Name: Gangsters and Organized Crime in Jewish Chicago
Brand: Alex Garel-Frantzen
SKU: 9781626191938
Price: 21.99 USD
Availability: InStock

Gangsters and Organized Crime in Jewish Chicago

9781626191938

$21.99

Al Capone. The Untouchables. The Valentine's Day massacre. You may think you know everything about the Roaring Twenties in the Windy City, but in the early twentieth century, the harsh environment of the Maxwell Street ghetto produced a proliferation of Jewish gangsters involved in everything from labor racketeering to white slavery. Their illegal activity offended their own community's value system and sparked rifts between Reform and Orthodox Jews. It also ignited tensions between city officials and Jewish leaders, indelibly marked the gentile population's perception of Chicago's Jews and shaped the city's West Side for years to come.

Gangsters and Organized Crime in Jewish Chicago

Food, Hope & Resilience

9781467155397

$29.99

Culinary Traditions Preserved, Stories Never to be Forgotten

This vital collection of survivor stories uplifts and inspires alongside recipes that nourish your soul. Read about daring partisans who fought in the woods, hidden children who sought comfort from strangers and those who endured unimaginable internment. For Holocaust survivors, food was a way to connect their lives before the war with the homes they created after. Their kitchens were filled with the aromas of familiar foods like chicken soup and brisket while unfamiliar delights they adopted, like arroz con pollo and gnocchi, became part of their repertoire. These are the recipes they share with you. Culinary icons such as Michael Solomonov, Jonathan Waxman, Ina Garten and more contribute their own recipes as tribute to the remarkable survivor community. Author June Hersh gives readers a taste of history and a life-affirming message that honors the legacy of Holocaust survivors.

A portion of the proceeds from sales of this book will benefit organizations committed to Holocaust education.

Jewish Miami Beach

9781467160414

$24.99

From a disregarded, forlorn island in the early 1900s to the world-famous resort and go-to place of today, Jews have played a prominent role in Miami Beach's achievements and fame. Initially consigned to a tiny enclave on the southern tip of Miami Beach, the community's Jewish population quickly expanded north, from South Beach to Golden Beach, and assumed a leadership position in nearly every phase of the city's life by the late 1900s. At every step of Miami Beach's rich history--from commerce, architecture, and banking to hospitality, real estate, and government--the Jewish community blossomed, enabling Jews to play singular roles in a drama that continues to unfold.

Iconic New York Jewish Food

9781467152600

$23.99

Take a culinary journey through the foods, restaurants and businesses that define the cuisine of New York City and the Jewish immigrant experience... No trip to New York's five boroughs is complete without a hand sliced pastrami sandwich at Katz's deli or a bagel and lox with a schmear of cream cheese from Russ and Daughters. Any true New Yorker can tell you where to get the savoriest bowl of matzo ball soup or the crispest kosher dill pickle. Manischewitz wine became the icon it is today after Sammy Davis Jr. became its offical spokesperson. Join author June Hersh as she reveals the iconic Jewish foods, establishments and products that left their imprint on the taste buds of New Yorkers and the world.

Jewish Los Angeles

9781467105491

$24.99

The first known Jewish resident of the Mexican Pueblo de Los Ángeles arrived in 1841. When California entered the Union in 1850, the census listed just eight Jews living in Los Angeles. By 1855, the fledgling city had a Hebrew Benevolent Society and a Jewish cemetery. The first Jewish congregation and kosher market were established in 1862. Meanwhile, Jewish merchants and business owners founded banks, fraternal orders, charities, athletic clubs, and social service organizations. Jewish property owners developed vast areas of Los Angeles and beyond into the neighborhoods and cities we know today. By 1897, the city's Jewish population was large enough to support its own newspaper. The 20th century brought waves of Jewish immigrants and migrants to Los Angeles, where they built the motion picture and television industries, Cedars-Sinai and City of Hope medical centers, the Jewish Home for the Aging, urban and suburban synagogues and Jewish centers, and other institutions. The foundations laid by these enterprising pioneers helped transform Los Angeles into a major metropolis.

