A brief sketch of the jewish history of nyc

Early settlements and the start

New York has a population of 8.5 million and a whopping 1.9 million are Jewish. This Jewish connection goes back as far as the 17th Century when New York was still a Dutch Colony, before British took it and named it New York from New Amsterdam. Jewish settlements started when it was under Dutch influence. Dutch records say that only 23 Jewish men set foot on New York for the first time, around early September 1654. They arrived in a French ship variously named as St. Catherine or St. Charles.

After initial hostility between the Dutch and the Jewish settlers basically due to the unwillingness of Governor Peter Stuyvesant, probably because of political, economical and religious differences, by 1658 the Jewish settlers were finally allowed to stay under pressure from Dutch East Indies company. They were allowed to buy plots and own lands. In 1682, the first synagogue was built, the Sephardi Congregation Shearith Israel.

During Ninetieth and Twentieth Century

In the early Nineteenth century, between 1812 and 1840, the state of New York witnessed massive Jewish immigration, the City of New York witnessing the most. Following the end of Napoleonic Wars in England, Jews from Germany, Poland and France started pouring into New York. In 1880 Jewish population was estimated between 65,000 to 80,000. East European immigration touched its peak in the late nineteenth and early Twentieth Century. By 1925, the Jewish population touched 1 million. Lower east side of New York was overflowing with Jewish localities as this is where most of the new immigrants settled.

Life and Culture

In every area where there was a significant presence of Jewish life, a synagogue was built. During 18th and 19th Century, most of the Jewish immigrants from Europe were skilled workers. Most of them found themselves a work in the factories, especially in the garment industries. Many of these factories were even owned by first class Jews who arrived much earlier. Some Jews took up merchandise and other profitable businesses. New Primary occupation was trade and clothing business. Streets of New York started getting filled with Jewish shops ranging from garments, books, bakeries to restaurants. Gradually printing house was built for printing Jewish literature, this helped in publishing the first Jewish newspaper. People in the Lower East Side Museums of the city which was the most congested, had local retail occupations.

After the end First and the Second World War, with the horrors of the ghastly holocaust on the entire Jewish population in Europe still in the mind, the state of New York saw a huge influx of Jews. Of the four boroughs; Manhattan, Staten Island, Long Island, Brooklyn and Queens, the highest percentage of Jewish population is found in Brooklyn. New York Metropolitan holds the second largest Jewish community in the entire world, after Tel Aviv; containing 40% of the all American Jews.

Notable Jewish places/places of Interest

Jewish Heritage can be best witnessed in the lower east side. One can start from the Eldridge Street Synagogue and then visit the Fodor's Museum. Then there is the Tenement Museum, which displays the life of the Jewish immigrants during the early twentieth century. Center for Jewish History in Manhattan is a must see place. Opened in 2000, this place acts as a institution for Jewish studies, preservation of Jewish literature and Art. It has most of the records that depict the moment of Jewish immigration to New York city. The Center holds a collection of 500,000 books, thousands of art objects and 100 million documents.

For getting more details please visit at http://www.eldridgestreet.org/.