TagJewish life in New York

Sponsored by Aish.com: In 1729, Congregation Shearith Israel laid a foundation stone in lower Manhattan for the first structure ever designed and built as a synagogue in continental North America. At the time, New York had the only Jewish community in the country; it would be some two decades later before organized Jewish settlement began in Philadelphia, Lancaster and Charleston. Shearith Israel...

Sponsored by Aish.com: In 1991, in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, a 7-year-old black child was accidentally killed by a car driven by a chassidic Jew. Within hours, mobs of African American youths took to the streets, setting fires, smashing cars, looting stores, and chanting, “Get the Jews.” Yankel Rosenbaum, a 29-year-old rabbinic student from Australia, was...

Sponsored by Aish.com: In 1654, Jacob Barsimson became the first Jewish settler in New Amsterdam (New York), and a few months later a group of 23 Jews arrived from Brazil. At first, Governor Peter Stuyvesant denied Jews the right to engage in trade, own real estate, serve in the military, and conduct public religious services. Barsimson, an observant Jew, filed an appeal to the Dutch West India...

Sponsored by Aish.com: Yahrtzeit of Rabbi Jacob Joseph (1840-1902), the first and only Chief Rabbi of New York City. A revered leader in Lithuania, Rabbi Joseph was invited to come to America and lead a fledging group of Eastern European immigrants — at a time when America had little infrastructure for Jewish education, kashrut, and other keys to Jewish continuity. Rabbi Joseph fought...