Full Friday evening Sabbath service with sermon by Rabbi Robert W Shapiro: “Viewing Ourselves; Remember Me to God”, December 6, 1957. Wyner Archives of Temple Israel of Boston.

TI-AV_90100-003

Item Information

Title:
Full Friday evening Sabbath service with sermon by Rabbi Robert W Shapiro: “Viewing Ourselves; Remember Me to God”, December 6, 1957. Wyner Archives of Temple Israel of Boston.
Description:
Full Friday evening Sabbath service at Temple Israel, in which assistant Rabbi Robert W. Shapiro uses a recent novel, Myron Kaufman’s Remember Me to God (1957), to discuss self-hatred. Shapiro notes that this “B-rate book,” in which Richard Amsterdam, a Harvard student, experiences anguish as he tries to shed his cultural identity, has made a stir because Jews are uneasy reading about tension in a Jew who hates himself. Shapiro, referencing Kurt Lewin’s study of self-hatred at MIT, states that marginal people in minority groups who try to be accepted in a majority group may place blame on themselves and turn their aggression inward. Citing an Erich Fromm lecture at Hebrew Union College, he argues that a sense of belonging is the first preventive against self-hate; children need positive reinforcement, and to feel like part of something; the second preventive is education for children and adults. These steps will prepare us for a positive Jewish life. Choral music performed by the Temple Israel Choir, Herbert Fromm, conductor.
Speaker:
Gittelsohn, Roland Bertram, 1910-1995
Speaker:
Shapiro, Robert W., 1928-1999
Musical director:
Fromm, Herbert
Composer:
Fromm, Herbert
Creator:
Congregation Adath Israel (Boston, Mass.)
Date:
December 6, 1957
Format:
Audio recordings (nonmusical)
Location:
Temple Israel of Boston
Wyner Archives
Collection (local):
Past Voices, Audio Recordings, 1934-1979
Subjects:
Reform Judaism--United States
Jewish sermons--United States
Synagogue music--Sabbath services--United States
Jews--Identity
Self-hate (Psychology)
Fromm, Erich, 1900-1980
Lewin, Kurt, 1890-1947
Kaufmann, Myron S., 1921-
Places:
Massachusetts > Suffolk (county) > Boston
Extent:
1/4" open reel tape (1 hour, 28 min., 07 sec.)
Permalink:
https://ark.digitalcommonwealth.org/ark:/50959/zs261022s
Terms of Use:
No known copyright restrictions.
This work is licensed for use under a Creative Commons Attribution No Derivatives License (CC BY-ND).
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Language:
English
Hebrew
Preferred Citation:
Full Friday evening Sabbath service with sermon by Rabbi Robert W Shapiro: “Viewing Ourselves; Remember Me to God”, December 6, 1957. Audiovisual Collection, Audiovisual Collection, Wyner Archives of Temple Israel of Boston.
Notes (funding):
This project was supported by a Recordings at Risk grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR). The grant program is made possible by funding from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
Notes (historical):
Rabbi Roland B. Gittelsohn (1910-1995), social justice activist, Zionist, and writer, was Senior Rabbi of Temple Israel from 1953-1977 and Rabbi Emeritus thereafter. He served as founding rabbi of Central Synagogue in Rockville Center, NY from 1936-1953. During WWII, he became the first Jewish Marine Corps chaplain, and, in 1945, he delivered a moving, oft-quoted eulogy on brotherhood at Iwo Jima. After his retirement he was a co-founder of ARZA (the Association of Reform Zionists).
Rabbi Robert W. Shapiro (1928-1999) was Assistant Rabbi at Temple Israel from 1957-1960. He served as the rabbi at Temple Emanu-El of Marblehead, MA (1962-1992), focusing on pastoral work, outreach, and interfaith activities.
Herbert Fromm (1905-1995), Temple Israel’s organist and Music Director (1941-1973), was a German-born conductor and composer forced to leave Germany in 1937. A prolific composer of religious music, much of which became part of the standard synagogue repertoire, and secular works, he also published many articles and essays and several books.
Identifier:
TI-AV_90100.003