Echoes from a Ghost Minyan

Infobox Film
name = Echoes from a Ghost Minyan


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director = Jo Van Blunk and Gustave Rosario
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released = 1998
runtime = 47 min.
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language = English
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imdb_id = http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0303949/

"Echoes from a Ghost Minyan" is a Jo Van Blunk's debut documentary about the once vibrant but now dwindling Jewish community of South Philidelphia.

ummary

The Jewish community of South Philadelphia once competed in size with New York City’s Lower East Side. But as the twentieth century progressed, more and more children of Jewish immigrants moved away in search of prosperity, leaving behind the charming blue-collar neighborhood of their youth. The film collects photographs and old timer’s memories to reconstruct a history that risks being forgotten in time.

Writer/ director Joseph Van Blunk has spent his whole life in South Philly. Having grown up a Catholic in a heavily-populated Jewish neighborhood, Van Blunk still remembers having been fascination by his religious neighbors who gave him pocket change for turning off their lights on the Sabbath.

The film digs up little-know Jewish history and exposes a somewhat seedy past. It turns out that members of the Jewish mob set up homes in South Philly and ran a successful gambling venture. Max Hoff (a.k.a. Boo Boo) might have looked like a scrawny guy, but his reputation made him an intimidating bootlegger and fight promoter.

The film relies heavily on personal accounts. For example, Famous Deli sits on a corner in South Philadelphia as the only surviving deli that was started as a chain of five delis run by five brothers. The son of the owner of Famous explains that when his father came to America he was, “so excited to see the streets paved with gold that he literally got hit by a truck on the dock in New York.” Soon after the young immigrant joined his brothers in Philadelphia, where they ran a successful joint business.

But only one son took over his father's business. He has to work seven days a week from 6am to 6pm each day to keep the business running; it's hard work and not something he'd recommend. The other delis all closed as the brothers retired and their children moved on.

Initially it seems sad that the Jewish population has dwindled, but, as the documentary points out, one group's absence created an opportunity for another group. The cycle of immigration continues today, as many of the little shops and delis that were once run by Jews have been taken over by Vietnamese owners.

Filmmaker

Joseph van Blunk had always dreamed of making films, but got a job working as a longshoreman in Philly as his father had wanted. In making "Echoes from a Ghost Minyan" he decided it was finally time to follow his dream and temperarily left his physically demanding job to do something more creative.

Awards

"Echoes from a Ghost Minyan" won best documentary at the Philadelphia FirstGlance Film Festival.

Resources

* [http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17543119/ MSNBC arcible]
* [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0303949/ IMDB page]

ee Also

Other similar Jewish documentaries:

*A Home on the Range
*Pushcarts and Plantations
*Island of Roses

External links

* [http://www.nationalfilmnetwork.com/store/ProductDetails.aspx?ProductID=82 Film's website]
* [http://www.tjctv.com The Jewish Channel]