Your city's Jewish community

[Crawford]

I'm surprised Scarsdale was somewhat Jewish already in 1940. I thought central Westchester was pretty WASP-dominated until the white flight years, and even unfriendly to non-WASPs.

Nearby Bronxville, even today, has almost no Jewish population, and is heavily WASP. I doubt there's any hostility as it's a progressive community more defined by wealth than background, but it's interesting that the most expensive town in Westchester, a town with fantastic schools and loved by finance types, has almost no Jews in 2020. Nearby Rye and Larchmont have more Jews, but also still retain a WASP reputation.

[Crawford]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

Jewish Canadians by city

Wow. So the Canadian Jewish community is overwhelmingly concentrated in two cities. They never made it to western Canada in significant numbers.

[Docere]

Yup, something like 75% of Canadian Jews live in Toronto and Montreal. There hasn't been much westward migration. Winnipeg for most of the 20th century was a distant third, and they were a pretty sizeable share of the population when the population was at its height. A lot of prominent Canadian Jews came out of Winnipeg (Monty Hall probably the most known to Americans). Vancouver is largely made of transplants from Eastern Canada and Winnipeg, and some more recent immigrants and is a less affiliated "West Coast" type Jewish community. Its Jewish population isn't that big, I don't think there's any neighborhood that's even 10% Jewish.

Incidentally Winnipeg is part of the West - there is no "Midwest" in Canada - but from the vantage point of the US it seems more "midwestern" in a KC or Minneapolis sort of way, I suppose.

[Quixote]

Originally Posted by Crawford

I'm surprised Scarsdale was somewhat Jewish already in 1940. I thought central Westchester was pretty WASP-dominated until the white flight years, and even unfriendly to non-WASPs.

Nearby Bronxville, even today, has almost no Jewish population, and is heavily WASP. I doubt there's any hostility as it's a progressive community more defined by wealth than background, but it's interesting that the most expensive town in Westchester, a town with fantastic schools and loved by finance types, has almost no Jews in 2020. Nearby Rye and Larchmont have more Jews, but also still retain a WASP reputation.

But all three of those communities (Bronxville, Rye, Larchmont) are still more Italian and Irish than they are English. Are there any sizable regions in the Greater NYC area where WASP ancestry and culture predominates over Catholic and Jewish groups? I'm guessing there aren't many outside of a few in the Hamptons, southwestern CT, and maybe outer North Jersey.

[Crawford]

Originally Posted by Quixote

But all three of those communities (Bronxville, Rye, Larchmont) are still more Italian and Irish than they are English. Are there any sizable regions in the Greater NYC area where WASP ancestry and culture predominates over Catholic and Jewish groups? I'm guessing there aren't many outside of a few in the Hamptons, southwestern CT, and maybe outer North Jersey.

There are probably almost no truly WASP enclaves anymore. The WASP areas like Fairfield County, CT and parts of the LI Gold Coast, North Jersey and Westchester, are more like Protestant-Catholic mixes these days. It's likely that prosperous Catholics have felt more at home in these communities than prosperous Jews, which makes sense, in that Catholics and Anglicans are pretty similar.

I think Darien, CT or New Canaan, CT would probably be about as WASP as it gets in 2020. Greenwich and Westport have some Jews and diversity. On Long Island, Garden City and some north shore enclaves around Glen Cove and Cold Spring Harbor. In NJ, maybe Summit or Ridgewood, in Westchester maybe Pelham Manor or Bronxville. NJ hunt country around Bedminster is still kinda WASPy.

But really, these are rich communities without Jews and Asians, not really WASP communities. Any white majority suburb in the tri-state is gonna have either Irish, Italians or Jews.

[Docere]

It's hard to think of an American-Jewish equivalent to Toronto's Bathurst St. or Montreal's Cote St. Luc and Snowdon. They're a mix of urban and suburban in form, a mix of housing types, mix of incomes, lots of immigrants and observant Jews, fairly vibrant street life etc. In some ways they're like Jewish sections of southern Brooklyn or Queens.

[westak]

.

