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american jewish historical society

Sermons of Thanksgiving

It is widely believed that the Pilgrims modeled their Thanksgiving feast after the Jewish holiday of Sukkot. In its modern incarnation as a secular festival focusing on gratitude, an appropriately Jewish concept, Thanksgiving has been observed by American Jews from its earliest days. When George Washington declared a non-denominational National Day of Thanksgiving in 1789, American Jews eagerly joined the celebration. Gershom Mendes Seixas…

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German-Jewish Americans at Home at the Turn of the Last Century: A Late 19th-Century Photo Album

“. . . the [Jewish) religion which was to be prized and saved is fast becoming a watery Unitarianism, and its adherents are allowing themselves, where permitted, to become completely assimilated. Reform Judaism which began as a compromise is ending as surrender.” —Marvin Lowenthal, “Zionism: A Menorah Prize Essay [part 1],” Menorah Journal vol. 1:2 (1915): 118-19 Marvin Marx Lowenthal (1890-1969), a leading Jewish…

Coffee & Bagels as Organizing Tools: the Tzedek, Tzedek Collective and Wholly Bagel Coffeehouse

The late 1960s and early 1970s were, in part, characterized by the counterculture that swept through the United States during those years. Catapulted by the growth of social movement activism was an increased awareness of and desire to fix the problems plaguing American society, such as racism, sexism, poverty and the exploitation of labor. This period of American history was full of new and…

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The Nutmeggers: The Jewish Community of Connecticut, Part 2 – The Towns and Cities

Hartford Hartford is home to the first and largest Jewish community in the state of Connecticut. The earliest mention of a Jew in the state was David the Jew, of Hartford, who was fined 20 shillings for illegal trading in 1659. Afterwards, there were scattered references to the small Jewish community in Connecticut. For example, in 1670 Hartford was visited by Assur Levy, one…

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Civil Disobedience of the American Clergy on Behalf of Soviet Jews

By Andrey Filimonov, Archival Services Manager at the Center for Jewish History Screenshots from “Civil Disobedience—Demonstration and Clergy Arrest at Soviet Consulate, November 18, 1985.” Original archival material found in the Records of the Bay Area Council for Soviet Jews and Bay Area Council for Jewish Rescue and Renewal, I-505; box 100; VHS tape 69; American Jewish Historical Society, New York, NY; http://digital.cjh.org/4633168 One…

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The Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society: Its Organizational History and Internal Historiography

By Elizabeth Hyman, former Assistant Processing Archivist, HIAS Archives Project; current Photo & Reference Archivist, American Jewish Historical Society Over the course of three years, in a project funded by HIAS in partnership with the American Jewish Historical Society, archivists at AJHS will organize, describe and make available to the public more than a thousand boxes of historical administrative files (primarily 1955-1990s). These files…

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From the Archives:  A Message of Hope from Siberian Exile

By Andrey Filimonov, Archival Services Manager at the Center for Jewish History “Zions Captives”: documentary on Ida Nudel (watch online: http://digital.cjh.org/4585693) Original archival material found Houston Action for Soviet Jewry Records I-500; box 35; VHS tape 022; American Jewish Historical Society, New York, NY;  PID http://digital.cjh.org/798129 Screenshot from “Zions Captives, documentary on Ida Nudel” Original archival material found Houston Action for Soviet Jewry Records…

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The Grand Street Boys’ Association, “headquarters of those who really love New York”

By Patricia Glowinski, Archivist at the Center for Jewish History Processed in the Shelby White & Leon Levy Archival Processing Laboratory at the Center for Jewish History (CJH) are the Grand Street Boy’s Association Records, just one of the many archival collections of the American Jewish Historical Society, one of the five partner institutions comprising CJH. The collection documents 20th century American Jewish history and…

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Shad Polier and the Civil Rights Movement

To commemorate the end of Black History Month, our new intern Poorvi Buller looked through an American Jewish Historical Society (AJHS) collection of Shad Polier’s papers for quotes that are emblematic of this lawyer and activist’s commitment to protecting civil rights. Tomorrow, we will be tweeting these quotes out to remind all those in our community of the lasting significance of the civil rights movement, and…

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