Delicatessen

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delicatessen

An array of meats and cheeses at an Italian delicatessen in Rome

Traditionally, a delicatessen or deli is a retail establishment that sells a selection of fine, exotic, or foreign prepared foods. Delicatessen originated in Germany (original: Delikatessen) during the 18th century and spread to the United States in the mid-19th century. European immigrants to the United States, especially Ashkenazi Jews, popularized the delicatessen in U.S. culture beginning in the late 19th century. More recently, many larger retail stores like supermarkets have "deli" sections.

Etymology

French delicacies sold in delicatessens: foie gras and Sauternes

Delicatessen is a German loanword which first appeared in English in the late 19th century and is the plural of Delikatesse. The German form was lent from the French délicatesse, which itself was lent from Italian delicatezza, from delicato, of which the root word is the Latin adjective delicatus, meaning "giving pleasure, delightful, pleasing". The first U.S. short version of this word, deli, came into existence probably after World War II (first evidence from 1948).

History

The German food company Dallmayr is credited with being the first delicatessen created. In 1700, it became the first store to import bananas, mangoes, and plums to the German population from faraway places such as the Canary Islands and China. Over 300 years later, it remains the largest business of its kind in Europe.

The first delicatessens to appear in the United States were in New York City in the early 1880s, with the first advertised use of this word occurring in early 1884 in St. Louis, Missouri upon the opening of "Sprague's Delicatessen," at first one lunchroom and eventually five popular downtown lunch establishments operating between 1884 and 1906. Early delicatessens in New York catered to the German immigrant population living there. As the German-Jewish population increased in New York City during the mid- to late 1800s, kosher delicatessens began to open; the first was founded in 1889. In the United States, by the late 20th to early 21st centuries, supermarkets, local economy stores, and fast food outlets began using the word (often abbreviated as "deli") to describe sections of their stores. The decline of the deli as an independent retail establishment was most noted in New York City: from a high in the 1930s of about 1,500 Jewish delicatessens, only 15 still existed in 2015.

By country and region

See also: List of delicatessens

Australia

An Italian-style delicatessen in Five Dock, Sydney

In most of Australia, the term "delicatessen" retains its European meaning of high-quality, expensive foods and stores. Large supermarket chains often have a deli department, and independent delicatessens exist throughout the country. Both types of deli offer a variety of cured meats, sausages, pickled vegetables, dips, breads, and olives.

In South Australia and Western Australia, "deli" also denotes a small convenience store or milk bar, and some businesses use "deli" as part of their business name. Traditional delicatessens also exist in these states, with "continental delicatessen" sometimes used to indicate the European version.

Canada

In Canada, both meanings of "delicatessen" are used. Customers of European origin often use the term in a manner consistent with its original German meaning, but as in the United States, a deli can be a combined grocery store and restaurant.

Europe

Various delicatessen foods

In Europe "delicatessen" means high-quality, expensive foods, and stores. In German-speaking countries a common synonym is Feinkost (fine food), and shops that sell it are called Feinkostläden (delicacy stores). Department stores often have a Delikatessenabteilung (delicacy department). European delicatessens include Fauchon in Paris, Dallmayr in Munich, Julius Meinl am Graben in Vienna, Harrods and Fortnum & Mason in London, Peck in Milan, and Jelmoli in Zürich.

Although U.S.-style delicatessens are also found in Europe, they appeal to the luxury market. In Russia, shops and supermarket sections approximating U.S.-style delis are called kulinariya and offer salads and main courses. Delicate meats and cheeses, cold-cut and sliced hot, are sold in a separate section. The Eliseevsky food store in central Moscow, with its fin de siècle decor, is similar to a European delicatessen. From the Tsarist era, it was preserved by the Soviets as an outlet for difficult-to-obtain Russian delicacies. Delicatessens may also provide foods from other countries and cultures that are not readily available in local food stores. In Italy, the deli can be called gastronomia, negozio di specialità gastronomiche, bottega alimentare and more recently salumeria. In France it is known as a traiteur or épicerie fine.

Ireland

In Ireland, delis serve pre-prepared "food to go". This trend began in the 1990s and led to the emergence of many ready-to-eat deli products. Delis can be found at a wide variety of convenience shops, newsagents, supermarkets, petrol stations, and casual eateries throughout Ireland.

Popular items served at hot deli counters include chicken fillet rolls (breaded chicken fillet on a bread roll), breakfast rolls (Irish breakfast items on a bread roll), jambons, sausage rolls, and potato wedges.

United States

A typical deli in West Windsor Township, New Jersey, in the United States

In the United States, a delicatessen (or deli) is often a combined grocery store and restaurant, although the term may also be used for a strictly take-out or sit-down restaurant. Delis offer a broader, fresher menu than fast-food chains, rarely employing fryers (except for chicken) and routinely preparing sandwiches to order.

American delis sell cold cuts by weight. In addition to made-to-order sandwiches, many American delicatessens offer made-to-order green salads. Prepared pasta, potato, chicken, and tuna salads, or other salads are sometimes displayed under the counter and sold by weight. Precooked chicken, shrimp, or eggplant dishes may also be sold. Delicatessens offer a variety of beverages, such as pre-packaged soft drinks, coffee, tea, and milk. Potato chips and similar products, newspapers, and small items such as candy and mints are also usually available.

Delicatessens from a number of cultures can be found in the United States, including Italian, Greek, and Jewish, both kosher and "kosher style". The American equivalent of a European delicatessen may be known as a gourmet food store.

History of the Jews in Philadelphia

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_Philadelphia

Jews in Philadelphia can trace their history back to Colonial America. Jews have lived in Philadelphia since the arrival of William Penn in 1682.

