New Books Network: Henry H. Sapoznik, "The Tourist's Guide to Lost Yiddish New York City"

Date: November 18, 2025
Host: Rob Snyder
Guest: Henry H. Sapoznik

Episode Overview

This episode features an in-depth conversation with Henry Sapoznik about his latest book, The Tourist's Guide to Lost Yiddish New York City (SUNY Press, 2025). The book serves as both a loving homage to a nearly vanished world and a vibrant guide to recovering the sights, sounds, tastes, and spirit of Yiddish New York. Sapoznik, an acclaimed author, musicologist, and historian, shares his research journey—from COVID-era blog posts to deep dives into Yiddish newspapers—and explores key themes: food, architecture, music, and theater. The episode reveals forgotten stories—black cantors, kosher-style cuisine, lost buildings, and Yiddish–Chinese cultural fusions—inviting listeners to reconsider the multifaceted history and enduring legacy of Jewish life in New York.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Genesis of the Project and Research Process

[02:39–06:33]

• The project began during the COVID shutdown, when Sapoznik redirected his energy to writing blogs about forgotten elements of Yiddish New York. His first post (about a rare 1923 recording of Black cantor Thomas LaRue Jones) went viral.

  • “I wrote this blog about that and I posted it and it got like 80,000 hits. And I can't explain why.” — Henry Sapoznik [03:18]

• The positive response led him to extensive online research, using digitized Yiddish newspapers. The accessibility and searchability of sources transformed his approach compared to earlier microfilm research.

  • “The amount of primary materials that are now available online is just… stunning compared to when I first began the research.” — Henry Sapoznik [05:00]
  • Over 5,000 Yiddish articles were downloaded for his work.

2. Structure and Key Themes of the Book

[06:33–07:54]

• The book is organized around four themes: eating, architecture, music, and theater.
  • Sapoznik says these themes “chose me”—with each area opening up “rabbit holes” of stories and personalities.
  • Sought out real narratives and overlooked stories behind the surface phenomena (e.g., people behind the knish).
  • Emphasizes combining fresh research with revisiting older interests, in light of new sources.

3. Yiddish Food Culture and Cafeterias

[08:18–12:28]

• Cafeterias are not just fixtures of city life, but deeply Jewish sites of modernity, acculturation, and even crime.

  • Cafeterias were radically non-kosher—no separation between meat and milk—yet central to Jewish social life and adaptation in New York.
  • “The cafeteria was as much a part of the acculturation of the community as going to the movies.” — Henry Sapoznik [09:55]
  • Cafeterias acted as “cultural autonomous regions”—some for taxi drivers, others for actors—highlighting urban diversity.

• Surprising stories: Cafeterias often scenes of major crime, with patrons seemingly unphased.

  • “...people sat there eating, could not be bothered to look up for their plate and see someone is walking out with a 500 pound safe through the middle of the dining room.” — Henry Sapoznik [10:48]

• The emergence of “kosher style” as a distinctly American duality: culturally Jewish—without strict adherence to kosher law.

  • “There was a desire for the essence but not for the literal.” — Henry Sapoznik [11:29]

4. Architectural Icons and Lost Landmarks

[13:17–18:57]

• The Yarmolovsky Bank and the Forward Building—within a short walk—exemplify overlapping themes of capital, socialism, and Jewish aspiration.

  • Both built in 1912 but with starkly different intentions and designs, signaling communal arrival and complexity.

  • The lost Libby's Hotel (1926), built as a statement of uplift after mass immigration ended, became a symbol of tragedy after its destruction. Its erasure is likened to “salting the earth.”

  • “It was removed and Sara Delano Roosevelt Park was the result. But it's almost as if the ground were salted because the memory of it… was brutally excised.” — Henry Sapoznik [18:38]

• Many architectural stories were found by following unexpected leads—e.g., discovering Libby’s Hotel because it had a radio show.

5. Theater and “The Jazz Singer”

[19:45–24:57]

• The play, film, and short story iterations of The Jazz Singer illuminate the complex processes of Jewish acculturation.

  • The play showed more depth and loyalty to Jewish tradition than the film adaptation, with the protagonist ultimately returning to the synagogue.

  • “His review… he referred to it as the greatest Yiddish play in New York, which is not in Yiddish.” (Abe Kahan, Forward’s publisher, on The Jazz Singer) — Henry Sapoznik [21:19]

  • The film’s mass market changes diluted its nuance; George Jessel (the original star) missed out due to a changed ending.

• Jewish participation in American popular theater often meant adopting and sometimes subverting mainstream conventions, like minstrelsy.

6. Jewish Influence on Mainstream Culture

[26:50–28:46]

• Jewish creatives who entered dominant American culture rarely improved perceptions of minority (Jewish) culture—they conformed to (and sometimes shaped) prevailing stereotypes.

  • “Anyone who left the Jewish world to make it in the dominant culture was not going to improve people's perception of minority culture… they were going—because, aha, that's how we need to portray it.” — Henry Sapoznik [27:40]

• Those who stayed “inside” the community preserved authentic culture through smaller-scale productions.

7. The Forgotten Phenomenon of Black Cantors

[28:46–37:20]

• Sapoznik details the histories of two kinds of Black cantors: those from Black Hebrew congregations and Black entertainers who mastered both Yiddish song and cantorial repertoire.

