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Timeline panels at the JHS Offices

Timeline of the Jewish Community of Northern New Jersey

Our timeline is a compilation of the people, places and events that shaped the Jewish communities of Passaic, Bergen and Hudson Counties.

Beginning in the 1840's, German Jews began to settle in this area to escape the political turmoil, economic chaos and anti-semitism of Central and Eastern Europe. The United States offered opportunities unhindered by Old World restrictions and religious intolerance.

Initially, these earliest immigrants were attracted to the rapidly growing industrial cities of Paterson and Passaic. Soon after, Jersey City, Bayonne, and Hoboken developed fledgling Jewish communities as well. For the remainder of the 19th Century, these expanding urban areas bore witness to the struggles and successes, the heartaches and achievements of thousands who came in search of a better life. They rose from poverty and deprivation to build synagogues, hospitals, community centers, schools, and organizations that helped to make life bearable. They built Jewish communities that contributed to the economic, social, political, and cultural benefits of the cities that had welcomed them.

This timeline will be a dynamic documentation of Jewish life in Northern New Jersey, subject to change and revision as our archival collections grow. What is illustrated on the three panels currently displayed covers the period from 1840 to the 1940's, approximately three generations. The JHSNJ will continue the timeline to bring us up to the present day, where our catchment area represents one of the largest Jewish communities in the United States.

The original physical panels in our office were designed to read from right to left, similar to a Siddur, a Jewish prayer book.

Timeline panels at the JHS Offices

Decades Covered

Our timeline currently covers the following decades.
Main Street Paterson
1840 - 1860's
The Jewish community of Northern New Jersey has its roots in early 19th century Central and Eastern Europe. After Napoleon was defeated in 1815 at the Battle of Waterloo, both Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire saw a rise in nationalism. This resulted in economic chaos and violent anti-Semitism, both of which caused significant increase in Jewish immigration to the United States.
Katz Brothers Brewery
1870 - 1890's
By 1870, the Jewish community of North Jersey was still a small minority population, but was a growing influence in the larger cities. Businesses had been established, synagogues were founded, and a new generation began building the organizations that bridged cultural differences between the old and new world.
YMHA
1900 - 1910's
Yet another, more bloody, wave of pogroms swept through the Pale of Settlement (parts of present-day Russia, Poland, Ukraine and Lithuania) from 1903 to 1906. The Russian government, concerned by the growing anti-monarchist revolutionary agitation, gave the reactionary press free reign to engage in unbridled anti-Jewish incitement.
Daughters of Miriam
1920's
The aftermath of World War I (1914-1918) and the Russian Revolution (1917) brought yet another wave of Eastern European immigrants to New Jersey. Many of the newer immigrants found employment as mill workers, while others opened their own small businesses, often renting space from former employers.
youngsters on front steps of Daughters of Miriam
1930 - 1940's
The Great Depression brought hard times to the manufacturing cities of northern New Jersey, bringing unemployment, foreclosures, and evictions to workers and employers alike. To assist those hardest hit by the Depression, the area's Jewish communities created many new social service agencies throughout the 1930's.