Colonial History

Jewish traders have operated in southeastern Pennsylvania since at least the 1650s. The first Jewish resident of the city on record was Jonas Aaron whose name appears in 1703 in the American Historical Register. Several Jewish families had immigrated to Philadelphia by 1734, as recorded by German traveler von Beck who listed them among the religious sects of the town. Nathan Levy purchased ground for Jewish burial in 1738, obtained the grant on September 25, 1740, and is cared for by Congregation Mikveh Israel.

In the War of Independence

Many Jews in Philadelphia took a prominent part in the War of Independence. Leading up to the conflict, several Jewish merchants and other citizens of Philadelphia signed the Non-Importation Resolutions. By doing so, they agreed "not to have any goods shipped from Great Britain until after the repeal of the Stamp Act." This was officially adopted on October 25, 1765. The Jewish signers included Benjamin Levy, David Franks, Samson Levy, Hyman Levy Jr., Mathias Bush, Moses Mordecai, Michael Gratz, and Barnard Gratz. The last two were brothers who had left Upper Silesia in Germany about 1755 and settled in Philadelphia.

In 1777, just after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War, the following Jews agreed to accept the colonial paper money sanctioned by the king in lieu of gold and silver: Solomon Aaron, Joseph Solomon Kohn, Solomon Marache, Moses Mordecai, Barnard Soliman, and David Franks. Of these, Moses Mordecai and David Franks had signed the Non-Importation Resolutions.

During the conflict, David Franks was conspicuous for his loyalty to the British cause, being the English agent in charge of the prisoners; his daughter, Rebecca Franks, took part in the "Mischianza," the famous fête given in honor of General Howe during the British occupancy of Philadelphia. The majority of the Jews of the city, however, supported the American cause. Col. David Salisbury Franks was aide-de-camp to General Benedict Arnold at Philadelphia in 1779; Solomon Bush was major of the Pennsylvania militia; Col. Isaac Franks served with distinction in the war, as did Philip Moses, Russell and Benjamin Nones. Haym Solomon made loans to individuals in Congress, which were never repaid; his services as a financial agent during the war were invaluable. Another creditor of the Continental Congress was Aaron Levy, and his loans, like nearly all the others, were never fully repaid. At the close of the war the Jewish population of Philadelphia amounted to almost 500. In 1801, Rebecca Gratz helped establish the Female Association for the Relief of Women and Children in Reduced Circumstances, which helped women whose families were suffering after the American Revolutionary War.

Congregation Mikveh Israel

Rebecca Gratz educator and philanthropist, member of congregation Mikveh Israel

Congregation Mikveh Israel, the first Jewish congregation in Philadelphia, had its beginnings about 1745 and is believed to have worshiped in a small house in Sterling Alley. In 1761, owing to the influx of Spanish and Portuguese Jews from England, the Netherlands and the West Indies, the question of building a synagogue was raised, but nothing was then accomplished in that direction. In 1773, when Bernard Gratz was parnas and Solomon Marache treasurer, a subscription was started "in order to support our holy worship and establish it on a more solid foundation." The number of Jewish residents in Philadelphia was suddenly increased at the outbreak of the American Revolution by the influx of Jewish patriots from New York, which had been captured by the British (Sept., 1776). The congregation removed from the house in Sterling Alley and then occupied quarters in Cherry Alley, between Third and Fourth streets.

The building in Cherry Alley, which had sufficed for the few families in the city, became inadequate, and steps were taken to secure a more commodious building. Gershom Mendes Seixas, who had fled from New York to Connecticut, was requested to act as the first rabbi of the reorganized congregation. The estimate for the new building was £600, and the subscription being inadequate, Haym Salomon, the banker and financial agent of the Continental Congress, agreed to pay one-fourth the cost. A lot was purchased in Cherry street, near Third street, and a suitable building erected. The governor of Pennsylvania and his official family were invited to attend the dedication ceremonies, which were held on September 13, 1782. At this time the congregation had over 100 members; its officers were Jonas Phillips (president), Michael Gratz, Solomon Marache, Solomon Myers Cohen, and Simon Nathan. On November 25, 1783, New York was evacuated by the British, and many of the members of the congregation returned to their former homes. The congregation also started Mikveh Israel Cemetery.

It is estimated that in 1775, the city of Philadelphia had a population of approximately 35,000 of whom 300 were Jewish. Mikveh Israel counted among its members revolutionary patriots including Jonas Phillips, the Gratz family, and Haym Solomon who financed the war.

When Washington was elected president of the United States the Congregation Mickvé Israel, together with the congregations of New York, Charleston, and Richmond, sent a congratulatory address, to which Washington replied (1790).

After Congregation Shearith Israel recalled the Rev. Gershom Mendez Seixas to New York, Congregation Mickvé Israel elected the Rev. Jacob Raphael Cohen in his stead. The latter had officiated as Chazzan of the Spanish and Portuguese synagogue in Montreal and had served in a like capacity in New York during the British occupation. He ministered to the Congregation Mickvé Israel until his death in Sept., 1811. As a result of the departure of its members, in 1788 the congregation encountered financial difficulties. A subscription list was started to meet the existing debts, and among those who contributed to it were Benjamin Franklin and David Rittenhouse. From this time on the congregation was ceaseless in its religious and charitable activities, and when Isaac Leeser's incumbency began, in 1829, it was, perhaps, the best-known synagogue in the United States. In 1815 Emanuel Nunes Carvalho was elected minister and continued in that capacity until his death in 1817; he was succeeded in 1824 by Abraham Israel Keys.

