As noted in an earlier edition, Menorah’s New York, New York event included a trivia game. Finally. . .the answers!

1. Which two New York-born baseball players famously refused to play on Yom Kippur?

A: Sandy Koufax and Hank Greenberg.

2. What New York arrival point is named after a half-Jewish politician?

A: Laguardia Airport. (Fiorello LaGuardia was born in Greenwich Village to an Italian lapsed-Catholic father from Italy and a Triestine mother of Jewish origin, Irene Coen Luzzato. He was raised an Episcopalian and practiced that religion all his life. )

3. What is the fare on the Staten Island Ferry?

A: Free

4. Who is Dr. Zismor?

A: A dermatologist famous for his ads on the NY subway

5. What comes next in this series: 34, 28, 23, 14, 8 …

A: “Prince.”  These are consecutive stops on the downtown N and R trains.

6.  What do New Yorkers call the Avenue of the Americas?

A: 6^th Ave

7. What is the largest group of immigrants that settled in New York?
A: Eastern European Jews.

By 1914, there were more than 1.5 million Jews in New York city. Why New York?
1. Eastern Europe Jews came to New York harbor and stayed there, mainly in the east side.
2. New York was the center of the dressing industry which was the Jews preferred business.
3. In New York there was already a large Jewish community.

8.  If the sculptor of the Statue of Liberty had his way, where would the Statue be located?

A: The entrance of the Suez Canal (This plan collapsed for financial reasons)

9. What is the world’s largest synagogue?

A: Temple Emanu-El on 5^th Ave. on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. (Built in 1929, and with 2,500 seats, it is larger than St. Patrick’s Cathedral and slightly larger than the Budapest Great Synagogue, the largest in Eurasia. The first Reform Jewish congregation in New York City, founded in 1845, it has served as a flagship congregation in the Reform branch of Judaism and now boasts 3,000 members. Its landmark Romanesque Revival building on Fifth Avenue is widely admired as the largest, and one of the most beautiful synagogues in the world. Emanu-El means “God is with us” in Hebrew.)

10. The first bike path in the US was created on what New York thoroughfare?
A: Ocean Parkway in Brooklyn added a bike and pedestrian path in 1894.

11. What game was played at the Polo Grounds?

A: Baseball. This stadium in the Bronx was home of the NY Giants (MLB) until they moved to San Francisco in 1957 (along with the Brooklyn Dodgers to LA).  The Mets played there for 2 seasons, 1962 and 1963, before Shea Stadium was ready.

12. What is the origin of Wall Street’s name?

A: There was a wall there! When the Dutch still controlled the region, Wall Street was the city limit and there was actually a wall there. The vaults 80 feet beneath the Federal Reserve Bank on Wall Street store more than 25% of the world’s gold bullion.

13. What nickname did Brighton Beach acquire in the 1970s?

A: Little Odessa, due to the influx of Russian Jews.

14. Which of the following is NOT an acronym for a New York City neighborhood: Soho, DUMBO, Nolita, and Redho?

A: Redho.

(Soho: South of Houston. DUMBO: Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass. Nolita: North of Little Italy.)

15. What is the largest park in New York City?

A: Pelham Bay Park, with 2,765 acres. (Central Park is the city’s 5^th largest at 843 acres.)

16. Which of these novels is NOT set in New York? “Native Son,” “The Age of Innocence,” “The Great Gatsby,” “Washington Square.”
A: Native Son (Chicago