Jewish Studies Commons^™

Lawson, Steven, Gabriella Luongo

Bronx Jewish History Project

Summarized by Gabriella Luongo

Steven Lawson, born in 1945, was raised in the Bronx, New York, in a working-class Jewish family. He grew up on Morris Avenue in a predominantly Jewish neighborhood and describes his childhood as vibrant, safe, and deeply shaped by urban community life. His daily world included local public schools, neighborhood parks, and weekend dances at community centers such as the YM/YWHA, along with frequent trips to nearby movie theaters. He recalls being immersed in the popular music of the time, especially doo-wop and early rock and roll, which reflected the social and emotional atmosphere of his …

Flisser, Miriam, Philip Chan

Bronx Jewish History Project

Miriam Flisser was born in Europe right after World War II to Jewish partisan parents. They fled danger and arrived in New York as refugees, settling in the Bronx. She grew up in safe, lively neighborhoods like Mott Haven and Pelham Parkway, speaking Yiddish at home until she learned English from kids on the street. Her dad was a skilled kosher butcher who later bought apartment buildings; the family kept a warm, traditional Jewish home.

Miriam excelled in Bronx schools, went to Bronx Science, then NYU’s Bronx campus and Albert Einstein Medical School (graduating a year early). She became a …

Berlin, Sherry, Jessica Amselem

Bronx Jewish History Project

Summarizer: Jessica Amselem

Sherry Berlin, grew up in multiple neighborhoods in the Bronx, beginning on Longfellow Avenue in the South Bronx and later moving at age five to Kingsbridge in the Northwest Bronx, near Riverdale. Her maternal grandparents immigrated from Poland/Russia and settled in the Bronx, where they owned grocery stores and remained closely involved in her upbringing. Berlin’s early childhood was rooted in a predominantly Jewish community, while her later years in Kingsbridge exposed her to a more ethnically mixed environment, including Irish and Italian neighbors.

Berlin’s movement across different parts of the Bronx shaped her experiences of community, …

Gritz, Helen, Sophia Maier Garcia

Bronx Jewish History Project

Helen Gritz, b. 1929, grew up on Barnes Avenue in the Northeast Bronx. Her parents immigrated from Poland, her father arriving first and her mother having to enter illegally through Canada after the establishment of the 1924 Quota Acts. Her father was an expert tailor and a Communist. They lived in an Italian and Jewish neighborhood, with the Jews living in apartment buildings and the Italians living in one-family homes. Nearby, Allerton Avenue was the main shopping area.

Gritz was not allowed to play with the “gasn kinder” (street children) as a young child, instead playing with her …

Fleischer Cohen, Gloria, Kathryn Amend

Bronx Jewish History Project

Summarizer: Sophia Maier

Gloria Fleischer Cohen, b. 1934, was raised by foreign born parents on Thieriot Avenue. Her family had moved there when she was very young after their apartment was robbed; the area around Thieriot Avenue, conversely, was safer. Fleischer Cohen describes the neighborhood as primarily Jewish, with others like Italians and Irish, with apartment houses like her own and private houses. As a child she would play in the street, games like jump rope, punch ball, and roller skating. In the summers, she went to Castle Hill Pool and Orchard Beach. She attended PS 102 and later Hunter …

Silver. Jerry And Irene, Reyna Lee Stovall

Bronx Jewish History Project

Jerry Silver grew up in the Bronx after moving from Brooklyn in the mid-1930s. His family rented an apartment on Kruger Avenue before buying a home on Holland Avenue during the Depression. Jerry attended PS 96 and PS 76 before graduating early from Christopher Columbus High School and later earning his undergraduate and law degrees from NYU. He fondly remembers playing in the street, working part-time jobs, and being passionate about baseball, often attending games. He served in the military from 1952 to 1954, started a small law practice in the Bronx, and worked extensively with the Legal Aid Society. …

Aspis, Harold, Reyna Lee Stovall

Bronx Jewish History Project

Summarizer: Sophia Maier

Harold Aspis was born in 1954 to two American born parents. His father was a college professor of economics, and his mother returned to work as a secretary and administrator at Montefiore Hospital when Aspis was in junior high school. Aspis describes the movement of his family as “the Jewish neighborhood profession of the Bronx,” first living in University Heights and then in the North Bronx near the Bronx High School of Science, then his parents moved to Riverdale after Aspis had left the house.

