50 years of Bagels and Jews

After 39 years of business, New York bagel shop H & H Bagels of the Upper West Side served its last bagel yesterday to great fanfare, despite the fact that they still operate a midtown bakery and store. JTA Editor in Chief Ami Eden offered on-site video commentary (above, filmed by Uri Fintzy), while JTA Web Editor Daniel Treiman explored the origins of this store; not as Jewish as you might think. 

The historic association between Jews and bagels has been explored by Joan Nathan in Slate and by a BBC radio editor in a book published by Yale University. 

Just how Jewish is the hole-y bagel? From our archive, here’s a 50-year timeline of bagel metaphors, slurs and achievements :

1960  Hillel director of the University of Chicago asks students "to reject the ‘bagel and lox’ concept of Judaism" (a metaphor later shared by Jewish state legislators, Zionist movements & Israeli officials)

1961  An Israeli company installs a giant oven in Gold Medal Bakery in Philadelphia, which churns out 500,000 bagels per day

1963  El Al airlines introduces New York bagel breakfast on flights

1965 "Letters from home, salami, lox with bagel and cream cheese" missed most by Jewish GIs in Vietnam 

1969  NY congressman alleges that a Jewish U.S. Marine was subjected to physical violence and harassment by drill instructors who painted a Star of David on his forehead and called him "Jew boy" and "bagel."

1970  French President Georges Pompidou denies jets to Israel, approves them for Libya; is mailed a bagel-a-day in protest for more than ten weeks

1979  Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) of Philadelphia facilitates sale of a Jewish butcher shop run by Holocaust survivor to aBlack meat cutter; latter will continue to serve bagels

1984  Author of "Jews in Old China" claims he invented a Chinese version of the bagel

1989  Marvin Lender – founder of Lender’s Bagels and eventual UJA national president and chairman – spearheads Soviet Jewry campaign 

1993  Berlin bagel store cited as an example of Jewish renewal in the German capital

1994  Former U.S. Ambassador to Geneva Morris Abrams introduces kosher bagels in Switzerland

1995  JTA reporter Tom Tugend writes about a drive-through bagel joint in Los Angeles


1997  At President Clinton’s inauguration, the first vendor to sell kosher food on the National Mall includes bagels on the menu. Separately, Dunkin Donuts boasts bagels, declaring, "It’s worth the schlep" 

1998  Citing "over-saturation in the bagel market," western U.S. bagel chain Noah’s New York Bagels ceases kosher certification in most stores

2000  In the hole: Einstein/Noah Bagel Corp announces $125 million dollar debt ;  Zogby America poll dubs bagels the most popular quick breakfast option in the U.S.

2005  ¿Lo quiéres tostado? JTA writes about two bagel stores in Costa Rica

2006 After Second Lebanon War, Hillel International Director Wayne Firestone says, "When we watch bombs falling on Haifa and soldiers held in captivity by Hamas and Hezbollah, as Jews we can’t just line up for bagels."

2008 U.S. Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) — and eventual DNC chair — says Presidential candidate Obama "needs to come down and have bagels and cream cheese in the condos and he will be fine."