Disciplines

Jewish Studies

Abstract

Summarizer: Jessica Amselem

Sherry Berlin, grew up in multiple neighborhoods in the Bronx, beginning on Longfellow Avenue in the South Bronx and later moving at age five to Kingsbridge in the Northwest Bronx, near Riverdale. Her maternal grandparents immigrated from Poland/Russia and settled in the Bronx, where they owned grocery stores and remained closely involved in her upbringing. Berlin’s early childhood was rooted in a predominantly Jewish community, while her later years in Kingsbridge exposed her to a more ethnically mixed environment, including Irish and Italian neighbors.

Berlin’s movement across different parts of the Bronx shaped her experiences of community, identity, and belonging. She recalls a safe and social childhood, with strong family ties, frequent library visits, and a love of school, alongside early encounters with antisemitism in her neighborhood. After high school, her family relocated to Co-op City, reflecting the broader migration of Jewish Bronx residents to newer housing developments.

Berlin later attended Lehman College during the period of open enrollment and went on to become a special education teacher, in the Bronx in the 1970s. Revisiting her childhood neighborhood as an adult, she was struck by the destruction of the South Bronx, contrasting sharply with her earlier memories. Overall, Berlin reflects on her upbringing as shaped by both the diversity of the borough and the transitions between its neighborhoods over time.

Keywords: Poland, South Bronx, Kingsbridge, Co-op City, Jewish community, immigration, education, antisemitism, Lehman College

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