In Judaism There is No Intermediary: Sidney Eisenshtat’s House of the Book at the Brandeis Bardin Institute

• In Event: Material Cultures

Abstract

This paper examines Jewish American architect Sidney Eisenshtat's House of the Book. Since its installation in 1970, House of the Book has been serving as a key venue for Judaic education and practice at the Brandeis Bardin Institute in Simi Valley, California, an institute founded by religious Zionist Shlomo Bardin with the generous financial support of Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis. The study situates Eisenshtat's work within broader architectural discourses of the early twentieth century, particularly Bauhaus, Functionalism, and Brutalism. Through an analysis encompassing design, funding, construction, and usage, the paper aims to elucidate the intersection of modern synagogue design and the Americanization of Zionism. Methodologically, the research utilizes unpublished archival sources, architectural plans, and contemporary accounts in the collections of the University of South California and American Jewish University to reconstruct the genesis and reception of the House of the Book. By examining the perspectives of diverse stakeholders including Bardin, critics, campers, Zionists, non-Zionists, and Californian Jews, the paper offers a nuanced understanding of the building's impact and significance. It argues that Eisenshtat’s House of the Book contributes to Bardin’s religious Zionist education program to shape and perpetuate a significant pillar of American Jewish identity in the second half of the twentieth century. This study not only fills a gap in the literature on modern American Jewish synagogue design but also reexamines the role of religious architecture in shaping communal identities within the context of post-WWII American Zionism.

Author

• Jinze Mi, Williams College