Yom Kippur dances elicit fond memories

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CHICAGO – Memory-sharing can be a fun activity. When I was growing up in Providence during the 1940s, a highlight of the High Holy Days season was the anticipation of attending the Yom Kippur night dance.

It was a stag affair at the Biltmore Hotel – no reservations necessary and no food – just good, live music for dancing. Several  hundred people typically attended the event. I believe it was sponsored by the Jewish Community Center, then at 65 Benefit St., in Providence, and was targeted for the over-17 crowd.

The other big dance event was the Purim Ball, again at the Biltmore Hotel in downtown Providence, complete with candidates running for Queen Esther.

As the  suburbs  began to thrive, car ownership more prevalent, the demographics changed considerably and so, too, choices of entertainment and recreation.

(sachem1953@gmail.com), formerly of Rhode Island, now lives in Chicago.

Editor’s Note: Despite our best efforts, we were not able to locate any pictures of these Yom Kippur dances. However, Anne Sherman, office manager for the Rhode Island Jewish Historical Association, recounted this story to The Jewish Voice: “My mother, Zelda Kotler Hanson, told me about Yom Kippur dances in the early 1920s. Young men and women would gather during the morning services on the steps of Congregation Sons of Zion (then on Orms Street in Providence – where the Providence Marriott is today). They were looking for dates for the Yom Kippur Dance.”

Sherman explained that she didn’t know where those dances were held.