Aspis attended PS 91, which he shares what a stable component of …

Langer, Eileen, Reyna Lee Stovall

Bronx Jewish History Project

Summarizer: Sophia Maier

Eileen Langer is a lifelong Bronxite. Despite her world travels, she identifies the Bronx as her home. As a child, she lived in Roosevelt Gardens on the Grand Concourse and remembers walking to see her grandmother across the Concourse. As she got older, Langer remembers going to the movies, going shopping, eating ice cream, and attending the Sephardic synagogue all along the Grand Concourse. Though she went to college at City College, she completed all of her other schooling in the Bronx, including a master’s degree from Lehman College. Becoming an educator herself, she has taught and …

Cohen, Marsha, Reyna Lee Stovall

Bronx Jewish History Project

Summarizer: Sophia Maier

Marsha Cohen’s parents grew up in New York City, her mother living in the Highbridge area of the Bronx and her father living first in East Harlem then the South Bronx. Her grandparents had immigrated from Eastern Europe. Her parents married in 1939 and, by the time Cohen was born in 1946, the family lived at 3050 Decatur Avenue, on the north side of Mosholu Parkway. The neighborhood had five and six story apartment buildings, like theirs, and private houses and was mixed Irish, Italian, and Jewish. Cohen describes her building as primarily Jewish, with all boys …

Gilbert, Jeff, Sophia Maier Garcia

Bronx Jewish History Project

Summarizer: Sophia Maier

Jeff Gilbert, born 1951, grew up on Walton Avenue nearby Yankee Stadium in the Bronx. Both of his parents were born in New York, with his great-grandparents and grandparents immigrating from Hungary, Austria, and Poland. Gilbert describes the neighborhood at the time as 99% Jewish, and he lived next door to the Congregation Hope of Israel, despite being educated at and attending Tremont Temple. Among the amenities in the “self-contained neighborhood for shopping” were bakeries, movie theaters, grocery stores, and butchers. Gilbert remembers most Val’s Luncheonette for the delicious food, famous athletes, and the money he made …

Hendler, Libby, Reyna Lee Stovall

Bronx Jewish History Project

Libby Hendler shared her life story, detailing her upbringing in the Bronx. Libby discusses her upbringing in a kosher home and her decision to maintain kosher practices initially. Libby shares that her mother kept a kosher home, and she continued this practice when she got married. She mentions having two sets of dishes, one for Passover and one for regular use. She recounts how she stopped keeping kosher after her daughter turned three, opting for non-kosher food during a vacation where kosher options were unavailable. Despite this change, she still has a strong aversion to certain non-kosher foods, such as …

Brooks, Martin, Reyna Lee Stovall

Bronx Jewish History Project

Summarizer: Sophia Maier

Martin Brooks, b. 1947, lived in the Pelham Parkway section of the Bronx until he was five years old. He then lived with his family in Germany for three years, before returning to the Bronx until the age of 11. His father had served in WWII, and they had moved to Germany as part of his service. Brooks’ mother worked as a secretary but became at stay-at-home mother when Brooks was born, despite wanting to stay in the workforce.

Brooks recalls going to pickle stores, delis, bakeries, and butches along Lydig Avenue and the Allegro Inn, an …

Katz, Helen, Sophia Maier Garcia

Bronx Jewish History Project

Summarizer: Sophia Maier

Helen Katz was born to Holocaust survivor parents in the Bronx. The family originally lived in the South Bronx until Katz was one year old, when they moved to the Olinville section of the Bronx. They lived there until Katz was in her 20s, when they moved to Pelham Parkway. Each time, they moved because the neighborhood was deteriorating.

Katz describes the Olinville neighborhood as predominantly Italian, although her own family was Orthodox. Despite the differences, she remembers playing with the Italian Catholic school girls. They attended a Lubavitcher shul, and Katz attend a yeshiva for her …

Cohen, Cheryl, Reyna Lee Stovall

Bronx Jewish History Project

Summarizer: Sophia Maier

Cheryl Cohen grew up on Kruger Avenue and Pelham Parkway South, which she describes as 95% Jewish during her time there. Her parents were both born in the United States, her mother of a nonreligious background and her father attending a small Orthodox shul on the holidays. Cohen herself did not have a Jewish education but dressed up for the holidays with her friends and closely associates her Jewish identity with Zionism, moving to Israel in her 20s. Her father, who first worked for his father-in-law’s factory, opened a small store, where her mother worked as well …

Norich, Anita, Sophia Maier Garcia

Bronx Jewish History Project

Summarizer: Sophia Maier

Anita Norich was born to two Holocaust survivor parents in a Displaced Persons camp called Föhrenwald in Germany. Despite difficulties acquiring visas because of her father’s left-wing political views, the family moved to the United States in March of 1957, settling on Hunts Point Avenue in the South Bronx. In Hunts Point, Norich attended PS 48, played outside and in a nearby park, and began her love for reading at the library. Starting kindergarten, she didn’t speak Englsih, and Norich describes the total immersion environment she was placed into. She felt it was cruel the teacher would …

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 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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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, …

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 …

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 …