Central Conference of American Rabbis Conference, 2019, Cincinnati

I've been to several of these conferences with Rabbi Joe, my husband. We were in Long Beach, California in 2012, Chicago in 2013, Philadelphia in 2014 and Israel in 2015. We missed 2016 in Atlanta, and we were in Florida for my nephew's wedding at the time of last year's conference in Irvine, California. Joe wanted to go, and wanted me to go with him. Most of the rabbis don't bring their spouses, but we could drive to Cincinnati, about 300 miles, and I was happy to travel with him, since I'm usually alone when I travel.

They put us up at Hilton's Netherland Plaza, a skyscraper right downtown with a shopping mall attached. It's a beautiful Art Deco/ Moderne building, a National Historic Landmark. The room was cramped, but everything worked.  It was the tenth anniversary of Joe's ordination, and many of his classmates were there. I was with Joe the last three and a half years of his time at school, so I knew all of these other rabbis, and was close to a few. It was good for both of us to see old friends, and especially for Joe to compare career paths with his classmates. Some have changed jobs a few times, some are political activists, some are happy with where they live, but not happy with the congregation, some love their congregation, just not the city they are in. A few are completely comfortable with their job and city.

One highlight of the trip was a weekday morning service at Plum Street synagogue, from 1866, and an early Reform synagogue with an organ, prohibited in more traditional synagogues. Two rabbi/cantors, a man and a woman, led the service with singing and guitars. I knew the man decades ago in Los Angeles. He had been a cantor and went back to school to become a rabbi and now leads a congregation in Bel Air in Los Angeles. Sometimes it's hard for a singer to get people to sing along, but there were six hundred people at the service, almost all rabbis, and everyone belted out the melodies. It was just beautiful. There was another morning service at the hotel, where an Israeli couple introduced their own melodies to the traditional text. They travel frequently, and I would love to get them to come to Morgantown.

We had dinner out with friends, mostly Joe's classmates. Everyone was able to relax bit, and I enjoyed the company and being in a big city. One night with just the two of us, we walked across a bridge to Covington, Kentucky, then to Newport, which I had visited before. We ate at a nice Italian restaurant and took a shuttle bus back to downtown, where we joined others for yummy ice cream at Graeter's, a famous place in Cincinnati with excellent ice cream.

We both attended a workshop for rabbis at small congregations. A woman I knew from L.A. ( I had tutored her kids for their bar and bat mitzvah) is now a rabbi in Davenport, Iowa. Another woman is in Alexandria, Louisiana. The problems people talked about were low pay, lack of a social life, and how the reform movement "glorifies" rabbis in big important congregations in major cities. One woman pointed out that rabbis in small congregations are really doing "God's work." I also noted that these rabbis tended to be second-career rabbis, LGBT people and women. Although the Reform movement makes congregations swear they won't discriminate by age, gender or sexual orientation, they do. Still, most of the rabbis expressed satisfaction with their work. What Joe does here in North Central West Virginia is important to the community, and he and the other rabbis in that workshop understand that. I suggested that maybe the Reform movement could subsidize these smaller congregations. It's up to the rabbis to push for that.

We also visited the home campus of Hebrew Union College, uphill from downtown, in what was the suburbs a hundred years ago. We had box lunches in a tent, then split up for workshops. The one I went to was too academic for my taste, so I left before I got roped into a second one, and walked back to the hotel through the neighborhood just north of downtown called "OTR" or Over-The Rhine.

The last full day, we had signed up for a workshop in Over-The Rhine, at one time half-abandoned and in need of repair. It is gradually being gentrified. We had two tour guides for an hour each. One told us about the tremendous progress being made in the neighborhood, and the other, more of an activist, complained that poor people were being shut out, that boutique stores were being built for rich suburbanites, and parking garages, where they needed low-income housing. Morgantown is not much like Cincinnati, but there is a danger of a "Disney-fied" High Street here, a place for rich people to come down and buy stuff they don't need, or for the more adventurous, "moderate-income" housing for people in the top ten percent.

Two other interesting workshops were held the last night. One was about hate crimes and hate groups, with the shocking information that hate crimes against Jews, and anti-Jewish propaganda were increasing in the United States. Lastly, we met with Jim Obergefell, who won the case in the Supreme Court for marriage equality. With him were the two Jewish women who were his attorneys.

