Jewish NYC: Communities

Jews from Eastern Europe, mainly Yiddish speakers, comprise the largest population of Jews in New York City. Many arrived in the mass immigration wave of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, coming from the former Russian Empire, the Kingdom of Poland, Galicia and Romania. This guide also features sections on Hasidim, Holocaust survivors, Soviet Jews, and Israelis, groups that may also include Eastern European Jews.

The burgeoning of Yiddish popular culture and its robust print industry in New York City in the late 19th and early 20th century contributed much to the Jewish Division's collection of newspapers, books, sheet music, and theater ephemera in Yiddish. During World War I, subscriptions to the popular New York Yiddish daily newspaper Forverts (Jewish Daily Forward) reached 200,000. Eastern European Jews also founded numerous communal organizations, including landsmanshaftn (hometown associations).

Eastern European Jews have influenced the city tremendously, from the use of Yiddish to labor activism to the city's arts and cultural scene.

Illustration: Street peddler on the Lower East Side, New York City. NYPL Digital Collections 806176

Suggested Subject Headings:

• Jews, East European -- New York (State)
• Jews, East European -- United States -- History
• Yiddish newspapers -- New York (State) -- New York

Keywords

Yiddish  East European Jews  New York  Bronx  Brooklyn  Queens Staten Island

American Jewish Committee Oral History Collection Series:

• Lautenberg Oral History Collection of East European Jewish Communities

Research Guides

• Yiddish Research

German Jews became a substantial presence in the city in the 19th century as the second major Jewish group to arrive, following the earlier, mostly Sephardic community. The Library's collection includes many primary and secondary sources on German Jews in New York City.

Some became leaders in the city's communal and business life. German-Jewish members of the city's first synagogue, Shearith Israel, broke away to form new synagogues including B'nai Jeshurun and later the city's first Reform synagogue, Temple Emanu-El; they also introduced Reform Judaism. They also founded major Jewish and secular organizations in the city and beyond, including B'nai B'rith, The Harmonie Club, and the Society for Ethical Culture, and created some of the city's historical department stores, including Gimbels, Saks Fifth Avenue, and B. Altman.

German and Austrian Jews also came to New York as refugees and Holocaust survivors [link]. Many lived in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan. The newspaper Aufbau was an essential resource for local German Jews. Today, New York City's Leo Baeck Institute is a major research organization dedicated to German Jewry. 

Illustration: Jewish temple (Fifth Avenue, corner Forty-third street) [Temple Emanu-El]. NYPL Digital Collections 809893

Suggested Subject Headings:

• Jews, German -- New York (State) -- New York
• Jews, German -- United States -- History
• Jewish refugees -- New York (State) -- New York 

Research Guides:

• Holocaust Research, Education, and Remembrance Online

New York City is a global center for Hasidim ["pious ones"], who follow the Orthodox Jewish spiritualist movement called Hasidism, and participate in various courts or sects that follow specific rabbis from Eastern Europe. Please also see this guide's section on Eastern European Jews.

The city's Hasidic population began to grow substantially following the second World War, when Holocaust survivors (please also see the section in this guide on Holocaust survivors) reestablished themselves in the city. Today, there may be between 200,000 and 250,000 Hasidim in New York City, bolstered by a high birth rate and a robust network of community organizations.  

Brooklyn is a center for Hasidim, especially in the neighborhoods of Boro Park, Crown Heights, and Williamsburg. Most speak Yiddish as a vernacular (daily) language, and utilize religious schools, institutions, and businesses to support a thriving insular communal life within the heterogenous milieu of the city. Hasidic publications include periodicals, rabbinic literature, and genealogical materials, and there are secondary sources such as ethnographic studies of local Hasidic communities.

Illustration: Cover for The hasidim of Brooklyn : a photo essay / Yale Strom.

Suggested Subject Headings:

• Hasidim -- Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.)
• Hasidim -- New York (State) -- New York
• Habad -- New York (State) -- New York
• Satmar Hasidim
• Bobov Hasidim
• Belz Hasidim
• Zanz Hasidim

Keywords

Hasidim  Periodicals  Brooklyn  Orthodox Judaism

New York City is home to the largest group of Holocaust survivors in the U.S., estimated at 13,000, according to a 2023 survey by the UJA-Federation. The category of Holocaust survivors overlaps with many other communities listed in this guide, with the unifying characteristic of being "Jews who experienced the persecution and survived the mass murder that was carried out by the Nazis and their collaborators between 1933 and 1945" (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum). 

Consequently, the Library's collection includes many resources by and about Holocaust survivors, including yizkor (Holocaust memorial) books; personal narratives such as oral history interviews, biographies and memoirs; and periodicals, as well as secondary sources like books, encyclopedias, and other materials about the Holocaust.

