South Philadelphia
Native Preserves
Jewish Community
and History
Surviving Cancer
Cancer in in Style
Style Surviving
Surviving Cancer
Cancer in Style
Surviving Surviving Cancer in Style
Surviving Cancer in Style
Surviving Cancer in Style
SASHA ROGELBERG | JE STAFF
H aving grown up in South Philadelphia in the 1950s, Alberta
Marcus knows a thing or two about community.

“It was like being part of a family. Our neighbors were
more family than friends,” Marcus said. “They would block off
traffic, and we’d have block parties where everybody cooked
food. It was a very caring community.”
She maintained a similar familial connection to her neighbors
when she moved to her home in Northeast Philadelphia in her
early 20s — the same home she lives in today.

Community-building more than shaped Marcus’ life; it’s how
she’s making her mark on the Philadelphia community, serv-
ing as a founding member of the 51-year strong Unstructured
Synagogue Havurah, a veteran teacher and informal documen-
tarian of 20th-century Philadelphia life.

Marcus, 82, did not attend synagogue as a child, and did not
have a ceremony to celebrate her becoming bat mitzvah, but her
family was religious: Her mother kept kosher, and the family
would celebrate holidays with neighbors of extended family.

“My mother was one of five kids — two sets of twins — so
we would get together and celebrate the holidays together,”
Marcus said.

She continued that model of Jewish living into adulthood.

In the 1960s, havurot — a Hebrew word meaning fellowship
— sprung up all over the country; they were a means of provid-
ing egalitarian, democratized ritual experiences without the
necessity of a rabbi or group leader.

Marcus and her husband Warren Marcus helped form their
own havurah — dubbed the Unstructured Synagogue Havurah
— in October 1970. They were joined by five other couples. The
havurah recently celebrated 51 years together at an in-person
gathering in Feasterville.

“It’s a totally different experience, a havurah,” Marcus said.

“You don’t just observe, you participate.”
Alberta Marcus (center) lived in South Philadelphia
before moving to Northeast Philadelephia in her early
20s, where she still lives today.

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