I hadn't been in Cincinnati before, but my travels have taken me to many of the surrounding counties. We traveled there via US 50 from Clarksburg and SR 32 in Ohio, and came back on Interstates 71 and 70. We had lunch in Athens, Ohio, where I typically go for lunch when I'm in that area, and at a Chinese buffet in Zanesville on the way back. I've learned where the good places are three hours out from home.

I was a little out of place in a rabbi convention, but I did work as a cantor for seven years, and after all my years with Joe, I at least know what they are talking about, and people were friendly. My only shock was how much younger so many of these rabbis are. Most of Joe's classmates are forty or close to it, and they are now considered the "old-timers."

At Hebrew Union College

Isaac Mayer Wise, or Plum Street Synagogue

Netherland Hotel

Bridge across the Ohio River to Covington, Kentucky

Fountain Plaza, where there is a branch of Graeter's Ice Cream

On tour in Over-The Rhine

Dinner with friends

With Jim Obergefell

Clermont County, Ohio

With my class at Life-Long Learning over Thursday, meetings and yet another medical appointment  this week, a bar mitzvah at our synagogue Saturday, and then Thanksgiving, I thought that if I were going exploring this month, it should be this weekend. There were a few problems. Our Suzuki wouldn't start Thursday morning, and we had someone come and jump start it. It works now, but it always sounds like it doesn't want to start, so we are worried. And there was a threat of snow and cold weather. Fool that I am, I booked my regular chain motel in Union Township, Clermont County. Morgantown to the county seat, Batavia, is 280 miles. Clermont County is just east of Cincinnati and runs from the suburbs south to the Ohio River and out into farmland and small towns.

It was pouring down rain most of the way, and when I got to Batavia around 4 P.M. (from 10 A.M.) it already looked dark out, although I had checked that sunset wasn't until 5:28. Although all of Ohio is in the Eastern time zone, much of the state is far enough west to be in Central. I looked around Batavia, then headed to the motel for a much-needed nap. I couldn't find the place. It's in Union Township, adjacent to Hamilton County (where Cincinnati is located) amidst a jumble of shops, a crazy interchange and three streets named "Eastgate." I finally figured it out, and a Russian-accented young woman checked me in.

I probably didn't sleep more than a few minutes. I ate at Bob Evans, a chain diner based in Ohio. I sat at the counter with a few chatty single men, and a waitress who called the men "honey." I liked her. The advantage of that place was that I only had to cross one street, then walk through a shopping center parking lot. I didn't see crosswalks or pedestrian signals anywhere.

I was back early to the room, where I plotted out where I would go Saturday. There are 28 places on the National Register, but many of them are Native American burial mounds, which, if not identified by a sign, are easy to miss. I had a brochure from the library with a map and the locations of ten branches. I figured visiting all of them would give me a view of the towns in the county, with the added bonus of a public bathroom in each one. From what I had seen near the motel, I figured the rural areas, far from Cincinnati, and especially along the Ohio River, would be more interesting than the malls and shopping centers in the more urban areas. As I went to sleep, the forecast was for cold, windy weather and snow.

It was 21 F. in the morning, but bright sunshine and no frost on the car window. My first stop was a nearby Kroger (based in Cincinnati, but with stores in Morgantown) for gas and a pair of gloves, the one thing I forgot to pack. I had mapped out the order for the libraries, and a few historic sites, plus a giant park with a reservoir used as a recreational lake. I was on the road early, but the idea that I could visit all these places in a day seemed far-fetched, especially with the car sounding like it didn't want to start.

I had looked for a synagogue in Clermont County, but apparently there never was one. Cincinnati is heavily Jewish, with the original headquarters of the Reform movement, plus many other synagogues. It also has a large African-American population. Clermont is the third county I've visited bordering Hamilton County, where Cincinnati is located. I was in Butler County to the north in May 2016, and Campbell County, Kentucky, a short walk across the Ohio river from downtown in December of that year. Both counties are nearly all white, and aside from a small Conservative congregation in the city of Hamilton in Butler County, almost free of Jews. In Baltimore and Washington, Jews and African-Americans live in large numbers outside the two cities. I was also surprised that there are 1950s-style suburbs like where I grew up in Baltimore, but not much newer building. The small towns that are relatively close-in seem untouched in fifty years.

