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Issue 11 | July 2012

Articles

Strength in Numbers

Jeffrey S. Gurock

In New York circa 1900, Jewish identity was in the streets and in the air; one in four New Yorkers was Jewish, and formal religious affiliation felt unnecessary. Fifty years later, suburban Jews needed communal institutions - and today's ur

Jewish as Can Be

Rachel Gordan

Are New York’s Jews opting for more Judaism or less? Is their Jewishness nothing more than bagels and lox, or is the growing visibility of ultra- Orthodox communities an indication of future trends? Rachel Gordan In 1946 a young

No Business Like Show Business

Yuval Rivlin

Broadway was a springboard to integration for talented Jewish arrivals from Europe, yet their musicals’ immigrant themes are unmistakable Yuval Rivlin When asked to define modern Jewish identity, Sigmund Freud often responded wi

Ticket to Riches

Rebecca Kobrin

The waves of migration from eastern Europe did not simply ebb and flow. Orchestrated by the entrepreneurial spirit of the likes of Sender Jarmulowsky, they created surges of capital. The trade in ship tickets changed individual fortunes as

My Son, the Gangster

Robert Rockaway

New York’s Jewish gangsters lived fast and furious. Exploiting the criminal opportunities created by Prohibition, they masterminded a network of crime that spread far beyond New York and earned their fellow Jews’ scorn – and admiration Robe

Columns

Book Review | Koren Talmud Bavli, Berakhot

Michael Goldblum

 A new annotated translation of the Talmud is not just more of the same, but signifies a departure in Talmud study, inviting engaged discussion instead of enshrining tradition Michael Goldblum Koren Talmud Bavli, BerakhotCommen

The Jewish American Secret Police

Hadassah Assouline

A Jewish community organization in New York dealt with myriad issues, even creating an internal police force to deal with rising crime Hadassah Assouline In early September 1908, the chief of the New York City Police Department