B'nai Moshe

B'nai Moshe was Newark’s first Conservative temple, established by Polish Jews in the city’s former pushcart district. By 1940, its congregation had lost ground as well-to-do families affiliated with other temples, but its rabbi, Lionel Bengelsdorf, remained a conspicuous public figure. His support for Lindbergh turned his appearance as B'nai Moshe’s rabbi into a politically charged moment for the city’s Jewish community.

Origins and Changing Neighborhood

B'nai Moshe stood a few blocks from the heart of the old pushcart ghetto, once Newark’s poorest district. By the time of Lindbergh’s 1940 campaign, the area was no longer home to the temple’s congregants; it housed an impoverished Black community made up of recent migrants from the South. The temple’s location thus preserved a link to an earlier immigrant neighborhood even as its membership and the surrounding population changed.

The congregation also faced competition for affluent Jewish families. Some left Conservative Judaism for the Reform congregations B'nai Jeshurun and Oheb Shalom, both established amid the old mansions on High Street. Others joined B'nai Abraham, the city’s other long-established Conservative temple, which had moved west to an area near the homes of Jewish doctors and lawyers. B'nai Moshe’s diminishing congregation contrasted with the influence its rabbi continued to exercise beyond its walls.

Lionel Bengelsdorf and the Temple’s Public Voice

Lionel Bengelsdorf had led B'nai Moshe for decades. By 1940, he claimed the longest record of service at his own temple of any rabbi in America, and newspapers described him as the religious leader of New Jersey Jewry. His weekly sermons reached listeners over WNJR, whom he called his radio congregation. He also wrote inspirational poetry that was routinely given to boys at their bar mitzvahs and to newlyweds.

Bengelsdorf made Americanization a central theme of his public religious work. He argued that developing American ideals was a priority for Jews and that Americanization could help preserve democracy against radical political movements. His appearances in Newark churches and schools, and before civic, cultural, and fraternal groups around New Jersey and elsewhere, gave him a public reach far beyond B'nai Moshe’s waning membership. The temple’s importance in the novel therefore rests not only on its congregation but on the prominent platform it provided to a rabbi who spoke to audiences across the country.

Lindbergh’s Visit and Political Significance

When Lindbergh landed at Newark Airport during his campaign tour, Bengelsdorf was among those waiting to welcome him. A newspaper photograph showed the rabbi at the front of the line to shake Lindbergh’s hand as he emerged from the Spirit of St. Louis. Bengelsdorf publicly offered his support for Lindbergh’s candidacy, presenting the candidate’s political aims as compatible with those of American Jews and affirming that the United States was their sole homeland.

The newspaper report of Bengelsdorf’s declaration troubled many Jews in Newark, including the Roth family. His appeal joined Jewish belonging to an emphatic declaration of American loyalty and treated his support for Lindbergh as an expression of that loyalty. The episode made B'nai Moshe a point of contact between local Jewish religious life and national electoral politics: the temple itself is not shown issuing a formal endorsement, but its rabbi’s prominence made his personal allegiance publicly consequential.