A Changed World – Maps of Jewish Institutions of Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Chicago, in the Universal Jewish Encyclopedia, 1942: – I – Manhattan


The location of Synagogues, Centers, Historic Sites, Educational Centers, National Headquarters, and Points of General Interest is shown on map by white numbers in back circles, which correspond with numbers on list below.

HISTORIC SITES

B’nai Jeshurun’s First Synagogue: 119 Elm Street – 2 / D-13
Congregation Emanu-El’s First Synagogue: 56 Chrystie Street – 6 / D-13
Mill Street Synagogue: 26 William Street – 1 / D-14
Oldest Jewish Cemetery in New York: Chatham Square and Oliver Street – 3 / D-13
Second Oldest Cemetery: 11th Street, East of Sixth Avenue – 24 / C-12
Third Oldest Cemetery: 21st Street, West of Sixth Avenue – 30 / C-12

SYNAGOGUES AND CENTERS

Adath Israel: Grand Concourse and 169th Street, Bronx – 85 / D-5
Adath Jeshurun: 2165 Gerard Avenue, Bronx – 79 / D-6
Anshe Chesed: 251 West 100th Street – 65 / C-8
Beth David: 832 Fox Ave., Bronx – 81 / E-5
(Temple) Beth-El: Fifth Avenue and 76th Street – 57 / D-9
Beth Hamedrash Hagodol: 64 Norfolk Street – 15 / E-13
Beth Hamedrash Hagodol of Washington Heights: 610 West 175th Street – 87 / C-5
Beth Israel: 347 West 34th Street – 37 / C-11
Beth Israel Shearith Judah: 610 West 149th Street – 77 / B-6
B’nai Jeshurun: 270 West 89th Street – 56 / C-9
Central Synagogue: Lexington Avenue and 55th Street – 45 / D-10
Darech Emuno: 53 Charles Street – 23 / C-12
Emunath Israel: 236 West 23rd Street – 31 / C-12
(Temple) Emanu-El: Fifth Avenue and 65th Street – 47 / D-10
Fort Washington Synagogue: 555 West 182nd Street – 90 / C-5
Garment Center Congregation: 461 Seventh Avenue – 38 / C-11
Gates of Israel: 560 West 185th Street – 91 / C-5
Hebrew Tabernacle: 605 West 161st Street – 78 / C-6
Institutional Synagogue: 37 West 116th Street – 71 / D-8
Inwood Hebrew Congregation: 111 Vermilyea Avenue – 103 / C-4
(Temple) Israel: 210 West 91st Street – 62 / C-9
Jacob H. Schiff Center: 2510 Valentine Avenue, Bronx – 102 / D-4
Jewish Center: 131 West 86th Street – 55 / C-9
Jewish Center of Highbridge: 1178 Nelson Avenue, Bronx – 86 / C-5
Jewish Center of University Heights: 108 West 174th Street, Bronx – 93 / C-5
Jewish Center of Wakefield: 641 East 233rd Street, Bronx – 107 / D-2
Jewish Center of Williamsbridge: 2910 Bronx Avenue, Bronx – 105 / E-3
Kahal Chasidim: 9 Attorney Street – 13 / E-13
Kalvaria Schul: Pike Street – 7 / D-13
Kehilath Israel: 1594 Crotona Parkway, Bronx – 96 / E-5
Mount Eden: 16 West Mount Eden Avenue, Bronx – 94 / D-5
Mount Naboth: 130 West 79th Street – 50 / C-9
Mount Sinai Anshe Emeth: Wadsworth Avenue and 178th Street: 89 / C-5
Ohab Zedek: 118 West 95th Street – 63 / C-9
Orach Chaim: 1459 Lexington Avenue – 60 / D-9
Park Avenue Synagogue: 50 East 88th Street – 59 / D-9
Ramath Orah: 550 West 110th Street – 67 / B-8
Rodeph Shalom: 7 West 83rd Street – 53 / C-9
Shaare Zedek: 210 West 93rd Street – 64 / C-9
Shearith Israel (Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue): Central Park West and 70th Street – 49 / C-10
Synagogue for Colored Jews: 87 West 128th and 30 West 129th Streets – 75 / C-7
Tifereth Israel: 1038 Prospect Avenue, Bronx – 80 / E-6
Tifereth Moshe: 1014 East 181st Street, Bronx – 101 / E-4
Torath Chaim: 148 West 85th Street – 52 / C-9
Tremont Temple: 2064 Grand Concourse, Bronx – 100 / D-4
West Side Synagogue: 160 West 82nd Street – 51 / C-9
Young Israel Synagogue: 229 East Broadway – 11 / E-13
Zichron Ephraim: 163 East 67th Street – 46 / D-10
Zion: Grand Concourse and Tremont Avenue, Bronx – 99 / D-45

