Quote:
Originally Posted by Docere
German Jewish immigration was much more dispersed than the Eastern European wave - cities like Cincinnati and San Francisco were significant Jewish centers of the 19th century. In Cincinnati there may be still more Jews of German than Eastern European descent; San Francisco was a minor center of Eastern European immigration and German Jews were the majority until the 1950s.
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Yeah, Reform Judaism was actually founded in Cincinnati by Rabbi Isaac Wise. This is why Cincinnati is home to the original Hebrew Union College (rabbinical school + Skirball Museum and Jewish family archives). There are now HUC locations in LA, NYC, and Israel, which all make sense given the large Jewish communities that exist in those places. Even though it was such a historical hub of American Jewry, Cincy lacks many of the visible signs of a strong Jewish community, such as Kosher restaurants, Orthodox neighborhoods with people walking on sabbath, etc. because the population is mostly assimilated. There are still some Jewish neighborhoods in Cincy, and there's a massive JCC and some large congregations, but the community is less visible in Cincinnati than in those cities that experienced the massive wave of Eastern European immigration, like Cleveland, Detroit, Chicago, etc.
There is a relatively small population of Russian Jews who immigrated to Cincinnati in the 70s and 80s, I believe. If I remember correctly, they were sponsored and brought over by one of the local Jewish non-profits, which are very well funded and established in the city. The Russians mostly live in one small neighborhood called Golf Manor, and have their own congregation and school. German Jews still make up the bulk of the community, though.