A History of Antisemitism in Omaha

Throughout the history of Omaha there is a long tradition of hostility towards and prejudice against Jewish people, which is called antisemitism. It has existed since the first Jews arrived in the city in the 1860s. Antisemitism was overt in Omaha into the 1960s, by which time Jews were largely viewed as part of the mainstream white Omaha culture. However, after decades of continuing hostility towards Jews in Omaha, antisemitism is obviously still present in Omaha and is currently on the rise.

This is a history of antisemitism in Omaha. Its a grab bag of events and activities that together demonstrate a startling pattern of discrimination, hatred, and more.

Anti-Semitism refers to all anti-Jewish statements, tendencies, resentments, attitudes, and actions, regardless of whether they are religiously, racially, socially, or otherwise motivated.

The Oxford Handbook of Jewish Studies (2004)

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Examples and Outcomes of Antisemitism in Omaha

Discrimination against Jews in the history of Omaha has happened in education, employment, housing, personal relationships, media, healthcare, and social connections. Between 1904 and World War II, the city’s Jewish population increase by more than 300 percent from 3,000 to 10,000 residents. During that time, antisemitism was clear in stereotypes against Jews, conspiracy theories, anti-Zionism, and hatred targeting Jewish practices, rituals, and traditions. As Omaha’s Jewish community gained political and economic power at the turn of the 20th century, “Jews began to find themselves the objects of both political manuevering and anti-Semitic incidents.”

Following are some examples and outcomes of antisemitism in Omaha.

1. Antisemitism in the Omaha Economy

The economy of Omaha has always been biased towards people accepted as “white,” and for a long time many European Jews weren’t seen that way. Instead, they were viewed as less than the white Anglo-Saxon Protestants who founded the city. Because of this antisemitism in the Omaha economy, many institutions and resources were created by Jews for Jews. This strengthened the power of the Jewish dollar in Omaha, eventually opening the doors for the full integration of Jews throughout the city’s economy.

Organized in 1892, the Omaha Hebrew Club provided legal assistance for its members, especially peddlers who were “frequently involved in street disturbances as victims of anti-Semitism and ridicule,” according to one report.

Jewish businessmen in Omaha started the Jewish Free Loan Society in 1908 to be loaned out to Jews most in need. This happened because traditional banks in Omaha discriminated against Jews in many ways, sometimes by denying loans because of their race, and other times through rules and processes like making loan rules too cumbersome for many immigrant Jews to meet.

A 1911 pamphlet from the Jewish Colonization Association described Omaha as a good place for Jewish immigrants to come to. They described Omaha Jews in three groups, as workers, storekeepers, and peddlers. “Anti-semitism is felt very strongly in the packinghouses among the newcomers,” the pamphlet said, and conditions for Jews in South Omaha were reported as especially bad.

In 1927, renowned Jewish lawyer and activist Aaron Sapiro (1884-1959) spoke at the Jewish Community Center in Omaha. Henry Ford, who operated a truck-manufacturing plant in Omaha from 1916 to 1927, was the target of a $1,000,000 libel lawsuit by Sapiro, who claimed Ford defamed all Jews with his antisemitic writing in his own newspaper. The suit ended as a mistrial, while the Omaha audience was widely supportive of Sapiro’s efforts.

These are just some examples of antisemitism in the Omaha economy. Do you know more? Share them in the comments section!

2. Antisemitism in Omaha Schools

“We only have the friendliest feeling for the Jewish children. We would do nothing to encourage any act of discrimination against them and we wish it fully understood that neither the local Catholics nor clergy have had anything to do with the order of exclusion.”

An anonymous member of the Sacred Heart Catholic Parish, 1899

Omaha schools have a long history of antisemitism, whether in the form of rejecting Jewish students, ignoring Jewish American history, or otherwise discriminating against Jews.

