Effort underway to preserve historic neighborhood's 16th-century houses of prayer, both for the small remaining Jewish community and for tourists

Down from a pre-Holocaust peak of 5,000, the city's 450 remaining Jews face numerous struggles, including rising water levels. They're launching a grassroots revitalization effort

The $10 million project is self-financed by the city's Jewish community and will inject new life into the central complex; includes an immersive replica of ancient ghetto housing

Prof. Daniel B. Schwartz studies the evolution of a word that's kept outsiders out and insiders in -- voluntarily and involuntarily -- and been used as a tool for over 500 years

November's deluge causes an estimated billion dollars in damage citywide, but the historic enclave central to a close-knit community gets off relatively easy