By Jerry Klinger
FERNDALE, New York — In order to form a more perfect Union. The phrase is taken from the Preamble to the Constitution of the United States. The Preamble did not assert “We are forming a perfect Union.” It says, in order to form a more perfect union, meaning the American experiment was an ongoing, dynamic, living, breathing, changing, and even evolving structure. The Founding Fathers recognized the challenge.
The American Constitutional Republic had and has flaws. It is not perfect. Mistakes, bad judgment, and economic and societal changes happen. Slavery was a fact under the Constitution that was painfully corrected.
The American ship of State can take on water and seriously list. And… the American ship of state has a trimming system through a dynamic Constitutional amendment process to bring us back to an even keel.
Contemporary American Jewry is feeling, rightly, that they are threatened by the mainstream legitimization of antisemitism. On one side, DEI, open-borders, and haters are being elected to Congress. On the other side, jingoists want to deport anyone who does not look like them.
Antisemitism is not new to the American experience. It frighteningly rises, morphs, and is responded to.
Last Sunday, in Sullivan County, New York, the Borscht Belt Historical Highway Marker Project dedicated its 16th “Borscht Belt Marker” in Ferndale, New York. A 20-marker series is planned. The markers are funded by the Jewish American Society for Historic Preservation.
The markers are double-sided historical journeys into a world that grew up before the Holocaust and vanished within ~15 years of its end. One side of the marker is local history, what made that particular area unique. On the other side is a standard text that is on every one of the markers. The text explains why the Borscht Belt came into existence – antisemitism. It also reflects on the Jewish response to hate.
Jews were given a gross of hate-filled, antisemitic lemons. They took the lemons and made lemonade. They faced the challenge and gave back to America incredible gifts to the arts, culture, sports, economics, and more. The Jewish Borscht Belt gifts to America reflected the best of the ideals of America and what American life could be.
The American Jewish experience, interpreted through the Borscht Belt story, will show if the bitterness of the moror (horseradish) can be changed into sweet charoset, the mortar of the building blocks for a better future for all.
Before 100 honored attendees, the Ferndale marker was dedicated on June 28, 2026. The Text reads:
Borscht Belt – Ferndale
Once a favored tourist stop on the O&W Railway, the hamlet of Liberty Falls changed its name to Ferndale in 1901. To avoid the stigma linked to Liberty’s tuberculosis sanitaria, the hamlet adopted the name of the local Ferndale Villa resort. The Grossinger story began in 1914 at the Longbrook farmhouse in Ferndale, laying the foundation for what would become their famed hotel in Liberty. By 1917, New York State Route 4 (later renumbered as Route 17) wound through the Catskills, connecting the area for motorists and earning national recognition as the “Original Hotel Highway.” By the 1960s, Route 17 had evolved into a modern divided highway.
At its peak, Ferndale had over 50 hotels and bungalow colonies including Dan-Bee, Empire, Garden, Hy-Sa-Na. Kappy’s, Lipkowitz, Pollack’s, Queen Mountain, Shelburne, Stier’s, Upper Ferndale and Wiss’ Wigwam. Nearby, Harris had several bungalow colonies including Levine’s Maple Grove, Victory Cottages, and Mayberg’s and hotels such as Resnick’s and Turey.
Reverse side:
Borscht Belt
From the 1920s through the early 1970s, the Borscht Belt was the preeminent summer resort destination for hundreds of thousands of predominantly East Coast American Jews. The exclusion of the Jewish community from existing establishments in the 1920s drove Jewish entrepreneurs to create over 500 resorts, 50,000 bungalows, and 1,000 rooming houses in Sullivan County and parts of Ulster County. The Borscht Belt provided a sense of community for working and vacationing Jews. The era exerted a strong influence on American culture, particularly in the realm of entertainment, music, and sports. Some of the most well-known and influential people of the 20th century worked and vacationed in the area. Beginning around 1960, the Borscht Belt began a gradual demise due to many factors, including the growth of suburbia, inexpensive airfare, and generational changes.
*
Jerry Klinger is the President of the Jewish American Society for Historic Preservation.