Jewish Studies Commons^™

Pafundi, Barbara, Sophia Maier Garcia

Bronx Jewish History Project

Summarizer: Sophia Maier

Barbara Pafundi, born 1952, grew up in Parkchester in the East Bronx. Her grandparents immigrated from Ukraine and Romania, and her father was born in Charleston, South Carolina. Pafundi describes Parkchester as primarily Jewish and Irish and a really beautiful place to grow up, with green areas around the apartment buildings. She would go with her family to the local Chinese restaurant, grocery stores, and library. Reading is a continued love. In the summers, they would go up to Putnam Valley.

Pafundi explains they never felt antisemitism, except she is not sure if St Helena’s would purposefully …

Schaechter, Rukhl, Sophia Maier Garcia

Bronx Jewish History Project

Summarizer: Sophia Maier

Rukhl Schaechter and her family moved from Brooklyn to Bainbridge Avenue in the Bronx in 1966 to create a Yiddish-speaking community with two other families. At that time, classes in Yiddish at the Sholem Aleichem Folk Shul 21 supplemented their public school education. During the summers, she also attended Camp Hemshekh, a Yiddish camp founded by Socialist Holocaust survivors. At PS 96, Schaechter began to interact with Jewish and non-Jewish students that came from different background than her, that lived in apartment buildings unlike her private home, for example. She describes her home life as “traditional,” with …

Schaechter Viswanath, Gitl, Sophia Maier Garcia

Bronx Jewish History Project

Gitl Schaechter Viswanath was born into a Yiddish-speaking family. Her father came from Romania to the United States in 1951, becoming a renowned Yiddish linguist and Columbia professor. He and his wife wanted to raise their children speaking Yiddish within a Yiddish community, and so they created this community with two other families living near one another on Bainbridge Avenue in the north-central Bronx, the Fishmans and the Gottesmans. The families were primarily secular but focused on Jewish culture and tradition.

Schaechter Viswanath attended PS 56 and describes the school and area as primarily Jewish. After school, she went to …

Klipper, Stuart, Sophia Maier Garcia

Bronx Jewish History Project

Stuart Klipper was born in 1941 and grew up in the Bronx, first living on Hoe Avenue and later on the Grand Concourse. His family background reflects Eastern European Jewish heritage, with his father’s side from Lithuania and his mother’s side from Galicia. Klipper’s childhood was shaped by the rich cultural life of the Bronx, frequent visits to the Bronx Zoo and the Botanical Garden, and an early interest in art and photography. He recalls a deep love for reading, art, and exploring New York City’s museums, which would later influence his career as a photographer.

Klipper attended P.S. 66 …

Genis, June, Sophia Maier Garcia

Bronx Jewish History Project

Summarizer: Sophia Maier

June Genis lived in the Bronx from the time she was three years old until she left for college in 1963. When he father, who had been a dentist, passed away, Genis and her mother moved to Creston Avenue and 192^nd Street near Fordham Road and the Grand Concourse to be closer to her family. At the time, the area was predominantly Jewish, with some Irish and Italians. They were surrounded by major shopping areas on Fordham and Kingsbridge Roads, and across the street from St. James park where Genis played as a child. Starting in …

Schonbrun, Joshua, Kathryn Amend

Bronx Jewish History Project

Rabbi Joshua Schonbrun was born in 1930 and grew up on Clinton Avenue in the Bronx, part of a close-knit, heavily Jewish neighborhood. His upbringing was deeply shaped by Jewish education, family tradition, and the presence of immigrant culture. His father was a Polish immigrant who came to the U.S. in the 1920s, and his mother was of Romanian and Hungarian descent. Rabbi Schonbrun attended Jewish day school and later the Yeshiva of the Bronx, eventually pursuing his rabbinical ordination at Yeshiva University.

As a young man, he witnessed the transformation of Jewish life in the Bronx, including the shift …

Anonymous 1, Sonia Morris

Bronx Jewish History Project

Summarizer: Sophia Maier

“Anonymous 1” grew up in the Amalgamated Houses. Born in the 1940s, her grandparents had come over from Russia around 1910 and settled on the Lower East Side, and her parents grew up in the United States. Her father made ladies’ coats, and her mother was a stay-at-home mom until she became a bookkeeper. Anonymous 1 describes Amalgamated as almost entirely Jewish, with many Holocaust survivors, religious Jews, and Socialist Jews. Her father was among the anti-religious group, deciding to wash his car in casual clothing on the High Holidays. Anonymous 1 herself is still not religious …

