If the plans follow the promises of its sponsors, the site of the next preeminent national Jewish institution will be in the historic heart of Philadelphia.
There, steps from the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall, edging a revitalized Independence Mall, the proposed National Museum of American Jewish History is to begin construction early next year for its target completion date of July 4, 2010.
Rabbi Dan Ehrenkrantz, president of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College (RRC) in Philadelphia, recently made one of his biannual visits to Southern California.
In a Philadelphia suburb, a Reform congregation has fought for more than a year to create a synagogue on a parcel of land that for many years had been the site of a Roman Catholic novitiate. An Orthodox congregation in Los Angeles has been in court for years over their use of a private house, even though their neighbors thoroughly approve of the shul. And in New Rochelle, N.Y., a modern Orthodox congregation has been stymied in what seemed like a routine move — across the street.
In most big cities in the United States, horse-and-buggy rides are offered as tourist attractions. It is therefore not shocking to find them lined up in Philadelphia, right near Constitution Hall and the Liberty Bell.
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