7:00pm - 9:00pm
AM 189
Credit to the Nation: East European Jewish Immigrants and American Banking, 1873-1930
2026 Rabbi Moses Margolis Lecture
Thursday, October 22nd | 7:00 p.m.
AM 189 (Admissions Center) | Book signing and reception to follow
Dr. Rebecca Kobrin, Russell and Bettina Knap Associate Professor of American Jewish History at Columbia University
Based on her just-published book from Harvard University Press, Credit to the Nation: Eastern European Jewish Immigrant Bankers and the Shaping of American Finance, 1873-1930, Kobrin asks, what if the story of Jews and American banking wasn’t about Wall Street titans—but about immigrant families who built commercial banking businesses that helped others thrive? Indeed, many are familiar with the names of famous early-twentieth-century German Jewish bankers such as Jacob Schiff, but far fewer have heard of men like Sender Jarmulowsky, Max Kobre, or Saul Singer. These East European Jewish immigrants helped millions of migrants with a few dollars and a dream buy ship tickets, borrow and save money, and send small sums back home. Millions saw their financial lives shaped by these men whose stories are now in the dustbin of history. In her talk Professor Kobrin shares their stories and explains how they reshaped American banking as well as the businesses of mass migration and real estate development. Signed copies of Kobrin’s book will be on sale at the event.
Rebecca Kobrin works in the fields of immigration history, urban studies, business history, East European history and American Jewish History, specializing in modern Jewish migration. Her book Jewish Bialystok and Its Diaspora (Indiana University Press, 2010) was awarded the Jordan Schnitzer prize (2012). She is the editor of Chosen Capital: The Jewish Encounter with American Capitalism (Rutgers University Press, 2012), Salo Baron: Using the Past to Shape the Future of Jewish Studies in America (Columbia University Press, 2022) and is co-editor with Adam Teller of Purchasing Power: The Economics of Jewish History (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2015). In 2015, she was awarded Columbia University’s Lenfest Distinguished Faculty Award for her outstanding teaching and graduate student mentoring. She is one of the principal investigators leading the award-winning digital humanities Historical NYC Project, an award-winning map that visualizes the demographic and spatial changes wrought in New York City between 1850 and 1940.
Free and open to the general public.
The talk is sponsored by the Margolis Family Lecture Fund and the Judaic Studies Department at Binghamton University and is co-sponsored by Binghamton’s College of Jewish Studies.
2026 Rabbi Moses Margolis Lecture
Thursday, October 22nd | 7:00 p.m.
AM 189 (Admissions Center) | Book signing and reception to follow
Dr. Rebecca Kobrin, Russell and Bettina Knap Associate Professor of American Jewish History at Columbia University
Based on her just-published book from Harvard University Press, Credit to the Nation: Eastern European Jewish Immigrant Bankers and the Shaping of American Finance, 1873-1930, Kobrin asks, what if the story of Jews and American banking wasn’t about Wall Street titans—but about immigrant families who built commercial banking businesses that helped others thrive? Indeed, many are familiar with the names of famous early-twentieth-century German Jewish bankers such as Jacob Schiff, but far fewer have heard of men like Sender Jarmulowsky, Max Kobre, or Saul Singer. These East European Jewish immigrants helped millions of migrants with a few dollars and a dream buy ship tickets, borrow and save money, and send small sums back home. Millions saw their financial lives shaped by these men whose stories are now in the dustbin of history. In her talk Professor Kobrin shares their stories and explains how they reshaped American banking as well as the businesses of mass migration and real estate development. Signed copies of Kobrin’s book will be on sale at the event.
Rebecca Kobrin works in the fields of immigration history, urban studies, business history, East European history and American Jewish History, specializing in modern Jewish migration. Her book Jewish Bialystok and Its Diaspora (Indiana University Press, 2010) was awarded the Jordan Schnitzer prize (2012). She is the editor of Chosen Capital: The Jewish Encounter with American Capitalism (Rutgers University Press, 2012), Salo Baron: Using the Past to Shape the Future of Jewish Studies in America (Columbia University Press, 2022) and is co-editor with Adam Teller of Purchasing Power: The Economics of Jewish History (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2015). In 2015, she was awarded Columbia University’s Lenfest Distinguished Faculty Award for her outstanding teaching and graduate student mentoring. She is one of the principal investigators leading the award-winning digital humanities Historical NYC Project, an award-winning map that visualizes the demographic and spatial changes wrought in New York City between 1850 and 1940.
Free and open to the general public.
The talk is sponsored by the Margolis Family Lecture Fund and the Judaic Studies Department at Binghamton University and is co-sponsored by Binghamton’s College of Jewish Studies.
7:00pm - 9:00pm
IASH Room (LN 1106)
Join Profs Rabineau & Glasman in a screening of the Mel Brooks classic "Spaceballs" followed by a discussion. Pizza and drinks served!
This event is part of Harpur Week.
This event is part of Harpur Week.