[Docere]

Ethnic origins: Canadian Jews

Polish 40%
Russian 37%
Jewish 33%
Eastern European 19%
Romanian 12%
Ukrainian 9%
English 8%
German 8%
Hungarian 8%
Lithuanian 8%
Austrian 5%
Canadian 4%
French 3%
Israeli 3%
Moroccan 3%

https://www.environicsinstitute.org/...rsn=5f5a8e4d_2

Edited to include "Canadian."

[Crawford]

Originally Posted by Docere

It's hard to think of an American-Jewish equivalent to Toronto's Bathurst St. or Montreal's Cote St. Luc and Snowdon. They're a mix of urban and suburban in form, a mix of housing types, mix of incomes, lots of immigrants and observant Jews, fairly vibrant street life etc. In some ways they're like Jewish sections of southern Brooklyn or Queens.

Yeah, I don't think there are direct equivalents. Outer parts of Brooklyn/Queens, Riverdale-Bronx, Englewood-Teaneck, NJ, West Hempstead, LI, NW Baltimore/Pikesville, Fairfax corridor in LA, West Howard in Chicago, Cleveland Heights all have vague similarities. Anyplace developed right before WW2 and still somewhat Jewish and mixed income/ethnic.

[JMKeynes]

Originally Posted by eschaton

Yeah, I remember that article a few years back which found they had been involuntarily sterilized.

A lot of white Israelis think they're "not real Jews" because they're descended from converts. But this is true of other Jewish groups too, like the Yemeni Jews.

Israel's treatment of the Palestinians is even worse.

[Docere]

Some Jewish neighborhoods in Toronto (these areas are around 30-40% Jewish), going up Bathurst St.

Forest Hill is where long-established, wealthy Jews traditionally live, though it's actually a fairly economically mixed area particularly north of Eglinton.

Forest Hill South

Population: 10,732

Average income $204,521
Median HH income $94,536

Detached house 34%
Apartment <5 stories 22%
Apartment 5+ stories 41%

Visible Minority 17%


Forest Hill North

Population: 12,806

Average income $85,099
Median HH income $70,920

Detached house 27%
Apartment <5 stories 7%
Apartment 5+ stories 63%

Visible Minority 28% (Filipino 12.5%)

[Docere]

Then you enter North York. The Bathurst-Lawrence area is where a lot of the strict Orthodox live. On the side streets, a lot of the postwar bungalows have given way to big custom homes for large families. It also includes a lot of apartments and the (mostly Black) Lawrence Heights public housing project near the Allen Expressway and Lawrence West subway station. East of Bathurst and around Avenue Rd., it's more homogeneously wealthy.

Englemount-Lawrence

Population: 22,732

Average income $48,134
Median HH income $58,003

Detached house 23%
Apartment <5 stories 31%
Apartment 5+ stores 37%

Visible Minority 40% (Filipino 18%, Black 11%)


Bedford Park-Nortown

Population: 23,236

Average income $123,077
Median HH income $116,672

Detached house 56%
Apartment <5 stories 15%
Apartment 5+ stories 23%

Visible Minority 21% (Filipino 8%)

[Docere]

Around Bathurst and Sheppard, you have a mixture of Orthodox, Conservative and Russian Jews. This area had the largest Jewish population in Toronto in the postwar years, including a large number of Holocaust survivors. It was around 60-70% Jewish at one point; today it's around 30%. The Little Manila district is here too.

Clanton Park

Population: 16,472

Average income $51,181
Median HH income $69,997

Detached house 37%
Apartment <5 stories 19%
Apartment 5+ stories 37%

Visible Minority 38% (Filipino 20%)


Bathurst Manor

Population: 15,873

Average income $45,936
Median HH income $69,634

Detached house 35%
Apartment <5 stories 18%
Apartment 5+ stories 34%

Visible Minority 35% (Filipino 12.5%)

[Docere]

The area around Bathurst and Steeles, at the northern city limit, is known as "Little Moscow." It's filled with FSU immigrants living in commieblocks. Many are elderly (their kids have moved to further-out suburb of Thornhill).

