Jewish New York [antikvár]

IntroductionHow New York Became a Jewish City"Of all the big cities," Sergeant Milton Lehman of the Stars and Stripes affirmed in 1945, "New York is still the promised land."^ As a returning Jewish GI, Lehman compared New York with European cities. In the crucible of a devastating world war, many of those cities (perhaps with the exception of Paris, which was not bombed) looked miserable and definitely old, in stark contrast to New York. But even Jews who hadn't served overseas knew what made New York so desirable. First and foremost was security: Jews could live without fear in New York. Yes, they faced pervasive discrimination and occasional violence from tough and anti-Semitic young men, but in this city of almost eight million residents, many members of other ethnic and religious groups encountered prejudice. Jews contended with anti-Semitism in the twentieth century more than German Protestants or Irish Catholics dealt with bias, perhaps. But the Irish had endured vicious mockery and widespread antagonism in the nineteenth century, and Jews suffered less than African Americans, Latinos, and Asian New Yorkers. Furthermore, Jews could live freely as Jews. Close to two million New York Jews contributed to a pervasive sense of Jewishness in many parts of the city.^ Their presence helped constitute much of what was distinctive about New York as an American city. In return, New York's size and diversity allowed Jews to understand that there were many ways to be Jewish. The city welcomed Jews in all their varietyrich and poor, religious and radical, bourgeois and bohemian. New York Jews saw the city as a place where they could flourish and express themselves. As a result, they came to identify with New York, absorbing its ethos even as they helped to shape its urban character When World War II ended in Europe with victory over Nazi Germany, New York's promises glowed more brightly still.