Jewish Gold Country

9781467104814

$24.99

The discovery of gold at Sutter's Mill in Coloma on January 24, 1848, initiated one of the largest migrations in US history. Between 1849 and 1855, hundreds of thousands of migrants arrived in Northern California hoping to find gold in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. The rapid population growth and economic prosperity led to boomtowns, banks, and railroads, making California eligible for statehood in 1850. An international cast of gold-seekers, merchants, and tradespeople arrived by land and through the port of San Francisco, which was transformed from a small village to a cosmopolitan metropolis. Jewish pioneers, many of whom had been merchants in Europe, opened stores and businesses in small towns and mining camps in and around the Mother Lode. They established benevolent societies and cemeteries, founded synagogues and companies, held public office and positions of influence, and contributed greatly to the multicultural fabric of the Gold Country.

Cover image for Jewish Gold Country, isbn: 9781467104814

Jewish Community of Northern Virginia, The

9781467108829

$23.99

A Jewish community has resided in Northern Virginia for over 175 years. Communal activities began in earnest in the 1850s with the establishment of a Hebrew Benevolent Society and the first synagogue--Beth El Hebrew Congregation in Alexandria. As the community took root, it absorbed waves of immigrants from Germany and later Eastern Europe, leading to growth across the area and a wider range of Jewish practice. The new arrivals settled in towns across the area, establishing livelihoods in Arlington, Herndon, Fredericksburg, Warrenton, Culpeper, Leesburg, and Winchester. Many worked in the retail trade, selling clothes, shoes, merchandise, and scrap. The growth of the federal government and construction of the Pentagon in the 1940s brought new jobs and families to the area, and the Jewish community grew along with it. In recent decades, Northern Virginia has changed from a largely rural area to a bustling integrated extension of Washington, DC. Today, the area is home to over 120,000 Jews, surpassing the number in the older DC and Maryland communities.

Jewish Community of Northern Virginia, The

The Jewish Community of Atlanta

9781467105859

$24.99

As Atlanta evolved from a sleepy, backwater, 19th-century frontier railroad town into a 21st-century international metropolis, Jewish men and women significantly contributed to the rich tapestry of the "Gate City of the South." The commercial infrastructure of the expanding city was greatly enhanced through numerous small businesses established by Jewish merchants, some of which became major players in various industries. Many of Atlanta's most recognizable icons--The Coca-Cola Company, Georgia Institute of Technology, and the Atlanta Braves--originated, in part, thanks to support from visionary leaders in the Jewish community. While there are many success stories throughout Atlanta's Jewish history, there are also dark episodes of blatant antisemitism that traumatized the community and had national implications. The lynching of Leo M. Frank; the bombing of the city's historic synagogue, the Hebrew Benevolent Congregation; and the deliberate expulsion of Jewish students from Emory University Dental School marred Atlanta's self-proclaimed reputation as "The City Too Busy to Hate."

Jewish Settlers in the Arizona Territory

9781467154659

$24.99

Pioneers in Broadcloth
In the 1800s, territorial Arizona offered excitement and adventure to new arrivals, including many Jewish families. Anna Solomon tended the family's general store in the remote Gila River Valley while her husband, Isadore, cut timber and burned charcoal for the furnaces at Henry Lesinsky's Clifton copper mines. In Phoenix, young Morris Goldwater sat at the telegraph in his father's store, sending and receiving the messages that kept the town in touch with the outside world. To the west, Ike Levy navigated his barge around treacherous shoals and sand bars on the Colorado River.
Join author and historian Blaine Lamb as he reveals the unique characters and events that shaped the pioneer Jewish community of Arizona.

Jewish Settlers in the Arizona Territory

Jewish New York

9781455619689

$24.95

Use this as your roadmap to Jewish immigration in New York!