I ended up late afternoon in Miami Township, at the library, and in the nearby city of Milford, the county's largest, and although the signs say "Historic Milford" I noted lots of big-box stores and a cinema. I made it the Cincinnati Nature Preserve near Milford just after 4:30. It closed at five, and though I offered to pay the $6.00 fee to look around for twenty minutes until closing, the man in the kiosk said "No." By five, I was at the hotel, looking for a nap. The weather had remained sunny and pretty, the temperature had gone up to 36 F.

I thought I should hit the mall near the hotel, so I was there about 7 P.M. I got a plate of teriyaki with rice and vegetables, and got to explain, in Spanish, to the worker that I wanted less rice and more vegetables. Eastgate is a pretty mall, not doing well, like most of the malls I visit. Still, their Sears looks like it will stay open, They have Penney's and Kohl, and Dillard, although that closed early. Lots of people were out shopping in the evening. I was in the room by 8, and asleep early.

Sunday was warmer, and still sunny. I had a relatively easy drive home.

Clermont County is 95.9% white according to the 2010 census, and 67.5% of the voters went for Trump in 2016. It's not generally a wealthy county. I saw lots of dollar stores and pizza parlors. Usually I see fast food Asian restaurants, but not here. I had lunch at a pizza place in Williamsburg, a pretty little town. My eight-inch pizza with mushrooms was only $5, but I had to go the grocery up the street for a 50 cent can of "pop." I chatted up the proprietress who said she avoided the Eastgate area where I was staying because it was so confusing, and in a refrain I hear often from small-town and rural people, she said "I can't imagine living in a big city. It must be terrifying, " I had told her about Morgantown and I think she considered a city of 30,000, with an additional 30,000 students, to be a big city. Yet Williamburg is only 37 miles from Cincinnati, which must seem like another world. Still, there were Mexican workers at the mall, African-Americans working in the hotel, Russians at the front desk, and when I told the manager of the hotel that I was going to West Virginia, she said "Oh! The Golden Temple!" So she knew about the Hindu temple in Moundsville. I think she is from India, as many of the hotel managers are. I suggest that change is on the way. Maybe Cincinnati isn't growing as fast as other cities, and is less of a magnet than those places, but there is an internationalism that is bound to spread. More description follows with the pictures.

Older part of the Clermont County Courthouse, Batavia

Newer (but older looking) part of Clermont County Courthouse

A collection of ceramic bells displayed at the library in Batavia

Main St., Batavia

A collection of Western figures from the library in Amelia

Ross-Gowdy House, early 19th century, New Richmond

Along the Ohio River in New Richmond

Front Street along the river, New Richmond

Birthplace of Ulysses S. Grant, Point Pleasant

Williams House, Williamsburg

Bethel  Methodist Church, after 1810, now used for community events, East Fork State Park

The lake, a reservoir, in East Fork State Park

Elk Lick Mound, a burial mound from the Adena people, from the first millennium of the common era. I felt a vibration from the mound, as if these ancient people still had a presence.

Stonelick Covered Bridge, Stonelick Township, 1878

Promont, near Milford, now a museum, 1865

The food court at Eastgate Mall, probably 1990s

Campbell County, Kentucky

My next county to visit was Campbell County, across the Ohio River from Cincinnati, Ohio. It's a lot like Camden, New Jersey, across the Delaware from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Philadelphia is bigger than Cincinnati, and the Ohio River is not as wide as the tidal Delaware at Philadelphia. Newport is one of the two county seats in Campbell County, and is on the river. 

December is a hard time to travel. The days are short; the weather is iffy. We also were just back from a week in Memphis at the end of November and are off again, this time to New York, on December 21. 

I picked Saturday, the tenth, and Monday the twelfth to travel, and Sunday to explore. This was my first trip to a Republican county since the election, and although I considered not visiting counties that voted that way, I decided to go with my original idea, which was to see everyplace, good and bad.

Like driving to Camden, unless one wants to take a whole lot of time, the distance is more than three hundred miles, my limit. Camden is mostly east and a little bit north; Newport is mostly west and a little bit south. 

I stayed with my usual chain, in a building on the river. It looks like that whole area may be a redeveloped industrial area, with a shopping center and movie complex, the motel and new loft apartment buildings. One can easily walk across a pedestrian bridge into downtown Cincinnati from there, although it is a bit cut off from the center of Newport.

