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Virtual Lecture Series: History of the Jews in New York City


  • Holocaust Memorial & Tolerance Center of Nassau County 100 Crescent Beach Road Glen Cove, NY, 11542 United States (map)
Norfolk and Hester Streets around 1898.

Norfolk and Hester Streets around 1898.

This series of four talks, given by Dr. Thorin Tritter, HMTC’s Museum and Programming Director, will focus on the history of Jews in New York City. Jews have made New York their home for more than 350 years. Hardly a monolithic group, however, no singular experience captures the way Jews have fit into the melting pot of the Big Apple. In some periods, they were welcomed, in others they were feared, but throughout, Jewish residents have not only been shaped by New York, but have changed the city’s character around them. Think of bagels, babka, the Lower East Side, and Jerry Seinfeld. No other city is as linked to Jewish culture and the Jewish community as New York.

January 25 at 7 p.m.: A look at early Jewish settlers in the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam and some of their experiences up through the American Revolution.

February 1 at 7 p.m.: Examines the largest wave of Jewish immigration in the period from 1890-1920, focusing in particular on Ellis Island, the gateway to America.

February 8 at 7 p.m.: Arrival process to the neighborhood that many Jewish immigrants made their home, focusing on housing and settlement patterns in the Jewish Lower East Side.

February 22 at 7 p.m.: A look at work and other aspects of life for immigrants in the Jewish Lower East Side.

Registration for this series will be free for HMTC members and $10 a talk for non-members.

HMTC members can contact Deborah Lom at dlom@hmtcli.org to receive the members-only link to register for the entire series or for individual talks. To become a member visit https://www.hmtcli.org/memberships.

Non-members can register for $10 a talk by visiting: https://interland3.donorperfect.net/weblink/weblink.aspx?name=E79210&id=57