Featured sites are divided by their location, traveling from the south to the farthest northern tip of Manhattan. Each section provides a map of the area and a broad introduction to the district's place in the historic timeline of Jewish immigration. The author provides suggested itineraries, tips for the visitor, and reference notes for further exploration, while a historical introduction provides the framework for locals and visitors of every religion and nationality. Vintage photos provide historic illustrations.

Cover image for Jewish New York, isbn: 9781455619689

Jewish Community of Greater Buffalo

9781467120067

$24.99

Jewish community life in Buffalo began in 1847 with the founding of Temple Beth El. A dominantly German Jewish community transformed in the 1880s as Eastern European Jews settled around William Street. Intense religious and commercial vibrancy emerged with new synagogues alongside Jewish grocery stores, kosher butchers, clothiers, and more. From this east side milieu, lyricist Jack Yellen ("Happy Days are Here Again") and composer Harold Arlen ("Over the Rainbow") emerged as part of a new generation shaping local and national American life. On the west side, Temple Beth Zion, the Jewish Federation, Jewish Community Center, Jewish Family Service, and Rosa Coplon Jewish Old Folks Home built institutions on and around Delaware Avenue. Jewish areas in Humboldt, North Buffalo, Kenmore, Amherst, Getzville, and Williamsville developed over time. Camp Lakeland continued earlier traditions of summer camping. Throughout the 20th century, Jewish Buffalonians made their marks as entrepreneurs, distinguished lawyers, award-winning writers, and Nobel Prize scientists, among other careers. The Jewish Community of Greater Buffalo showcases Buffalo and Niagara Falls Jewry over the last two centuries.

Jewish Philadelphia:

9781596299030

$21.99

Experience Philadelphia's Jewish history with a nine-site walking tour through the city's oldest streets. Discover the treasures of the Rosenbach Museum and Library and stories of the immigrant experience at the new National Museum of American Jewish History. Find out how the Liberty Bell became inscribed with a passage from the Torah and where to find some of the best Reubens in the city. Encouraged by Penn's charter of religious tolerance, Jewish people have flocked to Philadelphia since before the Revolutionary War, and in turn they have made remarkable contributions to the City of Brotherly Love. With a walking tour and a series of intriguing vignettes, tour guide Linda Nesvisky leads readers down colonial streets to discover the surprising history of the Jewish community in Philadelphia into the twenty-first century.

Jewish Denver

9780738548296

$24.99

In 1859, during the Pike's Peak gold rush, at least 12 Jews joined the great migration to Colorado in search of gold and a brighter future. The unpredictability of mining and a growing demand for supplies encouraged many of these Jewish settlers to establish small businesses in Denver and in towns and mining camps across the state. By the early 1870s, Jewish benevolent societies and a congregation were established. Denver's dry, mild climate attracted patients with tuberculosis, and two Jewish sanatoriums were opened in the city around the beginning of the 20th century. Many of the predominantly Eastern European Jews who came in search of better health made Denver their home, thus augmenting the early Jewish population significantly. Today Jewish life flourishes in Colorado, and Jewish citizens continue to play a vital role in its culture and development.

Jews of Scranton

9780738537153

$24.99

For one hundred fifty years, the Jewish residents of Scranton have contributed to the vitality of the city. In the nineteenth century, Jews immigrated to Scranton from Germany and eastern Europe, and Russian resettlement families arrived during the twentieth century. As merchants and manufacturers, they sold diamonds and groceries and produced dental supplies and ginger ale. They achieved recognition as doctors, lawyers, publishers, financiers, soldiers, and sailors. Dignitaries and scholars, such as Eleanor Roosevelt and Elie Wiesel, have been their guests, and they have hosted personalities and pop stars, such as Miss America and the Mouseketeers. Most consistently, the Orthodox, Conservative, and Reformed congregations of Scranton have established synagogues and community centers, maintaining a commitment to their faith and families that extends to the present day.

