The Big Apple is losing one of only three Judaica Stores left in the city. J. Levine Books and Judaica, a longtime independent seller of Jewish books, gifts and ritual objects, has said it will shutter its doors at the end of May. Fourth-generation owner Daniel Levine told The New York Jewish Week that the Midtown Manhattan shop’s business was hurt by the rising popularity of online shopping. “The next generation doesn’t shop in stores,” he said. “That’s the nature of the world.” Levine said the company will continue to operate online at levinejudaica.com, but that the business size will be reduced.
J. Levine is a fifth-generation family business operating at 5 West on 30th Street, between Broadway and Fifth Avenue. Having opened in 1905, it is one of the oldest standing Judaica stores in the entire country. The business was actually founded in 1890 in Vilkomir, Lithuania, where Hirsch Landy began selling the Torah scrolls that he wrote. When he immigrated to America, he opened the store as a pushcart on the Lower East Side selling Torahs, Tefillin and Tallitim. In 1920, his son-in-law, Joseph Levine, incorporated and expanded the business to selling other Judaica items including Torah and arc covers. Joseph’s sons Harold, Melvin and Seymour Levine carried on the business further broadening its scope. Back in November 1991, the retail store was featured in an article by the NY Times. In the article, owner Danny Levine had said “I’ve found that people are looking today for presentation or atmosphere. I want the store to be the Henri Bendel of Judaica,” Levine had said. “People should feel, wow, this is Judaism at its best.”
The Big Apple was once home to dozens of Jewish bookstores. It will now have only two independent stores remaining in Manhattan. One is West Side Judaica on the Upper West Side, and the other is Judaica Classics on the Upper East Side. As reported by VIN News, in 2017, the former announced it would be closing. But following the news customers flocked over, showing their support and allowing West Side Judaica to stay in business. The city also still has several boutique Judaica stores, mostly connected to museums or synagogues.
The dwindling number of Jewish bookstores should not be seen as a lessening of interest in Judaism, said historian Jonathan Sarna, a professor of American Jewish history at Brandeis University. Rather it is “a message to others who are thinking of opening Jewish bookstores,” Sarna told the Jewish Week. “It’s cheaper and easier to shop at Amazon.”
