Welcome to the Forward’s coverage of the Lower East Side, a neighborhood in Manhattan that was a center of Jewish immigrant culture in the 20th century.
Lower East Side
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Fast Forward 14-Year-Old Neighbor Arrested In Arson Of Historic Lower East Side Synagogue
(JTA) — A 14-year-old boy has been charged with arson in connection with a fire that seriously damaged a historic synagogue on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. The boy was arrested Tuesday night at his home near the Beth Hamedrash Hagadol synagogue, the New York Post reported Wednesday morning. He was expected to be arraigned later…
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News Raging Blaze Kills Quixotic Dream Of Revival For 167-Year-Old Lower East Side Synagogue
When a 167-year-old synagogue burned to cinders Sunday, lingering hopes of preserving the old Jewish Lower East Side burned with it. Beth Hamedrash Hagadol had survived a century and half as the most visible monument to a Jewish community that has its spiritual roots on the crowded blocks between the Bowery and the East River….
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Fast Forward Fire That Destroyed Historic Synagogue Was Second In A Week: Neighbors
(JTA) — Neighbors of a historic synagogue on Manhattan’s Lower East Side reportedly said a fire erupted inside the building just days before the three-alarm blaze all but destroyed Beth Hamedrash Hagadol Sunday night. Local residents told the New York Post that the first blaze broke out inside the vacant building, but the paper said…
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News Massive Fire Destroys 120-Year-Old Synagogue On Lower East Side
One hundred and twenty years of Jewish history on Manhattan’s Lower East Side came to a tragic ending on Sunday night, as fire destroyed Beth Hamedrash Hagadol, one of the oldest synagogues in New York. For hours, smoke billowed above the neighborhood, once the heart of Jewish life in the city, and residents gathered to…
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Community How I Lost My Judaism In Five Somber Nights — And Found It Again My Own Way
Twice in my life did the profound symbiosis of community and Judaism yank me by the beard and bear its inescapable weight. The first time came during my father’s shiva. After four months of communal support during his time in the hospital, the Jews of Englewood, New Jersey, my Jews, multiplied their Samsonian efforts, filling…
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Fast Forward Century-Old East Village Synagogue Reopening After $1.2M Development Deal
A 129-year-old East Village congregation is set to reopen after shutting its doors for a $1.2M development deal, the news website dnainfo reported. The Meserich Shul, on East 6th Street near Tompkins Square Park, cut a $1.2 million deal in 2013 with developers East River Partners to build condos on the upper stories of its…
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News Image of ‘Global Village’ Will Replace Landmark Lower East Side Jewish Mural
The real estate developers who painted over a historic Jewish Lower East Side mural now say they will commission a new one — though they don’t know where it will be painted, or when. And it won’t feature Jews. The plans for a new mural, reported by dnainfo, come months after the developers destroyed the…
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Opinion Memo to All Those Who Are Visiting the Tenement Museum To Fight About Immigrants
As a trustee of the Lower East Side Tenement Museum, I am proud of our 28-year history of celebrating the lives and cultures of immigrants — what brings us together as Americans, not what divides us. This is an apolitical mission; from the museum’s founding, we have neither endorsed a single candidate for public office…
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