There were Jews in the first graduating class of the Omaha High School, and history reports Jewish graduates from the 1870s onward. However, these students were often excluded from school social life and not otherwise welcomed by their peers. Early Omaha curriculum doesn’t reflect any awareness of Jewish history, customs, or culture either, although it shows a clear Christian influence in the form of mentioning church, Jesus, and other religious elements.

To that point, the Mother General of the Sacred Heart Order visited Omaha’s Catholic schools from her Paris headquarters in 1899. When she found eight Jewish students attending the Sacred Heart School in North Omaha, she immediately ordered their expulsion. That church’s congregation was upset though, with a member writing, “We only have the friendliest feeling for the Jewish children. We would do nothing to encourage any act of discrimination against them and we wish it fully understood that neither the local Catholics nor clergy have had anything to do with the order of exclusion.” However, apparently nothing was done to stop the order and the students were sent to local public schools.

Throughout the years, Omaha’s school district had several instances of antisemitism. For instance, in 1913 the head of the Omaha High School (now Omaha Central High School) was demoted then fired from his tenured job without cause. Despite rallying voters to elect several new members to the school board the teacher, Nathan Bernstein, never got his job back.

Do you know of other examples of antisemitism in Omaha schools? Leave a comment on this article.

3. Antisemitism in Omaha Media

Throughout the history of the city, the media was varied in its portrayal of Jews in Omaha. Alternately demonizing and lionizing Jews, throughout the decades Omaha’s two largest newspapers and later, television stations, routinely used stereotypes and tropes against Jews for a century; later, they upheld many negative perceptions while promoting Semitic causes and issues.

Tropes of Jewish people in Omaha’s media include portrayals of the Jewish mother; the Jewish princess; and the Jewish lawyer. The stereotype of the Jewish mother made all Jewish mothers sound nagging, loud, highly-talkative, overprotective, smothering, and overbearing . Shown as spoiled and bratty, the Jewish princess stereotype was often implored in Omaha’s early newspapers. Sexist as well as antisemitic, this stereotype is often applied to all Jewish girls in Omaha. The Omaha media made Jewish lawyers seem greedy, overly diligent, and hyper-materialistic. Omaha’s media has also repeatedly featured imagery and allusions to Jewish businessmen, bankers, and students in derogatory terms as well.

It was from this background that a periodical created just for Omaha’s community began publication in 1916. Called the Jewish Press, it was a celebration of Jewish culture, heritage, and perspectives. The Jewish Press published information that was unavailable in mainstream Omaha newspapers, including the Jewish-owned Omaha Bee, which was a widely circulated newspaper published from 1871 to 1937.

The founding publisher of the Omaha Bee was Edward Rosewater (1841-1906), who made many powerful enemies while successfully lobbying for liberal causes and generally reflecting well on the Jewish community. Rosewater was elected to the Nebraska State Legislature; campaigned to create the Omaha Board of Education; served on the Republican National Committee; represented the U.S. at two Universal Postal Congresses, and more. In the pages of his newspaper, Rosewater regularly advocated for liberal causes, including “public works, civil liberties, direct election of U.S. senators, labor reform, a postal telegraph system, and postal savings banks.” He also opposed trusts and unequal taxation. When Rosewater ran twice for the United States Senate and and lost, he attributed his losses to antisemitism in Omaha.

When he died, Edward’s son Victor Rosewater (1871–1940) carried his father’s mantle, staying involved in Republican politics, and was a founder of the American Jewish Committee.

There were other Jewish-led media outlets in Omaha a swell. In 1916, Maxim and Isaac Konecky founded the Jewish Bulletin, a brash newspaper that overtly exposed antisemitism throughout Omaha, along with issues like divorce and family abandonment, and featured a pro-worker and anti-landlord bias. In 1917, when a junk dealer had a bucket of water dumped on him at the county courthouse, Konecky got a warrant for the offender’s arrest and declared in his paper, “Anti-Semitism in Omaha must be stopped.” The Konecky’s paper also had exposes on interdenominational relations and interactions between African Americans and white people. Their newspaper quickly “offended and alienated the leaders of [Omaha’s] Jewish community,” and folded under conspicuous circumstances in 1921.