INSTITUTIONAL CENTERS

Beth Israel Hospital: Stuyvesant Park East and 17th Street – 26 / D-12
Federation Building: 71 West 47th Street – 41 / D-11
Hebrew Home for Infants: University Avenue and Kingsbridge Road, Bronx – 104 / D-3
Hebrew Sheltering and Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS): 425 Lafayette Street – 21 / D-12
Home of the Daughters of Israel for the Aged: 1260 Fifth Avenue – 69 / D-8
Home of the Daughters of Jacob: Findley Avenue and 167th Street, Bronx – 84 / D-5
Israel Orphan Asylum: 274 East 2nd Street – 20 / E-12
Jewish Big Brothers and Big Sisters Association: 1118 Grand Concourse, Bronx – 83 / D-6
Jewish Board of Guardians: 228 East 19th Street – 27 / D-12
Jewish Braille Institute: 1825 Harrison Avenue, Bronx – 98 / C-4
Jewish Memorial Hospital: Broadway and 196th Street – 97 / C-4
Montefiore Hospital: Jerome Avenue and Gun Hill Road, Bronx – 106 / D-3
Mount Sinai Hospital: Fifth Avenue and 100th Street – 68 / D-8
Sydenham Hospital: Manhattan Avenue and 123rd Street – 72 / C-7
Young Men’s Hebrew Association: Lexington Avenue and 92nd Street – 61 / D-9
Young Women’s Hebrew Association: 31 West 110th Street – 70 / D-8
Young Men’s and Young Women’s Hebrew Association of the Bronx: 1511 Fulton Avenue – 95 / D-5
Young Men’s and Young Women’s Hebrew Association of Washington Heights: Fort Washington Avenue and 178th Street – 88 / C-5

EDUCATIONAL CENTERS

Central Jewish Institute: 125 East 85th Street – 58 / D-9
Down Town Talmud Torah: 394 East Houston Street – 19 / D-12
Jewish Educational Alliance: 197 East Broadway – 12 / D-13
Jewish Institute of Religion: 40 West 68th Street – 48 / C-10
Jewish Theological Seminary of America: Broadway and 122nd Street – 73 / C-7
Machzikei Talmud Torah: 225 East Broadway – 9 / D-13
Society for the Advancement of Judaism: 15 West 86th Street – 54 / C-9
Yeshiva College and Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary: Amsterdam Avenue and 186th Street – 92 / C-5
Yiddish Lehrer Seminar: 35 East 22nd Street – 32 / D-12

NEWSPAPERS AND PUBLISHING HOUSES

Behrman’s Jewish Book House: 1261 Broadway – 36 / C-11
Bloch Publishing Company: 31 West 31st Street – 35 / D-11
Day: 183 East Broadway – 10 / E-13
Forward and Zukunft Building: 175 East Broadway – 8 / E-13
Hebrew Publishing Company: 79 Delancey Street – 17 / D-13
Jewish Morning Journal: 77 Bowery – 5 / D-13
Maisel Publishing Company: 424 Grand Street – 14 / E-13

NATIONAL HEADQUARTERS

American Jewish Committee: 386 Fourth Avenue – 34 / D-11
American Jewish Congress: 221 West 57th Street – 44 / C-10
American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee: 100 East 42nd Street – 40 / D-11
Hadassah: 1860 Broadway – 43 / C-10
Jewish Agricultural Society: 301 East 14th Street – 25 / D-12
Jewish National Fund of America: 111 Fifth Avenue – 28 / D-12
Jewish Welfare Board: 200 Fifth Avenue – 33 / D-12
National Council of Jewish Women: 1819 Broadway – 42 / C-10
United Synagogue: Broadway and 122nd Street – 74 / C-7
Zionist Organization of America: 111 Fifth Avenue – 29 / E-12

POINTS OF GENERAL JEWISH INTEREST

Heine Monument: Grand Concourse and 161st Street, Bronx – 82 / D-6
Lewisohn Stadium: Amsterdam Avenue and 138th Street – 76 / C-7
Loeb Playground: East Broadway, Market and Henry Streets – 4 / D-13
Nathan Straus Square: East Broadway, Canal and Rutgers Streets – 16 / E-13
New York Public Library, Jewish Division: Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street – 39 / D-11
Schiff Parkway: Delancey Street – 18 / D-13
Straus Park: Broadway and 106th Street: 66 / C-8
Yiddish Theatrical District: Second Avenue, from Houston to 17th Street – 22 / D-12

A Changed World – Maps of Jewish Institutions of Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Chicago, in the Universal Jewish Encyclopedia, 1942

“The Map is Not the Territory” – a dictum of the Polish-American academic and creator of General Semantics, Alfred H.S. Korzybski – well embodies the concept that the map of a territory is not the territory itself.

True!

However, while by nature a map is not the territory – the place – it represents, it does represent another aspect of the world we live in:  Time.

In that sense, the three maps shown in this series of blog posts, all published in the 1942 edition of Rabbi Isaac Landman’s Universal Jewish Encyclopedia, show significant landmarks and features of the world of American Jewry – in Brooklyn, Chicago, and Manhattan – as they existed three-quarters of a century ago.  The maps show the location of temples, schools, Jewish communal centers, hospitals, orphanages, museums, significant historical events, newspaper and publishing houses, and headquarters of organization of varying political and ideological hues. 

Doubtless, some continue to exist in 2017, perhaps even at the same locations as in 1942.  Doubtless, others have moved.  Doubtless, many have vanished over the seven-odd decades that have transpired since the 1940s.  But, taken together as one, they provide a small window onto the nature of Jewish life in the United States in the mid-twentieth-century.

Each map is accompanied by a key, while the text of said key is transcribed beneath the map.  This is especially helpful for the Manhattan map, which encompasses so very many localities.

If you desire to view the maps in greater detail than seen on your PC, Mac, or mobile device, they can be saved (right-click…) and viewed at appreciably greater size without loss of detail.  (They were scanned at 400 dpi for this purpose.)  This is especially so for the map of Manhattan, which – “digitally” – measures 2700 by 4400 pixels, or 7 x 11 inches.  (Gadzooks.)

So, enjoy and ponder this window upon three worlds gone by!

Whether, and in what manner, those “worlds” will continue is a question which is not the subject of this post, but which is the subject of this essay by Isi Leibler

References

Rabbi Isaac Landman (Wikipedia)

Alfred H.S. Korzybski (Wikipedia)

General Semantics (Wikipedia)

Map-Territory Relation (Wikipedia)