Photoessay #2897 - Was California different?

Some months ago, I was shocked to read that, in the American 1950s and 1960s, that Conservative Jewry was the most successful affiliation for suburbanites.  My professor at the time confirmed it.  So what's the deal?  That's not what I witnessed in suburban Sacramento at all.  Could everybody else be wrong?  What I saw in Sacramento was Reform.  Was there something different in California?

I have a whole pile of books.

Maybe there WAS something different going on in California.  I found this old picture of B'nai Israel.  Maybe from a scrapbook.  We came on the scene in 1957 when the building was quite new.  But this photo evokes a late 1950s feel.  Can't quite figure out where it came from.

Maybe it was unusual because this congregation was not in the suburbs where my family lived.  It was 'across town'.  Interesting that the area where I grew up, still is residential but more upscale.  In the 1950s, a young engineer could afford such a house and raise a family.  But the "north area" as it was called is now in the southern half of the map of Sacramento.  So it wasn't nearby.  It was the only place in town as far as I knew.  Yes, there was some small shul which affiliated Conservative but it was in the city somewhere and I never knew anybody from there.  Reform B'nai Israel was south of city core, across from one edge of Land Park.  I wouldn't call it suburban.

My professor this quarter did a little piece on Jewish immigration.  Unfortunately this quarter, the other access student and myself are not allowed to speak except sometimes.  One point that he did make was that the two migration theory (The German Jews 1840-1880, then the East Europeans 1880-1920) was under criticism and review.  There are 5 undergraduates and they say thoughtful things but it's clear that they really don't have much information or know much.  The professor insists (and I can see his point) that if we really know more than the undergraduates and if we take the floor then the undergraduates won't speak and his emphasis is on them.

One thing about California, as far as I knew, there was no distinction made between German Jews and East European Jews.  Mainly because there weren't many grandparents or older member family members around.  The only reason that I knew about it at all and that was after high school was that I worked on a family history even then.  My mother talked about the High German Jews.

But nationwide, I think it did make a difference.  Now, many like me, have ancestors from both migrations.  The Germans founded Reform congregations.  The East Europeans didn't like Reform, they wanted something more traditional, even the children of the immigrants.  There were approximately 8 times more East European immigrants than German immigrants.  So the Conservative movement, invented in America, grew up to fill that need.

It's crazy to have lived during an epoch and seen things that seemed completely normal and establishment and find out later that really it wasn't like you thought.  At least in different areas.

Stay tuned on this one.