Content area
Full Text
An Aging Synagogue Propels a Philanthropist on a Quest for Identity: With a $1 Million City Grant, Project at Eldridge Street Shul Sparks a Battle Over Church-State Separation
By LISA KEYS
For years, Roberta Brandes Gratz, the product of an "over-assimilated" family, grew up with barely a semblance of Jewish identity. Coming of age in Greenwich Village, Ms. Gratz had virtually no connection to the vibrant Jewish history of the Lower East Side, a mere 15-minute walk away.
But one of her life's defining moments came in 1986 when her friend, attorney Bill Josephson, brought her to the derelict Eldridge Street Synagogue near Canal Street. Mr. Josephson had discovered the synagogue by chance, Ms. Gratz recalled, and he asked her to "come help determine if it was worth the rest of our lives saving it."
It was. A well-known urban critic, Ms. Gratz already had an appreciation for historic sites and an intricate understanding of civic landmarking. But as she toiled to rejuvenate the synagogue, she also discovered a renewed sense of Jewish identity. "I walked into this building and felt connected to something I hadn't been connected to," she remembered. "This place added such a wonderful dimension of depth and attachment to the many threads of my life."
Ms. Gratz founded the Eldridge Street Project -- a non-sectarian, not-for-profit organization -- in 1986 in order to...