Brooklyn Jews | The Peopling of New York
Posted By admin on October 15, 2015
The immigration for Jews to the United States occurred in three major waves. Each group was vastly different from the other, in economic, social and religious terms, as well as distinct times and places of origins. These differences influenced their experiences in the United States. Many of these groups started out in New York, while others began in other port cities and then found their way to New York. New York City has the second largest population of Jews in the world, only after Israel. New York has, for many years, been a safe haven for Jews from all over the world. Even now, New York City remains the main entry port and site of settlement for new Jewish immigrants to the United States. This includes Jews from Iran, Israel, and Russia. New York City is the capital of Jewry in America. New York City has played such an outstanding role in American Jewish history that it is often difficult to separate local New York Jewish history from the larger national picture.[1]
The first Jews to settle in America were Sephardic refugees from Brazil[2]. They came fleeing the Spanish Inquisition, which had just begun to spread into the Western Hemisphere. In 1654, twenty-three adults of Spanish-Portuguese origins came and settled in what was then the Dutch port of New Amsterdam, later to be knows as our very own New York City[3]. A year later, some more Jews from Holland came to the new world as well. The governor of the colony, Peter Stuyvesant, tried to deport these early Jewish settlers, but the Dutch West India Company (the effective owner of the colony) overruled his decision. Life for these early settlers remained difficult. Nine years later, however, the fortunes of Jews in America begun to change. In 1664, the British peacefully assumed control of the colony[4]. The quickly renamed it to New York and allowed the colony to be ethnically, racially and religiously diverse throughout the times they control it.
At first, Jews in America did not thrive. Their community was small and did not have much success. However, there were a few exceptions. Asser Levy, one of the communitys leaders, had real estate stretching to Albany by 1658. He also successfully petitioned for the right to serve in the New Netherland militia. With the advent of the British rule, more and more Jews began to achieve success, both financially and politically. In 1727, naturalization became possible for Jews in New York, and could achieve full citizenship by 1740[5].
The first synagogue in the city, Shearith Israel (remnant of Israel) was founded by the end of the 17th century.
This budding community was able to provide Jews throughout America with both Jewish leadership and Judaic resources. The community maintained ties with parent communities in London and the Caribbean and looked to those older establishments for any guidance that they needed[6].
In the early 1700s, the majority of Jews became Ashkenazic due to heavy immigration from European communities. However, the Sephardic Jews maintained control on the customs and religious practices of the community. They led the community in slightly different styles than was typical in the Old World. The synagogue used to be a place that held great administrative power over the community. The synagogue in Spanish countries would tax members, fund projects, regulate publications and socially ostracize members as a form of punishment. In New York, however, the synagogue had none of those functions. Instead, a new concept of separation of church (or synagogue!) and state took its place. The Jewish community also sought to combine modern notions of aesthetics, order and manner of proceedings with traditional Judaism- perhaps the precursor to the Modern Orthodox movement today[7].
The Jewish community was quick to spread. By 1760, families had already settled in Long Island and Westchester County, and had trading posts as far as Newburgh- 70 miles north of New York City. They also migrated to other colonies, as well. They generally moved south, settling in places such as Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Georgia. In addition, many moved up north to Rhode Island, which was the only New England Colony that allowed a permanent Jewish community in the seventeenth century. The Jewish settlement there was built in Newport, and its synagogue, Touro Synagogue, still stands today[8].
Though the Jews of New York, as mentioned above, fared well under British rule, most of them desired independence. Many fled to the Philadelphia community when the British occupied New York during the war. Jews that were a pat of the Hessian mercenaries that the British hired maintained the community infrastructure during the occupation[9].
More recently, many more Sephardic Jews arriving from the Middle East settled in New York. These groups came following a breakdown in relationships with their respective governments, largely owing to the establishment of the State of Israel. In particular, the Syrian, Egyptian, and Lebanese Jews all created communities in Brooklyn. Iranian Jews also established a large community in Great Neck. The first of these groups to arrive were the Syrians, who immigrated starting from 1892. However, the distinction of the first Jew in Brooklyn remains to Asser Lev, who, as mentioned above, purchased land in Brooklyn in the mid-1600s.
