Michael Feldberg

Michael Feldberg, Ph.D. is executive director of the George Washington Institute for Religious Freedom. From 1991 to 2004, he served as executive director of the American Jewish Historical Society, the nation's oldest ethnic historical organization, and from 2004 to 2008 was its director of research.


Articles by Michael Feldberg

Fanny Brice

Few Jewish comedians have made such a significant contribution to both Jewish humor and popular culture as this daughter of saloon-owning immigrants.

The St. Louis

The German luxury ship, the St. Louis, sailed to Cuba with over 900 passengers on it, only to be turned away and sent back to Europe.

Henry Ford Invents a Jewish Conspiracy

In 1927, Ford's anti-Semitism brought him, for one of the few times in his life, to humiliation.

The Maryland Constitution and the “Jew Bill”

When only Christians were allowed to hold state office in Maryland.

George Washington’s Letter to Newport

Washington promises no sanction to bigotry, and no assistance to persecution.

The Jewish “Gentile” Governor of Utah

Simon Bamberger was the first non-Mormon governor in a state where even Jews are "gentiles."

Louis “Lepke” Buchalter

Unlike more famous Jewish mobsters like Meyer Lansky, this notorious Brooklyn mafioso was put to death — and then almost forgotten.

Solomon Hays and the Yom Kippur Balcony Window Battle

Solomon Hays and his family were excommunicated from Shearith Israel in New York City due to causing a disturbance over a simple window.

The Trefa Banquet and the End of a Dream

The menu at the celebration for Hebrew Union College's first ordained graduating class led to the formal break between tradition and reform.

The Lazarus Averbuch Mystery

Was this slain Jewish immigrant really seeking to assassinate Chicago's police chief?