  • Learned of Thomas LaRue Jones through research on rare 78 rpm recordings; it took 40 years to find a copy.
  • “Once I actually heard it and heard the deep cultural ownership of these performances, I said, this is truly a phenomenon.” — Henry Sapoznik [33:33]
  • Discovery of a Black woman cantor (Sophie May Sellers)—even more astonishing, no recordings survive.

• Black cantors performed for Yiddish-speaking Jewish audiences, mastering complex musical and linguistic traditions, but the phenomenon faded after WWII.

8. Beyond the Lower East Side: The Geography of Yiddish New York

[37:20–39:36]

• While the Lower East Side is the epicenter, Yiddish New York extended into Brooklyn, the Bronx, and Queens—but only places that recreated the necessary cultural infrastructure (e.g., theaters, restaurants) became vibrant centers.
• Some boroughs could not sustain the “diverse chemical concoction” found in Manhattan; those who moved were cultural outliers, reflecting success but also dispersal.

9. Intersection with Other New York Communities

[39:36–42:28]

• Significant overlaps with other ethnic groups, especially the Chinese, most famously in cuisine.

  • Shmulke Bernstein’s restaurants pioneered kosher Chinese food in the 1940s–50s, reflecting Jewish openness to culinary fusion.

  • “They were the first ones… to serve kosher Chinese food… all we have to do to make kosher Chinese food is not serve pork and shrimp and they don't use milk anyway…” — Henry Sapoznik [40:00]

  • Popular ads targeted Yiddish audiences for Chinese restaurants with jazz bands—a triple-layered acculturation.

• Jewish neighborhoods also overlapped with former German, Irish, and Black areas, producing hybrid figures like James Cagney, who spoke Yiddish.

10. Contemporary Significance and Survival of Tradition

[42:28–45:33]

• Today, Yiddish New York functions as a heritage or identity to be chosen, rather than a monolithic reality.

  • Legacy survives in cultural artifacts (e.g., Katz’s delicatessen remains a “forkloric” landmark).
  • “That kind of what I call ‘forkloric’ cultural identity is… it’s what it is. I don't think people will say, ‘Oh, I live in New York and this was a New York Jewish tradition.’ It's part of a legacy or a heritage, if people are interested in it.” — Henry Sapoznik [43:14]

• Tells the story of B&H Dairy: the last surviving Jewish dairy restaurant, run by an Egyptian owner, his Polish/Catholic wife, and a Latino crew.

  • “What more urban New York story could you possibly ask for? Here they are creating a diet, a menu that they themselves didn't grow up with, that their customers didn't grow up with—and yet they are in seamless continuity with a vibrant history.” — Henry Sapoznik [44:29]

11. What’s Next for Sapoznik

[45:33–47:48]

• Announcing an upcoming book on the history of Yiddish radio in America.

  • Rediscovered 50+ interviews conducted decades ago with radio performers, families, and audiences—material never before used.

  • There were Yiddish radio shows on 274 stations across the US—a national phenomenon, largely forgotten.

  • “The amazing thing was how many stations from the beginning of broadcasting in 1922 into the 1950s… 274 stations around the country.” — Henry Sapoznik [46:47]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Primary sources online:
  “The amount of primary materials that are now available online is just… stunning compared to when I first began the research.” — Sapoznik [05:00]

• On culinary Jewishness:
  “There was a desire for the essence but not for the literal.” — Sapoznik, on kosher style [11:29]

• Architecture as arrival:
  “Banks had to exude a sense of permanence… it meant that everyone has arrived into that society with something as equal as any other building.” — Sapoznik [15:03]

• Lost stories and research serendipity:
  “It’s like one of these dreams where you’re in your house and you see a door that you didn’t recognize and you open the door, the room is full of stuff you didn’t know you had…” — Sapoznik, on research surprises [19:21]

• Food as legacy:
  “Here they are creating a diet, a menu that they themselves didn’t grow up with… and yet they are in seamless continuity with a vibrant history.” — Sapoznik, on B&H Dairy [44:29]

• On black cantors:
  “Once I actually heard it and heard the deep cultural ownership of these performances, I said, this is truly a phenomenon.” — Sapoznik [33:33]

Timestamps for Key Segments

• [02:39] Genesis of book during COVID, viral blog about Thomas LaRue Jones
• [05:00] Digitized Yiddish newspapers transform research
• [08:18] Why eating/cafeterias are central; Jewish food in urban adaptation
• [10:42] Cafeterias as crime scenes and sites of social mixing
• [11:15] Kosher vs. kosher-style and Jewish self-definition in food
• [13:17] Yarmolovsky Bank, Forward Building, Libby's Hotel
• [19:45] The Jazz Singer: play vs. film, acculturation on stage/screen
• [28:46] Black cantors: history, rarity, and significance
• [37:20] Yiddish New York's reach beyond Lower East Side
• [39:44] Jewish–Chinese intersections and cultural fusion
• [42:34] Yiddish cultural legacy today; B&H Dairy’s survival
• [45:36] Sapoznik’s forthcoming book on Yiddish radio

Tone & Style

The conversation is scholarly yet enthusiastic, peppered with humor and serendipitous discovery. Both host and guest are steeped in New York and Jewish cultural history, connecting the academic with the personal and the quirky—making the episode accessible, lively, and rich with storytelling.

For anyone interested in lost New York, Jewish heritage, or the surprising intersections of urban culture, this episode (and Sapoznik’s book) opens hidden doors to a world both vanished and unexpectedly alive.