Shanas, Bert, Sonia Morris

Bronx Jewish History Project

Bert Shanas was born at Hunts Point Hospital in 1944. Having grown up in the Hunts Point neighborhood (residing at 930 Fox Street and attending PS 39, JHS 125, and Morris High School), he spent his childhood writing for the school newspaper, going to the Bronx Zoo and Yankee Stadium, and partaking in street games. In early childhood, Shanas remembers his neighbors and peers all being Jewish, but mentions that around the time of the Great Puerto Rican Migration there were a lot more Spanish speakers in the South Bronx. In high school Shanas recalls observing many interethnic friendships, though …

"Harriet", Caitlin Omey

Bronx Jewish History Project

Harriet, born in 1938 in the Bronx maternity hospital on 165th street, spent her childhood and early adult life living on the Grand Concourse. She was at the crossroads of the Concourse and 161st street, where she led a vibrant childhood playing with all of the local children. She was in a very diverse environment, but she did not experience very much ethnic or racial tension. She recalls playing lots of games with her friends, and living in a neighborhood with lots to do. She attended public schools—PS 35 and PS 22—for elementary school and junior high before going to …

Dombeck, Peggy, Lydia Wampold

Bronx Jewish History Project

Peggy Dombeck grew up in the East Bronx near Parkchester. She greatly enjoyed her childhood and was always playing games with kids in the neighborhood. She especially enjoyed ice skating and rollerblading, often heading into Manhattan alone on the subway to go ice skate. She also fondly recalls the ice cream man coming by everyday in his truck when she was a child or walking to the candy store around the corner and getting an ice cream cone for 10 cents. The building she grew up in was mainly Jewish, however her family was not very religious. She does however …

Jacobs, Feygele, Kathryn Amend

Bronx Jewish History Project

Feygele Jacobs recounts her family's journey from Poland to the Bronx, detailing her parents' refugee experience post-World War II. Her parents initially settled in Newark, New Jersey, before moving to the Bronx. Feygele describes her education at PS 26 and Hunter College High School, involvement in Yiddish school and activities, and her parents' diverse backgrounds. Her mother, a late bloomer in education, pursued a career in social work after raising her children. The family moved to Co-Op City in 1972 due to neighborhood changes. Feygele highlights her parents' community involvement and her educational and career choices, including a brief stint …

Harnell, Alice, Caitlin Omey

Bronx Jewish History Project

Alice Harnell was born in Detroit, Michigan in 1930, coinciding with the Great Depression. Harnell's father was born in Russia and emigrated with his family to New York City during the pogrom of the early 1900s. Once arriving in the United States they settled on the Lower East Side, joining a community of other Jewish immigrant families. Harnell's mother was the first American-born in her German family. Harnell's father and mother moved to Detroit for her father's job as a pharmacist. However, at the age of 5 the family moved back to New York City and settled in the West …

Sandler, Ruth, Kathryn Amend

Bronx Jewish History Project

Summarizer: Sophia Maier

Ruth Sandler, born 1940, grew up in the East Bronx near the Bronx Zoo, where she would go with her parents. Her mother came to the United States in 1921, and her father came in 1938, though his family unfortunately remained in what was then Poland, his sisters dying in the Holocaust. Her father became a children’s clothing presser in the garment district, despite owning a business back in Europe. Sandler remembers being told her first language was Yiddish, not speaking English until entering school. She attended PS 57, participating in school plays there. Education was important, …

Flaxman, Judy, Laura Oldfather

Bronx Jewish History Project

Summarizer: Sophia Maier

Judy Flaxman’s family came to the Lower East Side from Eastern Europe in the early 1900s. As they grew more affluent, they moved to the Bronx, where Flaxman was born in 1948. She lived on Walton Avenue near Tremont Avenue, which she describes as very Jewish with some Catholics. She attended PS 28, Wade Junior High School, and Bronx Science. She played many outdoor games with friends from her community and did after school activities at the YM/WHA, through which she attended a day camp during the summers.