The city also hosts research institutions that deal with Holocaust Studies, including the Museum of Jewish Heritage - A Living Memorial to the Holocaust, the Center for Jewish History, the Joint (American Joint Distribution Committee) Archive, and the Kupferberg Holocaust Center, as well as social service organizations that help survivors.

Illustration: Portrait of Elie Wiesel. NYPL Digital Collections TH-64778

Suggested Subject Headings:

• Jewish refugees -- New York (State) -- New York 
• Holocaust survivors -- New York (State) --New York 

American Jewish Committee Oral History Collection Series:

• Holocaust survivors

Research Guides

• Holocaust Research, Education, and Remembrance Online

Blog posts:

• Voices of Holocaust Survivors: Oral Histories and Personal Narratives

• Getting Started with Holocaust Genealogy Research

New York City's Jewish community includes immigrants from Israel, who first began coming to the city in the 1950s, and whose population in New York reached about 150,000 by the late 1980's. Reasons for emigration included economic and education opportunities, interest in travel, and family reunification. Many Israelis settled in Queens and Brooklyn. The category of Israelis in New York City may also overlap with other communities listed here.

Illustration: Margalith Oved in The Song of Deborah. NYPL Digital Collections 58624341

Suggested Subject Headings:

Israelis -- New York (State) -- New York

Keywords:

Israelis   New York

New York City is home to many Jews of Color, described as "Jews from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds, whether biracial, adopted, Jews by choice, or part of other national or geographic populations (or a combination of these)", and estimated by the Jews of Color Initiative to comprise 12-15% of the contemporary U.S. Jewish population. A 2023 UJA-Federation survey found that "some 12% of adults identified as non-white, which includes Hispanic, Black and Asian" among the city's Jewish residents.

The category of Jews of Color is multifaceted and overlaps with other communities covered in this guide.

Suggested Subject Headings:

There is a subject heading for African American Jews, but not necessarily for other Jews of Color, as it is a complex concept and not well covered by traditional subject headings. Therefore, we suggest using keywords for various groups, and also exploring the books and websites below for more information.

Blog posts:

• Celebrating African American Jews
• Black Jewish Memoirs

Illustration: Portrait of Sammy Davis, Jr. NYPL Digital Collections TH-07496

New York City is a global center for LGBTQ+ and Jewish communities, featuring dynamic individuals, groups, and movements. Fourteen percent of Jewish households in the city included a person identifying as LGBTQ, according to a 2023 UJA-Federation survey. The Library's collection includes works by and about many Jewish LGBTQ+ leaders, artists, writers, and activists in the city. LGBTQ+ Jewish New Yorkers have made an impact on fields including theater, music, literature, fashion, law, and led/participated in activism for labor, human rights, and HIV/AIDS advocacy, to name just a few. The city also hosts the world's largest LGBTQ+ synagogue, Congregation Beit Simchat Torah, established in 1973.

Illustration: Portrait of Joan Nestle at the Lesbian Herstory Archives. NYPL Digital Collections 1661019.

Suggested Subject Headings:

• Jewish gays   
• Jewish lesbians 
• Jewish transgender people 
• Gender nonconformity -- Religious aspects--Judaism  
• Homosexuality-- Religious aspects--Judaism
• Lesbianism -- Religious aspects--Judaism   
• Sexual orientation -- Religious aspects--Judaism
• Gender nonconformity -- Religious aspects

Research Guides

• LGBTQ+ Jewish Research Guide 
• LGBTQIA+ collections in the Manuscripts and Archives division: Introduction to the Guide

Blog posts:

• Celebrating Jewish LGBT Pride
• Celebrating Transgender Jews
• Honoring LGBT Holocaust Survivors

New York City is home to communities of Mizrahim, or Jews with roots in the Middle East, including Algeria, Egypt, Iran (Persia), Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey, and Yemen. Mizrahim are included as a general category here due to the relatively small population in New York City and the relatively small number of research sources. Each country and community has its own distinct history, culture, and groups. To provide just a few examples, Jewish immigrants came to the New York City from the Levant in the early 20th century; from Iran (Persia) in the 1970s; and later groups from Syria in the 1990s. The population of Mizrahim in the U.S. is  not always well documented in scholarly sources, and research efforts are ongoing.

The history of Mizrahim in New York and globally is intertwined with that of Sephardim because of Sephardic migration to areas already populated by Mizrahim, and the interactions among cultural and linguistic traditions. We recommend also exploring this guide's sections on Bukharian Jews, Sephardim, Romaniote Jews, Israelis, and Holocaust Survivors.