The second period in American Jewish history was dominated by German Jewry. Their main reasons for leaving their homeland were the scarcity of land, rural poverty, and government restrictions on marriage, domicile and employment. German Jews had been in the United States before the early 1800s, but it is after that time that they became the predominant Jewish cultural group. At this same time, America was expanding its own borders, so many German Jews became a part of the Midwestern movement. Coming to America in a period of rapid geographic expansion, the German Jews became part of the developing Midwest. Communities were established in Chicago, Cincinnati, Indianapolis and St. Paul.[10] Wherever they settled, they formed a congregation and bought land for a cemetery. In Brooklyn, the first Jewish congregation was Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim in Williamsburg. It began as an Orthodox synagogue and eventually become Reform. In 1921 it joined with Temple Israel in Manhattan to become Union Temple. The members of this congregation opened the first Jewish cemetery in Brooklyn, Union Fields in Cypress Hills in 1848. [11]
After the War of 1812, transpiration improvements and the introduction of the Erie Canal allowed more Jews from Germany and Central Europe to settle in New York. Yet these new arrivals clashed with the older elite group of Sephardic Jews who had live there for centuries. Eventually the New York City Kehilla (congregation) broke up in 1824. The first Ashkenazic synagogue was built at this timeBnai Jeshurun.[12]
In 1868, the Hebrew Benevolent Society was established in Williamsburg; in 1909 the name was changed to the Brooklyn Federation of Jewish Philanthropies. This organization was extremely helpful to the thousands of Eastern European immigrants who arrived just after it began.[13]
The first German Jews to emigrate were mostly young men. They joined relatives and others who had come from the same communities back in Europe. The second group came after the failed German revolution in 1848 and these Jews older and more educated. They would go into peddling and such trades that did not require large amounts of startup monies. They eventually became successful, building larger businesses and becoming a part of the middle class. [14]
These immigrants fled Germany searching for freedom, and the associations they set up once they arrived shows their overall concern for Jewish circumstances. The Reform Movement also shaped the development of American Jewry.
The German Jews were a less religious group than the Sephardic Jews who lived in New York City. They were a product of the Reform Movement, which had originated in Germany, which had more liberal politics, and where many Jews felt comfortable assimilating with the general population. It rejected many Jewish practices and beliefs, changed the prayers to their native tongue of German, and over time, became very popular among German Jews.[15] The Jews who settled in New York brought this with them, and by 1880, more than 90 percent of American synagogues were Reform. Reform Jews also established associations such as the Educational Alliance on the Lower East Side of New York, the Young Mens Hebrew Association, the American Jewish Committee and the Anti-Defamation League of Bnai Brith. By this time, the third wave of immigration was reaching a peak, that of Eastern European Jews. Between 1881 and 1914, two million Jews left Europe for the United States. Most of these Jews settled in the overcrowded Lower East Side, in the Tenth Ward, which became one of the most congested areas in the world[16]. At the same time, however, Jews were also moving to other areas, one of those being Brooklyn. The creation of new bridges and subways allowed for quick mass migration to the outer boroughs, and Jews settled into Williamsburg, Brownsville, New Lots, East New York, Rego Park and Coney Island.[17] The German Jewish population generally stayed in the Upper East Side of Manhattan, and did not welcome their Eastern European brethren, whom they considered old fashioned and did not want to associate with. However, they were forced to realize that they would have to share the city with the new arrivals. They felt most threatened by their different way of life than anything else. The German Jews felt they would have to Americanize the Eastern Europeans, and make them become like themselves. They set out to create organizations to help these Jews, one of which was the Educational Alliance, which helped train newcomers for citizenship and jobs. At first, the new Jews resented the patronizing attitudes of the Alliance, but eventually both sides softened a bit and were able to cooperate and respond to the needs of the community. At the same time, the new Jews did not fall prey to assimilation as a general rule, and this is what led to the breakup of the New York City Kehilla, an umbrella confederation of Jewish organizations.
In general, during this time the largest percentage of New York Citys Jews lived in Manhattan, but the conditions and history of the Lower East Side were very similar to the conditions and society in the Brooklyn Jewish neighborhoods. Most Jews were very poor and lived in crowded slum areas in tenements. [18]
The third wave of Jewish immigration (1880-1920) to the United States consisted of Jews that faced persecution and pogroms in Poland and Russia. The Jews were forced to live in the Pale of Settlement. The Jews of Eastern Europe lived in towns and urban villages called shtetls. Jewish towns included Warsaw, Odessa, Lodz and Vilna, which were later destroyed during the Holocaust. Jews in the Pale were limited to being merchants, shopkeepers and craftsmen.[19],[20]
Many Jews fleeing the Russian pogroms of 1881-1884 and 1903-1906 went to Western Europe and the United States. This wave of Russian Jewish immigrants to the United States was the largest. In 1880, approximately 60,000 Jews lived in New York City. By 1914, the Jewish population of the city exceeded 1.5 million. While the German immigrants of the second wave were young men, The Russian immigrants of the third wave were whole families seeking haven from the pogroms. Many of the Russian immigrants were the Hassidic Jews who remained strictly observant.[21]
The Russian Jewish immigrants settled primarily in urban cities. The large influx of Jews expanded Jewish communal life especially in New York Citys Lower East Side. In 1884, the Hebrew Immigrant Aid society was established to help incoming Eastern European Jews. Many of the Yiddish-speaking immigrants worked in the clothing industry in establishments owned by German Jews. Others peddled or maintained their own small retail establishments.