Flaxman’s mother was a secretary and her father, after …

Siegel, Helen, Sophia Maier Garcia

Bronx Jewish History Project

Helen Siegel’s family came to the Bronx from Germany in the years leading up to World War Two. Siegel was born in 1945 and grew up in the West Bronx about a mile away from Yankee Stadium, which she remembers as a predominantly Jewish neighborhood. She attended Bronx public schools throughout her education, PS 64, JHS 117, and Taft High School, before going on to City College, receiving what she believes to have been a good education. Siegel would teach at Bronx elementary schools for 25 years and serve as a mentor for new teachers. She recognizes that teaching and …

Rudich, Hazel, Gavin Fryer

Bronx Jewish History Project

Summarizer: Sophia Maier

Hazel Rudich was born to American-born parents in 1947. Her grandparents came from Ukraine and Hungary, and she grew up with a consciousness of the fear of having been born outside of the safety of the Bronx, like the refugee and Holocaust survivor friends of her parents. While her neighborhoods on Shakespeare Avenue and later the Grand Concourse were primarily Jewish, in junior high school she was exposed to a greater diversity of people. Rudich describes the beauty of the Art Deco buildings and the extensive park space and nature, with all the independence that city living …

Mochon, Lynne, Patricia Scully

Bronx Jewish History Project

Summarizer: Sophia Maier

Lynne Mochon, born 1951, grew up on the campus of Maritime College. Her father, who left Warsaw in 1922, was educated in pre-state Israel and then MIT, before becoming a professor of science at Maritime. Her mother, born in Queens, worked at Maritime, and, as the only Jewish people working there together at the time, they got married, have Mochon and her older sister. Mochon describes Maritime as a small community of about 14 families, where the children were similar in age and played together by the water. She remembers some antisemitism among the staff, her father …

Plavin, Adrienne, Negin Nader Bazrafkan

Bronx Jewish History Project

Summarizer: Sophia Maier

Adrienne Plavin was born to American-born parents in June of 1944. When she was young, her family lived at 1821 Bryant Avenue in the South Bronx. She remembers the community as full of immigrants, though primarily Jewish, with Yiddish and other language spoken. She would visit the candy store on her block and also buy fresh produce from horse drawn carts. They would play games like hopscotch and jump rope. Plavin shares how her mother got into trouble in Hebrew School, which is why she herself never attended one, and some of the mischief she would get …

Varon, Dorothy, Negin Nader Bazrafkan

Bronx Jewish History Project

This interview explores Dorothy's childhood and education, focusing on her experiences growing up in the Bronx during the 1950s and 1960s. Dorothy provides a detailed account of her neighborhood, the games she played with her friends, and the shops she frequented. She also discusses the diverse nature of her community and the lack of racial or religious tensions she witnessed. Dorothy vividly recalls her childhood on Weeks Avenue in the Bronx, describing it as a mixed neighborhood with people of all faiths and nationalities. She fondly remembers the games she and her friends played in the streets, including stickball, Scully, …

Turner, Joyce, Negin Nader Bazrafkan

Bronx Jewish History Project

Mrs. Joyce Turner was born in 1948 as Joyce Herzfeld and grew up at 364 East 170th Street in a one-bedroom apartment with her parents and younger sister. Her parents had decided to live in the Bronx due to the proximity to their other family members until most of them had decided to begin moving out. The neighborhood she grew up in was primarily Jewish but became more diversified as she grew older and saw much diversity within the schools. During her early childhood, Mrs. Turner attended Public School 53 for elementary school, located on 167th Street, and remembers walking …

Schull, Rebecca, Negin Nader Bazrafkan

Bronx Jewish History Project

Rebecca Schull, born in 1929, recalls her early life in the Sholem Aleichem Houses in the Bronx where her family lived in the predominantly Jewish community. Her father was a lawyer who later worked for the American Technion Society, and her mother was a dietician raised in Tel Aviv, who studied quantity cooking at Columbia. Many members of her family were Zionists, her uncle was the artist Nachum Gutman and her grandfather the writer Simcha Ben Zion. She remembers the pleasant communal atmosphere of the Sholem Aleichem Houses, where socialism, communism and Yiddishism was commonplace. Her childhood was marked by …

Bergman, Abby, Sonia Morris

Bronx Jewish History Project

Abby Bergman lived in the Bronx until he was 18 years old. He was born in the Bronx in 1946. When he was 8 years old, he moved to a different neighborhood in the Bronx, the Pelham Parkway area. His neighborhood was a mix of Jews, Italians, and Irish people. There were some tensions between the Jews and the Christians. People mostly kept within their own groups, although Bergman does recall that his parents had very close Catholic friends. In Bergman’s high school, the Christian kids were more popular than the Jewish kids. All of Bergman’s friends in high school …

