Vacation spots reflect, shape Jewish America

The result was a wide range of options for Jewish tourists, who often returned to the same spot year after year, said Melissa Martens, a curator at the Jewish Museum of Maryland, which organized the show.

“Some hotels might be seemingly very mainstream and might help fulfill American notions of equality and democracy and having made it, while other hotels might be a place where everybody speaks Yiddish or everybody speaks German, or there might be a synagogue on the premises or a visiting rabbi,” Martens said.

“The Catskills becomes an incubator for Jewish-American culture because it was like a Jewish Brigadoon in the mountains where people could go and be as Jewish as they wanted or they could be as American as they wanted and there would probably be a hotel that suited them perfectly.”

As air travel became less expensive and middle-class families were less dependent on destinations located within driving distance, the vacation patterns of Jewish travelers — like all American tourists — changed in the 1950s and 1960s, Martens said.

So a portion of the exhibit is dedicated to so-called “Heritage Tourism,” trips in which Jews journey to places like New York City, Europe and Israel to explore Jewish history and culture.

Martens credits the popularity of such trips to the genealogy craze ignited by the miniseries “Roots” in the 1970s and even Hollywood movies such as “Schindler’s List” and “Exodus.” Such experiences can range from a side trip to see a historic synagogue during a Paris vacation to organizing a whole itinerary around historic Jewish sites.

“Once you have the freedom to go wherever you want, you also want to be able to exercise the option of having a Jewish vacation or reconnecting with the past,” Martens said.

“The Other Promised Land” will be on view at Spertus through June 4. Beginning in July, it will be on exhibit for six months at the Jewish Museum of Maryland.

After that the show will likely appear at other museums and galleries, although none have been finalized yet. Other museums will be given the chance to localize the show, Martens said, as Spertus did with its inclusion of Jewish resorts and summer camps in Michigan, Indiana and Wisconsin.

MORE FROM ARTS, BOOKS, MORE

Arts, books, more Section Front

Blanchett stars in a fierce ‘Streetcar’ revival   Rare first Poe book could be worth $700,000 Bad Sex prize awarded to American author ‘Julie & Julia’ author takes job in butcher shop 3 generations of Wyeths to be sold in NYC Charis Wilson, photographer’s muse, dies at 95 Real ‘Alice in Wonderland’ book to fetch $150K Tim Burton — the artist — is now on display NPR’s Carl Kasell to leave ‘Morning Edition’ Arts, books, more Section Front   Add Arts, books, more headlines to your news reader: