Michal Jacobs
ENG 2150, Dr. Blankenship
May 16, 2016
Project 3: Remix
Dear Dr. Blankenship and Writer’s Group,
The title for my project is “A Traditional Life.” In order to convey my family’s long-standing religious, Jewish traditions, I chose to present a shadow box as my project remix for this assignment. A shadow box affords the opportunity to create a concrete keepsake for my family. The primary audience I am considering in presenting the Project 2 paper are my ancestors. I take pride in the multi-generational commitment to Jewish tradition that pervades my family’s culture and identity. I know that my ancestors would be proud of their descendants’ maintenance of these traditions. Creating a physical keepsake in the form of a shadow box is a means of making a permanent dedication to my family’s story of immigration to the United States. This shadow box demonstrates how my family built new lives in America founded on deep-seeded Jewish customs and commitments, while simultaneously synthesizing American culture into their lives. In addition, this shadow box can be passed down within my family and serve as a reminder of important family values and heirlooms. Finally, creating a shadow box is a creative and interesting way of proving my rhetorical argument.
My thesis is “The root of my Jewish identity is neither accidental nor self-procured. I am the product of carefully calculated actions taken by my ancestors to ensure Jewish progenies and the continuity of a family with strong Jewish culture. My identity as an American Jew is the result of familial and multi-generational creation of, participation in, and devotion to a microcosmic Jewish society amidst, and sometimes in spite of, the American melting pot that has surrounded us since the turn of the 20th century.” I support my thesis by providing a historical background in my family’s involvement with different religious practices and communal organizations, which explains how through the generations my family has maintained close religious and cultural ties to the Jewish community in America. Affiliation and participation in these micro cultural groups provided a means of “sticking together” in a strange land, a near recreation of a Jewish ‘shtetl,’ a small Jewish town or village, in early 20th century New York City.
The shadow box I created contains trinkets and symbols of my Jewish traditions. It is organized in chronological order and includes important dates, life events and heirlooms that represent my family’s arrival and development in this country.
The hardest part of this project was gathering the materials I felt were important to use in the shadow box. Specifically, which items would best support my argument.
A Traditional Life
My traditional American life began in 1903, when my great-great-great grandparents immigrated from Eastern Europe with their children to escape virulent anti-Semitism, specifically associated with the infamous Kishinev pogrom. Upon their arrival at the shores of New York they faced challenges of a strange culture. They spoke Yiddish as a first-language and needed sponsorship to be allowed to leave Ellis-Island, where they had docked from Europe. One unique challenge they encountered was finding work that would not contradict with the religious Sabbath on Saturdays. New York City was home to Jewish religious institutions, synagogues, and schools needed to raise their families and join a community (Top left picture of shadowbox), and therefore, they opted to remain there.
My ancestors sought out other Jewish families and lived in mini Jewish enclaves in Brooklyn, an attempt at recreating the shtetl they had left in Russia. Although they had persecution and fear of death in Eastern Europe, life in the Brooklyn ‘shtetl’ was also not easy. Conditions were not optimal, and they were often the targets of anti-Semitic offenses.
Over time, many Jewish community members, including my ancestors, worked to to overcome poverty through a strong emphasis on education as well as keen business acumen in industries such as garments and banking. Many were able to raise themselves to higher-socioeconomic levels that included such occupations as doctors, lawyers, educators and businesspeople.
My great great grandparents were both active in their communities and in fact knew each other in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn because they were members of the same synagogue (Top right picture of shadow box and second row left picture). They instilled in their children, their love for Judaism and political affirmation for the state of Israel, which was established in 1948. The picture in the center of the shadow box is a family photo of my great grandparents, Nick and Sadie Mirwis, with my grandmother, Elaine Mirwis Jacobs, and her siblings, Alan and Arthur Mirwis, on the day of Israel’s establishment in May 1948. My grandmother Elaine’s family represented the typical American-Jewish family that participated in all American activities, which is clearly scene in my Great Uncle Alan’s boy scout uniform he is wearing in that same picture. My great uncle wearing his boy scout outfit on the same day of Israel’s establishment is an indication that although my family are European immigrants, they still adapted to their new surroundings and became fully immersed in American culture, while keeping their traditional Jewish observances.
The couple in the middle on the far right, are my grandparents who are alive and well today. They were married under a Jewish canopy, called a ‘chuppah’ in November 1958, in Brooklyn, New York. A ‘chupah’ represents a Jewish home, which the newly married couple are supposed to create for themselves and be blessed to raise a family that will do the same. My grandfather’s favorite line at every family wedding is “Peru U’revu Umalu et Ha’aretz” meaning “Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the land.” My family took that blessing to heart. Each of my grandparent’s four children, have six of their own children, and those 24 grandchildren, have gone on to birth 12 great grandchildren with many more to come. It is noteworthy to mention, that half of the grandchildren, and one great grandchild to date, are living in Israel. The bottom center picture is at my sister’s wedding in 2012. Not only does her wedding picture show her too standing under the same canopy, to that of my grandparent’s in 1958, but she has only gone on to achieve my grandfather’s favorite wedding statement to bear many children, where in the past 4 years since her wedding, she has had 3 children so far. This bottom picture best symbolizes my family’s balance as American Jews.
Surrounding each picture on my shadow box I added in some other symbols that always have represented my family’s Jewish identity. Some of these include: a Siddur, known as the Jewish prayer book, which we use three times daily, a washing cup, which is used before eating any bread or in synagogue to purify ourselves, the Torah, the bible, and a “Dreidel”, which symbolizes the miracle of Hanukkah.
The Jewish population in American today is growing and successful, due to people such as my grandparents who have helped it become this way by donating, and running many Jewish institutions. Both of my paternal and maternal great grandparents were Presidents of their synagogues, and took on great leadership roles, which is where my family learned to follow in their footsteps and better the communities in which we surround ourselves. Our genes are strong in the sense that we are have a desire to better our family, communities, and the Jewish people, and it is because of those that have taught us in these unselfish ways.