“Jewish Bialystok and Its Diaspora” with Author Rebecca Kobrin

Sunday, November 1, 2026 | 2:30 PM
Adriance Memorial Library
93 Market Street, Poughkeepsie

What happens to a community when its people scatter across the world but remain connected to one another—and to the place they left behind?

Join award-winning historian Rebecca Kobrin for a discussion of Jewish Bialystok and Its Diaspora. Tracing the movement of Jews from Bialystok, Poland, from the late 19th century through the post-Holocaust era, Kobrin follows the communities they established across the United States, Africa, Australia, Palestine/Israel and beyond. Through immigrant organizations, Yiddish newspapers, philanthropy and community ties, Bialystokers created a global diaspora that preserved—and reshaped—their connection to their hometown.

Kobrin is the Russell and Bettina Knapp Associate Professor of American Jewish History at Columbia University and co-director of its Institute for Israel and Jewish Studies. Jewish Bialystok and Its Diaspora received the Jordan Schnitzer Book Award and was a finalist for the National Jewish Book Award.

Presented by the Poughkeepsie Public Library District in partnership with the Jewish Federation of Dutchess County.