Mikveh Israel erected its first building in 1782 on Cherry Alley, as well as a parsonage, school, mikvah, and oven for Matza baking for Passover. A commemorative marker stands at that place. When the 1782 building became inadequate, the synagogue built a larger synagogue on the same designed by William Strickland, a leading architect. Prior to the Civil War (1861-1865) as the Jewish population grew and prospered, an elegant building was constructed on 7th Street, north of Arch designed by John McArthur Jr. (later, architect of City Hall of Philadelphia). Many Jews moved to the area between Broad and 16th Streets, north of Girard Avenue. A new building was constructed at Broad and York Streets in 1909, flanked by Gratz and Dropsie Colleges. Samuel Elkin and Henry G. Freeman Jr. donated $100,000; $40,500 for the site, $59,000 for the building in memory of Abraham and Eve Elkin.

Gratz College, a private, coeducational Jewish college in Melrose Park, Pennsylvania and traces its origins to 1856 when banker, philanthropist and communal leader Hyman Gratz, and the Hebrew Education Society of Philadelphia (established in 1849 by Rebecca Gratz and Isaac Leeser) joined together to establish a trust to create a Hebrew teachers college. The amount of the endowment was nearly $200,000, worth $6.4 million in 2019.

German Immigration and Reform

Congregation Rodeph Shalom was founded in 1795, and is the first Ashkenazic congregation established in the Western Hemisphere. In the last decade of the 18th century, a small group of Orthodox Jews from Germany, the Netherlands and Poland formed a minyan to worship in a manner consistent with their shared religious background. At first, services were held in various locations in Olde Philadelphia. In 1866, the congregation built its first sanctuary. Frank Furness, considered the most talented and exciting Philadelphia architect of his time, designed a Moorish-style synagogue on Broad and Mt. Vernon Streets.

The congregation soon outgrew its building and replaced it with the current structure, completed in 1928. Inspired by the great synagogue of Florence, Italy, Rodeph Shalom is one of the few synagogues in this country that retains the Byzantine-Moorish style. It was designed by the firm of Simon and Simon, which built the Fidelity Building on Broad Street. The sanctuary seats 1,640 people below star burst skylights. Its stained glass windows are one of the few remaining collections from the renowned D'Ascenzo Studio. The majestic bronze-and-enamel doors of the Torah ark grace the bimah. The D'Ascenzo Studio also designed the sanctuary's walls, ceiling, and dome, along with the carpet and ornamentation. The Broad Street Foyer houses the Leon J. and Julia S. Obermayer Collection of Jewish ritual art. More than 500 objects of Jewish ceremonial art from around the world dating back to the 18th century are on display. The Philadelphia Jewish Museum gallery, dedicated to Jacob Gutman, sponsors three to four exhibits of contemporary Jewish art each year, and is open for public viewing.

Keneseth Israel's current building in Elkins Park, Pennsylvania

The Reform Congregation Keneseth Israel was organized March 21, 1847. Its first Reader was B. H. Gotthelf, who held services in a hall at No. 528 N Second Street. The Reform movement, which had originated in Germany, soon extended itself to America, and L. Naumberg, Solomon Deutsch, and David Einhorn (1861–66) furthered its progress in this congregation. The first marked change in the character of the liturgy took place in 1856. Samuel Hirsch succeeded to the rabbinate in 1866; he introduced many changes in the service. In 1887 Joseph Krauskopf was elected rabbi; and contributed much to the success and standing of this congregation. It was during his incumbency that the Reform Congregation Keneseth Israel became the largest in Philadelphia. It had about 700 members in 1904. Its synagogue was situated on Broad Street, above Columbia Avenue from 1892 to 1957. In 1893 Joseph Leonard Levy was elected associate rabbi, but he resigned in 1902 to take up a rabbinical position in Pittsburg. The congregation supported a free public library and a reading-room prior to the opening of Philadelphia's Free Library. Senior Rabbis of Keneseth Israel since 1923 when Krauskopf died include William Fineshriber, Bertram W. Korn, Simeon Maslin and Lance J. Sussman.

In 1876, in commemoration of the centennial of American Independence, the Order B'nai B'rith and Israelites of America erected in Fairmount Park a statue representing Religious Liberty. It was designed by Moses Ezekiel, and was the first public monument erected by Jews in the United States.

In Philadelphia there were in 1904, not including lodges, over 160 Jewish organizations, of which over 50 are synagogues; the remainder consisting of hospitals, foster homes, Sunday-schools, benevolent associations, colleges, young men's Hebrew associations, social clubs, literary societies, etc. (A list of local organizations was published in the "American Jewish Year Book" for 5661 [1900-1].)

Eastern European Immigration (1881-1924)

In the early years of Eastern European Jewish mass immigration in the 1880s, a size-able Jewish quarter was established in a well-defined area of old Philadelphia, today known as Society Hill and Queen Village. In The Presbyterian, a weekly journal published in Philadelphia in 1889 for the Presbyterian community, the editor wrote: “In Philadelphia we are likely to have a Jewish section, where emigrants from Eastern Europe will congregate. From Fifth Street to the Delaware River and south of Lombard Street these foreign Jews are crowding in, and being very poor, the Hebrew Charities are drawn upon heavily.” The Jewish press saw a more confined quarter, extending from Spruce Street in the north to Christian Street in the South and from 3rd Street to 6th Street east to west. This was at a time when sweatshops were moving south from Kensington to Northern Liberties and then south of Market Street to Bank and Strawberry Streets. At this time, German-Jewish wholesale clothiers, like Snellenberg's, had their businesses on N. 3rd Street between Market and Arch streets. Many of these buildings stand today.

