Brooklyn remained an independent city until it was gobbled up by the power-hungry politicians and business titans of Manhattan on January 1, 1998. Little known is the remarkable American and Jewish history of what was then the third largest city in the USA, after Manhattan and Chicago. At that time, the Jewish population of Brooklyn was pushing a million and its synagogues, yeshivas, libraries, and businesses outnumbered those of Manhattan and every other city in the USA. From the first Syrian and Egyptian Jews of Bensonhurst to the Jewish entertainers on Coney Island, from the pious Hasidic Jews of Williamsburg […]