In 1917, the Jewish population of Harlem peaked at about 175,000 Jews, making it second only to New York City’s Lower East Side in number of Jewish residents.
Though mostly forgotten, symbols of this past exist in Harlem today, from the Star of David atop the Commandment Keepers Congregation on West 123rd Street (seen in photo at right), or the inscription, reported by The New York Times, on the marble pediment leading to the baptismal pool at Mount Olivet Baptist Church that reads: “Jehovah is in his holy temple; be silent, before him, all the earth.’’
The Daily News reports some of that history is returning:
“After nearly a century, Jewish communal life is quietly returning to West Harlem as a diverse group of Jews move back to a neighborhood once rich with synagogues, Yiddish theaters and kosher butchers.”
Learn more about the rich history of Harlem’s Jewish community this June 27 at a Jewish Harlem Tour. Space is limited, and the June 6 date has already sold out. Sign up now for the June 27 tour to reserve your spot.
Other upcoming Excursions include Brooklyn Bridge and Beyond (May 23); Yiddish Rialto: Sites and Synagogues of the East Village (June 6); and Central Park: North and South Tours (June 6).
(Photo of Commandment Keepers Congregation at 1 W 123rd St via CUNY.)
Revolution Hustle: Join hustle-party diva Lori Brizzi for a hot Saturday night of classic hustle, salsa and West Coast swing with some of New York’s hottest dancers and DJs!
Sun, May 23
Assertiveness Training: Say What You Mean with Ellen Calmenson, LCSW
Brooklyn Bridge and Beyond with Gordon Linzer. Take a brief tour of City Hall Park; then walk across the Brooklyn Bridge and enjoy skyline views and fascinating history. Explore Dumbo, where you may enjoy lunch.
Bill Gates And Bill Gates: Sharing Stories Between Father And Son
I’ve raised three good kids who turned out to be good citizens too. I’m proud of them—in ways that I suspect most parents are. I wish my first wife Mary were able to see what they’ve accomplished and to share in the joy and satisfaction of seeing them as parents now too.
I believe there’s power in sharing stories. My dad, who dropped out of school in the 8th grade to help support his family, didn’t live long enough to see how our story has unfolded. And, as I enter my mid-80s, I know that I likely won’t see how life unfolds for my own grandchildren as they move beyond young adulthood. I can at least help them to understand mine.
On June 2, he’ll join his son Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, on stage at the 92nd Street Y to share more stories in a conversation between father and son.
If you have any questions for Bill Gates Sr. or Jr., leave them here in the comments. As always, if we use it during the event, you’ll be awarded two ticket to an upcoming lecture of your choice, pending availability.
Related: Jr. Gates was here in November of last year, you can watch a video clip of that appearance here.
Writing a short story is like making a pot of soup: bring together sweet, sour and salty flavors and balance them in a way that feels both familiar and entirely new. If you’ve got the ingredients—great ideas, characters that chatter in your head while you’re riding the subway, an unforgettable setting—bring them to our table.
Jennifer Kikoler earned her MFA in Fiction at Brooklyn College, where she also teaches undergraduate writing. She’ll be leading six session Short Story Workshop at 92YTribeca beginning next week on May 20.
There you will take a look at the essential elements of a short story, from character and conflict to dialogue and point of view. You’ll do writing exercises to generate new ideas and expand the ideas you bring to class, and read and discuss each other’s work. The classes are short and sprightly and all take place in in May and June, without disrupting your plans for the summer.
Sign up for the workshop here, and let’s get writing.
Sean Hayes Enjoys Getting Drunk, YouTube, Blogs, And Yelling
Sean Hayes, Tony Award-nominated star of Promises, Promises and Emmy Award-winning actor playing Jack on Will & Grace, sat down with Playbill.com for a quick ‘Cue and A’.
That’s where we learned he prefers a Mac to PC, is obsessed with his friends’ blogs, YouTube and financial news, and his pre-show rituals include showing up drunk, yelling at the crew, demanding silence, and then insisting on holding the curtain an extra five minutes.
92Y Podcast: From the Poetry Center Archive: John Dos Passos: “Art and Isadora”
Today’s featured recording, from January of 1965, is an excerpt from John Dos Passos’s only appearance at the 92nd Street Y Poetry Center. He begins with some remarks on his development as a writer after World War I, then reads a section on dancer Isadora Duncan from the second volume of his U.S.A. trilogy—The Big Money.
Before Dos Passos took the stage that night, critic Robert Gorham Davis introduced him thusly:
Mr. Dos Passos has carried on in all his writing for nearly 50 years a frustrated, anguished love affair with the United States as a whole. We have to look to Balzac and Zola to find fictional undertakings of similar scope. Dos Passos, moreover, has gone beyond his masters in the form and texture of his work. He is a painter and poet, a dramatist, an impressionist, an expressionist in the color, the imagination, the technical inventiveness of U.S.A., with its cameras-eye, its newsreels, its biographies both fictional and historical. There is a zest for life, a feeling for the changing social moods and moments of an epic, for the discriminabilia of time and space that far transcend anything merely naturalist or sociological.
In an ongoing effort to share with our readers some of the great literary moments which the Poetry Center has presented across the decades, this blog has begun to feature regular postings of archival recordings. For access to other recordings, please click here. For more information about the final event in this season’s Main Reading Series—The Poets’ Theatre: The Correspondence of Elizabeth Bishop and Robert Lowell with actors Kate Burton and Michael Cumpsty—please click here.
