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Passing the Book
A Modern Tradition for Four Generations
"A modern tradition" -- sounds like a
contradiction in terms. But in the world of J. Levine Company, the modern
and the traditional flourish, side by side. Blue neon signs and gray
marble floors -- that's modern; a wall lined with embroidered Torah
covers-- that's tradition. Music broadcast through a public address
system-- modern; the songs, Dayenu, Tsena, tsena, Heyveynu Shalom
Aleichem-- tradition. A video monitor showing a tape with live and
animated characters--modern; the setting, a Passover Seder--tradition. A
baby boomer who says he'll never go into the family business--very
modern--is an observant Jew who apprenticed as a sofer (holy scribe) in
Jerusalem--unquestionably tradition.
J. Levine Company is "the Judaica store of
the world," says 4th-generation owner Daniel Levine. "If you're
in a small town or city, at an army base in Manila or Japan, and ask your
rabbi where to find a book or an object of Judaica, he'll say 'Call J.
Levine.'" 
The company started in Vilkameer, Lithuania, where
Hirsch Landy, a sofer, wrote Torah scrolls and other Hebrew documents and
sold them throughout Europe and America, counting among his customers such
illustrious Jewish families as the Rothschilds. In 1905, as pogroms and
dwindling Jewish communities reduced the need for Torahs and other
religious articles in Europe, Landy took his wife and family to America.
They settled amidst the growing community of European Jewish immigrants on
New York's Lower East Side, and he re-established his business. His
son-in-law, Joseph Levine entered the business in 1920, gave it his name,
and expanded into religious embroideries: Torah covers, ark curtains,
bimah covers, tallit bags, etc. The company became the largest
manufacturer of these embroideries, selling them to synagogues and other
Jewish book stores. After World War II Levine's three sons, Melvin,
Harold, And Seymour, joined the company and added religious books--for
synagogues, schools, and home use, making the company into a complete
Jewish department store.
Seymour's son Daniel a Yeshiva University student
pursuing a degree in Jewish education, spent a year in Israel as an
apprentice to a sofer--never knowing of his great grandfather's success in
that art. Rejecting the idea of going into the family business, Daniel
Levine got his Hebrew teacher's license and then entered graduate school
to study corporate public relations. A believer in mystical signs, he had
a change of heart when he learned of his link with is great grandfather as
a sofer.
In 1979, young Levine joined the company, which
occupied a large, seven story building at the corner of Eldridge and
Hester Streets. "I came in with my public relations degree--you know,
'image.' I saw lots of space, spiritual appeal, but lack of aesthetic
excitement," says the slender green-eyed Levine. "That's the way
business was in those days," he adds with a big smile and a shrug of
the shoulders. "My grandfather used to say, 'If you sweep the floor,
customers will think you're making too much money.'" 
Dan Levine swept the floors. He improved the
store's aesthetics and organization, first creating a catalog--mostly for
synagogues--to bring in more business. "Then I expanded the store and
made it into a beautiful showcase," he continues adjusting the black
suede yarmulke (skullcap) that blends with his thick, curly, black hair. A
fire in 1984 caused major damage to two floors of the Eldridge Street
building. "Maybe it was a sign," Levine says. "I thought
about the need in the heart of Manhattan--there wasn't a Judaica store in
midtown."
Eager but cautious, Levine opened a branch store
on the second floor of a building on West 30th Street just off Fifth
Avenue, a few blocks from the Empire State Building. "Within two
years, 95 percent of the customers who had been shopping at the store
downtown for decades, found the midtown location more convenient than
schlepping down to the Lower East Side," says Levine. The 30th Street
branch also attracted tourists and other mid-Manhattan shoppers. And the
business grew.
By this time Levine had brought out his uncles,
who retired. In 1990, his father also retired--to realize his life-long
dream of living in Jerusalem and performing tzedaka (charitable deeds)--as
did his father before him. Levine bought his father's share of the
business and moved the entire operation to 5 West 30th Street. He took
over the first floor store, built a staircase connecting the two selling
areas, and added the gray marble floors and blue neon signs.
Joyful Jewish music resounds through the bright
and busy store. Along the walls, tiered showcases of gleaming glass and
mirrors display beautiful artifacts used in performing mitzvot
(commandments) and celebrating holidays: mezzuzah covers, tzedaka
(charity) boxes, yahrzeit (memorial) candle holders, kiddush cups,
havdallah sets, candle sticks, in materials ranging from hand-painted
ceramics to polished metals; yarmulkes in the gamut of fabrics and colors
including simple black velvet, painted colored suedes, crocheted yarns,
and embroidered silks. Long after Chanukah and before Pesach, rows of
menorahs in eye-catching colors and styles and seder sets in glorious
designs--florals, calligraphy, holiday symbols--fill the cases and
available floor space. Levine's "Ultimate Judaica Store" also
carries jewelry, greeting cards, music cds and audiocassettes, and video
tapes-- a new Passover tape starring Elie Wiesel with live and animated
characters is running on a monitor late January. 