Jewish Community of North Minneapolis

9780738508177

$24.99

The stories of the Jewish community of North Minneapolis are an important part of the rich and diverse mosaic of North Minneapolis history. By 1936, there were more than 16,000 Jew in Minneapolis, and 70 percent of them lived on the North Side. The Jewish Community of North Minneapolis presents an intriguing record of the earliest beginnings of Jewish communities in the city. Through the medium of historic photographs, this book captures the cultural, economic, political, and social history of this community, from the late 1800s to the present day. The Jews in North Minneapolis enjoyed a busy social and cultural life with their landsmanschaften, and shopped together at the kosher butcher shops and fish markets, grocery stores and bakeries, clothing stores, barber shops, restaurants, and other small businesses that had sprung up along Sixth Avenue North and then Plymouth Avenue. Including vintage images and tales of the community-Hebrew schools, synagogues, and social groups-this collection uncovers the challenges and triumphs of the Jewish community.

Jewish West Virginia

9780738586069

$24.99

West Virginia has a unique history of Jewish settlement dating back to 1849 when the first Jewish organization in the state, a Jewish burial society, was established by a small group of German Jewish immigrants in the city of Wheeling. From modest beginnings, Jews settled in towns and cities and established businesses and communal organizations. Since that time, the Jews of the Mountain State have been an integral part of the state's economic, cultural, and political life. Though always relatively small in size, West Virginia's Jewish population has been a strong advocate for the state and gained prominence in many areas. Readers will recognize images of well-known institutions such as Shoney's, Cohen's, Frankenberger's, Embee's, and others that bring back fond memories. Despite declines in Jewish population numbers, today's Jewish community remains active and involved in the life of the state.

Jewish Pittsburgh

9781467122955

$24.99

By the mid-19th century, Jews from German lands began settling in Pittsburgh, later to be followed by Jews from the Russian and Austro-Hungarian Empires and Romania. They founded businesses and organizations such as Giant Eagle, Kaufmann's Department Store, Montefiore Hospital, the Pittsburgh Playhouse, the Civic Light Opera, and the Pittsburgh Pirates. Sophie Masloff became the first woman and the first Jew to serve as mayor, and civic reformer and lawyer A. Leo Weil, philanthropist Leon Falk Jr., and social justice crusader Florence Reizenstein all had schools named after them. From Allegheny City and "the Hill" to Squirrel Hill and the East End, the Jewish population preserved its distinct core community and contributed to its adopted city in multiple ways. Today, it numbers more than 40,000, and their story is one of grit, determination, risk taking, hard knocks, and no small measure of success.

The Jewish Community of Shreveport

9780738514888

$24.99

The Jewish presence in northwest Louisiana actually predates the establishment of Shreveport in 1836. From the very beginning, Jews have been part of the city's civic, social, and mercantile life. Pioneer settlers began holding services in private homes in the 1840s, and by 1858 the community was sufficiently large enough to consecrate a Jewish cemetery and the first Jewish benevolent association, a forerunner of today's North Louisiana Jewish Federation. In 1859, the first congregation was founded.

In The Jewish Community of Shreveport the rich history of this influential and vibrant citizenry is chronicled by well-known Louisiana historian Eric J. Brock, archivist of Shreveport's B'nai Zion Temple. Nearly 18 decades of Jewish life in Shreveport are depicted in over 200 vintage images, many of which are previously unpublished. Both of the city's synagogues, B'nai Zion and Agudath Achim, are represented, as are many of the rabbis, business leaders, political leaders (including three mayors), and laypeople from the community's long history.

Cover image for The Jewish Community of Shreveport, isbn: 9780738514888

Jewish Cookery Book

9781557091864

$14.95 $11.21 Save 25%

Originally published in 1871, the Jewish Cookery Book was the first Jewish cookbook published in America. The book offers practical, down-to-earth advice for American-born Jews who did not have the benefit of a traditional Jewish education. Not much is known about the book's author, Mrs. Esther Levy. She was born Esther Jacobs, probably in England, and most likely lived in Philadelphia. Her book, however, is a milestone in American Jewish history.