The Society Hachnasath Orechim, or Wayfarers' Lodge, was organized November 16, 1890, and chartered April 29, 1891; it was one of the most active charitable associations in Philadelphia. The Hebrew Literature Society, founded in 1885, opened a new building at 310 Catherine street. The Home for Hebrew Orphans, The Jewish Sheltering Home for the Homeless and Aged, the Mount Sinai Hospital Association, the Pannonia Beneficial Association, and the Central Talmud Torah were all situated in the southern portion of the city. In addition, the newcomers have many social, political, and literary organizations.

When immigrant steamers from Liverpool would arrive, trains of the Pennsylvania Railroad backed down onto the piers of the American Line to whisk away immigrants on their journeys to Chicago and places out west. A size-able number of Russian-Jewish immigrants stayed in Philadelphia and settled in the Jewish quarter. Many concentrated around the eastern end of South Street for three primary reasons: rent was inexpensive; housing was near the sweatshops; and the neighborhood was near the Emigrant Depot at the foot of Washington Avenue and the Delaware River. Prior to 1900, few Jews lived south of Washington Avenue. The Jewish Quarter of Philadelphia was bordered by Polish immigrants and Irish to the east, by African-Americans to the west and Italians to the southwest and, to the south, by Irish. Crossing well defined boundaries was dangerous for the immigrants. Curbside and pushcart markets were established; teams of horses flying over cobblestone streets made daily runs to the Dock Street wholesale market. Many Jewish immigrants opened businesses on Dock Street, that continue to operate to the present day including M. Levin & Co, Inc.

Central to the new immigrant neighborhood was South Street, called “the great Street for Polish Jews and huckstering of every variety.” Some writers called it the Russian quarter because so many of the newcomers were from the Imperial Russian Empire. In 1887, the Public Ledger wrote: “On South Street many “neat” stores have been built and indications point to the further improvement of that old down-town avenue of retail trade.” Dock Street, the wholesale food market of its day, “is not a handsome street; it is old, full of crude commercial bustle in the hours of the day, and after night fall or in the early hours of the night until the nocturnal preparations for the next day begin, it is almost wholly deserted.” The first Yiddish theatre was in the center of the quarter, located at the corner of 5th and Gaskill Streets. It was here that actors of the Yiddish theatre performed, Jacob Adler and Boris Thomashevsky. In the 1890s, the S. 4th Street vegetable and meat market was started on the sidewalks; it eventually grew into the fabled S. 4th Street pushcart market, still remembered till this day.

Markets were located along S. 2nd Street, the Washington Market along Bainbridge Street from 3rd to 5th Streets and in the 4th Street pushcart market. Sweatshops in the quarter numbered over one hundred. On the 300 block of Lombard Street alone there were five sweatshops. After 1900, Jews moved south across Washington Avenue and within just a few years they lived in great numbers south of Washington Avenue and east of Broad Street. Many Jews in the clothing trade prospered during the 1920s and moved to West Philadelphia and Strawberry Mansion. After Congress cut off immigration from Eastern Europe in 1924, the old Jewish quarter began to die out. Although its demise was slowed, first by the Depression and then by the effects of World War II, outward movement from the quarter accelerated after the war ended. Today, there are four synagogues operating in the original Jewish quarter.

Two buildings originally built as synagogues—Congregation B'nai Abraham, 527 Lombard Street (built in 1910 and still continuing to operate and maintain a congregation), and nearby B’nai Rueben, 6th & Kater Streets (built in 1905 but used for commercial purposes since 1956, and converted residential in 2014) —survive.

B'Nai Abraham

Historic Congregation B'Nai Abraham is located in the Society Hill section of Center City Philadelphia, and is supported by a lay led leadership board who act as stewards of the historic building. The congregation was established in 1874 as the "Russian Shul" following a wave of immigration to the Jewish Quarter of Philadelphia at the time, fleeing from Czar Alexander II. It moved into present space around the 1910s, making it historically significant as the oldest building in Philadelphia that was originally constructed as a synagogue and has been in continuous use as such. With the departure of much of the neighborhood's Jewish population in the mid-twentieth century, the congregation was no longer able to support a full-time rabbi and frequently lacked a minyan for Shabbat services. In the early 21st century, it became affiliated with the Chabad movement and is now one of its two Center City synagogues.

Society Hill Synagogue, 418 Spruce Street, renovated and uses the historic building previously home to the Roumanian Shul from 1910 until the 1960s. Congregation Kesher Israel, 412 Lombard Street, acquired the former Universality Church building in 1889 and continues as an active Conservative synagogue.

Post World War II

In 1964, the Six Million Jewish Martyrs statue, the first public memorial in the United States in remembrance of the Holocaust, was unveiled at 16th Street and Benjamin Franklin Parkway. In 2018, The Horwitz-Wasserman Holocaust Memorial Plaza was unveiled at the same site. In 1976, Mikveh Israel moved to Independence Mall, close to its original site, together with the National Museum of American Jewish History. The building opened on July 4, 1976, the Nation's Bicentennial. In August 2010, the National Museum of American Jewish History moved to new building at 5th and Market Streets. The synagogue is now the sole inhabitant of the current building. The former exhibit space is now the Social Hall, decorated with paintings dating from the 1700s to the present from the Archives. There is also an exhibit in the lobby.

(L-R) Rabbis Elya Svei, Aharon Leib Shteinman, Shmuel Kamenetzky

Haredi community

A Haredi community exists in Philadelphia as well. The Talmudical Yeshiva of Philadelphia was founded in 1953. It is led by Rabbi Shmuel Kamenetzky, and formerly Rabbi Elya Svei also. The community also includes kollelim, such as the Philadelphia Community Kollel, founded in 2001 in Merion Station, and the Northeast Community Kollel.

