About the Project
Chair: Michael Several
Contact Information
To contact the Project Chair, please consult your Temple Directory, or call the Temple Office.
Phone:
(626) 798‑1161
Facsimile:
(626) 798‑8410
Address:
1434 North Altadena Drive
Pasadena, CA 91107-1433
The PJTC Eugene Fingerhut Memorial History Project is looking for photos of activities around our swimming pool. Many people the late Gene Fingerhut interviewed commented about the socializing around the pool. These photos would be useful because they capture a time when it was not unusual for a temple to have such facilities. According to Hal Barron, we were one of many congregations of that era that was “a Shul with a pool.”
Eugene Fingerhut Memorial History Project
The Eugene Fingerhut Memorial History Project has completed transcribing all the tapes of the oral history interviews Gene conducted with congregants. Beginning in 1980 and continuing until shortly before he died, Gene interviewed thirty-four people who together provide a picture of the history of the Jewish community in Pasadena from the first decades of the twentieth century through the rabbinate of Rabbi Galpert. As part of the transcription process, Marty Levine digitized the tapes, and copies of the interviews are now on CDs.
A new series of interviews has begun, with Elizabeth Short conducting an extensive interview with Ilona Fuchs, Carolyn Siegal conducting a thorough interview with Sue Galpert and Hazzan Sofer doing an informative interview with Anne Cheslow. These interviews have been transcribed and CDs are available. In October, interviews of Cantor Michael Breen, Barry Segal, and Lou and Sylvia Schleimer were conducted, with additional interviews planned during the next 12 months. The new series of interviews will build on the ones that Gene conducted beginning in 2000 by focusing on the history of the congregation and the Jewish community in the Pasadena area from the beginning of World War II through the years Maurice Galpert was PJTC’s rabbi.
One of the goals of the History Project is to collect documents pertaining to the history of PJTC. Prior to leaving for the east, Ilona Fuchs turned over material relating to the activities of her late husband, Morton, as a gabbai, and her own activities as a teacher of fashion design at PJTC, Pasadena City College, and other venues. The History Project also obtained fliers and other documents from Hazzan Sofer relating to the cantorial concerts and other performances she has organized at PJTC.
Andy Schwarz, Elizabeth Short, and Michael Several brought a selection of PJTC documents to the Artifacts Day at the Autry Center in June to be photographed as part of a process of inventorying material that the Autry may include in an exhibit on the Jews in Los Angeles that is scheduled for 2010.
The PJTC board, at the suggestion of the History Committee, will have an inventory and appraisal made of PJTC’s ceremonial objects.
