National Library of Israel's new digital archive opens window into New York’s vibrant Jewish past

Detailed summary

The National Library of Israel has digitized nearly five decades of New York Jewish Week, New York’s leading Jewish newspaper, making its archive free and accessible to the public for the first time.

A bagel famine. A record-breaking gathering of Orthodox Jews at Madison Square Garden. Jewish treasures discovered in a crumbling synagogue basement. These may sound like the trappings of an especially quirky history of Jewish New York - and they are. But such unusual episodes also offer a unique window into the lives, concerns and changing identities of New York's Jewish community, from the time it was founded in 1654 to the present day. And now, the history of New York's Jewish community is easier than ever to explore.

Opening of the article, excerpted from The Jerusalem Post. To read the rest, open the article on the publisher's site.