Cover image for Jewish Cookery Book, isbn: 9781557091864

The Jewish Hospital & Cincinnati Jews in Medicine

9781467118491

$21.99

Cincinnati Jewish Hospital has remained a beacon of service to the city for more than a century and a half. Although it always accepted patients regardless of their heritage or faith, the institution maintains its Jewish identity. Founded in 1850, the Hospital weathered depressions and wars while reflecting changes that occurred within the Jewish community and the city. Cincinnati's Jewish health professionals pioneered medical education, new treatments for polio and the introduction of new psychological treatments for children. Author Frederic Krome explores the fascinating history of the Cincinnati Jewish Hospital and the many contributions Cincinnati Jews made to the field of medicine.

The Jewish Hospital & Cincinnati Jews in Medicine

Jewish Community of Hartford

9781467115964

$24.99

Hartford's Jewish presence dates back to the mid-1600s. The earliest permanent settlers were German Jews, who purchased the first building for use as a synagogue in 1856. With increasing immigration from Eastern Europe, the population soon expanded. Jewish-owned businesses became part of Hartford's economic life, and numerous civic and social welfare organizations were established. In 1945, many philanthropic groups consolidated to create the Jewish Federation of Greater Hartford, which later relocated to West Hartford as the community shifted to the surrounding suburbs. Among the Hartford area's most accomplished sons and daughters are entertainer Sophie Tucker, producer Norman Lear, comedienne Totie Fields, artist Sol LeWitt, and significant Zionist leaders, such as Samuel Hoffenberg and Abraham Goldstein. The Jewish Community of Hartford highlights some of the people and institutions that have helped to shape this remarkable community.

Jewish Chicago

9780738501307

$24.99

Relive and discover the remarkable evolution and contribution of Jewish people of Chicago, from the 1840s to present day.

For many years Chicago had the third largest Jewishpopulation of any city in the world. Through the medium of historic photographs, this book captures the remarkable evolution of the Jewish people of Chicago, from their immigrant beginnings in the 1840s to their present-day communities. It is a story of the cultural, religious, economic, and everyday life of Chicago's Jews. These pages bring to life the people, events, neighborhoods, and institutions that helped shape and transform today's Jewish community. The photos and maps, culled from the author's and other collections, paint a vivid and informative picture of Chicago Jewry. In addition to recalling the early immigrant German and later Eastern European Jews, this book delves into Jewish neighborhoods including the West Side, South Side, North Side, suburban communities, and Maxwell Street, a neighborhood which produced such prominent Jews as musician Benny Goodman, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Arthur Goldberg, Admiral Hyman Rickover, community organizer Saul Alinsky, and CBS founder William Paley. Chicago Jews have also made contributions to the city and the nation in the arts,commerce and industry, government service, entertainment, and labor, including seven Nobel prize winners. The images show Jews as peddlers and sweatshop workers as well as successful business entrepreneurs and professionals.

Jewish South Florida

9781455622139

$24.95

Your roadmap to Jewish life in South Florida!

A rich history and Jewish cultural tradition lie beneath the surface of South Florida. Beyond the stereotype of elderly Jews visiting sunny beaches, Florida boasts a distinctive Jewish population. The area is inhabited by Ashkenazi Jews, Sephardic Jews with roots in Spain or Turkey, and those from Cuba and other Latin American countries. This cultural mingling makes the Jewish way of life in South Florida so unique, featuring synagogues and eateries from Boca Raton, Palm Beach, and Miami. More than simply a travel guide, this book approaches each profiled location as an opportunity to bring to light the culture of the Jews that have made South Florida their home.

