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Historical Initiative

NEW LOTS

The East New York neighborhood was originally founded as the Town of New Lots in the 1650s. New Lots now refers generally to the western portion of East New York, with Brownsville to the west of it. There was a sizable population of Jews in New Lots during the first half of the 1900s, which included Jews from Iberian communities and other Sephardic groups, as well as those originally from Eastern and Central Europe. 

former synagogue on Louisiana Avenue called Dorshe Tov (Dorshay Tov)
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The East New York neighborhood was originally founded as the Town of New Lots in the 1650s. New Lots now refers generally to the western portion of East New York, with Brownsville to the west of it. There was a sizable population of Jews in New Lots during the first half of the 1900s, which included Jews from Iberian communities and other Sephardic groups, as well as those originally from Eastern and Central Europe. 

 Among the synagogues that were located in New Lots were Alleppo Congregation Agudas Achim Anshei New Lots (43 Malta Street); Beth Hamedrash Hagadol (611 Williams Avenue); Congregation Dorshe Tov Anshei New Lots (21 Louisiana Avenue); Hesed Ve Emeth Society of Castorialis (71 Malta Street); the New Lots Talmud Torah (330 New Lots Avenue at Pennsylvania Avenue); United Sephardim of Brooklyn (699 Williams Avenue) and the Bikur Cholim of Wyona Street. Several of these buildings still stand today although most are now used as churches. Some of these sites are very close to each other. The New Lots “TT” was referred to as “the Cong” by people in the neighborhood, and it had a gym and other facilities popular with children and teenagers. 

Many of the youngsters in this neighborhood would attend nearby Thomas Jefferson High School on Pennsylvania Avenue. Commentary Magazine featured an article in 1958 titled https://www.commentarymagazine.com/articles/leonard-plotnik/the-sephardim-of-new-lotsself-containment-and-expansion/. 

The Jews in New Lots moved outward to other parts of Brooklyn such as Canarsie and Gravesend, as well as to New Jersey, Long Island and elsewhere.