FROM ISTANBUL TO CINCINNATI; PART ii, LIFE IN CINCINNATI AND AT THE COLLEGE

 Rabbi Rifat Sonsino, Ph.D

 In the 60’s, Cincinnati was a quiet mid-western city with a beautiful downtown. Shillito’s department store was located in the center of town, with Skyline Chili, a famous eatery, in one of the side streets. Trolley buses connected to overhead cables ran through Vine Street. In the summer, it was usually hot and humid, and in the winter, it got pretty cold. The city had a major University, the University of Cincinnati, a wonderful Symphony Orchestra, and an established Jewish community of mostly German Jews. At one point it was considered one of the hubs of Reform Judaism. That is one of the main reasons why Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise established the Hebrew Union College (called simply, ‘the College” or, HUC, for short) in this city in 1875.

Cincinnati had two large Reform congregations, Isaac Mayer Wise Temple (with Rabbis Samuel Wohl and Albert Goldman), Rockdale Temple (with Rabbis Victor Reichert and Murray Blackman), and a medium size congregation, called Temple Sholom (with Rabbi Stanley Brav). (Now there is The Valley Temple too). There were also a few conservative and Orthodox congregations.

            Late Aug. 1961: When I got out of the train in Cincinnati, two rabbinic students, who became good friends of mine, met me at the station: Richard Levy (future president of the Central Conference of American Rabbis, the CCAR) and Sandy Ragins (who chaired the CCAR’s Ethics committee for many years). They drove me to the HUC campus, located at 3101 Clifton Avenue, down the street from the University of Cincinnati. There I was ushered into the dormitory located in the Main building, on the third floor, facing Clifton Ave. The room was meant for two students, but I occupied it alone for a year. 

LIFE AT THE COLLEGE 

In the 60’s the Hebrew Union College-the Jewish Institute of Religion had three campuses: Cincinnati (1875), New York (1922), and Los Angeles (1954). In 1963 the Jerusalem campus was added.

During my stay at the College in Cincinnati the overwhelming majority of the students lived in the “Sisterhood dormitory.” Only few, mostly upper classmen, were married, and lived off-campus. Each of us had a single room, and used a communal bathroom for showers. We hardly had any privacy.  But that is how we got to know each other really well. At the time, there were no female students at the HUC. Also, women were not allowed in the dorm during the week.  So, when a student invited a girlfriend or a date to his room, he had to shout, “Woman on the floor!” Often, we opened our doors to see what she looked like.

Looking back, I now realize that we lived in luxury. We ate all our meals together in the dining room, except for Sunday nights when we went out to get a bite either at the “Busy Bee,” located at the “Short Corner” down Clifton Avenue or at one of the fast food restaurants found at the “Long Corner,” up Clifton Avenue, close to the University of Cincinnati. Once in a while I ate at the cafeteria of the Hospital next to the HUC. But in our College dining room we were served royally by waiters wearing white gloves. Larry was in charge of the dining room. If one of us got up to get salt or pepper, he would scold us saying, “All you have to do is ask, but don’t get up.” Our laundry was done, our beds were made, and our rooms cleaned. We had a gym, but no pool.

We also had a House Mother- Hattie Schiff. She was a matronly lady, who acted as a mother-substitute for many of us. We shared personal problems with her, and vice versa. When she went on a diet, our meals were also affected. Some people, like Howard Bogot and Arthur Bielfeld, always sat at her table. I preferred to sit with my classmates or hall-mates.

I adjusted to American life rather quickly. I liked my friends at the College, enjoyed the routine at school, and was fascinated by the spirit of freedom in the country, especially the freedom to declare myself Jewish without any reservation and without having to look over my shoulder (like I did back in Turkey). The HUC promoted critical study, fellowship and inquisitiveness. Topics were treated from a rational point of view. There was little talk about “spirituality” or “inwardness.” We did not study Kabbalah and mysticism. Reform Judaism, we were told, reigned supreme, and represented the future of Judaism. The concept of k’lal yisrael [“The Community of the Jewish People”] was not part of our daily language. “Social action” was. Most of us either grew up in Reform Jewish homes or, like me, came to Reform by rejecting Orthodoxy. In my case, if it had not been for Reform, I doubt that I would have remained a practicing Jew. So, I was very grateful for the liberalism of the HUC. Being trained as a lawyer, I liked the critical approach to issues. I was also eager to seek individual authenticity by searching for options within the Jewish continuum. Reform gave me that opportunity. It was only later that I realized that Reform Judaism had not paid sufficient attention to the needs of the spirit, and, in fact, had ignored the sense of duty that all Jews should have towards their community and tradition. How to balance autonomy and obligation still remains a constant challenge for modern Reform Judaism.

At the College in those days, “ritual” was not a positive term. We dealt with ideas and concepts, and rarely stressed the daily discipline of Jews. As far as I can remember none of my classmates at the College kept Kosher, wore a tallit or kippah (a round head covering) or put on tefillin (phylacteries) . The dining room was not Kosher, but no pork products or shellfish was served. Even though I came from an Orthodox home in Turkey, I quickly adjusted to the College life, and dropped my kippah, tallit and tefillin. However, I had a hard time relating to what people called “traditional Jewish food.” To me it tasted “foreign.” I had never seen gefilte fish, matzah ball soup or lox and bagels before. At my first Passover Seder in Cincinnati, I did not recognize any of the foods as “traditional.” However, I learned fast and developed a new taste for them.

We started classes in September 1961 with 27 people, out of about 120 students in the seminary. Among my classmates, I became closer to Ken Roseman, Phil Berkowitz, Sion David (from India), Sol Greenberg, Peter Kasdan, Joe Melamed (from Israel), Hank Zoob, Bob Scott (from England), Merle Singer and Ian Wolk (who later on was expelled from the rabbinate on moral charges). I also kept my friendship with Alan Bregman (z’’l), who at the time was an undergraduate at the University of Cincinnati but took some courses at the HUC. I had come to Cincinnati with a pretty good Jewish and Hebrew background, so studies were not so difficult for me, but I had to work on my English.