We suggest searching the catalog by individual country names, as indicated below in the subject headings.

Illustration: Tiklal, [spread], manuscript in Judeo-Arabic from Yemen, 1645. NYPL Digital Collections 58784300

Suggested Subject Headings:

• Jews, Egyptian -- New York (State) -- New York
• Jews, Iranian -- New York (State) -- New York
• Jews, Iraqi -- New York (State) -- New York.
• Jews, Syrian -- Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.)
• Jews, Moroccan -- New York (State) -- New York

Keywords

Jews   Algerian    Egyptian    Iranian (Persian)    Iraqi    Lebanese    Libyan    Moroccan    Syrian    Tunisian   Turkish    Yemeni

New York    Brooklyn    Queens    Bronx    Staten Island

American Jewish Committee Oral History Collection Series:

• American Jews of Sephardic origin

New York's City is home to a Romaniote (Greek-speaking) Jewish community from Greece, known for the Kehila Kedosha Janina Synagogue and Museum on the city's Lower East Side. Many of the city's Romaniote community trace their roots to early 20th century immigration; some are also Holocaust survivors [link] and their descendants. More broadly, the city's Greek Jewish population includes Sephardim (Ladino-speaking) Jews; please also see the section on Sephardim. Generally, Greek Jews face(d) both antisemitism from the general population and rejection from the dominant Ashkenazic Jewish population, leading them to found their own independent organizations. 

Illustration: Synagogue. New York, NY [Kehila Kedosha Janina]. Photo by Morris Huberland. NYPL Digital Collections 5750369

Suggested Subject Headings:

Jews, Greek -- New York (State) -- New York

Romaniots -- New York (State) -- New York

New York City's Sephardic community began with the first Jews who came to the city in 1654 from Recife, Brazil.  Early Sephardic residents founded the city's first synagogue, Shearith Israel, and dominated the emerging Jewish community.

The next substantial group of Sephardic immigrants came to New York in the early 20th century from countries including Bulgaria, Greece, Macedonia, Serbia, Syria, Turkey, and the former Yugoslavia, where their Iberian ancestors had migrated. Initially, they settled on the Lower East Side and founded organizations such as the synagogue Kehila Kedosha Ahavat Shalom de Monastir, the Sephardic Brotherhood, and several Ladino-language newspapers, including La Amerika. They also opened neighborhood coffee shops that served as important gathering spaces for Sephardim due to discrimination from the predominantly Ashkenazic Jewish community and from the broader society. 

The history of Sephardim in New York and globally is intertwined with that of Mizrahim (Middle Eastern Jews) because of Sephardic migration to areas already populated by Mizrahim, and the interactions among cultural and linguistic traditions. We recommend also exploring this guide's sections on Mizrahim, Romaniote Jews, and Holocaust Survivors.

Illustration: Cover of Sephardic Jews in America: A diasporic history, by Aviva Ben-Ur

Suggested Subject Headings:

• Sephardim -- New York (State) -- New York
• Sephardim -- Bronx (New York, N.Y.)
• Sephardim -- Harlem (New York, N.Y.)
• Sephardim -- Queens (New York, N.Y.)
• Sephardim -- Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.)

Keywords:

Sephardim  Sephardic Jews  New York  Brooklyn  Bronx  Queens

American Jewish Committee Oral History Collection Series:

• American Jews of Sephardic origin

New York City is home to many Soviet Jews, or Jews who came to the city from the former Soviet Union, and constitute about three-quarters of Russian- and Ukranian-speaking New Yorkers. Among Jewish households in the city, Russian speakers constitute about 9%, according to a 2023 UJA-Federation survey. Soviet Jews mainly came to the city in two waves: in the 1970s, and between 1987 and 1995.  Large numbers settled in the Brighton Beach neighborhood of Brooklyn, leading to the nickname Little Odessa.

In addition, many descendants of earlier Jewish immigrants also trace their roots to areas in the former Soviet Union. The group "Soviet Jews" overlaps with other groups in this guide; please see the sections on Bukharian and Eastern European Jews, Hasidim, and Holocaust Survivors. 

Suggested Subject Headings:

• Jews, Russian -- New York (State) -- New York
• Jews, Bukharan -- New York (State) -- New York
• Jews, Soviet -- New York (State) -- New York
• Jews, Russian -- New York (State) -- New York

Keywords:

Jews   Soviet   Russian   Bukharan   New York   Brooklyn    Queens    Bronx   Staten Island 

American Jewish Committee Oral History Collection Series:

• Soviet Jewish emigres in America

Blog posts:

• From Odessa to New York City: The Unique Legacy of America’s Soviet Jewry