Illegal immigration to New York City

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illegal_immigration_to_New_York_City

There are thought to be over half a million undocumented immigrants residing in New York City. They come from many parts of the world, especially Latin America, Asia, Eastern Europe, and the Caribbean. About 70% of them have paid work, in catering, construction, retail, driving, cleaning, and many other trades; at least in catering, their wages tend to be lower than those of comparable workers.

Profile and demographics

A 2007 report by Fiscal Policy Institute estimated there were 535,000 undocumented immigrants in New York City. In all, undocumented immigrants make up 18 percent of all immigrants living in New York City. Undocumented Immigrants in New York City come from a wide array of countries from all over the globe. According to an estimate by Jeffrey S. Passel of the Pew Hispanic Center, 27 percent of undocumented immigrants in New York City come from Mexico and Central America, 23 percent come from South Asia and East Asia, 22 percent come from the Caribbean, 13 percent come from South America, eight percent come from Europe, five percent come from Africa, and two percent come from the Middle East.

Participation in labor force

Although undocumented immigrants do not have legal permanent status in the country, locally they have a significant presence in the city's economy and job market. As former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg explained, “Although [undocumented aliens] broke the law by illegally crossing our borders or over-staying their visas and our businesses broke the law by employing them, our city’s economy would be a shell of itself had they not, and it would collapse if they were deported”. According to a Fiscal Policy Institute analysis of 2000 to 2006 data, there are 374,000 undocumented workers in New York City, which makes up 10 percent of the resident workforce. With 374,000 out of 535,000 undocumented workers working in New York City, undocumented aliens have a labor force participation rate of roughly 70 percent. This percentage is higher than the labor force participation rate for native-born residents, 60 percent, or for overall foreign-born residents, 64 percent, in New York City.

Undocumented workers can be found working in almost every industry in New York City performing a wide variety of tasks. More than half of all dishwashers in the city are undocumented workers, as are a third of all sewing machine operators, painters, cooks, construction laborers, and food preparation workers. Undocumented workers also make up close to 30 percent of the city's automotive service technicians and mechanics, waiters, maids and housekeeping cleaners, and carpenters. The five occupations with the most undocumented workers in New York City are cooks (21,000), janitors and building cleaners (19,000), construction laborers (17,000), maids and housekeeping cleaners (16,000), and waiters (15,000).

Occupation	Number (estimate)	As proportion of all workers
Dishwashers	11,000	54%
Sewing machine operators	12,000	35%
Painters, construction & maintenance	7,000	33%
Cooks	21,000	33%
Construction laborers	17,000	32%
Food preparation workers	6,000	32%
Waiters & waitresses	15,000	28%
Maids & housekeeping cleaners	16,000	28%
Automotive service technicians & mechanics	5,000	26%
Carpenters	20,000	50%
Taxi drivers & chauffeurs	11,000	20%
Stock clerks & order fillers	7,000	19%
Janitors & building cleaners	19,000	19%
Laborers & freight, stock & material movers	6,000	16%
Driver/sales workers & truck drivers	9,000	15%
Cashiers	10,000	12%
Retail salespersons	10,000	12%
Child care workers	7,000	12%
Office clerks, general	5,000	12%
First-line supervisors of retail sales workers	8,000	10%
Other occupations	163,000	6%
Total undocumented labor force	374,000	10%

Restaurant industry

The restaurant industry may be the industry that employs the most undocumented aliens. In 2007, 36 percent of restaurant workers were undocumented aliens. According to a 2008 estimate from the Pew Hispanic Center, about 20 percent of the nearly 2.6 million chefs, head cooks and cooks in the United States are undocumented aliens. According to a 2005 report by the Restaurant Opportunities Center of New York and the New York City Restaurant Industry Coalition, undocumented alien workers in the restaurant industry in New York City receive substantially lower wages than legal workers. According to the report, the median wage of all restaurant workers in the city was $8.00 an hour. However, when undocumented alien workers’ earnings were taken out of the sample, the median wage rose to $9.00 an hour. A Manhattan chef and restaurateur explained, “We always, always hire the undocumented aliens… It’s not just me, it’s everybody in the industry. First, they are willing to do the work. Second, they are willing to learn. Third, they are not paid as well. It’s an economic decision. It’s less expensive to hire an undocumented person”.

Mexican immigrants

According to an analysis of the most recently available census data, Mexican immigrants have the highest rate of employment among the city's 10 largest immigrant groups, and they are more likely to hold jobs than New York City's native-born population. Based on the 2008 census data, about 75 percent of all Mexicans in the city between ages 16 and 65 are in the civilian labor force and only around four percent of them are unemployed, which is well below the nation's current unemployment rate of 9.6%. Experts say the main reason so many of these undocumented aliens are employed is because they are undocumented, and, consequently, they are less likely to report workplace abuses to the authorities for fear of deportation. As a result, many of these workers hold jobs that pay less than the minimum wage and require them to work 100-hour work weeks.

Social and fiscal impacts

Education

In 1996, New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani stated: "The reality is that [undocumented aliens] are here, and they're going to remain here. The choice becomes for a city what do you do? Allow them to stay on the streets or allow them to be educated? The preferred choice from the point of view of New York City is to be educated".

Law enforcement

Although the New York City Police Department (NYPD) does not check immigration status of people seeking medical attention or education services, it does check the immigration status of anyone who commits a crime.

Laws

In October 1986, Congress passed the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA), which authorized legalization for undocumented immigrants who could prove they had resided in the U.S. continually, although without appropriate documentation, since January 1, 1982.

