i wish i could remember the moment when i realized i wanted to write about “the old synagogue” — but it must’ve been about a year ago. “the old synagogue” is a place in my neighborhood, an abandoned shul on the corner of le moyne and talman ave. ive done minimal research on the building, but i know it’s owned by the city, it used to be a church called mt. gilead, and then before that it was an orthodox (maybe hasidic?) synagogue called “zemech zedek”. the building was built in 1892. my neighborhood, humboldt park, used to be called “the jewish ghetto” from the turn of the century through the 1940s. these are all facts i can spout out, facts with invisible realities, and the puerto rican diaspora replaced the jewish one in population, and now i am leaving all of this soon, and my three years in this apartment off le moyne street will be a part of my personal past, too.
parade / catharsis
parade / catharsis
parade / catharsis
i wish i could remember the moment when i realized i wanted to write about “the old synagogue” — but it must’ve been about a year ago. “the old synagogue” is a place in my neighborhood, an abandoned shul on the corner of le moyne and talman ave. ive done minimal research on the building, but i know it’s owned by the city, it used to be a church called mt. gilead, and then before that it was an orthodox (maybe hasidic?) synagogue called “zemech zedek”. the building was built in 1892. my neighborhood, humboldt park, used to be called “the jewish ghetto” from the turn of the century through the 1940s. these are all facts i can spout out, facts with invisible realities, and the puerto rican diaspora replaced the jewish one in population, and now i am leaving all of this soon, and my three years in this apartment off le moyne street will be a part of my personal past, too.