Rabbi Philip Kastell, standing in front of a
picture of the original store with its sidewalk pushcart, swipes a
bar-coded book across the cash register's scanner and rings up a sale.
With the company for 40 years, Kastell recalls, "I stayed in the
store when the family went to Danny's bris."
Upstairs floor-to-high-ceiling shelves laden with
Jewish books--gold-stamped burgundy and black leathers, hardcovers with
colorful jackets, and paperbacks-- surround the long room. Tabs at the
tops of the shelves direct shoppers to philosophy, liturgy, literature,
history, holocaust, halacha, haggadot, Hebrew, Israel, Travel, Yiddish...
In the center, are more books neatly stacked on tables and under two
chupahs, one off-white linen with gold braid trim and a Star of David in
the center, the other sky blue silk with a border of brightly colored
flowers and other nature symbols. Adding more color and texture are
challah and matzah covers, talliot (prayer shawls), computer software,
large brass Chanukah menorahs, and the ketubah (marriage contract) center,
its sign helping prospective brides and grooms to make their choices.
To Levine it's more than selling books and
Judaica; it's Jewish outreach. "I'm representing Judaism. Being in
midtown, when people come through my door. I have a few moments to capture
their attention, to make a lasting impression. I want them to leave
feeling that Judaica is alive, interesting, vibrant, exciting." He
points to the shelves of carefully folded tallitot--with stripes of
purple, pink, orange. "They stay within halacha but they reach the
boundaries of aesthetic appeal," he says. "It's nouveah
Judaica--a Chnukiah in the shape of a baseball team or choo-choo train,
bright colors, a musical dreidle featured in New York magazine's 'Best
Bets,' a yarmulke with a ninja turtle or Mickey Mouse painted on
it--brings out the excitement and relevance yiddishkeit, a positive
feeling about Judaism," he continues. "With so many forces out
there competing for children's attention, we want to help as much as we
can to strengthen yiddishkeit." 
A few men trickle in and up the stairs, one in a
black top-coat with a black derby atop his velvet yarmulke, one in a gray
tweed car coat and cap, others in business suits and overcoats. Men
employed by Levine join them between rows of computer software, children's
books, and cookbooks as they open prayer books and sway back and forth to
a barely audible hum and indistinguishable words. It's the mincha
(afternoon) minyan (prayer meeting). Neighborhood business people--
sometimes 30 to 40 attend. "Anyone who has to say kaddish (memorial
prayers) knows that we have an afternoon minyan," says Levine.
His outreach goes beyond colorful yarmulkes and
daily minyanim. The Company installed large menorahs in Gramercy Park and
the Waldorf Astoria last Chanukah. The Lubavitch Women's Organization
holds classes in the store every other week with speakers and light lunch,
free to public. Andre Wolpin, a new manager was the first person to greet
New York Governor George Pataki at his Inaugural Ball. Wolpin bubbles over
describing over describing how he handed Pataki the book Jewish Literacy
inscribed "Presented by J. Levine Company. Mazal tov."
Levine lives in Manhattan's Greenwich Village with
his wife and five children, ages 3 to 8, three of whom attend Ramaz
(Orthodox) Day School. He chose city living to have more time with his
family. "When I was growing up in Monsey, I never saw my father
because of his commute," Levine says. 
When the Lubavitcher Rebbe, obm, was hospitalized
in the neighborhood, the Levines opened their home to Lubavitchers who
wanted to stay close to the hospital on Shabbat. Now Levine is working
with a community group to encourage the start up of kosher restaurants in
lower Manhattan, a suggestion the Rebbe made while in the hospital.
Ever spiritual, Levine chose as his toll-free
telephone number 1-800-5-JEWISH. "Five is very important in
spirituality and mysticism," he says, "the chamsa (hand),"
he holds up five fingers, And it is meaningful to Levine with his 5th
generation, 5 children, 5 children, and a location near 5th Avenue, at 5
West 30th.
Spiritual and practical, he has computerized much
of his record keeping. This technology would probably amaze Hirsch Landy,
as would satellite television, which brought Seymour and Goldy Levine in
Jerusalem an intimate view of their son and the business when CNN beamed
its Chanuka program world-wide via satellite from the store last November.
But Landy would surely relate to the pushcart Levine had recreated for a
recent sidewalk book sale. And he would kvell (be thrilled) over the
success of his business in fourth generation and his great grandson's
contributions to Jewish continuity.
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Our New York City Store
From Generation to Generation
J LEVINE JUDAICA
The most reliable source for TORAHS
Brand new or reconditioned,
All fully guaranteed kosher starting at
$10,000
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©
2007,2008 J.Levine Books & Judaica
5 West 30th Street New York, NY 10001
TOLL FREE: 1-800-5JEWISH 1-800-553-9474 IN NYC: 212-695-6888 FAX : 212-643-1044
CONTACT US
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