Disciplines

Jewish Studies

Abstract

Summarizer: Sophia Maier

Cheryl Cohen grew up on Kruger Avenue and Pelham Parkway South, which she describes as 95% Jewish during her time there. Her parents were both born in the United States, her mother of a nonreligious background and her father attending a small Orthodox shul on the holidays. Cohen herself did not have a Jewish education but dressed up for the holidays with her friends and closely associates her Jewish identity with Zionism, moving to Israel in her 20s. Her father, who first worked for his father-in-law’s factory, opened a small store, where her mother worked as well as a bookkeeper.

Cohen recalls many delicatessens and candy stores on nearby Lydig Avenue and White Plains Road. She and other children would be constantly outside, yelling up to their apartment windows. They roller skated, rode bikes, and played games with spaldeens, including “A my name is Alice,” as her grandmothers and other older women watched on. Cohen was in the SPs and eventually went on to Bronx High School of Science and City College, working as a religious educator and teaching assistant for many years until getting a master’s degree in library science.

Cohen listened to Motown and soul while others were listening to the Beatles, and, while she attended some rallies, did not consider herself a real activist during the Vietnam War. As a child and teenager, she attended various summer camps, including through Bronx House, and continue to work at some of the camps as an adult. She describes her environment as almost entirely Jewish, almost as much as her time in Israel, and how they interacted with the few non-Jewish kids on the block.

Cohen left the Bronx with her parents and moved to Westchester while in college in 1970. Her grandmothers still lived in their old building, but once they passed away Cohen stopped returning to the Bronx. She describes the changes in the neighborhood witnessed in visits over time, and how the Bronx has improved since that low period with more co-ops and Russian immigrants in the area. Cohen is very proud to be from the Bronx, considering herself fortunate to have had an experience as a city kid that she doubts exists anymore.

Keywords: Pelham Parkway, High Holy Days, Zionism, Israel, religion, kosher, food, Kruger Avenue, Lydig Avenue, White Plains Road, Fordham Road, PS 105, Bronx High School of Science, City College, street games, education, Bronx House, summer camp, Camp Cejwin, antisemitism, race

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