The exodus of Jews from New York City to LI
The wedding of Dr. Solomon Weingrad and Ruth Esther Siegel in front of the Lindenhurst Hebrew Congregation synagogue on May 19, 1916. Mandatory credit: From the collections of the Town of Babylon Office of Historic Services. Credit: Town of Babylon Office of Historic Services.
Passover, which begins Friday night, commemorates the 40-year journey of the Israelites coming out of bondage to reach the Promised Land. At the Seder meal, it is customary to tell the story of our ancestors leaving Egypt for a better life in Canaan. While the Jewish people of New York City were obviously never slaves, and it didn’t take them 40 years to reach Long Island, a mass exodus of Jews left for the suburbs in Nassau and Suffolk counties following World War II. However, Judaism already had existed on Long Island for hundreds of years.
The first Jewish man to make his home on Long Island is believed to be Nathan Simson, a shopkeeper in Brookhaven in 1705, and the first Jew born on Long Island was Myer Michaels who had his bris (ritual circumcision) in South Haven on July 8, 1760. Fewer than 50 Jews called Long Island home before our nation’s independence, with little growth until the mid-19th century. The certificate of incorporation for a group known as Neta Szarschea indicates 10 Jewish men living in the German enclave of Breslau (renamed Lindenhurst in 1891) came together to establish the first congregation on Long Island in 1875.
Most of the earliest arriving Jews were merchants who started out as itinerant peddlers selling their wares from packs carried on their backs. After some success, the enterprise would grow to goods being sold out of a horse-drawn wagon with the ultimate goal of establishing a store in a town center. According to the U.S. Census, by 1880, Jews were living in 16 different villages, from Glen Cove to Greenport, and Hempstead to Sag Harbor.
Before the turn of the 20th century, manufacturing began to appear in Suffolk County with a need to fill skilled and manual labor positions. New Jewish immigrants found their way out to locales unknown, lured with the promise of a steady wage and, in some cases, housing for their families. These factories brought growth within their respective communities, and the need for tailors, shoemakers and grocers were filled by enterprising Jewish men. Before long, Jewish communal gatherings were organized, leading to the construction of a synagogue in Setauket in 1896, Sag Harbor in 1900, and both Greenport and Patchogue in 1904. These were milestone achievements for Long Island Jews but also significant for the secular community to have these buildings’ openings reported in the local newspapers.
Before World War I, the first everyday commuters to Manhattan could be found living in western Nassau County. Getting into the city became much easier once the East River tunnel opened in 1910. Jewish men left their homes in Cedarhurst, Lawrence and Woodmere for jobs in the Garment and Diamond districts and on Wall Street, returning home to their families each night.
Today, Long Island has the fourth-largest Jewish population in the United States after New York City, Los Angeles and southern Florida. While the most significant growth occurred in the post-World War II era, a sizable Jewish community existed well before. By 1918, there were 13 congregations and more than 4,000 Jewish residents who planted the seeds that gave rise to the Judaism on Long Island that exists today.
When attending a Seder, and the story of Moses parting the Red Sea is told, you can now add the narrative about the earliest Jews who crossed the East River, went beyond Brooklyn and Queens, and made Long Island their home.
Reader Brad Kolodny, author of the new book “The Jews of Long Island 1705-1918,” lives in Plainview.
