Guide to the Irving J. Block (1923-2002) Papers,
1944-2008 (bulk 1953-2002)

P-867

Series I: Brotherhood Synagogue, Congregation Beth Achim, 1950-2008.

Arrangement:

Arranged as seven subseries: Leadership, General, Anniversaries of Synagogue and Ordination, Individuals, Village Presbyterian Church Conflict, Printed Materials and Membership Lists.

Scope and Content:

Rabbi Block’s records of the Brotherhood Synagogue run from its inception through to his death, and include materials collected by Phyllis Block dating up to 2008. There is documentation of the Board of Trustees, Executive Committee, individual congregation members and leaders, services, programming, outreach, and the 1971-1974 conflict with the Village Presbyterian Church. Included are minutes, correspondence, bulletins, clippings, mailings, reports, interview transcripts, membership lists and memorial books.

Subseries 1: Leadership, 1953-2008.

Arrangement:

Divided into two sections, "Bound Volumes" and "General" (i.e. anything not bound), and arranged alphabetically.

Scope and Content:

Subseries 1 is comprised of materials generated by and/or for the Board of Trustees, Executive Committee, Brotherhood Council and Annual Congregational meetings. The Brotherhood Council was a joint body of the Village Presbyterian Church and Brotherhood Synagogue, made up of the Rabbi, the Reverend and five members of each congregation, and it functioned from 1954 to 1973. The Council managed the 13th Street building and developed joint congregational programming. The congregations had separate Boards. At the synagogue’s Annual Congregational meetings, officers, trustees and board advisors were elected, and by-laws and constitutions revised. The bound volumes’ contents include Board of Trustees minutes, as well as Executive Committee meeting minutes, Annual Congregational Meeting minutes, correspondence, budgets, financial statements, by-laws, the constitution, statistics for enrollment in the Religious School, reports and speeches.

Bound Volumes of Board of Trustees, Executive Committee and Annual Congregational Meeting Materials

General

Subseries 2: General, 1952-2008.

Arrangement:

Arranged alphabetically by subject, program, individual, and document type.

Scope and Content:

Subseries 2 reflects the programming, services, buildings and initiatives of the Brotherhood Synagogue. Documented here are the religious school with its SPEC and Tikvah programs for children and adults with mental disabilities; the Greenwich Mews Theatre which featured the work of African-American and Latino playwrights and actors (see also the Greenwich Mews Theatre folders in Subseries 5); Bet Kafe, a Jewish coffeehouse for young adults; a homeless shelter, the opening of which Mayor Ed Koch celebrated with the synagogue; the Biblical Garden and the Garden of Remembrance at their Gramercy Park building grounds. The synagogue’s move from 13th Street to Gramercy Park is documented in "Move" and "Dedication Ceremonies" folders. The clippings all include mentions (and often photographs) of the synagogue and/or Rabbi Block. For more clippings see Scrapbooks in Series X.

Subseries 3: Anniversaries of Synagogue and Ordination, 1958-2004.

Arrangement:

Arranged chronologically by anniversary celebration.

Scope and Content:

Even though Rabbi Block’s ordination in 1953 and the Brotherhood Synagogue’s founding in 1954 were one year apart, their anniversaries were often celebrated simultaneously. Included is correspondence with speakers, politicians, speeches, notes and Block’s reminisces. Rabbi Block retired during the 40th anniversary celebration. An exhibit was put on for the 50th anniversary of the synagogue, and both used and unused materials for that exhibit are here. Exhibited materials include photographs (separated to Series VII: Photographs), correspondence, clippings, bulletins, mailings and programs.

Subseries 4: Individuals, 1955-2008.

Arrangement:

Arranged alphabetically by surname.

Scope and Content:

Subseries 4 contains materials generated by and about individuals who were members of, performers for, lay leaders of and/or speakers at the Brotherhood Synagogue. Included also are a few friends of Rabbi Block. Documentation includes eulogies, interview transcripts, correspondence, obituaries, clippings, announcements and letters of recommendation. The interviews, some conducted for the purposes of Rabbi Block’s memoir, include reminisces of the interviewee’s experiences of the Brotherhood Synagogue. Leib (Leo) Mirkovic was the Synagogue’s Cantor from 1954 to 1974. Actress Ida Kaminska made her last professional stage appearance in a play at the Brotherhood Synagogue.

Subseries 5: Village Presbyterian Church Conflict, 1958-1975.

Arrangement:

Arranged alphabetically by document type or organizational unit.