Jews of Springfield in the Ozarks

9780738590943

$24.99

Jews arrived to the bustling town of Springfield shortly after its founding in 1838, only five years after the birth of the state of Missouri. The first Jews to live in Springfield were Victor and Bertha Sommers with her brother Ferdinand Bakrow. They opened Victor Sommers & Co., a dry goods store in 1860. The Jewish community grew as merchants brought their families, tying Springfield to other towns along the Mississippi River through marriages. The first congregation was founded in 1893 by the German Reform Jews. In 1918, the Eastern European Jews founded their Orthodox congregation. In the 1940s, the two merged. Unlike other small Jewish communities that have slowly perished because of their children's migration to larger Jewish communities where they could use their education, this Jewish community in the Ozarks continues to thrive because of the universities and hospitals in the region.

The Jews of New Orleans and the Mississippi Delta

9781609496814

$21.99

Authors Emily Ford and Barry Stiefel delve into the Jewish communities settled in New Orleans and along the Mississippi Delta.

The early days of Louisiana settlement brought with them a clandestine group of Jewish pioneers. Isaac Monsanto and other traders spited the rarely enforced Code Noir banning their occupancy, but it wasn't until the Louisiana Purchase that larger numbers colonized the area. Immigrants like the Sartorius brothers and Samuel Zemurray made their way from Central and Eastern Europe to settle the bayou country along the Mississippi. They made their homes in and around New Orleans and the Mississippi River delta, establishing congregations like that of Tememe Derech and B'Nai Israel, with the mighty river serving as a mode of transportation and communication, connecting the communities on both sides of the riverbank.

The Jews of New Orleans and the Mississippi Delta

A History of Jewish Connecticut

9781596299870

$21.99

During the Revolutionary War, Sephardic Jews fled British-occupied New York to become the first Jewish families in Connecticut. This long Jewish history is explored in a collection of essays by historians and community members across the state, from colonial times and the role Jews played in the Civil War to memories of summer nights at Lebanon's Grand Lake Lodge and Danbury's Lake Waubeeka. Join editor Betty N. Hoffman and company as they recount tales of Kid Kaplan, the Meriden Buzz Saw," who became boxing's 1925 Featherweight Champion of the World; the Lender family, who "bagelized America"; and the graceful personal service of Marlow's Department Store in Manchester to reveal a fascinating and intimate portrait of Jewish Connecticut."

Hidden History of Newark, New Jersey

9781467152617

$24.99

Brick City Past Revealed

Newark's history is as diverse and powerful as the community that continues to call New Jersey's largest city home. The colonial settlement at Four Corners--the Broad and Market intersection--grew into one of the most heavily traveled thoroughfares in the nation. In the nineteenth century, innovations such as the public use of the electric light bulb in Military Park and the discovery of how to make patent leather established Newark as a flourishing industrial hub. Dramatic events including the battle between Nazi sympathizers and city residents in the 1930s, hearings held by the House Un-American Activities Committee in the 1950s and the event that triggered the infamous 1967 riots, defined a raucous twentieth century in Newark. Today, urban farming can be found in the Ironbound, NBA star Shaquille O'Neal has helped fund the city's first high-rise tower in fifty years and revitalization efforts continue. Author Helen Lippman presents hidden history of Newark, New Jersey.

Cover image for Hidden History of Newark, New Jersey, isbn: 9781467152617

Chicago's Jewish West Side

9780738560151

$24.99

No matter where the scattered Jews of Chicago live now, many can trace their roots to this ""Jerusalem of Chicago.""

For nearly half a century, the greater Lawndale area was the vibrant, spirited center of Jewish life in Chicago. It contained almost 40 percent of the city's entire Jewish population with over 70 synagogues and numerous active Jewish organizations and institutions, such as the Jewish People's Institute, the Hebrew Theological College, and Mount Sinai Hospital. Its residents included ""King of Swing"" Benny Goodman, Israeli prime minister Golda Meir, journalists Irv Kupcinet and Meyer Levin, federal judge Abraham Lincoln Marovitz, civil rights attorney Elmer Gertz, Eli's Cheesecake founder Eli Shulman, and comedian Shelley Berman. Many of the selected images come from the author's extensive collection. This book will bring back memories for those who lived there and retell the story of Jewish life on the West Side for those who did not.