The creation of the ongoing Jewish Press in 1920 was fostered by the efforts of Omaha’s Jewish leaders to silence the salaciousness of the Jewish Bulletin. This longstanding paper celebrated its 100 year anniversary in 2020 and continues to serve the city’s Jewish community.

There have been many other examples of antisemitism in Omaha media, too. Share yours in the comments.

4. Antisemitism in Omaha Civic Life

Civic life includes any activity that benefits the health and well-being of the larger community someone belongs in. For more than 170 years, Jews have been active throughout Omaha civic life, including voting, volunteering, participating in group activities, and community building of all kinds. Antisemitism has been present throughout the city’s civic life, too.

The Omaha Claim Club was a plain example of civic life that was wholly antisemitic. Targeting anyone who wasn’t “acceptable” to the leadership of the club, there were pioneer Jews chased out of the city in its earliest years.

From the early years of the city, Jewish voters were often the target of political manipulation. In the early 1890s, the American Protective Asso­ciation attacked Omaha’s Jewish and Catholic communities in a variety of ways, including posting flyers for voters instructing them not to vote for the “gold-digging shylock Jew Max Meyer…”

Starting in the 1890s, Jews began serving in elected offices in the city, including the Omaha City Council and the Omaha School Board.

In 1900, a letter in both English and Yiddish was sent to Jewish voters urging them to vote against the incumbent mayor who “had never done anything for Jews” despite his campaign promises. The letter also claimed the mayor was responsible for firing the only Jewish police officer in Omaha and a Jewish city street sweeper. The letter urged voters to support a different candidate.

Johnny Rosenblatt was mayor of Omaha from 1954 to 1961. When he was young, Rosenblatt was a semipro baseball player who went by the name Johnny Ross because his Jewish name would draw negative attention to him.

In 1956, the leader of the Anti-Defamation League in Omaha was accused of “hate mongering” by a national group called “the Congress of Freedom.” This group promoted the Red Scare and accused the ADL of pressuring them because they were trying to stifle anti-Communist activity.

Ed Zorinsky was mayor from 1973 to 1976. Zorinsky also became Nebraska’s only Jewish U.S. senator, serving from 1976 to 1987.

Many examples of antisemitism in Omaha civic life mark the city’s history. Do you have a story to share? Leave it in the comments.

5. Antisemitism in Omaha Society

There has been a high society in Omaha since the city was founded in 1854. There have also been other cultural and social circles, events, and activities throughout history. Antisemitism was at the core of some of these activities, while it informed many others. Omaha society still exists, and while it appears to be more integrated there is still some discrimination today. Here are some examples of antisemitism in Omaha society.

It was 1876 when Jewish women started the Standard Social Club as a response to their exclusion from Omaha society gatherings. Later becoming the Metropolitan Club, the organization lasted for decades.

When the Titanic sank in 1912, Omaha Jew Emil Brandeis was the casualty from the city. One of the antisemitic rumors at the time was that Emil’s body was found in women’s clothing because he was trying to sneak onto a lifeboat. The son of Jonas Brandeis, the famous store owner, this malicious rumor was driven by antisemitism in Omaha society.

That same year, author Tillie Olsen (1912-2007) was born in North Omaha. An influential feminist author who wrote about antisemitism growing up, she was a worker and labor organizer in the 1930s in South Omaha’s meatpacking industry and was deeply influenced by the Jewish socialists of North Omaha.

In the 1910s, “Americanization” was important in Omaha’s Jewish community. Pushed to rid Jewish immigrants of accents and old country traditions, Omaha’s Jews experienced antisemitism in the name of nation-building. Although the flow of Jewish immigrants to Omaha has nearly stopped, hat still hasn’t stopped to some extent. In 1916, this struggle was epitomized with the publishing of an Omaha teacher’s book called “The Road to Paradise,” which told the story of a young Jewish immigrant who was depicted as “out-Americanizing the Americans.”

