Happy Hannukah.  Sorry for the delay in the publishing of this entry.   I don't have 8 items here, but hopefully the warm feelings you'll get from reading about Old Trenton will fill the darkest days of the year (in terms of sunlight) with a little more light.

 A few weeks ago, I interviewed Bertha Ropeik, who's maiden name was Bertha Levine.   The other day, she lent me her husband Arnie's 1947 Rider College yearbook, so I could scan a few pictures in it.  She also had an old copy of the February 17, 1947 issue of Life Magazine, in which there was pictorial story about the Rider College fraternity, Phi Sigma Nu, which staged the first of what has become a Christmas Day tradition in the area.  A group of college kids decided to re-enact Washington's Crossing of the Delaware and Arnie had done the PR on it, letting the editors of Life know that it was going to happen.   At the back of that 1947 yearbook were more pictures of the crossing, which I've included here. 

 -The Shadow, 1947

In case you missed it, the biggest Trenton story of the past couple of weekw didn't have anything to do with the old jewish community, or maybe it did.   DeLorenzo's is closing their store in Trenton and the repercussions are shaking the earth all the way to San Francisco, where Tony Siegle is mourning the loss.   This arrived in my mailbox the day after the Times' story ran.

"I read in the Trenton Times that DeLorenzos on Hudson St. is closing it's door.  That is sad news indeed. I think every Jew who lived in Trenton in the 1950's on went the for "Tomato pies" and it became an institution. I think that now verifies kills the Trenton we knew and loved."

We moved to this area in 1996 and had the privilege of standing outside for about an hour before enjoying the best Tomato Pie I ever ate.   First the hotels, then the movie theaters, the synagogues and now DeLorenzo's.  Ouch.

I ran into Elaine Lavine Sunday morning at Adath Israel and started talking about her father's store in Old Tenton, Palat's Dairy.  I had my phone with me and showed her a photo of her Uncle Herman's store, Palat's Furs at 17 Cooper Street.   There is a photo of it from the 1958 tax records in the archives.  

She told me that her memories of the business was of the trappers from South Jersey coming into the store with their muskrats and having them skinned.   Their pelts were stretched out on boards and then used to make coats.  Where do the trappers take their muskrats these days?  Not to Quakerbridge Mall, I'm sure.   Another sign that the times, they are a-changing.

And as promised, here is the second installment of my interview with Robert Olinsky in Israel.  In going through some of the old pictures from the YMHA/JCC, I couldn't find a shot of Bob.  I did find a shot of his father, Joe and his twin brother Richard.  In this section Bob talks about hanging out the at YMHA and his father's cousin, Ben Olinsky, who ran the Biddy League, as well as Ben's wife, Muriel.



Again, Happy Hannukah to all.


Ed

Recent History-The Making of the Torah Covers at Adath Israel

When I started writing this blog last February, we concentrated on the neighborhood that was central to Jewish life in Trenton in the early 1900's through the 1940's.   As we've progressed, the focus has widened, both in terms of the area and the era.  While there is still much to mine in the history of the older days, there is still a vibrant Jewish community in the suburbs of Trenton.   From Yardley, to Lawrenceville, to Princeton to West Windsor to Lambertville, the Jewish families that started downtown have spread across the region.   I am a member of Adath Israel in Lawrenceville and a few years back, our congregation commissioned a new Torah and covers to adorn our existing Torahs.  I produced a video about discovering an error in one of the synagogue's older Torahs, the collection of items to put in a G'nezah, the commissioning of a new Torah form Israel and its dedication.  In October of 2008, Hedda Morton, the Director of Congregational Learning at Adath and I drove up to Woodbridge, Connecticut to visit with the artist who was selected to create the new Torah covers.   I edited the video, but the footage wound up on a hard drive that found its way to a shelf.   This morning I found that hard drive and touched up the video.   It's recent history, but I submit to our readers the story of the Torah adornments now being used at Adath Israel.

For those of you wondering what happened to the next installment of Bob Olinsky's interview, it's coming.   I've gotten a little swamped on the work side of life, so in order to keep fresh material out there, I decided to publish this entry.  There is more with Bob.  In upcoming episodes, he talks about his Aunt Sylvia Olinsky, who worked at Waldman's barbershop.  She was the manicurist and many people I've talked with have Sylvia stories.  If you have any that you'd like me to include, please give send me an e-mail and I will do my best.  Apparently, she was one of the real characters of Old Trenton, who could both take it and dish it out.   I'm also looking for pictures of Waldman's or Syliva.   If you have any, please contact me.

Thanks,

Ed