The Sisterhood Judaica Store Near Me offers a variety of items for all occasions. Shop in person and earn store credit! COS members receive a 10% discount on purchases. Located in the front hall of Congregation Ohev Shalom. Open during Temple office hours and by appointment.
NEW YORK (JTA) — When West Side Judaica closes its doors, it will leave Manhattan with only two independent Jewish bookstores that sell books, gifts and ritual objects to Jews from all denominations. J. Levine, the four-generation owner of another Manhattan store, has announced that his business will shut down at the end of May, blaming an automatic rent increase and the growing popularity of online shopping.
But he knows that even if he could afford the high rent on a half-mile-long strip of Broadway, he would still struggle to survive. His store has been in business for 83 years, but it’s a world that has passed him by. The younger generation of Jewish shoppers no longer shop in stores, he says, instead buying everything from kippahs to tzitzis online.
Seltzer used to be 80 percent books and 20 percent Judaica, but he has had to shift that ratio in recent years as he’s tried to keep his business afloat. He has now shifted to 50-50, with the right side of his store looking a lot like a standard-issue Jewish bookshop: volumes from Orthodox publisher ArtScroll sit on shelves next to books on medical ethics, biblical geography and how to comfort mourners; a rack of prayer shawls hangs in the back; a stack of framed Jewish wedding contracts stands up front.
The left side of his store, however, is a little different: It’s an emporium of novelties made for an Orthodox clientele with money to spend. There are greeting cards embossed with menorahs, birthday wishes in Hebrew or “Welcome to your new yeshiva.” The store also has a line of games that include Magical Mitzvah Park and Cholent, the Slow-Cooking, Fast-Moving Strategy Card Game. There are a handful of rosaries and yarmulkes in the back that look like they were purchased in Israel, as well as a line of jewelry from a local designer who makes items inspired by Jewish symbolism.