In 1921, the Ku Klux Klan “made a major effort” to establish a large presence in Omaha. Their Omaha agenda focused on antisemitism, as well as anti-Black and anti-Catholic hatred. According to Michael W Schuyler, Omaha’s newspaper called The Jewish Press said the campaign was, “”an ugly growth, unhealthy in root, disgusting in progress, and sickening in results.”

Creighton University took it upon itself to name an “Outstanding Omaha Jew” in 1935. Dr. Phillip Sher, president of the Jewish Community Center, received the distinction. While seemingly intended to honor the contributions of Jews to Omaha, this honorific reeks of discrimination as it thoughtlessly segregated and “other-ized” Jews from mainstream Omaha culture.

Another institution created for Jews in response to discrimination was its own country club. Jews were not allowed to join Omaha’s first country club, the Field Club, which was established in 1889. After that they were segregated from the Omaha Country Club (est. 1899) and the Happy Hollow Country Club (est. 1907), also. That led directly to the establishment of the Highland Country Club in 1924. Highland was for wealthy Jews to establish and secure connections in the same ways the city’s other country clubs did, only without the benefit of being attended by wealthy gentiles. The New York Times attributed the integration of Jews into Omaha’s other country clubs to Warren Buffet, who forcibly made them do it after he became the first gentile to join Highland. After integrating, the club stayed open for four more decades, closing in 2009. Beyond antisemitism, in 2006 the site of the former club became home to the Tri-Faith Initiative, a multi-faith space for Judaism, Christianity and Islam to co-exist. Today, a new synagogue, mosque, and church stand there.

In 1921, Omaha’s Ku Klux Klan rose and aggressively targeted Jews. During the first half of the 1920s, antisemetic rhetoric and activities were shared in the Omaha World-Herald and KKK leaders were given a megaphone for their views. The organization’s activities continued in the city for decades. In 1924, the Jewish Press wrote,

The immigrant is greeted in the new world by a flaming cross, with a mask on the face, a nightgown on the body, a blackjack on the pocket, a dagger in the hand ready to stab the new arrival in the back, and he hears a shout from a thousand lips, “You are a foreigner.”

Jewish Press, August 14, 1924

The Highland Country Club was located at 132nd and Pacific Streets, just south of the present-day location of the Jewish Community Center (JCC). Originally opened in 1926, the JCC was downtown for almost 50 years. It moved to its present location at 333 South 132nd Street in 1973. The site of important labor organizing, intellectual growth, and cultural sustainability for Omaha’s Jewish community, the JCC continues to serve in various ways including classes, theater, fitness and more. It is also attached to the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home. The JCC’s roll in establishing and maintaining the well-being of the community has been essential for combating Omaha’s antisemitism.

It was 1946 when an antisemitic activist called “America’s leading hate-monger and chief of the ‘nationalist’ movement” was reported to visit “key personnel” in Omaha, and held a mass meeting in the city. This person bragged that they were “met with opposition” with picket lines and demonstrations against their hate messages in every other city except Omaha.

Do you know of other examples of antisemitism in Omaha society? Share them in the comments.

6. Antisemitism in Omaha Healthcare

Jews in Omaha were subject to discrimination in the healthcare system from the founding of the city onward. Despite working to overcome these challenges, true acceptance only came with time and influence.

After continuously experiencing discrimination in the city’s public hospitals, Jews founded Omaha’s Wise Memorial Hospital on North 16th Street in 1901, moving to another North Omaha location in 1902, and finally moved into a purpose-built facility at 406 South 24th Street. Named for the founder of American Reform Judaism, Rabbi Isaac Meyer Wise, the hospital’s final location was on a lot donated by the wife of Jonas Brandeis. Built in 1912 for $125,000, by 1917 the hospital treated more than 1,000 patients. It closed permanently in 1930.

