Jewish History in the U.S.
Jewish history in what would become the United States begins in New York City in 1654 when 23 Sephardic Jews from Brazil, seeking refuge from the Spanish Inquisition, arrived at what was then New Amsterdam. By 1815, there were 3,000 Jews in United States. That number jumped to 15,000 by 1840. In 1880, there were about 230,000 Jewish people living in the United States.
In the next hundred years, that number multiplied by more than 20 with the vast majority of these Jewish people emigrating from Russia and parts of Eastern Europe. From 1880 to the mid-1920s, about two million Jewish people traveled across the Atlantic Ocean to make a new start in what was dubbed, "The Golden Land." Many of them landed in New York City and settled there. In 1880, there were about 80,000 Jewish residents in New York City. By 1920, there were 1,650,000-almost one-third of the city's population.
There are now more than five million Jewish people living in the United States. The history of the Jewish people in the United States, not only in New York City, but in other American cities, large and small, is a storied one, where Jewish people have made a disproportionately large contribution to the American way of life.
-Chosen People Ministries, 2013
In the next hundred years, that number multiplied by more than 20 with the vast majority of these Jewish people emigrating from Russia and parts of Eastern Europe. From 1880 to the mid-1920s, about two million Jewish people traveled across the Atlantic Ocean to make a new start in what was dubbed, "The Golden Land." Many of them landed in New York City and settled there. In 1880, there were about 80,000 Jewish residents in New York City. By 1920, there were 1,650,000-almost one-third of the city's population.
There are now more than five million Jewish people living in the United States. The history of the Jewish people in the United States, not only in New York City, but in other American cities, large and small, is a storied one, where Jewish people have made a disproportionately large contribution to the American way of life.
-Chosen People Ministries, 2013