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This undated document, "A History of Morristown Jewry and The Center and Privilege, Clubs, and Organizations in the Jewish Community Center, Morristown, NJ," was probably written in the late1940's based on the content and the condition of the paper on which it was printed. It appears to have been prepared for a membership brochure as it explains all the activities that take place for different age groups and different interests. The history ends with the description of the construction of the building though there is one sentence indicating some of the current board members serve until 1950. The language in Carl Scherzer's "Early Jewish History" written in October 1977 appears to be based on this document. This document was discovered in April 2010 in preparation for the Time Capsule Burial.
Read the 10-page history.
By B. Scherzer in October 1977
The year 1654 marks the beginning of American Jewry, for in September of that year a group of twenty-three bedraggled and virtually penniless Sephardic Jews arrived at New Amsterdam from Recife, Brazil, aboard the boat St. Charles, often called the “Jewish Mayflower.” (The first Jewish settler recorded in Manhattan was a German Jew who arrived early in 1654. No one knows what became of him, and his importance to history was overshadowed by the arrival of the Sephardic Jews a few months later). The members of this little band were descendants of the Jews who had been forced to leave Spain and Portugal in the fifteenth century.
By H. Lewis Stone
This has been adapted from a presentation to Sisterhood given on April 26, 2015.
Every organization has an origin story. I grew up in Bergen County in a town called Fair Lawn. The first shul there was actually started by a group of men who wanted to play cards. They wanted to organize a group so they formed the card group first …and the sanctuary came thereafter.
By H. Lewis Stone, MJCBY Historian
I was inspired to write this article because I knew of Mrs. Haimowitz’s long term commitment to the shul. My motivation was to acknowledge her contribution but also to point out to the reader that one person, over time can make a significant contribution.
Ever wonder who this guy was and why there is a plaque in the lobby of the Morristown Municipal building?
Henry Sire and his wife Rosina settled in Morristown before the Civil War. They had legally immigrated from Germany and came here to be with the Sire family of Morris Plains.
While not the first Jewish people to be in Morristown as there were Jewish soldiers at Jockey Hollow, but they were a prominent family.