After the 1913 Easter Sunday tornado ravished the large Jewish population around 24th and Lake, a Jewish-only relief center was setup near North 24th and Franklin Streets. While the outward goal was to provide fast translation in need, the underlying cause was the threat of antisemitism in the general rescue and relief efforts sweeping the community. When they arrived there, the city’s Jewish community ensured that Jewish tornado victims could get “clothing, bedding, groceries, fuel, rent money, and repairs to their homes.”

Share other examples of antisemitism in Omaha healthcare in the comments below.

7. Antisemitism in Omaha Housing

For a century, Omaha housing was segregated by racial and ethnic identities. Antisemitism in Omaha housing took the form of segregation, unfair housing practices such as rent increases and insurance discrimination, and other practices.

Jews were mostly segregated into the Near North Side from the time they started arriving in large numbers during the 1870s. Living between Capitol Avenue and Lake Street, there were clusters of ethnic Jews around synagogues in the neighborhood, including Russians, Slavs, Hungarians, Romanians, Germans, and others. In addition to living in small houses and in apartments above the buildings owned primarily by Jewish businessmen, there were early apartment buildings and a few tenement-style buildings in the neighborhood. Public schools including Lake, Long, and Kellom were all regarded for their populations of Jewish students. Central and Tech high schools both had large populations of Jewish students for several decades, as well.

After the 1919 lynching of African American Will Brown and the subsequent attempted raid of the white mob against the neighborhood, white flight began in earnest. after the 1919. Many wealthy and middle class Jewish families moved to the neighborhood northwest of Memorial Park nicknamed “Bagel.” After World War II, many Jewish families moved into that area and stayed there into the 1980s.

During the 1930s while many Jewish immigrants were moving to Omaha to escape Nazism and antisemitism in Europe, many lived in destitute conditions in North Omaha and beyond. In the late 1930s, the federal government’s Works Progress Administration built several sets of public housing projects in the community, ostensibly to house these Jews. The earliest was the Logan Fontenelle Projects on North 24th, which became the city’s first segregated projects when another section was built for African Americans. Another one of the predominantly Jewish facilities was the Hilltop Projects located near North 30th and Lake Streets. Both of these were demolished in the 1990s and there is no sign of them today.

Do you know other examples of antisemitism in Omaha history? Leave them in the comments below.

8. Antisemitism in Omaha Business

As the backbone of Omaha, some historians have argued that business has been the main avenue for the segregation and integration of Jews in Omaha. Whether its been the instigation of laws and regulations targeting Jewish businesses, segregationist practices preventing non-Jews from shopping in Jewish businesses, or other practices, there has been a great deal of antisemitism in Omaha business.

In 1901, a new City of Omaha ordinance targeted Jewish grocery stores and meat markets. The stores, which stayed open on Sundays, were ordered to close to respect the Christian rule of staying closed on Sundays. With little publicity beforehand, the rule caught the Jewish businessmen by surprise. After protests for months, it was later repealed.

The Midwest chapter of the National Conference of Christians and Jews (NCCJ) was founded in 1938 when Otto Swanson, a local Christian businessman, was approached to join a boycott of Jewish businesses in the city. Upset, Swanson is credited with throwing out the anti-Semite and quickly working with W. Dale Clark, banker; Milton Livingston, businessman; and Ralph Svoboda, attorney, to challenge antisemitism in Omaha business by establishing the Midlands NCCJ chapter, now known as Inclusive Communities.

Do you know of other examples of antisemitism in Omaha business? Share them in the comments section.

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Antisemitism in Omaha since World War II

The Holocaust appeared to set a new tone for America’s Jewish community. However, antisemitism didn’t stop.