Mayor Bloomberg explained, “Our general policy in this area protects the confidentiality of law-abiding immigrants, regardless of their status, when they report a crime or visit a hospital or send their children to school”. In New York State, resident undocumented immigrants can get a driver's license. They also pay the same tuition rates as other residents to attend a New York state university or other public university. New York state supports the Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals executive actions taken by Barack Obama, which allowed about four million undocumented immigrants to receive work permits and be protected from deportation.

On September 17, 2003, Bloomberg issued Executive Order 41 to protect the privacy of undocumented immigrants and to grant them access to City services that they need and are entitled to receive. According to Executive Order 41, if an undocumented immigrant goes to a City agency to request certain services or benefits, City employees will not ask about his immigration status unless it is required by law or necessary to determine whether he is eligible to receive those services or benefits. Furthermore, if an undocumented immigrant is the victim or witness of a crime, or if he calls or approaches the police seeking assistance, police officers will not inquire about his immigration status.

In January 2017, President Donald Trump enacted a new executive order that would allow undocumented immigrants nationwide to be deported on lesser charges than previously. Over the week of February 6, 2017, six hundred people in 11 states, including 41 people in the New York City area, were arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The ICE stated that of those arrested in the New York City area, 95% of those arrested were criminal aliens. Specifically, of the 41 arrested, 38 had at least one criminal conviction. The New York City raids had been planned since January and focused mainly on people who immigrated from Central American countries. The ICE had arrested more undocumented immigrants in the New York metropolitan area in previous raids, including 58 in an August 2016 raid. However, the new ICE raids under Trump's presidency represented an increased enforcement of immigration policy, including detaining and potentially deporting 8 million of the country's estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants. As a result, after the February raids, there were reports of increases in people looking for free legal help from immigrant-rights law firms. The NYPD said that it was not involved in the raids. ICE arrested a further 104 people in the New York area in July 2017.

Jews in New York City

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jews_in_New_York_City 

Jews in New York City ייִדן אין ניו יאָרק יהודים בניו יורק
Jewish shopkeeper in New York City, circa 1929

Jews in New York City comprise approximately 9 percent of the city's population, making the Jewish community the largest in the world outside of Israel. As of 2022, 1.6 million Jews lived in the five boroughs of New York City, and over 2.2 million Jews lived in New York State overall.

Ultra-Orthodox Jewish residents in Brooklyn, nicknamed "the most Jewish spot on Earth", and home to the world’s largest Jewish community, which with over 600,000 adherents living in the borough, greater than both Tel Aviv and Jerusalem,

Judaism is the second-largest religion practiced in New York City, with approximately 1.6 million adherents as of 2022, representing the largest Jewish community of any city in the world, greater than the combined totals of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Nearly half of the city’s Jews live in Brooklyn. The ethno-religious population makes up 18.4% of the city and its religious demographic makes up 8%. The first recorded Jewish settler was Jacob Barsimson, who arrived in August 1654 on a passport from the Dutch West India Company. Following the assassination of Alexander II of Russia, for which many blamed "the Jews", the 36 years beginning in 1881 experienced the largest wave of Jewish immigration to the United States. In 2012, the largest Jewish denominations were Orthodox, Haredi, and Conservative Judaism. Reform Jewish communities are prevalent through the area. Congregation Emanu-El of New York in Manhattan is the largest Reform synagogue in the world. Jews have immigrated to New York City since the first settlement in Dutch New Amsterdam in 1654, most notably at the end of the 19th century to the early 20th century, when the Jewish population rose from about 80,000 in 1880 to 1.5 million in 1920. The large Jewish population has led to a significant impact on the culture of New York City. After many decades of decline in the 20th century, the Jewish population of New York City has seen a sharp increase in the 21st century, owing to the high birth rate of the Hasidic and Orthodox communities.

Population

The Jewish Museum on Fifth Avenue

As of 2022, about 1.6 million residents of New York City, or about 18% of its residents, were Jewish.

Historical population of New York City

Year	Jewish population of New York City
1654	23
1750	300
1850	16,000
1859	40,000
1880	80,000
1920	1,600,000
1950	2,000,000
1981	1,100,000
1991	1,027,000
2002	972,000
2012	1,100,000
2022	1,600,000

There are over 2 million Jews in the New York metropolitan area, making it the second largest metropolitan Jewish community in the world, after the Tel Aviv Metropolitan Area in Israel (however, Tel Aviv proper has a smaller population of Jews than New York City proper, making New York City the largest community of Jews in the world within a city proper). New York City's Jewish population is more than the combined Jewish populations of Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C., and more than Jerusalem and Tel Aviv combined.

The number of Jews in New York City soared throughout the beginning of the 20th century and reached a peak of 2 million in the 1950s, when Jews constituted one-quarter of the city's population. New York City's Jewish population then began to decline because of low fertility rates and migration to suburbs and other states, particularly California and Florida. Though there were small Jewish communities throughout the United States by the 1920s, New York City was home to about 45% of the entire population of American Jews. A new wave of Ashkenazi and Bukharian Jewish immigrants from the former Soviet Union began arriving in the 1980s and 1990s. Sephardic Jews, including Syrian Jews, have also lived in New York City since the late 19th century. Russian, Lithuanian, and Polish Jews immigrated during the mid-19th century as well, in large numbers. There have also been a sizeable amount of Mountain Jews from Azerbaijan and the South Caucasus in Brooklyn as well as Bukharian Jews from Uzbekistan and greater Central Asia in Forest Hills, Queens. Many Jews, including the newer immigrants, have settled in Queens, south Brooklyn, and the Bronx, where at present most live in middle-class neighborhoods. The number of Jews is especially high in Brooklyn, where 561,000 residents—one out of four inhabitants—is Jewish. As of 2012, there are 1.1 million Jews in New York City. Borough Park, known for its large Orthodox Jewish population, had 27.9 births per 1,000 residents in 2015, making it the neighborhood with the city's highest birth rate. However, the most rapidly growing community of American Orthodox Jews is located in Rockland County and the Hudson Valley of New York, including the communities of Monsey, Monroe, New Square, Kiryas Joel, and Ramapo. Within the greater New York metropolitan area, many rapidly growing Orthodox Jewish communities have made their home in New Jersey, particularly in Lakewood and surrounding Ocean County, where Beth Medrash Govoha, the world's largest yeshiva outside Israel, is located.

