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wonders of america
As the days get shorter and Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights, draws nearer, I've been thinking about illumination or, more precisely still, about electricity and its relationship to religious ritual. At first blush, electricity and religion made for unlikely companions: One, after all, was bound up with the laboratory and the process of experimentation; the other was bound up with the home and the synagogue and the elements of faith. One had to do with technology, the other with tradition.
And yet, a more sustained look at American Jewry's material culture suggests that perhaps there's more here than meets the eye. Consider synagogue architecture of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, for instance. Many newly built houses of worship made a point of integrating electricity, then a brand-new technology, into their surroundings. In part, this was a practical measure. Far cleaner and certainly less noisome than gas lighting, electrical lighting brightened the sanctuary, allowing its stained glass windows to shine and its congregants to breathe more freely. The light bulb provided clarity, too. Much as the introduction of electric lights into the home made possible a culture of reading, enabling would-be readers to cozy...