Celebrating our culture.
Sharing our stories.
A look into the history of Jewish Buffalo
Welcome to the Jewish Buffalo History Center, a community portal for sources and stories of Jewish Buffalo history! This is an evolving and collaborative space for the exploration of this region’s diverse Jewish histories and heritages.
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Sokolivka: Once HomeSokolivka, Sokliefka, Sokolifke … So many names for such a small place on earth, but no matter how families spelled it, it always meant one thing: Once Home. A small village first in the Russian Empire, then in the USSR, now in modern day Ukraine—a shtetl, located on one side of a large pond, and then moved across the bridge to the other side.
This exhibition made possible through the generosity of the Kramer and Shuman Families—In loving memory of Leslie Kramer Shuman.
Community Feature
Jewish War Veterans Buffalo Frontier Post #25
Dr. Joseph L. Fink was a nationally respected rabbinic leader, skilled mediator and inspiring speaker who led Temple Beth Zion for forty years as Rabbi, Senior Rabbi and Rabbi Emeritus. For four decades, Dr. Fink served as a distinguished civic and inter-faith leader, and a much beloved pulpit Rabbi.
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Kramer, Leslie Shuman
Leslie Shuman Kramer was a dedicated community leader, former attorney and a committed advocate and fundraiser for many causes, especially the fight against cancer.
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Rabbi Dr. Joseph L. Fink
Dr. Joseph L. Fink was a nationally respected rabbinic leader, skilled mediator and inspiring speaker who led Temple Beth Zion for forty years as Rabbi, Senior Rabbi and Rabbi Emeritus. For four decades, Dr. Fink served as a distinguished civic and inter-faith leader, and a much beloved pulpit Rabbi.
Buffalo Jewish Community Honor Roll
Published in September 1945, just a few months after the conclusion of the war, this Honor Roll of Buffalo Jewish men and women who served during WWII is the most comprehensive compilation of Jewish WWII service record.
A community of communities
Jewish Buffalo stories are local, national and international and part of the breadth of Jewish life in America over the last two centuries. Jewish Buffalonians have created a diverse array of local institutions and organizations, businesses, and initiatives. As part of an ever-evolving Buffalo metropolitan area, Jews have worked to maintain traditions and fashion new ones, with a vital mix of communities old and new, settled and fluid, and ethnically and religiously diverse. Through connection within families, organizations, and their neighbors, Jewish Buffalonians have shaped events, responded to challenges, and catalyzed social and cultural change. Dynamic and evolving, Jewish Buffalo stories are a part of a community of communities in the Buffalo region.
Ahavas Sholem
Ahavas Sholem, in Oscar Israelowitz, ed. Synagogues of the United States: A Photographic and Architectural Survey, Israelowitz Publishing, NY, 1992, p. 69. Reproduced with the permission of the editor.