A Rich Brew: How Cafes Created Modern Jewish Culture

383 Pages·2018·70.039 MB·English

by  Shachar M. Pinsker

A Rich Brew

A Rich Brew
How Cafés Created Modern Jewish Culture
Shachar M. Pinsker
NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS
New York
NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS
New York
www.nyupress.org
© 2018 by New York University
All rights reserved
References to Internet websites (URLs) were accurate at the time of writing. Neither the
author nor New York University Press is responsible for URLs that may have expired or
changed since the manuscript was prepared.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Pinsker, Shachar, author.
Title: A Rich brew : how cafés created modern Jewish culture / Shachar M. Pinsker.
Description: New York : New York University Press, [2018] | Includes bibliographical
references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017034136 | ISBN 9781479827893 (cl : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Jews—Social life and customs—19th century. | Jews—Social life and
customs—20th century. | Jews—Intellectual life—19th century. | Jews—Intellectual
life—20th century. | Coffeehouses—Social aspects.
Classification: LCC DS112 .P64 2018 | DDC 305.892/4—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017034136
New York University Press books are printed on acid- free paper, and their binding materials
are chosen for strength and durability. We strive to use environmentally responsible suppli-
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Also available as an ebook
This book is dedicated to my wife, Amanda Fisher,
and to my dear friend David Ehrlich.

Contents
A Note on Transliteration and Translation ix
Introduction: The Silk Road of Modern Jewish Creativity 1
1. Odessa: Jewish Sages, Luftmenshen, Gangsters, and the
Odessit in the Café 17
2. Warsaw: Between Kotik’s Café and the Ziemiańska 55
3. Vienna: The “Matzo Island” and the Functioning Myths
of the Viennese Café 98
4. Berlin: From the Gelehrtes Kaffeehaus to the
Romanisches Café 142
5. New York City: Kibitzing in the Cafés of the New World 186
6. Tel Aviv– Jaffa: The “First Hebrew City” or a City of
Many Cafés? 246
Conclusion: Closing Time 303
Acknowledgments 311
Notes 315
Index 357
About the Author 371
vii

A Note on Transliteration and Translation
Modern Jewish culture is multilingual, and the sources I draw on, cite,
and analyze in this book are in Hebrew, Yiddish, German, English, Rus-
sian, and Polish. Three of these languages do not use Roman characters,
and this fact creates a major problem, since there are various norms and
variations. Creating a perfectly consistent system of transliteration in
English across the various languages is doomed to fail, despite the best
intentions. The purpose of transliteration is to assist readers of English
who are not familiar with the original languages, and this principle takes
precedence over the desire for consistency. Nevertheless, I try to be con-
sistent within each language. For Hebrew, I follow the Prooftexts journal
system of Romanization, which is a modified, simplified version of the
Library of Congress system. For Yiddish, I follow the YIVO system. For
Russian, I follow the Library of Congress system. For proper names of
people and places, I try to retain the form most familiar to readers of
English.
When texts from foreign languages have been translated into English,
I use and cite these published translations. Otherwise, translations are
mine, with much- needed assistance from experts on languages in which
I am not proficient.
ix