The Museum of Jewish Heritage in Battery Park City

In 2002, an estimated 972,000 Ashkenazi Jews lived in New York City and constituted about 12% of the city's population. New York City is also home to the world headquarters of the Chabad, Bobover, and Satmar branches of Hasidism, and other Haredi branches of Judaism. While three-quarters of New York Jews do not consider themselves religiously observant, the Orthodox community is rapidly growing due to the high birth rates of Hasidic Jews, while the numbers of Conservative and Reform Jews are declining.

Organizations such as The Agudath Israel of America, The Orthodox Union, Chabad, and The Rohr Jewish Learning Institute have their headquarters in New York.

While the majority of Jews in New York City are white, some Jewish New Yorkers identify as Asian, Black, Latino, or multiracial. According to a 2011 community study conducted by the UJA-Federation of New York, 12% of Jewish households in the city are non-white or biracial.

Many Arab-Jewish immigrants have settled in New York City and formed a Sephardi community. The community is centered in Brooklyn and is primarily composed of Syrian Jews. Other Arab Jews in New York City hail from Egypt, Israel, Lebanon, and Morocco. Arab Jews first began arriving in New York City in large numbers between 1880 and 1924. Most Arab immigrants during these years were Christian, while Arab Jews were a minority and Arab Muslims largely began migrating during the mid-1960s. When Syrian Jews first began to arrive in New York City during the late 1800s and early 1900s, Eastern European Ashkenazi Jews on the Lower East Side sometimes disdained their Syrian co-coreligionists as Arabische Yidden, Arab Jews. Some Ashkenazim doubted whether Sephardi/Mizrahi Jews from the Middle East were Jewish at all. In response, some Syrian Jews who were deeply proud of their ancient Jewish heritage, derogatorily dubbed Ashkenazi Jews as "J-Dubs", a reference to the first and third letters of the English word "Jew". In the 1990 United States Census, there were 11,610 Arab Jews in New York City, comprising 23 percent of the total Arab population of the city. Arab Jews in the city sometimes still face anti-Arab racism. After the September 11 attacks, some Arab Jews in New York City were subjected to arrest and detention because they were suspected to be Islamist terrorists. Egyptian Jews arrived in New York City more recently than the Syrian Jews, with many of the Egyptian Jews speaking Ladino as well as Arabic and French. The vast majority Egyptian-Jewish immigrants to the city are Sephardi/Mizrahi, with very few being Ashkenazi. Ladino-speaking Egyptian Jews have tended to settle in the Forest Hills neighborhood of Queens. Very few Egyptian Jews lived in New York City or elsewhere in the United States prior to the 1956 Suez Crisis. Prior to the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, the quota for Egyptian immigrants was set at 100 people per year. Because of antisemitism directed against Egyptian Jews in Egypt, a small number of Egyptian-American Jews in New York City banded together as the "American Jewish Organization for the Middle East, Inc." to advocate for Jewish Egyptian refugees. There are two major communities of Egyptian Jews, one in Queens and another in Brooklyn. Egyptian Jews in Queens helped found Shearith Israel Congregation, while Egyptian Jews in Brooklyn's Bensonhurst neighborhood largely attended Syrian-Jewish synagogues.

Many Central Asian Jews, predominantly Bukharian Jews from Uzbekistan, have settled in the Queens neighborhoods of Rego Park, Forest Hills, Kew Gardens, and Briarwood. As of 2001, an estimated 50,000 Bukharian Jews resided in Queens. Queens is also home to a large Georgian-American community of about 5,000, around 3,000 of whom are Georgian Jews. Queens has the third largest population of Georgian Jews in the world after Israel and Georgia. Forest Hills is home to the Congregation of Georgian Jews, the only Georgian-Jewish synagogue in the United States.

History

Main articles: History of the Jews in New York and Jewish arrival in New Amsterdam

1654–1881

Asser Levy Recreation Center on East 23rd Street and Asser Levy Place, Manhattan, New York City, was built as a free public bath in 1904-1906. The baths were intended to help relieve the unsanitary conditions in the slums. It is named after Asser Levy a prominent Jewish citizen of the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam, which preceded the English city of New York.

The first recorded Jewish settler in New York was Jacob Barsimson, who arrived in August 1654 on a passport from the Dutch West India Company. A month later, a group of Jews came to New York, then the colony New Amsterdam, as refugees from Recife, Brazil. Portugal had just re-conquered Dutch Brazil (what is now known of the Brazilian State of Pernambuco) from the Netherlands, and the Sephardi Jews there promptly fled. Most went to Amsterdam, but 23 headed for New Amsterdam instead. Governor Peter Stuyvesant was at first unwilling to accept them but succumbed to pressure from the Dutch West India Company—itself pressed by Jewish stockholders—to let them remain. Nevertheless, he imposed numerous restrictions and taxes on his Jewish subjects. Eventually, many of these Jews left.

