The House Built by Hope:
A Story of Compassion, Resilience, and Religious Freedom
"The House Built by Hope: A Story of Compassion, Resilience, and Religious Freedom" is a 35-minute film about Temple Beth Israel. The story, told by founders and children of founders of the community, looks at the horrors and loss encountered by each family, many relaying stories of internment in concentration camps, as well as others who fought in the war as Partisans. Some 50 Jewish families were aided in their relocation in part by the Jewish Agricultural Society, helping to secure for these immigrants, farmland for chicken raising and dairy farming.
The story is about survival, adjustment and resettlement but even more about how a Christian community welcomed these families and helped them to start their new lives. It looks at the efforts undertaken to build their house of worship, Temple Beth Israel and the support they were given and how the entire community benefitted from the spirit of generosity.
The documentary was envisioned by Dr. Elsie Fetterman, former Danielson resident and member of the Temple Beth Israel Preservation Society board of directors. Filming of the documentary was by Amherst Media and was made possible by a grant from the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR). A curriculum guide designed to accompany the film was prepared by Simon Leutz, Department Chair, Social Studies, Amherst Pelham Regional High School and made possible by a grant from the Massachusetts Council on the Humanities.
The story is about survival, adjustment and resettlement but even more about how a Christian community welcomed these families and helped them to start their new lives. It looks at the efforts undertaken to build their house of worship, Temple Beth Israel and the support they were given and how the entire community benefitted from the spirit of generosity.
The documentary was envisioned by Dr. Elsie Fetterman, former Danielson resident and member of the Temple Beth Israel Preservation Society board of directors. Filming of the documentary was by Amherst Media and was made possible by a grant from the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR). A curriculum guide designed to accompany the film was prepared by Simon Leutz, Department Chair, Social Studies, Amherst Pelham Regional High School and made possible by a grant from the Massachusetts Council on the Humanities.
A House Built by Hope
For Temple Beth Israel on its Listing in the National Register of Historic Places
August 3, 2013
A building stands
Silent, in a small, Yankee town
Fine and proud
Once home to settlers
Proud Americans
Who practiced ancient rituals while doing civic duties
Danced with scrolls writ in ancient script
Followed a lunar calendar
And welcomed distant cousins from the war.
Once home to refugees
Who came to work on farms
And arrived with suitcases filled with memories
Of childhoods lost
And homes destroyed
Memories of meager rations, barbed wire, anguished cries
Gunshots in the forests
Running down frozen, muddy roads as in a bad dream.
But now proud new citizens with children of their own
Who represented life renewed
And built a house with hope.
Once home to immigrants
Who came from many lands
Desperate for acceptance
Seeking love and kindness and justice
Needing a place to mend their broken spirits
Looking for a space to hang memorial tablets
To remember victims without graves
And family members left behind
This house was built by Hope.
No one knew but the neighbors
These broken souls – with broken hearts and broken dreams
Speaking broken English –
Whispered among themselves in a foreign tongue
Sang melodies in a minor key
Told stories of parents, sang songs of their youth
Wondered if there could be another chance at life
Who knew if they would stay?
This house was built by hope.
Rushed from the noise and dust and feathers
of the chicken coops
To come together to carry timbers,
Dig foundations and pour cement.
Sweaty backs and muscular arms with tattooed numbers
That in another world had carried stones
while watched by guards with guns
Here gently placed these heavy stones with love.
This house was built by hope.
Now a building stands
Proud and strong
Stone and timber and glass
Through which the stars could be counted before reciting
Mournful ancient prayers
Haunting melodies from the old country
A sacred space to house a sacred Scroll, a dream, a book,
A cup of ritual wine to toast an uncertain future
This house was built by hope.
A building filled with scores of stories
A minyan gathers to recite the Kaddish
Seeking God who mysteriously was absent when He was most needed
Nestled among welcoming neighbors
Together writing a proud chapter in the story of a tolerant community.
And now a generous nation recalls the story
And writes the building’s address in a register
Among addresses worthy of remembering
And proud and grateful children remember their parents and celebrate
In this house built by hope.
August 3, 2013
A building stands
Silent, in a small, Yankee town
Fine and proud
Once home to settlers
Proud Americans
Who practiced ancient rituals while doing civic duties
Danced with scrolls writ in ancient script
Followed a lunar calendar
And welcomed distant cousins from the war.
Once home to refugees
Who came to work on farms
And arrived with suitcases filled with memories
Of childhoods lost
And homes destroyed
Memories of meager rations, barbed wire, anguished cries
Gunshots in the forests
Running down frozen, muddy roads as in a bad dream.
But now proud new citizens with children of their own
Who represented life renewed
And built a house with hope.
Once home to immigrants
Who came from many lands
Desperate for acceptance
Seeking love and kindness and justice
Needing a place to mend their broken spirits
Looking for a space to hang memorial tablets
To remember victims without graves
And family members left behind
This house was built by Hope.
No one knew but the neighbors
These broken souls – with broken hearts and broken dreams
Speaking broken English –
Whispered among themselves in a foreign tongue
Sang melodies in a minor key
Told stories of parents, sang songs of their youth
Wondered if there could be another chance at life
Who knew if they would stay?
This house was built by hope.
Rushed from the noise and dust and feathers
of the chicken coops
To come together to carry timbers,
Dig foundations and pour cement.
Sweaty backs and muscular arms with tattooed numbers
That in another world had carried stones
while watched by guards with guns
Here gently placed these heavy stones with love.
This house was built by hope.
Now a building stands
Proud and strong
Stone and timber and glass
Through which the stars could be counted before reciting
Mournful ancient prayers
Haunting melodies from the old country
A sacred space to house a sacred Scroll, a dream, a book,
A cup of ritual wine to toast an uncertain future
This house was built by hope.
A building filled with scores of stories
A minyan gathers to recite the Kaddish
Seeking God who mysteriously was absent when He was most needed
Nestled among welcoming neighbors
Together writing a proud chapter in the story of a tolerant community.
And now a generous nation recalls the story
And writes the building’s address in a register
Among addresses worthy of remembering
And proud and grateful children remember their parents and celebrate
In this house built by hope.
Your tax-deductible* donation goes directly toward our community work by supporting everything from program supplies to keeping the heat on.
Please consider joining our efforts by clicking the button below to make a secure online donation.
Please consider joining our efforts by clicking the button below to make a secure online donation.
© All Rights Reserved - Temple Beth Israel Preservation Society 2023