Jewish History
Jewish History told as short stories. A pilot made by Ktaim Productions - Historia.co.il Learn about Jewish History in New York City - Katz's Deli,The Great Study House, Yona Schimmel’s Knish Bakery and more. A little bit of history. In the year 1664 1 Jewish man, Asher Levi was living in New York City. By the year 1920, however, every 3rd person in New York City, the center of the world in so many senses, was Jewish. How did New York turn into the Jewish capital of the world? Asher Levi was not alone in NY for long, as more Jewish families joined the tiny City of New York including some of his family members from Amsterdam. The first large group of Jews to come to New York, still the colony of New Amsterdam, came in September 1654 as refugees from Brazil. Portugal had conquered Brazil from Holland and Jews who feared the Portuguese inquisition and treatment of Jews, fled. Most went back to Amsterdam but 23 of them landed in NY. They were greeted by a few Ashkenazi or Eastern European Jews that were already on the Island. The governor of New Amsterdam, Peter Stuyvesant was unwilling to accept them, but succumbed to pressure from the powerful Dutch West India Company which had several Jews on board. The group went on to form Congregation Shearith Israel meaning the 'Remnants of Israel'. They prayed at different places and only in the year 1730 were able to build a synagogue on Mill St, today South William St in the Wall St. area. Around the 18th century Jews mostly toiled in the trade and commerce business, and as a result settled around port towns such as New York, Savannah Georgia and Charleston South Carolina. They began to lay the foundations for Jewish communities to come in these cities. Soon enough, however, Jews began taking on other trades such as local retailers, craftsman, silversmiths and shopkeepers or shop owners as we call them today. In the mid 18th century it was still uncommon for Jews to hold public offices, but they did so in the colony of New York as the representative of the colony to the English parliament. During the 17th and most of the 18th century Jews represented 1-2 percent of the total New York City population. About 100 to 200 Jews lived in New York City out of 8000 residents in total. During the American Revolutionary War which began in 1776 and lasted for 8 years, the British conquered New York City and many Jews fled to neighboring colonies such Pennsylvania and Connecticut. After the revolutionary war the Jews of New York flourished and were generally part of the general population. They became lawyers, helped establish the NY stock exchange in 1792 and were involved in local and national politics. One great example is of Mordecai M. Noah, a soldier, diplomat, playwright, politician and businessman, among other things, who became the Sherriff of New York in 1820 and kept the position for 8 years. During the first half of the 19th century, immigrants who arrived at the gates of the United States landed in NY at first, and many choose to stay. During the 1830's and 40's the Jewish community of New York continued growing and several synagogues began to appear. In 1855 a Jewish hospital opened in NY and served all denominations. Such a hospital was needed in order and meet Jewish patient needs be they dietary, religious or cultural. The hospital helped improve community relations for Jews and non-Jews as the latter were treated by the caring hands of Jewish doctors and staff. During the Civil war from 1861 to 1865 the hospital tended to hundreds of wounded soldiers. In 1866 The Jewish Hospital changed its name to Mount Sinai hospital which is still its name today. Towards the end of the 19th century, Anti-Semitic riots swept Eastern Europe and specifically in Southern Russia. Jews began to flee in order to save their lives. Those who could afford the trip boarded ships bound to America, where Jewish life was flourishing. Beginning in the 1880's and continuing for nearly 40 years more than a million Jews migrated from Eastern Europe to the United States. These new immigrants were mostly poor, spoke Yiddish and seemed somewhat foreign to the well established Jews of New York. The new arrivals settled in the Lower East Side of Manhattan which was a Jewish dominated area and a tightly packed Jewish neighborhood. The well-off Jews, who were factory and business owners, bankers, brokers and clothing manufacturers, moved uptown and 2 groups were created uptown and downtown Jews. In 1870 The Jewish population stood at 60,000 or 4% of the entire population of New York City. By 1920 there were 1.6 million Jews in New York City or 29% of its total population. Every third person in NY in the 1920's was Jewish. Around 75% of all Jewish immigrants to the United States settled in the city of NY. Incredible. Soon, the capital of Jewish America became New York’s Lower East Side. Jews who arrived from Eastern Europe had to manage in tiny spaces, sometimes up to 20 people in a 2 bedroom apartment. In 1900 the Lower East Side became the most crowded neighborhood in the world with 700 people per acre. The humanitarian Journalist and photographer, Jacob Riis described a visit to an apartment occupied by Eastern European Jewish families: I have found in three rooms father, mother, twelve children, and six boarders. They sleep on the half-made clothing for beds. The Lower East Side turned into a Jewish town and had everything a Jewish person could dream of. Synagogues, libraries, hospitals and stores - all Jewish. This made the landing for immigrants in a distant land, ideal, and as soon as they settled in, they attempted to bring in the rest of their family from Europe. The incredible influx of Yiddish speaking refugees to New York produced interesting cultural results. During the period of the great migration more than 150 newspapers and magazines appeared, in Yiddish. Books, plays and shows were being produced for the Yiddish speaking community. Four daily Yiddish newspapers were available with a combined circulation of 300,000 copies. In the late 19th century there were 241 clothing manufacturing businesses in New York City also known as needle business. 234 of them were owned and operated by Jews. When Jewish immigrants began to arrive on the shores of eastern United States, they often began working in these clothing factories. Long hours and little pay usually came with the job, but it was necessary if they wanted to move up the social ladder. The clothing industry in New York in 1913 grew to unbelievable numbers. More than 16,500 garment factories in New York employed more than 300,000 workers. Work in such garment factories was difficult and a 70 hour work week in such places was not uncommon. The working conditions were unsupervised and led to constant complaints and small scale strikes. In 1911 one of the worst disasters in NYC history occurred, when a 10 story garment factory by the name of Triangle Shirtwaist, caught fire. 146 people died in the disaster, mostly young Jewish and Italian girls. This led to stronger women trade unions that sought to protect worker's rights especially those of women. The crusade of the Jewish trade unions in New York City would continue well into the 1930's. With all the difficulties, the new immigrants had a sense of personal security which was not available where they came from. They enjoyed civil rights, equality and had hope. Hope, that at least their children, if not them, would climb the social and financial ladder. After World War One, Jews began to dominate the entertainment industry. They dominated Broadway musicals and theaters, and as Broadway became a global center for the arts, Jewish actors, playwrights, composers and comedians gained national and international fame. It is not surprising that in 1918 Israel Beiline known also as Irving Berlin, a Jewish immigrant from Russia to New York City wrote a song that described the feeling of so many Jewish immigrants. While the storm clouds gather far across the sea, Let us swear allegiance to a land that's free. Let us all be grateful for a land so fair, As we raise our voices in a solemn prayer: God bless America, land that I love, Stand beside her and guide her Through the night with a light from above. From the mountains, to the prairies, To the oceans white with foam, God bless America, My home sweet home.
Episodes
Sunday Apr 19, 2015
Sunday Apr 19, 2015
Friday Apr 17, 2015
Friday Apr 17, 2015
Friday Apr 17, 2015
Tuesday Feb 10, 2015
Tuesday Feb 10, 2015
Wednesday Sep 24, 2014
Wednesday Sep 24, 2014
Listen to one of the most tragic events in Jewish history that took place in 1492, the same year Columbus set sail to the New World.