Liptzin, Benjamin "Ben", Lydia Wampold

Bronx Jewish History Project

Ben Liptzin grew up in the Bronx on 168th Street between the Grand Concourse and Sheridan Avenue in a four-room apartment above a laundromat. His parents were Polish Jewish immigrants, and his father worked as a presser in the garment industry. Liptzin attended a yeshiva until 5th grade, after which he entered the public school system. He later attended the Bronx High School of Science, Columbia University, and medical school in Rochester. Liptzin became a geriatric psychiatrist and taught at institutions including the University of Massachusetts and Mount Sinai. He later served as Chair of Psychiatry at Baystate Medical Center …

Acs, George, Sophia Maier Garcia

Bronx Jewish History Project

George Acs was born in Hungary and was brought, as a three year old, to the United States in 1957, after his parents fled the Hungarian Revolution in 1956. His mother’s cousin, who survived Auschwitz with her, had an apartment in the Bronx and they moved in with her upon arriving in the United States. Eventually they would live on 174th Street and Southern Boulevard, which was a Jewish area but in the process of transitioning by the time they moved there in 1957 until they left in 1964 and moved to Lydig Avenue off Pelham Parkway, which was Jewish …

Vozick Hans, Alexandra, Sophia Maier Garcia

Bronx Jewish History Project

Alexandra Vozick Hans was born to Canadian parents, who, upon moving to New York, lived in the Amalgamated Housing Cooperative, where she grew up. She remained in the Bronx until she graduated college in 1966. After college, she moved to Boston and became a social worker.

Hans and her family were socialists, and Hans recalls tensions between the socialists and the communists in the Amalgamated. She also recalls tensions over the issue of integration in the building: the Amalgamated was not integrated, and residents complained about the lack of integration. Overall, however, Hans looks back with great fondness on the …

Cohen, Ruthie, Sophia Maier Garcia

Bronx Jewish History Project

Ruthie Cohen is a second generation American, with her paternal grandparents immigrating from Poland. When she was born, her family lived at 2805 Sedgwick Avenue, but moved nearby to another two-family home at 2805 Webb Avenue. She remembers how her immediate neighborhood and school was predominantly Jewish, but Italians and Irish also lived nearby and attended parochial schools. Cohen felt very little antisemitism from them. She was the youngest of four children in a relatively observant family.

Cohen’s father was a teacher who was very involved in the larger community, and education and tolerance were important values in her family. …

Willner, Mark, Sophia Maier Garcia

Bronx Jewish History Project

Mark Willner grew up in Parkchester, which he remembers as a very nice place to grow up with nice lawns and playgrounds. When he lived there, there were no Black people, and the population was split between Jewish, Italian, and Irish people. He attended PS 106 and James Monroe High School, which he describes as having a sense of camaraderie.

Willner’s father, born abroad, was an assistant principal and his mother, born in Brooklyn, became a school secretary when he got older. Willner has played many sports since youth, particularly tennis and football, and is a lifelong Boston Celtics fan. …

Gordon, Ina, Sophia Maier Garcia

Bronx Jewish History Project

Summarized by Kathryn Amend

Ina Gordon grew up on Morris Avenue, just east of the Grand Concourse in the Bronx. She describes her childhood with two siblings in a tiny apartment, and her happy upbringing despite her family’s economic struggles. She reminisces on summers spent renting bungalows in the Catskills and childhood joys such as roller skating, visiting the library, and playing tennis.

Gordon explains the importance of education in her family, and describes how she ended up traveling to the University of Chicago for her undergraduate degree. She and her brother both received scholarships to attend. They had a …

'James', Reyna Lee Stovall

Bronx Jewish History Project

Summarizer: Sophia Maier

‘James,’ born 1951, grew up on Narragansett Avenue in the Bronx. He remembers the neighborhood as heavily Italian, with a sprinkling of Jews, Irish, and others. It was primarily small, private homes, many attached like their own. Their own neighbor expressed a dislike of living next door to Jews, directly to his parents’ faces. Yet, James grew up to become friends with the non-Jewish neighbors. He describes their own practice of Judaism as less prosperous and traditional than other parts of the Bronx.

James attend PS 108 with many of the Jewish kids in the neighborhood, as …

Levine, Louis, Reyna Lee Stovall

Bronx Jewish History Project

Summarizer: Sophia Maier

Louis Levine was born in 1940 on the Grand Concourse to immigrant parents. His mother came to the United States from Poland at three years old, in 1906, and his father came from Vilna at 28 years old, in 1931. Both worked in manufacturing, making and selling women’s garments and gloves, respectively, before his father opened a small glove making factory of his own. Levine grew up on 168^th Street and Walton Avenue. He attended Yeshiva Salanter from the time he was five years old and then Bronx High School of Science, which was also predominantly …