Inventing Great Neck: Jewish Identity And the American Dream

220 Pages·2006·0.76 MB·English

by  Judith S. Goldstein

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Inventing Great Neck
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Inventing Great Neck
Jewish Identity and the
American Dream
Judith S. Goldstein
rutgers university press
new brunswick, new jersey, and london
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Goldstein, Judith S.
Inventing Great Neck : Jewish identity and the
American dream/ Judith S. Goldstein.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn-13: 978–0-8135-3884-6(hardcover : alk. paper)
1. Jews—New York (State)—Great Neck—History. 2. Great Neck (N.Y.)—
Ethnic relations. 3. Great Neck (N.Y.)—History. I. Title.
f129.g694g65 2006
974.7´245—dc22
2005035656
A British Cataloging-in-Publication record for this book
is available from the British Library.
Copyright © 2006by Judith S. Goldstein
All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or
by any means, electronic or mechanical, or by any information storage
and retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher.
Please contact Rutgers University Press, 100Joyce Kilmer Avenue,
Piscataway, NJ 08854–8099. The only exception to this prohibition
is “fair use” as deWned by U.S. copyright law.
Manufactured in the United States of America
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in memory of
Chassie Lee Burr
1902–1996
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Contents
acknowledgments / ix
Introduction / 1
1. On the Map / 11
2. Preparing the Ground / 43
3. War and Renewal / 77
4. The Quintessential Jewish Suburb / 111
5. The Price of Achievement / 157
Epilogue / 175
notes / 181
bibliography / 193
index / 197
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Acknowledgments
I am most grateful to so many people for aiding in the writing of this book
and sharing their histories, memories, and observations of Great Neck. I
have relied heavily upon personal interviews with numerous people who
generously gave their time to this consideration of Great Neck’s history.
Among the long list, too long to enumerate, are those who patiently and
repeatedly shared their knowledge and thoughts about Great Neck: Rabbi
Mordecai Waxman and Ruth Waxman, Rabbi Jerome K. Davidson, Hilda
Liff, Wini Freund, Roswell Eldridge, Dorothy Hicks, Jack Fields, and
Tex McCrary.
Many professionals, including the staff of the New York Society Library,
provided critical access to resources and references. In particular, I would
like to thank Risha Rosner at the Great Neck Public Library for her
knowledge and patience. My gratitude goes as well to Daniel Sokolow,
archivist at the David Taylor Archives at the North Shore Long Island
Jewish Heath Systems.
To Sue B. Mercy, Peter Schuck, Neil Flax, Ronald Spencer, Dorothy
Hicks, William Tucker, and Barbara Trimbell, who read and thought-
fully edited the manuscript, my deep thanks. Although called into ser-
vice over a period of many years, few of them expressed exasperation or
disappointment over the slow development of the manuscript or my re-
liance upon their critical abilities to help turn historical material, theories,
and even hunches into what one hopes is an illuminating exploration of
Great Neck’s past.
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