the history of the Block family – how the son of a poor Bridgeport immigrants made it to UConn, to study accountancy, with side jobs to pay the $500 tuition, and joining the US Army in 1944. Stung by mindless anti-Semitism in early youth, he resolved, in his growing process, to work for the brotherhood of people, religions and nations, and after completing his accountancy degree on the GI Bill in 1947, promptly shifted to studies of religion at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, 1947-48, and subsequently to
rabbinical studies at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute ofReligion, in New York. During his studies in Israel he joined the Hagganah
Defense League and participated in Israel's War for Independence, guarding Jerusalem at night from his lookout on the cold rocks outside the Holy City.
Rabbi Block was ordained in 1953 by the HUC/JIR, from which he subsequently received the degree of Master of Hebrew Letters, and in 1978, an honorary Doctorate of Divinity.
While serving as a student rabbi, he decided to form a synagogue that would attract alienated Jews and would emphasize the principles of interfaith
brotherhood and community service. The synagogue named for brotherhood of mankind was founded by Dr. Block and a group of like-minded
associates in 1954, and for 20 years it shared joint quarters with Rev. Dr. Jesse W. Stitt and his Village Presbyterian Church on West 13th Street. The
ideal of a community of faiths was shared by Drs Block and Stitt, and they traveled together, espousing their principles, honored with awards from many civic and religious groups, and only the death of Dr. Stitt and the appointment of an unfriendly minister terminated the sharing of the sanctuaries.
After a year of "wandering in the wilderness,” in 1975 the synagogue settled into the former Friends Meeting House at 29 Gramercy Park South, NYC. Built in 1859, reputed to have served as an "underground railroad" stop in the pre-Civil War years, and landmarked under the threat of destruction for a high-rise project, it was the perfect match of the needs of a congregation and the preservationist-minded efforts of the Gramercy Park community. The
relationship was a model of an interfaith community, and the local Christian leaders (Dr. Thomas F. Pike, Rector Emeritus of Calvary/St. George's Episcopal Parish, was at the lecture, with his successor, Rev. Gregory Brewer, and Msgr. Harry Byrne of Epiphany R. C. Parish, retired in Riverdale, sent his blessings)
formed a tight-knit ecumenical group, an example for the world. In 1982, The Brotherhood was the first Manhattan synagogue to heed the call of NYC's Mayor Edward I. Koch, asking that religious institutions establish shelters for the homeless.
When Rabbi Block retired in 1994, after 41 years of rabbinical service, his retirement coincided with the 40th anniversary of the synagogue he founded. Its mission has continued, under Rabbi Alder.
The Seventh Annual Irving J. Block Memorial Lecture on Sunday, November 15, at the Brotherhood Synagogue brought out a memorable group of friends of all faiths and congregants, to hear Phyllis Block speak of the founding of Brotherhood in Greenwich Village and its remarkable rebirth in the former Friend’s Meeting House on Gramercy Park.
The event was opened by Rabbi Daniel Alder, who had been, starting as a seminarian, Rabbi Block’s assistant for five years before taking over the full function in 1992. Mrs. .Block was introduced by Brotherhood’s President Debbie Pearlstein, who spoke of her Mrs. Block’s 30 years of writing the Temples monthly bulletin and preparing its publications, besides being a mother and a professional editor. Mrs. Block, who holds Hunter College undergraduate and master’s degrees in French literature, also earned a PhD at Columbia University, and, before her marriage in 1964, worked as French teacher at Columbia and Rutgers and translator in the French Embassy, with a subsequent 30 year career as writer and editor of foreign language teaching material at Holt, Rinehart and Winston. In speaking she was assisted by their son, Herbert, who at the age of 12 became active in local politics, and, while still at school, had an early career as Mayor David Dinkins’s advisor. He is a graduate of Ramaz Hebrew Day School, Columbia College and Brooklyn Law School. Now a family man himself, he is an Assistant Executive VP at the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee and works on restitution of Jewish communal properties throughout Eastern Europe.
The introductions were concluded by Robert Wolfe, chair of Brotherhood’s Board of Trustees and co-chair of the landmarked former Friends Meeting House’s 150th Anniversary Committee, who announced the concluding events in the memorial celebrations. At a gala party on December 3, docents dressed as Quakers will conduct invited guests through a history walk, and, on December 18, a final commemoration on the Shabbat service on the last day of Chanukah, which coincides with the date of the first Friends’ religious service in the building, on December 18, 1859.
Mrs. Block’s presentation was equally impressive. Speaking from memory, after a lead-in by Executive Director Phillip Rothman, she held the audience spellbound with the history of the Block family – how the son of a poor Bridgeport immigrants made it to UConn, to study accountancy, with side jobs to pay the $500 tuition, and joining the US Army in 1944. Stung by mindless anti-Semitism in early youth, he resolved, in his growing process, to work for the brotherhood of people, religions and nations, and after completing his accountancy degree on the GI Bill in 1947, promptly shifted to studies of religion at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, 1947-48, and subsequently to
rabbinical studies at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute ofReligion, in New York. During his studies in Israel he joined the Hagganah
Defense League and participated in Israel's War for Independence, guarding Jerusalem at night from his lookout on the cold rocks outside the Holy City.
Rabbi Block was ordained in 1953 by the HUC/JIR, from which he subsequently received the degree of Master of Hebrew Letters, and in 1978, an honorary Doctorate of Divinity.
While serving as a student rabbi, he decided to form a synagogue that would attract alienated Jews and would emphasize the principles of interfaith
brotherhood and community service. The synagogue named for brotherhood of mankind was founded by Dr. Block and a group of like-minded
associates in 1954, and for 20 years it shared joint quarters with Rev. Dr. Jesse W. Stitt and his Village Presbyterian Church on West 13th Street. The
ideal of a community of faiths was shared by Drs Block and Stitt, and they traveled together, espousing their principles, honored with awards from many civic and religious groups, and only the death of Dr. Stitt and the appointment of an unfriendly minister terminated the sharing of the sanctuaries.
After a year of "wandering in the wilderness,” in 1975 the synagogue settled into the former Friends Meeting House at 29 Gramercy Park South, NYC. Built in 1859, reputed to have served as an "underground railroad" stop in the pre-Civil War years, and landmarked under the threat of destruction for a high-rise project, it was the perfect match of the needs of a congregation and the preservationist-minded efforts of the Gramercy Park community. The
relationship was a model of an interfaith community, and the local Christian leaders (Dr. Thomas F. Pike, Rector Emeritus of Calvary/St. George's Episcopal Parish, was at the lecture, with his successor, Rev. Gregory Brewer, and Msgr. Harry Byrne of Epiphany R. C. Parish, retired in Riverdale, sent his blessings)
formed a tight-knit ecumenical group, an example for the world. In 1982, The Brotherhood was the first Manhattan synagogue to heed the call of NYC's Mayor Edward I. Koch, asking that religious institutions establish shelters for the homeless.
When Rabbi Block retired in 1994, after 41 years of rabbinical service, his retirement coincided with the 40th anniversary of the synagogue he founded. Its mission has continued, under Rabbi Alder.
# posted by Wally Dobelis @ 1:53 PM 