Scope and Content:

Following Reverend Jesse W. Stitt’s retirement, Reverend William Glenesk began at the Village Presbyterian Church in September 1971. During the next two years tensions and disagreements developed between Reverend Glenesk, Rabbi Block and their respective boards regarding charges of anti-Semitism against Glenesk, the usage of shared space, conflicting missions, Greenwich Mews Theatre productions and Glenesk’s welcoming of gay activist groups. The tensions peaked during the Yom Kippur War when Block placed the following statement on the building’s public sign: “May there be victory and peace for Israel.” Glenesk’s response in the Village Presbyterian Church’s weekly bulletin was an apology to “our friends, Arab, non-Zionist Jews and all who are offended by the arrogant, self-righteous sign posted outside our sanctuary by the synagogue.” The explosion of tensions set into motion local media fervor. The Brotherhood Synagogue moved out of the building in April 1974. This subseries consists of correspondence, minutes, clippings and notes related to the conflict and eventual break between the two congregations and their leaders.

Subseries 6: Printed Materials, 1954-2006.

Arrangement:

Arranged first by type of printed material and next by year.

Scope and Content:

“Bulletins” begin as two-page pamphlets, and their format was expanded in December 1977 to a final product more along the lines of a 4-plus page newsletter. The early years are only inconsistently and partly represented; starting in 1964, the runs are most consistently represented. The bulletins include weekly Yahrzeits, event announcements, scriptures for services, member news and condolences.

“Mailings and General Printed Materials” includes service attendance cards, invitations to services and events, programs, brochures, prayers, reprinted articles, flyers, press releases, reprinted remarks of Rabbi Block’s, annual holiday greeting cards from the Block family to the congregation, and fundraising mailings. These materials were disseminated to members and nonmembers. The Covenant of Brotherhood developed by the Brotherhood Synagogue and the Village Presbyterian Church can be found in the early folders here.

“Memorial Books” were distributed annually by the Brotherhood Synagogue at Yizkor services on Yom Kippur. Rabbi Block wrote an introductory text for each book.

Bulletins

Mailings and General Printed Materials

Souvenir Journals

Memorial Books

Subseries 7: Membership Lists, 1950-2000.

Arrangement:

Arranged alphabetically.

Scope and Content:

Contact and occupational information for members of the Brotherhood Synagogue from its earliest beginnings through 2000.

Series II: Sermons, Remarks, Radio Broadcasts and Notes, 1951-2002.

Arrangement:

This series is divided into two sections: “General” and “WHN Radio Broadcasts.” “General” is arranged alphabetically by type of speaking engagement or format. “WHN Radio Broadcasts” is arranged alphabetically by sermon title.

Scope and Content:

The “General” section of this series consists of sermons Rabbi Block gave to his congregation, as well as remarks and prayers given at dinners and events for various organizations, and notes (which seem to largely be for sermons or remarks) that are occasionally not entirely legible. His sermons touched on the full spectrum of his interests and causes and often returned to his congregation’s founding principle of brotherhood. His Rosh Hashanah morning sermons were often devoted to the subject of Israel. Many of Rabbi Block’s sermons and remarks are also filed by subject or organization in Series IV. In addition to “Eulogies” folders, more eulogies are mixed in with “Sermons, Prayers and Remarks” and are attached to correspondence in Series III. The “Radio Sermonettes” delivered between 1979 and 1980 were few-minute-long religious commentaries about select country songs for the former New York 1050 AM country radio station, WHN.

“WHN Radio Broadcasts” cover the period between 1982 and 1986 when Rabbi Block, as a regular representative of and through the New York Board of Rabbi’s Department of Broadcasting, gave a one-hour radio show on WHN that aired early Sunday mornings. These shows included discussions, songs and trivia, and they featured many guests: rabbis, Christian clergy, editors of Jewish Week, public officials, and leaders of organizations such as Hadassah, National Conference of Christians and Jews and the Sephardic House. Materials include Block’s notes for each broadcast, as well as reference materials, correspondence with guests and on-the-air announcements.

Sermons and remarks are also throughout Series IV, under their relevant subjects and organizations.

General

WHN Radio Broadcasts

Series III: Correspondence, 1950-2004.

Arrangement:

Arranged chronologically.

Scope and Content:

The bulk of correspondence in this series was received by Rabbi Block and/or the Brotherhood Synagogue. Often letters are also addressed to his wife Phyllis Block. There is some outgoing correspondence as well, especially in the later years.

Correspondence is largely with congregation members (especially thank you notes for eulogies, marriages and bar/bat mitzvahs the rabbi performed), board members, religious leaders and politicians. Correspondence from the White House includes a 1998 happy birthday letter from President Bill Clinton, a 1978 invitation from the Carter administration to attend a reception with Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, and a 1984 invite from the Reagan administration to come and discuss issues of interest to Block. There is a photocopy of a 1969 thank you letter from Otto Frank to Rabbi Block in Box 36, Folder 19.

Following his retirement, he wrote a significantly increased number of condolence letters, to which he stapled eulogies, notes for eulogies, obituaries and memorial bulletins. On occasion, copies of the deceased’s will are also attached, when money was left to the synagogue.

Extensive and notable correspondence can also be found in Series I, Subseries 3, 4 and 5; Series IV; and Series V.