Unterberg Poetry Center webcasts and access to our archive are made possible in part by the generous support of the Sidney E. Frank Foundation.
You can also download the MP3. [16 MB]
[Right-click and select "Save Target As:" or equivalent to download.]
Subscribe with iTunes or add our podcast feed to your RSS news reader and have future 92nd Street Y podcasts delivered automatically.
Submit Your Questions For Christopher Hitchens And Salman Rushdie
Did you ever want to get a question answered by one of our lecturers? Here’s your chance! Submit you questions for Vanity Fair contributing editor Christopher Hitchens or author Salman Rushdie, for their appearance together on June 8.
If your question gets used on stage during the Q&A—like we did with Ted Koppel—we will provide you with two free tickets to an upcoming lecture of your choice, pending availability.
So get questioning! Leave them here in the comments.
92YTribeca held the world premiere screening last year for the Awkward Comedy Show (formerly known as The Awkward Kings of Comedy), and now it’s available on DVD.
92Y Video: Captains of Industry: Jeffrey Immelt with Norm Pearlstine
On May 6, 2010, for our Captains of Industry lecture series, General Electric Chief Executive Jeffrey Immelt was interviewed by Norm Pearlstine, chairman of Bloomberg Businessweek.
In the video above, Pearlstine asks Immelt about executive compensation, and for his views on Wall St. or Congress after watching the recent Congressional hearings for Goldman Sachs. “Financial services is a very important industry in this country,” Immelt replied, continuing:
“I just think this point about damning Wall Street isn’t good for the American economy. Number one. Number two, I wish they’d take care of their own compensation. It just shouldn’t be this kind of problem. I trust them to manage their own reputation. Because we need them. We need Wall Street…
People need to tone down the rhetoric around financial services, and stop the populism.”
Sebastian Junger, author of The Perfect Storm, has written a new book, War, an on-the-ground account of his time embedded with a single platoon through a 15 month tour of duty in the most dangerous outpost in Afghanistan’s Korengal Valley.
This Thursday, May 13, Junger will be at the 92nd Street Y for further in-depth discussion of his book and time in Afghanistan, joined in by NBC’s Brian Williams. A booksigning will follow. Tickets can be purchased here.
The Hidden Jews of Persia. Learn about the unique and inspiring history of the small Jewish community of Mashad, Persia. The program is followed by Q&A with members of the thriving Mashadi community in New York.
Wed, May 12
New Parent Get Togethers / Birth-12 mos. Join us for a lively, weekly get-together to share, learn and make new friends.
Toddler Parent Get Togethers / 1-3 yrs. Parents, drop in to discuss important topics with a parent education specialist while toddlers play in nearby play area.
Wine and Cheese Pairing with Martin Johnson. Taste an assortment of wines from around the world (red, white and bubbly!) and pair each with a variety of cheeses.
Later, Rock was joined by music writer Anthony DeCurtis and shared stories about the Stooges first show in the UK. See more photos on 92YTribeca’s Flickr page.
Some upcoming screenings at 92YTribeca include the New York Premiere of Junior with film subject Eddie Belasco and director Jenna Rosher in person for post-screening Q&A (May 12), Channel 101: NY Monthly Screening (May 12) , and a screening of Michael Clayton with film editor John Gilroy and writer Bobbie O’Steen present in conversation (May 13).
This May 11 and 12, we invite you to the 92Y May Center for The Perfect Fit, a two-day free fitness event** where you can check out our fitness classes, mini-training sessions with the pros and so much more!
Bring your friends and family, no matter the fitness level, from fitness firsts to fitness fanatics, our staff will be here to help and assist you.
For example, there was a study done in Miami that found people who lived in apartments with balconies had better cognitive development than others:
“There are a whole bunch of studies like that. People who volunteer and help kids seem to age better and help their brains. We forget how difficult it is to meet, greet and deal with another human being. It’s hard on our brains and good for them.”
What’s more: “One of the most intriguing findings,” she told The Times, “is that if you talk to people who disagree with you, that helps your brain wake up and refine your arguments and shake up the cognitive egg, which is what you want to do.”
So if you disagree with any of this, let’s talk about it in the comments, and get smarter while we are at it! You can also head over to NPR to read an excerpt of the book, and listen to a segment with Strauch on Fresh Air.
Lastly, mark your calendars for June 17, (y’know, so you don’t forget) when Strauch comes to 92YTribeca to talk about her book and how middle-aged people are smarter than any of you young whippersnappers.
In 1917, the Jewish population of Harlem peaked 
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Writing a short story is like making a pot of soup: bring together sweet, sour and salty flavors and balance them in a way that feels both familiar and entirely new. If you’ve got the ingredients—great ideas, characters that chatter in your head while you’re riding the subway, an unforgettable setting—bring them to our table.
Sean Hayes, Tony Award-nominated star of Promises, Promises and Emmy Award-winning actor playing Jack on Will & Grace, sat down with Playbill.com for a quick 
92YTribeca held the world premiere screening last year for the Awkward Comedy Show (formerly known as The Awkward Kings of Comedy), and now it’s 
For example, there was a study done in Miami that found people who lived in apartments with balconies had better cognitive development than others:
