Hanukkah & Jewish Culture

Known as Newark's ""Jewish Frontier,"" Weequahic was home to 35,000 Jewish residents from the 1930s to the 1960s.

Homes built on farm lots, known as Lyons Farms, attracted the city's upwardly mobile Jewish families. Weequahic High School still remains at the heart of the community, drawing generations of alumni for annual reunions and events. Pulitzer Prize-winning author Philip Roth, a Weequahic High School graduate, found inspiration in the community, documenting its intricacies in his work. The high school still houses a mural, The Enlightenment of Man, painted by New Deal painter Michael Lenson. This mural is regarded as one of the most important pieces of public art in the state. Jews of Weequahic captures the life of this vibrant community that has become one of Newark's legendary neighborhoods.

The Jewish Community around North Broad Street weaves the tale of the Jewish community in this part of Philadelphia through a collection of rare and stunning images. The construction of the North Broad Street subway in the 1920s and the row house Jewish community known as Logan are parts of this story. The development of business districts led to a more cohesive north and northwest Jewish community that allowed for satellite Jewish enclaves to flourish, complete with their own synagogues, bakeries, kosher meat markets, and hundreds of other shops that served the general population. In the 1950s, new neighborhoods, such as Mount Airy and West Oak Lane, alleviated an acute housing shortage at a time when 110,000 Jews lived in north-central and northwest Philadelphia.

In the pages of Jewish Life in Omaha and Lincoln: A Photographic History, peoples' lives, events, neighborhoods, and institutions that helped shape and transform today's Jewish community are brought to life. This vibrant tapestry is captured in images ranging from a mid-19th century stereopticon to a recent aerial photograph. The over 230 images, culled from the collection of the Nebraska Jewish Historical Society, focus on immigration patterns that brought Jews into the region, from the opening of the West, to the Holocaust, to the arrival of Soviet Jews. Other images look at the changing face of synagogues and religious practices in the Midlands. Jewish-founded businesses that are mentioned in this book are landmarks in Omaha and throughout the Midwest, from the Nebraska Furniture Mart to Omaha Steaks International.

Documented as part of the Lowcountry since the 1690s, Charleston Jews have contributed to the region, the nation and the world. In 1800, the city boasted the largest and wealthiest Jewish population in the country, and Charleston has been continually shaped by this significant group of men and women, both religious and secular, humble and heroic.

Here are their stories--both old and new--all intermixed with tales of historic buildings, congregations, religious movements and cemeteries, wonderfully told by preeminent Charleston Jewish historian Solomon Breibart. Collected from a lifetime of work, these explorations offer the reader a wealth of material: essays of historic significance, biographies, lists and chronologies, and telling vignettes that together suggest the rich mosaic of Jewish life that has been part of Charleston and the Lowcountry.

It's a tale told nowhere else, and no one could tell it better, or in such a lively way, than Solomon Breibart.

The earliest settlers-such as Nehemiah Marks, who was living and doing business in Stamford as early as 1720-opened stores and other commercial enterprises. By the mid-1800s, city dwellers began coming to the region for summer vacations. After 1880, settlers arrived via the peddlers' routes and, after accumulating a little capital, stayed to open shops and establish themselves socially and politically. The greatest influx came in the 1890s and early 1900s, when many Jews arrived from the Pale of Settlements, eastern and central Europe, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Romania, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

With this collection of the best of his columns from the Baltimore Jewish Times, Gilbert Sandler crafts a brilliant portrait of Jewish Baltimore.

Baltimore is the cultural hub of Maryland's Jewish community, and for three decades, local legend Gilbert Sandler has chronicled its stories. With this collection of the best of his columns from the Baltimore Jewish Times, Sandler crafts a brilliant portrait of Jewish Baltimore. Join Sandler as he evokes memories of the corner drugstore, rides at Carlin's Park and freshly fried coddies. From these warmly familiar scenes of neighborhood life, Sandler moves to stories of the community banding together during the Great Depression and the extraordinary courage of rabbis and their congregations during the civil rights protests of the 1960s. Recall the halcyon days and share the joys and sorrows of Charm City's Jewish community.

Stories of Jewish Dayton recovers the lost history of Jewish life in the Miami Valley.

Many stories of Jewish Dayton's past have faded over time. Others, painful to recall, may have been intentionally buried. All are sure to surprise new generations. The Jews of Dayton drank wine during Prohibition, debated Zionism, fought the Klan, and joined the battle for civil rights in the trenches. Balancing tradition and modernity across eras, they navigated the American dream and faced challenges often strikingly similar to those we face today.

Marshall Weiss -- founding editor and publisher of the Dayton Jewish Observer and project director of Miami Valley Jewish Genealogy & History -- reaches back nearly two centuries to unearth forgotten episodes of Jewish history in Ohio's Miami Valley.

Although the fact is seldom recognized, Jews have been a part of the American experience since the early colonial days.

They brought to these shores skills and traditions that America has welcomed and rewarded. They have made major contributions to this country's social, scientific, and cultural fabric. Despite their small numbers, the Jews of Rhode Island can claim two governors and many lawyers, physicians, scientists, manufacturers, businessmen, artists, and educators in state history. The Jews of Rhode Island 1658-1958 is the first comprehensive pictorial history of the Rhode Island Jewish experience. It provides a broad sweep of the first 300 years of Jewish history in Rhode Island beginning with the very first Jewish settlers in Newport in 1658 and includes images of their lives in all parts of the state.

These pages bring to life the people, events, neighborhoods, and institutions that helped shape and transform today's Jewish community. These photographs, derived from the collections of the Minnesota Historical Society and the Ramsey County Historical Society, paint a poignant and vivid picture of Jewish life in St. Paul. In addition to recalling the establishment of Mt. Zion and Sons of Jacob, the first two major synagogues in St. Paul, this book displays the distinct impact that prominent Jews of the community, such as Abram Elfelt, Judge Isaac N. Cardozo, and Isador Rose, had on the shaping of St. Paul.

Strawberry Mansion: The Jewish Community of North Philadelphiais a testament to the urban experience in American Jewish life. Perfect for fans of Jewish-American History.

A section of North Philadelphia, Strawberry Mansionis nestled high on the banks of the Schuylkill River, adjacent to the large expanses of Fairmount Park, with many wonderful venues such as Woodside Park.

The area became the setting for America's premiere Jewish Community in the 20th century, with over 50,000 inhabitants.Strawberry Mansionwas the first Jewish suburb within an urban setting. Affectionately known as the Mansion, it was only a trolley car ride away from South Philadelphia's immigrant district. Jewish families migrated from one neighborhood to another as they advanced economically in American society during the early 1900s. By the mid-1950s, the decision to discontinue the once heavily traveled Route ,9trolley car marked the decline and eventual demise of Strawberry Mansionas a Jewish enclave.

Drawing from select archives and family collections, over 150 years of Dayton's Jewish history comes to life.

Since the arrival of approximately a dozen German-Jewish immigrants in the 1840s, the Jewish community of Dayton has actively contributed to the betterment and welfare of the ""Gem City."" Jewish Community of Dayton recalls forgotten stories of Arthur Welsh, the first Jewish airplane pilot; orphan turned social reformer Rabbi David Lefkowitz; Golda Meir's impassioned 1948 visit on behalf of the new Jewish state; and opera star Jan Peerce giving the final performance of his career with the acclaimed Beth Abraham Youth Chorale. This book illustrates how Dayton's Jews have responded and adapted to challenges ranging from the Great Flood of 1913 to resettlement of immigrants throughout the 20th century, from sacrifices for the state of Israel to activism in the civil rights era.