Timeline of the Jewish Community of Northern New Jersey

The Daughters of Miriam Home for the Aged and Orphans was established at 469 River Street, Paterson. The idea of a multigenerational care institution for children and the elderly was conceived by Malbish Arumim, a local women’s charitable organization. It was named in memory of the founder of the Paterson Jewish community, Miriam Barnert. 

"The Harris Brothers"--physicians Samuel, Theodore and Martin, built the Capitol Theatre in 1921 on Monroe Street between Lexington and Central Avenues in Passaic.  It seated about 4,000 people and cost nearly a half-million dollars. The Capitol Theatre in the 1970's became a major rock concert venue on the East Coast. The theatre fell into disrepair and was demolished in 1991.

Ida Rosenthal, born in the Minsk area of Belarus in 1886, emigrated to the United States in 1904.  While living with relatives in Hoboken, Rosenthal bought a Singer sewing machine to begin a business as a seamstress. By 1918 she had opened a dress shop in Manhattan with her husband William Rosenthal and partner Enid Bisset. In 1922, the dress shop registered the name Maiden Form (later Maidenform) and moved to Bayonne, producing brassieres and lingerie sold in department stores across the nation and around the world.

Roth's Pharmacy at 128 Market Street, Passaic in the mid 1920's, when this was the thriving retail center of Passaic's Jewish community

The Veritans Club, one of the oldest Jewish social clubs was organized in Paterson. The Veritans are a group of business and professional men devoted to serving the children of the greater Paterson Jewish community. They initiated an annual boat ride up the Hudson in 1928 and began Camp Vacation on the roof of the Paterson YMHA. In 1950 they opened a 65-acre camp site in Haledon, now known as Camp Veritans.

Independent Lodzer Young Men was founded in Paterson to foster the ideals of Judaism by lending assistance to the sick, the needy, and the bereaved. Independent Lodzer Young Men was established as an arm of the Lodzer Benevolent Association. Many Lodz immigrants settled in Paterson due to the thriving textile industry.

Established c. 1928, Paterson's Jewish cultural life was enriched by the development of the Meyer Paris Theater Group originally known as the Yiddish Kuntz Group. Meyer Paris, author, playwright, actor, director, and set designer was the founder of this innovative group which mad many appearances throughout Paterson: at the YM-YWHA, Lazzara's Hall and Eastside High School.

The Stanley Theatre opened in Jersey City, as a flagship of the Stanley-Fabian chain. Designed with a Venetian theme, this massive and ornate movie palace was the second largest on the east coast next to Radio City. It quickly became the city's cultural hub and continued to thrive into the 1960's. In addition to first run films, it presented entertainers ranging from the Three Stooges, Jimmy Durante, Tony Bennett, Janis Joplin, Dolly Parton, to the Grateful Dead.

On April 21, 1929, the cornerstone of the new Temple Emanuel Building was laid. Located at the corner of Broadway and East 33rd Street in Paterson, the synagogue was financed by Jacob Fabian and designed by Fred  Wesley Wentworth in an Art Deco style. The interior had magnificant stained glass windows, a central occulus, and a marble ark. Temple Emanuel symbolized the rising affluence of Paterson's Jewish community in the 1920s, enabling many Jews to move from downtown locations to the fashionable Eastside Park neighborhood.