Westminster-Branson

Population: 26,274

Average income $32,724
Median HH income $54,101

Detached house 8%
Apartment <5 stories 5%
Apartment 5+ stories 76%

Visible Minority 45% (Filipino 23%)

[Crawford]

Philly has a large, long-standing Jewish population, but I'm not particularly familiar with the layout. Is there an Orthodox enclave in the Philly area? Is there still a visibly Jewish neighborhood within city limits?

I believe most Philly-area Jews now live around the Main Line favored quarter, and I think Overbrook, within city limits, was at one time very Jewish, though now AA. Also there are Jewish former Soviets in Northeast Philly.

[KDD]

Originally Posted by Crawford

Philly has a large, long-standing Jewish population, but I'm not particularly familiar with the layout. Is there an Orthodox enclave in the Philly area? Is there still a visibly Jewish neighborhood within city limits?

I believe most Philly-area Jews now live around the Main Line favored quarter, and I think Overbrook, within city limits, was at one time very Jewish, though now AA. Also there are Jewish former Soviets in Northeast Philly.

I don't know of any Orthodox community in the city. I am not entirely sure about "visibly Jewish". I live in Mt. Airy which has a large Jewish population, but I don't think you'd know it unless I told you. Abington on the other hand has a synagogue on every corner it seems. Same w/ Cherry Hill.

I don't spend much time in the NE though, there may be Orthodox enclaves there.

[Crawford]

So the Philly Orthodox enclave appears to be Bala Cynwyd, just outside of city limits, near the Main Line.

It seems to be a substantial community, and reasonably urban:
https://www.google.com/maps/@40.0059...7i16384!8i8192

[Quixote]

Originally Posted by Crawford

There are probably almost no truly WASP enclaves anymore. The WASP areas like Fairfield County, CT and parts of the LI Gold Coast, North Jersey and Westchester, are more like Protestant-Catholic mixes these days. It's likely that prosperous Catholics have felt more at home in these communities than prosperous Jews, which makes sense, in that Catholics and Anglicans are pretty similar.

I think Darien, CT or New Canaan, CT would probably be about as WASP as it gets in 2020. Greenwich and Westport have some Jews and diversity. On Long Island, Garden City and some north shore enclaves around Glen Cove and Cold Spring Harbor. In NJ, maybe Summit or Ridgewood, in Westchester maybe Pelham Manor or Bronxville. NJ hunt country around Bedminster is still kinda WASPy.

But really, these are rich communities without Jews and Asians, not really WASP communities. Any white majority suburb in the tri-state is gonna have either Irish, Italians or Jews.

Wow, New Canaan, CT is really WASPy at 22.6% English; and it's the common reported ancestry by a good margin... talk about an anomaly. I think it'd be safe to assume that's the most WASPy community in the traditional Greater NYC area. There might be a place in exurban Litchfield County with a similar degree of Anglo ancestry, but as it's also closer to MA, it might be more Irish across the board.

[Docere]

Russian speakers

Forest Hill South 1.3%
Forest Hill North 3%
Englemount-Lawrence 2.5%
Bedford Park-Nortown 1.3%
Clanton Park 4.3%
Bathurst Manor 9.7%
Westminster-Branson 21.9%

Hebrew speakers

Forest Hill South 0.8%
Forest Hill North 2%
Englemount-Lawrence 1.2%
Bedford Park-Nortown 1%
Clanton Park 1.8%
Bathurst Manor 1.6%
Westminster-Branson 1.8%

[Quixote]

Originally Posted by Docere

Ethnic origins: Canadian Jews

Polish 40%
Russian 37%
Jewish 33%
Eastern European 19%
Romanian 12%
Ukrainian 9%
English 8%
German 8%
Hungarian 8%
Lithuanian 8%
Austrian 5%
French 3%
Israeli 3%
Moroccan 3%

https://www.environicsinstitute.org/...rsn=5f5a8e4d_2

So, pretty similar to American Jewish origins, only we probably have more German and Dutch and less French. And Iranians instead of Moroccans.