Antisemitism in Omaha was called out in the media for the first time. For instance, in 1947 the World-Herald reported that an Omaha attorney named Francis Mathews who served on the President’s Committee on Civil Rights spoke at the city’s Rotary Club and attested that in Omaha, “Discrimination against Jews is sometimes as bad as that against Negroes.” In 1949, in an editorial in the Omaha Star, a Jewish activist promoted the idea that Jews in Omaha would advance when African Americans’ civil rights improved in Omaha. However, this wasn’t the only notion; instead another was voiced in 2010 by Leo Biga, who wrote, “By and large… Jews recognized blacks have a much harder time. They can’t hide their color and so they are discriminated against.”

“There’s been outpouring of support for the Jewish community whenever these kind of things happen, and that’s something that really gives us hope and makes us happy to be here in Omaha.”

Nate Shapiro, executive director of Beth Israel Synagogue, in 2019

The hatred, distrust, and discrimination against Jews continues. 1967, the Anti-Defamation League presented a panel on antisemitism in Omaha’s social clubs. The Omaha World-Herald was accused of publishing an antisemitic op-ed “akin to Nazi propaganda” in 1981. I have found no response or retraction from the paper afterwards. In the last several years, antisemitism in Omaha has continued. Hateful flyers were posted in neighborhoods around the city in 2017, and in 2018, a large swastika was set on fire in Memorial Park.

In 2019, the Anti-Defamation League noted that antisemitism is on the rise in Omaha.

That year, at least 75 headstones were vandalized in North Omaha’s Temple Israel Cemetery, and nobody was found guilty of either of those crimes. Also in 2019, a staffer of Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts was shown to be posting antisemitic comments in online forums. Ricketts refused to condemn the behavior though. A major neo-nazi leader moved to Omaha, and also in 2019, the Plains State Anti-Defamation League issued a report that antisemitism was on the rise across Nebraska. Nate Shapiro, executive director of the Beth Israel Synagogue, was quoted as saying, “There’s been outpouring of support for the Jewish community whenever these kind of things happen, and that’s something that really gives us hope and makes us happy to be here in Omaha.” At the same time, he reported increasing security around the synagogue to ensure safety against antisemitic violence. Other synagogues did the same.

In 2021, an antisemitic message was found at Westside Middle School. The Westside School District responded by saying it believed there was no malicious intent to the action. A man was charged with vandalizing Temple Israel in 2021 after video caught him plastering stickers across the building. Eventually he met with Nate Shapiro, who became executive director of Temple Israel in 2020. Different from other incidents, the man took responsibility and issued a public apology.

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Ending Antisemitism in Omaha

It can be said that all Jewish institutions outside of congregations were started in some respect because of antisemitism. Former organizations in Omaha such as the Jewish Colonization Office strove to do what other organizations would not: Serve Jewish immigrants and ensure their successes in their new city. Similarly, at a time when Omaha doctors would openly discriminate against Jews, the Wise Memorial Hospital was started in 1899 by the Jewish medical community to serve the city’s Jews as well others. The National Council of Jewish Women and Hadassah chapters were started in Omaha to be social networks for Jewish adults, while Aleph Zadik Aleph (AZA) was a national brotherhood founded in Omaha for Jewish high school youth because other youth-serving organizations in Omaha would not allow Jews to join.

Today, several organizations in Omaha strive to end antisemitism. Founded in 1900, Omaha’s B’nai B’rith chapter was started to address antisemitism. Thirteen years later, the Plains States Anti-Defamation League was started in the city to fight hate and promote fair treatment for all. The Jewish Federation of Omaha was established in 1895 to to form a “well knit Jewish community” in Omaha that works together to succeed. In 2001, the Institute for Holocaust Education was started in Omaha with the mission to provide educational resources, workshops, survivor testimony, and integrated arts programming to middle and high school students.

Other organizations working to stop antisemitism in Omaha include Inclusive Communities and the Tri-Faith Initiative.

