Jewish Community
The Jewish Community in the Present and Future


Presently, religion does not appear to be a devisive factor among the "old" Greenbelt neighborhood, which is not to say problems do not exist based on religious background. Ethel Rosenzweig apprised me of the defacement of the front door of the synagogue about three years ago. But before then and after the incident, she has never gotten the impression that there is anti-semitism in the community. People did not and do not segregate themselves or exclude people on the basis of religious affiliation. Activities such as combined services of several churches and synagogues during such holidays as Thanksgiving seem to ameliorate tensions and misunderstanding (if any).

Mary Lou Williamson pointed out to me that there is usually the stereotype of an all Jewish neighborhood, which could not be the case in historic Greenbelt since there were forced religious quotas. Although there was an "artificial" mixing of people of different religious backgrounds at first, people saw each other on equal footing, since most were active participants of the various activities within the community. Just as the Greenbelt community took off, there were no "official" places for worship. Many people worked together in order to coordinate religious activities so that everyone had a space, whether it be in a school classroom or gym, to worship and hold services and activities. At Greenbelt's inception, most of these functions, among other extracurriculars, took place in the Center School, which Joanna Lin analyzes.

Lastly, during the McCarthy era, a local Jewish man named Abe Chasanow came under investigation by the government for communist activities. Some local Greenbelters were "openly hostile but most were supportive" of Abe because "'the hundreds of Catholics, Jews, Protestants and pagans knew what kind of man Abe was'" (Williamson, 155). The common bond of living in Greenbelt and being active citizens brought everyone together, regardless of religion.

Leslie Holcombe explores the many women's organizations in historic Greenbelt that did not have a religious affiliation. This made it possible for women of different backgrounds to join clubs that did not particularly relate to a specific religion but a specific activity, allowing for formation of friendships outside of religious activities.

According to Mrs. Korr, a nursery school teacher at Mishkan Torrah Nursery School on Ridge Road, more than half of her students (and their parents) attend St. Hugh's Catholic Church. She doesn't believe the school could exist without the participation of so many non-Jews. She does recall a negative incident last year in which a swastika was drawn on a building but does not know if the perpetrator was ever caught. Nonetheless, she appreciates Greenbelt's support of the Jews' religious activities. For instance, the completion of the reading of the Torah occurs on the holiday after Rosh Hashanah, called Simchat Torah. A parade begins in the synagogue and the scrolls are carried throughout the neighborhood at night. Even without the non-Jewish police escorts, she feels protected and safe marching through the community. Mrs. Korr says that this activity has taken place annually for a long time. Thus, religion does not seem to be a factor of exclusion in Greenbelt.

As far as the biblical times, the Jews were discriminated against because the majority of religious people practiced the Christian faith. When Jews were barred from certain occupations but were allowed to take up higher paying jobs such as merchants, the non-Jews became jealous of their wealth and manifested their envy and resentment through religious intolerance such as the burning of their homes and shops (World Book Encyclopedia, 1977).

Although there were some problems in the past because of religious background in Greenbelt, I do not foresee discriminatory acts occurring in the future due to the efforts of the majority of the residents to organize events that include all religions. Religious discrimination is not and was not as problematic as racial discrimination because Jews have been allowed to live in the community since Greenbelt's inception. The length of time that has passed since then has allowed citizens to gain high religious understanding of each other. Generally, most suburban neighborhoods contain Christian based institutions because Christians are the majority. Even though the Jews were a minority in Greenbelt, especially in the 1950s, many of its local inhabitants volunteered and helped build the Jewish Community Center and now, support the operation of the Center by matriculating their children at the nursery school. The general sentiment that I've gotten from the American Suburbia class is that neighborliness and mutual respect among residents is lacking in suburbia, which does not seem to be the case for Greenbelt.



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Michelle Sit
HONR 159J