Series IV: Subjects and Organizations, 1944-2008.

Arrangement:

Arranged alphabetically by subject or organization.

Scope and Content:

Series IV encompasses the breadth of Rabbi Block’s activities and interests, a portion of which were not directly connected to the Brotherhood Synagogue. Topics covered include interfaith and interracial relations, access and services for the physically and mentally disabled, substance abuse in the Jewish community, Ethiopian Jewry, African-American Jews and Israel. The series contains correspondence, clippings, sermons, remarks, notes, minutes, reports, mailings and newsletters. Many of the clippings and newsletters mention and/or feature photos of Block.

There are substantial overlaps between the subjects and organizations. For example, the researcher interested in Block’s work on interfaith relations should look to “Interfaith Marriage,” “Interfaith Relations” and “New York Board of Rabbis -- Interfaith Committee.” Together the interfaith relations dealt with are mostly those between Jews and Catholics, Episcopalians and Protestants, but there is also a small amount of material on Muslim-Jewish relations. Materials in “Black-Jewish Relations” and “New York Board of Rabbis -- Interfaith Committee” files frequently overlap. The Interfaith Committee, on which Block served, responded to the Crown Heights affair, the Rodney King case and the torching of Southern black churches in 1995-1996; the committee also worked in tandem with the New York African-American City-Wide Clergy Council and sponsored a pre-Thanksgiving luncheon with Jesse Jackson in 1992.

Series V: Memoir, 1948-2006.

Arrangement:

Arranged according to material type.

Scope and Content:

All materials in this series were generated or collected in connection with the writing and publication of Rabbi Block’s memoir, A Rabbi and His Dream: Building the Brotherhood Synagogue, published in 1998. There are full and partial drafts, source materials, correspondence and notes.

Subseries 1: Drafts, 1995-1998.

Arrangement:

Full drafts are arranged with the most final draft first, next to final draft last. Chapter drafts are earlier drafts than the full drafts, are in various stages of completion and arranged by chapter.

Scope and Content:

These full and partial memoir drafts touch on a wide variety of his life events and all issues of importance to Rabbi Block.

Full Drafts

Chapter Drafts

Subseries 2: Source Materials, 1948-1998.

Arrangement:

Arranged by chapter.

Scope and Content:

Rabbi Block collected and used extensive source materials for each chapter. They include transcripts of Block’s dictations and interviews, notes, clippings, correspondence, minutes, sermons, newsletters, speeches, publicity materials, interviews, mailings from organizations relevant to the chapters, and bulletins from church and synagogue services. The earliest letter written by Block in the entire collection is here, a 1948 letter to his parents from Jerusalem, in Box 72, Folder 2. There is correspondence from the religious community reacting to the split between Brotherhood Synagogue and the Village Presbyterian Church.

Subseries 3: Correspondence and Notes, 1975-2006.

Arrangement:

Arranged alphabetically by subject or format.

Scope and Content:

Includes correspondence received and sent by the Blocks related to the memoir and book party, as well as his miscellaneous notes.

Series VI: Personal, 1946-2007.

Arrangement:

Arranged alphabetically by subject.

Scope and Content:

This series contains awards received by Block, biographical sketches about Block, and materials related to his retirement, his marriage and death. “Retirement – Correspondence and Remarks,” Box 80, Folder 10 includes letters of congratulation from New York Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan and President Bill Clinton and remarks by New York City Mayor David Dinkins.

Series VII: Photographs, 1956-2004.

Arrangement:

Arranged alphabetically.

Scope and Content:

The photographs have been pulled from across the series and moved to the AJHS Photography Collection. They mirror the full scope of the Block Papers, visually documenting a wide array of synagogue events and outreach, including professional photographs of a 1965 racially integrated service at the Brotherhood Synagogue.

Many photographs seem to have been taken by Rabbi or Phyllis Block, or given to the Blocks by Sol Rubin and David Levine. Some photographs were taken by professional photographers for media purposes. It has been noted in brackets when something beyond prints (negatives, slides or contact sheets) or instead of prints is in the folder.

Series VIII: Audiovisual Materials, 1971-1991.

Arrangement:

Arranged alphabetically.

Scope and Content:

Recordings of sermons, remarks and meetings. There are transcripts of some recordings, which is noted with respective items.

Series IX: Personal Artifacts, 1962-1993.

Scope and Content:

Personal artifacts include “Save Ethiopian Jewry” pin, a Dinkins mayoral election pin in Hebrew, a Brotherhood Synagogue pen, 369 Veterans Association patch, and an “Ot Aleh Award,” a Decoration of State Warriors pin presented to Block by the State of Israel for his service in Haganah 1947-1948. Phyllis Block’s enclosed notes about the objects help to contextualize them.

Series X: Oversized Materials, 1953-1986.

Scope and Content:

The scrapbooks and Synagogue posters will likely be of most interest to researchers.