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In the long history of antisemitism in Omaha, there are wounds, scars, and suffering that continue today. Some reconciliation has happened; but as the examples above show, antisemitism continues in the city right now. In 2017, a study by the Jewish Federation of Omaha found “12,700 persons live in 5,150 Jewish households in Omaha.” Despite all these families, Omaha is still struggling to make sense of its history and present antisemitism.

The same study found,

• 15% of respondents experienced antisemitism in Omaha in the past year.
• 30% of children experienced antisemitism in Omaha in the past year, the second highest among about 30 comparison Jewish communities*
• 33% of respondents perceive a great deal/moderate amount of antisemitism in Omaha, well below average among about 35 comparison Jewish communities*

Today, there are no monuments, markers, or other public acknowledgments of antisemitism in Omaha

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MY ARTICLES ON THE HISTORY OF CRIME IN NORTH OMAHA
Crimes: 1891 George Smith Lynching | 1909 Unsolved Murder | 1910 Jack Johnson Riot | 1917 Larkin McCloud Case | 1919 James Smith Death | 1919 Will Brown Lynching | 1969 Vivian Strong Killing | 1960s North Omaha Riots |
Events: Bombings | Mob Violence
Criminals: Early 20th Century Crime Bosses | Vic Walker | Ollie William Jackson | Axe Murderer Jake Bird
Related: Black Police in Omaha | Police Brutality | Antisemitism | Racism

You Might Like…

• A History of North Omaha’s Jewish Community
• A History of Relations between Jews and African Americans in Omaha
• A History of Racism in Omaha
• A Timeline of Race and Racism in Omaha

Elsewhere Online

• Plains States Anti-Defamation League official website
• Jewish Federation of Omaha official website
• Inclusive Communities official website
• Tri-Faith Initiative official website
• Institute for Holocaust Education official website
• “History of Antisemitism” article on Wikipedia

Sources (in no order)

• Omaha World-Herald Digital Archives
• Omaha Star Digital Archives
• Howard Chudacoff (1972) Mobile Americans: Residential and social mobility in Omaha, 1880-1920. New York: Oxford University Press.
• Carol Gendler (1968) “The Jews of Omaha: The first sixty years The Jews of Omaha: The first sixty years.” University of Nebraska at Omaha.
• Nathan Bernstein (1908) “The Story of the Omaha Jews,” Reform Advocate.
• The Jews of Omaha: The first sixty years by Carol Gendler for the University of Nebraska at Omaha on March 1, 1968.
• The Jewish Foundation. “The History of Jewish Omaha“
• Pollak, O. B. (2011) “The Jewish Peddlers of Omaha,” Nebraska History 63 (1982): 474-501.
• “OMAHA: Douglas and Sarpy Counties“. International Jewish Cemetery Project, International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies.
• Alder, C. and Szold, H. (1919) American Jewish Year Book 5680, Volume 21. American Jewish Society.
• Postal, B. and Koppman, L. (1954) A Jewish Tourist’s Guide to the U.S. Jewish Publication Society of America.
• Nebraska Jewish Historical Society (October 1995) Newsletter.
• Beth Hamadrosh Cemetery – Graveyards of Omaha website.
• Grossman, A. (April 1984) “North 24th – ‘Street of Dreams‘”, Newsletter 11, 1. Nebraska Jewish Historical Society.
• Pollak, O. B. (2001) Jewish Life in Omaha and Lincoln: A Photographic History. Arcadia Publishing.
• “Congregation of Israel First permanent Jewish House of Worship in Nebraska” by Jewish American Society for Historic Preservation
• Ella Fleischman Auerbach (1927) “A Record of Jewish Settlement in Nebraska,” Nebraska State Historical Society.
• Ira M. Sheskin (2017) The 2017 Jewish Federation of Omaha Population Study:A Portrait of the Omaha Jewish Community. Jewish Federation of Omaha.
• Tillie Olsen (2004) “Yonnondio: From the Thirties.” University of Nebraska Press.

Bonus