I traveled north from Morgantown to Washington, Pennsylvania, then west to Wheeling and Columbus and southwest to Cincinnati. It was dark and snowing to Columbus, then sunny and clearer, but cold from there. On the way back, I headed east from Cincinnati to Athens, Parkersburg and Clarksburg, then north to Morgantown. The weather was better going back.

From past experience, I knew there was a good Chinese buffet in Zanesville and Union Street Diner in Athens, and I stopped at the buffet on the way in and the diner on the way back. 

There are sixty places on The National Register in Campbell County. I reluctantly decided to visit only a random ten of them, but as I had time Sunday, I walked around in the late afternoon in Newport. It was about 25 F. in the morning, then warmed up, with some drizzle, to about 40.

Saturday night, I walked to a chain diner, not far from the hotel. It was cheap, but not especially good food. I asked the waitress if the string beans had bacon in them, and she verified that they did. I learned to ask from traveling in the south. It was still early, so I walked through town a bit before heading back to plan Sunday's jaunt.

The view of the Cincinnati skyline from my room

Holiday lights on a street in Newport, Saturday night.

East Newport Historic District

York St Historic District, Newport

mid-century bank building, Monmouth St, Newport

new housing, central Newport, looking old

former library building Monmouth Avenue

Marianne Theater, Bellevue, east of Newport

Dayton School, Dayton, now apartments

Newport-On-The -Levee shopping district

Northern Kentucky University, Highland Heights

There was probably a mistake in directions for the first historic place I tried to find, but I found this interesting modern house instead  near Alexandria

Camp Springs was a nineteenth century German settlement. This is Blau's Four-Mile House

Kort Grocery, Camp Springs, 1880

County Courthouse, Alexandria, now a museum. There were attempts to move the county seat to Alexandria, closer to the central part of the county. Both Alexandria and Newport are listed as county seats

St. John The Baptist Catholic Church, Wilder, 19th century

Sauser Farm House, near Alexandria

Homes at Ft. Thomas, a military installation from 1890. Each house is now privately owned

The Walking Bridge, connecting Newport and Cincinnati

New "loft-style" apartments on the Ohio river in Newport

Newport to Cincinnati highway bridge, from the Walking Bridge

Campbell County Courthouse, Newport

Colonel James Taylor Mansion, Newport

Mansion Historic District, Newport

Historic Homes in Newport

I can't explain the Israeli flag on this house

Sunday after breakfast, I drove to Northern Kentucky University, a 1968 addition to the state's university system, in Highland Heights, south of Newport. It was cold and cloudy out. As the day went on, it got warmer and darker. Like Camden County, Campbell is narrow and extends south into the countryside. I visited Camp Springs, a 19th century German settlement, then detoured south to Alexandria, a quaint little town, with a southern-style courthouse, now a museum. I found a German Catholic church in Wilder, now in the suburbs, and a farm near Alexandria.

By lunchtime, I was in hilly, pretty Ft. Thomas, more populous than Newport. The 1890 fort has been sold off, and I found an officer's house for sale for just under four hundred thousand dollars. I stopped for lunch at a sports bar, where I had a chicken sandwich with marinara sauce and cheese, and peppery french fries. It was forty and drizzling out. People at the bar were watching the Cincinnati Bengals play the Cleveland Browns, who have apparently not won a game in years.We could see snow accumulating on the players' helmets, as it was 20 F. in Cleveland.

Back in Newport by around 2 P.M., I decided to walk around the city to find more historic places.By 4, cold and wet, I returned to the motel for a nap.

At the movies on the levee, a few blocks from where I stayed, they were showing a Bollywood movie shot in Paris, called Befikre, starring Ranveer Singh and Vaani Kapoor. The film is mostly in Hindi, subtitled, but with a good bit of English and French thrown in. I drove over for the 6:15 show. Only three other people were in the theater. The film, a silly romantic story, with beautiful actors, music, dancing, and sunny Paris, lifted my spirits.

After the movie, I bought snacks at a nearby Kroger, and had a late feast in my room. I enjoyed Campbell County, despite feeling guilty about not visiting more diverse and more Jewish Cincinnati, which was right there.

The pics are out of order in some cases, because I shot some with my camera, and others on my cell phone. It is difficult to get them arranged just right.