When the British took the colony from the Dutch in 1664, the only Jewish name on the requisite oath of loyalty given to residents was Asser Levy. This is the only record of a Jewish presence at the time, until 1680 when some of Levy's relatives arrived from Amsterdam shortly before he died.

The first synagogue, the Sephardi Congregation Shearith Israel, was established in 1682, but it did not get its own building until 1730. Over time, the synagogue became dominant in Jewish life, organizing social services and mandating affiliation for all New York Jews. Even though by 1720 the Ashkenazim outnumbered Sephardim, the Sephardi customs were retained.

An influx of German and Polish Jews followed the Napoleonic Wars in Europe. The increasing number of Ashkenazim led to the founding of the city's second synagogue, B'nai Jeshurun, in 1825. The late arrival of synagogues can be attributed to a lack of rabbis. Those who were interested in training as a Rabbi could not do so in America before this part of the century. Several other synagogues followed B'nai Jeshurun in rapid succession, including the first Polish one, Congregation Shaare Zedek, in 1839. In 1845, the first Reform temple, Congregation Emanu-El of New York opened. New York City would later become host to several seminaries of various denominations, where rabbis could be ordained, by the 1920s.

By this time numerous communal aid societies were formed. These were usually quite small, and a single synagogue might be associated with more than a few such organizations. Two of the most important of these merged in 1859 to form the Hebrew Benevolent and Orphan Asylum Society (Jewish orphanages were constructed on 77th Street near 3rd Avenue and another in Brooklyn). In 1852 the "Jews' Hospital" (renamed in 1871 Mount Sinai Hospital), which would one day be considered one of the best in the country, was established.

Jewish days schools began to appear in the 19th century across the United States, the first being the Polonies Talmud Torah in 1821.

1881–1945

European Jewish immigrants arriving in New York in 1887

The 36 years beginning in 1881 experienced the largest wave of immigration to the United States ever. Following the assassination of Alexander II of Russia, for which many blamed "the Jews," there was a vast increase in anti-Jewish pogroms there – possibly with the support of the government – and numerous anti-Jewish laws were passed. The result was that over 2 million Jews immigrated to the United States, more than a million of them to New York.

Eastern Ashkenazi Jews and their culture flourished at this time. There was influx emigration from countries such as Lithuania, Poland, and Russia. Their congregations and businesses – namely shops selling Old World goods – firmly maintained their identity, language, and customs.

New York was the publishing city of the Yiddish newspaper, Forverts, first published in 1897. Several other Jewish newspapers followed and were being produced in common Jewish languages, such as Ladino, Yiddish, and Hebrew.

These immigrants tended to be young and relatively irreligious, and were generally skilled – especially in the clothing industry, which would soon dominate New York's economy. By the end of the nineteenth century, Jews "dominated related fields such as the fur trade."

The German Jews, who were often wealthy by this time, did not much appreciate the eastern Ashkenazi arrivals, and moved to uptown Manhattan en masse, away from the Lower East Side where most of the immigrants settled. Still, many of these Eastern European immigrants worked in factories owned by 'uptown' German Jews.

1945–1999

New York City teachers' strike of 1968

Albert Shanker

The New York City teachers' strike of 1968 was a months-long confrontation between the new community-controlled school board in the largely black Ocean Hill–Brownsville neighborhoods of Brooklyn and New York City's United Federation of Teachers. It began with a one day walkout in the Ocean Hill-Brownsville school district. It escalated to a citywide strike in September of that year, shutting down the public schools for a total of 36 days and increasing racial tensions between Blacks and Jews.

Thousands of New York City teachers went on strike in 1968 when the school board of the neighborhood, which is now two separate neighborhoods, transferred a set of teachers and administrators, a normal practice at the time. The newly created school district, in a mostly black neighborhood, was an experiment in community control over schools—the dismissed workers were almost all white or Jewish.

The United Federation of Teachers (UFT), led by Albert Shanker, demanded the teachers' reinstatement and accused the community-controlled school board of anti-semitism. At the start of the school year in 1968, the UFT held a strike that shut down New York City's public schools for nearly two months.

The strike pitted community against union, highlighting a conflict between local rights to self-determination and teachers' universal rights as workers. Although the school district itself was quite small, the outcome of its experiment had great significance because of its potential to alter the entire educational system—in New York City and elsewhere. As one historian wrote in 1972: "If these seemingly simple acts had not been such a serious threat to the system, it would be unlikely that they would produce such a strong and immediate response."

Crown Heights riot of 1991
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jews_in_New_York_City

Location of Crown Heights, Brooklyn, in New York City.

The Crown Heights riot was a race riot that took place from August 19 to August 21, 1991, in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn, New York City. Black residents attacked orthodox Jewish residents, damaged their homes, and looted businesses. The riots began on August 19, 1991, after two children of Guyanese immigrants were accidentally struck by a car running a red light while following the motorcade of Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the leader of Chabad, a Jewish religious movement. One child died and the second was severely injured.

In the immediate aftermath of the fatal accident, Black youths attacked several Jews on the street, seriously injuring several and fatally injuring an Orthodox Jewish student from Australia. Over the next three days, the rioters looted stores and attacked Jewish homes. Two weeks after the riot, a non-Jewish man was killed by a group of Black men; some believed that the victim had been mistaken for a Jew. The riots were a major issue in the 1993 mayoral race, contributing to the defeat of Mayor David Dinkins, an African American. Opponents of Dinkins said that he failed to contain the riots, with many calling them a "pogrom" to emphasize what they said was the role of the New York City government.

Ultimately, Black and Jewish leaders developed an outreach program between their communities to help calm and possibly improve racial relations in Crown Heights over the next decade.