By Thomas Wissinger
A photo from the archives of the Filson Historical Society.
Benjamin Harrison was president, Idaho and Wyoming joined the Union becoming the 43rd and 44th states, respectively, and Louisville was represented in the World Series where our very own Louisville Colonels, led by star pitcher Scott Stratton, TIED the Brooklyn Bridegrooms and their feared power hitter Oyster Burns, 3-3-1. And in that same year of 1890, while the Colonels were swinging away at Eclipse Park, just a few miles eastward the Young Men’s Hebrew Association first opened its doors to Louisville’s Jewish and general communities.
That’s right — six years before the Duryea Motor Wagon became the first automobile to hit the market, Louisville’s Jewish community had the foresight to create a gathering place where individuals from all walks of life could join together and build community within community. Now, 135 years later, we continue that mission of creating communities within the Trager Family JCC’s walls. Indeed, embracing togetherness and unity is needed today as much as it was all those years ago.
Not having grown up in Louisville, I lacked a foundational connection to its JCC. But when I still lived in Virginia, I knew at least a few people from Louisville who’d spent part of their childhood summers at the JCC. The interesting aspect to their stories, which I did not understand at the time, was that none of these individuals who shared their stories of the JCC were Jewish. And my favorite story was about Jewish and non-Jewish children working together to make the JCC a part of their summer — by sneaking through a hole in the fence to the outdoor pools! While I cannot endorse anyone sneaking into the outdoor pool next summer, this memory not only speaks to the fun of summer and kids simply being kids, it demonstrates how the Jewish Community Centers are a welcoming homes to people of all faiths and backgrounds, no matter which door, or hole in the fence, one comes through.
However, after being in Louisville and working at the former and now Trager Family JCC for the last 11 years, I have been able to experience firsthand the magic that happens within our walls. When we embarked on the journey to build the Trager Family JCC, it was inspiring to hear the community come together to understand that while we are building a new facility today, we are really creating a foundational component of both the Jewish community and general community for decades to come. A place where the Jewish community can come together, in good times and not so good times, to create connections, be together and commune with one another. Where individuals from all walks of life, both Jewish and non-Jewish, can form community, and see each other as people instead of stereotypes. Each and every day, the more than 1,500 people who walk through our doors are giving themselves the opportunity not only to meet friends, but also to create new relationships with people that they’d never have met if not for the Trager Family JCC.
As I mentioned previously, not being born and raised in Louisville means that I cannot add to the stories that I hear from other people in which Louisville’s JCC made such an impact on their lives. But I am thrilled that my kids do have that opportunity, where they will grow up understanding how pivotal a role the Trager Family JCC played during their formative years. My sons and daughter could tell you how much the JCC has meant to them, even if they truly don’t understand the full scope of this influence at their young age. From preschool to CenterStage, summer camp and working in J-Play, my kids know that they have a second home at the J, and I couldn’t be prouder to have the Trager Family JCC be a part of their personal journey.
Over this next year, you will hear quite a bit about our 135th anniversary (which we celebrated on January 14), and I formally invite everyone reading this to come to the Trager Family JCC for any of the myriad celebrations that we have planned. However, when you do, I encourage you to think about everyone that has come before you to make this community as strong as it is today. Perhaps most importantly, think about what difference you can make in the community today, and how you can make the world a better place for the generations ahead.
While we at the Trager Family JCC are not able to solve the world’s problems, we can, and do, make a positive difference in the corner of the world we call home. In 1890 the founders of the YMHA, led by Isaac Wolfe Bernheim, sought to do just that and created a home for Jews — who were excluded from similar facilities — and individuals from all faith backgrounds. They discovered that a defining truth: what they have in common is much stronger than how they differ. And while I don’t know if Mr. Bernheim could have foreseen that the legacy of the YMHA would still be going strong 135 years later, I’d like to think that he and the other founders would look at us approvingly over a century later as we carry the banner into year 135 and for many, many years beyond.
Thomas Wissinger is Vice President of the Jewish Community of Louisville and Executive Director of the Trager Family JCC.