Oxford Circle

9780738536217

$24.99

The Jewish community of Northeast Philadelphia was created by the relocation of secondgeneration eastern European Jews from the neighborhoods of Strawberry Mansion and South, North, and West Philadelphia. Serving more than one hundred thousand Jewish residents at its height, Northeast Philadelphia consisted of ten distinctive neighborhoods, including Feltonville, Oxford Circle, Tacony, and Mayfair. During the twentieth century, thousands of Jewish families were attracted to the area by the houses built along Roosevelt Boulevard for soldiers returning home from World War II. Welsh Road catered to younger families, and wealthier families resided along Bustleton Avenue and Fox Chase and Verree Roads. Today, the influx of strictly orthodox Jewish residents has given rise to a third generation of Jewish life in Northeast Philadelphia.

Maine's Jewish Heritage

9780738549651

$24.99

According to historian Benjamin Band, the first record of a Jew in Maine concerns Susman Abrams, a tanner who resided in Union until his death at 87 in 1830. Historical records beginning in 1849 also tell of a small Bangor community that organized a synagogue and purchased a burial ground. But it was not until the late 19th century that Jewish communities grew large enough to establish multiple synagogues, Hebrew schools for boys, kosher butcher shops, and Jewish bakeries. Eventually there were Jewish charitable societies, community centers, and social clubs across the state. Now, 150 years later, Jews serve every Maine community in every possible capacity, free from the barriers of social or religious discrimination. This book honors the accomplishments of Maine's Jewish residents.

Jewish San Francisco

9780738546834

$24.99

In San Francisco, the "instant city" of the gold rush days, Jews were pioneers among pioneers. Some came as immigrants directly from Europe, others as resettled adventurers from the East Coast, and still others as scions of southern Sephardic families. Out of this mixed multitude emerged a community with synagogues and institutions to care for the needy and the sick, along with a dignified social fabric. New immigrants following the Russian pogroms of 1883 were absorbed, and the ashen ruins from the 1906 earthquake were rebuilt. The city's cultural treasures and social needs were enriched, and the city's Jews were nurtured by civic commitments. Today's 70,000 San Francisco Jews, standing upon the shoulders of pioneering giants, continue to build and rebuild.

Nashville's Jewish Community

9780738566801

$24.99

Nashville's Jewish community traces its beginning to 1795 with the birth of Sarah Myers, the first Jewish child born here. Her parents, Benjamin and Hannah Hays Myers, were both from prominent pre-Revolutionary War families in New England and stayed in Nashville just one year before moving to Virginia. The next few settlers--Simon Pollock, a doctor, in 1843; the Frankland family in 1845; Andrew Smolniker and Dr. H. Fischel, a dentist, in 1848; and E. J. Lyons in 1849--stayed only a few years before moving on to Memphis, New Orleans, or elsewhere. The first to stay and achieve prominence was Isaac Gershon (later changed to Garritsen), who in 1849 opened his home on South Summer Street for High Holy Day services and in 1851 formed the Hebrew Benevolent Burial Association, purchasing land that still serves as Nashville's Jewish cemetery. The first Jewish congregation, Mogen David, followed in 1854. The Jewish population of Nashville, which began with five families and eight young men in 1852, today numbers about 7,500.

Reform Jews of Minneapolis

9780738532172

$24.99

The German Jews who began coming to Minneapolis in the 1850s quickly entered society as doctors, lawyers, professors, merchants, and leaders in clothing and cigar manufacturing. In 1878 they founded Shaarai Tov, now Temple Israel--one of the ten largest Reform congregations in the U.S. today. They also enjoyed a busy social and cultural life, and both husbands and wives involved themselves in social service and welfare organizations. Including historic and present-day photographs and tales of the community--schools, synagogues, organizations, and outdoor activities--this collection uncovers the challenges and triumphs of Reform Jews in Minneapolis.