They expressed their Yiddish culture through journalism, fiction, poetry and theater. Second Avenue in Manhattan developed as the largest Yiddish theater district in the world. Popular Yiddish newspapers included Der Tog and Forward.[22]
They were part of the working class, which separated them from the middle class German Jews that already were settled in. The Russian Jewish communities were tightknit and insular, resembling the way they lived in the Pale. In this, they also differed from their German counterparts who were more assimilated. German Reform Jews established the Jewish theological Seminary (JTS) in New York City in 1887. It was then re-established in 1902 by the emerging Conservative Jewish movement. The Jewish Modern Orthodox movement in New York City was spearheaded by Yeshiva University.[23]
New York City was the American capital of Judaism. The American Jewish Committee was founded in New York City in 1906 to represent of the interests of German Jews. Its founders, including Louis Marshall and Oscar Straus, also helped create the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (The Joint), which helped displaced Jews that fought during World War I.
Anti-semitism started to grow in New York during the 1870s at the same time Jim Crow Laws were passed. Police charges were inflated to the point that they claimed that 50% of New York crime was committed by Jews. In 1908, Judah L. Magnes headed the Kehillah (community) as a response. The Kehillah included a Bureau of Social Morals, among its many agencies. In 1913, the Anti-Defamation League was organized in New York in response to the lynching of Leo Frank in Georgia.[24]
It was during the interwar years that Brooklyn really saw a large jump in Jewish population. The Orthodox community had never been large in New York City, but in the 1920s and 1930s the more Orthodox Jews left the Lower East Side for areas such as Williamsburg, and Borough Park, among other areas in the outer boroughs.[25]
This growth of the Orthodox sector allowed for more growth of Jewish life. Synagogues grew larger and more mikvahs (ritual baths) were built, and became more sanitary and beautiful.
In 1903, the Williamsburg Bridge opened, which made travel from Manhattan to Williamsburg much easier. Jews eager to leave the crowded and intolerable conditions of the Lower East Side moved to the now easily accessible Williamsburg. Borough Park also gained a substantial Orthodox Jewish population, and it was during this time that the Young Mens Hebrew Association of Brooklyn opened there.
In addition to bridges, the subways lines helped shape Jewish migration to Brooklyn. New lines allowed easier travel to Brooklyn. It was at this time and for the next few decades that Jews moved in in large groups to the outer boroughs, including Brooklyn. The neighborhoods that welcomed these Jews were Brownsville, Crown Heights, Bedford-Stuyvesant, Flatbush, Borough Park, and Brighton Beach. By 1923, Brooklyn had the largest Jewish population of any borough in New York City.
As stated previously, for the simple reasons of the opening of the Williamsburg Bridge and the expansion of the subway system Jews started moving from the Lower East Side to Brooklyn. Notable institutions opened the same year that America entered the war. In 1917, the Sea Gate Sisterhood and the Talmud Torah of Coney Island Avenue are established and fully operational[26]. The communities in Brooklyn at this point are all from Eastern Europe and carry on the customs from those countries. In 1918, this changes with Syrian Jews, specifically from Aleppo moving into the borough. They would lay down the roots that would allow for the modern day Syrian Jewish community to settle in Brooklyn. They moved to Bensonhurst, and settled there, opening up the landmarked Magen David Congregation in 1921.
In 1919, the Womens Hospital is opened in Brownsville. This hospital was formed and organized by the Jewish women in the community. This hospital is still open and functioning today. By 1920, almost 30 percent of New York City is Jewish, and by 1923 Brooklyn has the largest population of Jews than all the other boroughs. This is a dramatic change from the 19th century, where the Jewish population on the Lower East Side was so large that the neighborhood was dubbed Little Jerusalem. The population change was so great that Emanuel Celler, a Jew from Brownsville, was elected as Representative to Congress. He served in Congress on behalf of the Brownsville community for almost 50 years. He was a second generation American, with all four of his grandparents emigrating from Germany at the end of the 19th century. He gave his first important speech to Congress in 1924 against the Johnson Immigration Act of 1924. This Act was to further restrict immigration to 3%, roughly 356,000 immigrants, of nationalities that were counted in the census of 1910. If the Act were to be passed, that number would be cut to 2%, limiting immigrants from countries such as Italy, Russia, and Poland. This of course would affect Jewish immigration, practically eliminating all immigrants other than those coming from Western Europe. The Act was passed and signed into law, but Celler had found his cause. He spent a majority of his time in Congress fighting immigration laws and national origin as a reason for immigration restriction. At no point was this more crucial than with the outbreak of World War II, with thousands of Jews being denied entry to the United States while trying to flee from Nazi Germany and the outbreak of war[27]
The rise of anti-Semitism in Europe, specifically in Germany was very alarming for the Jewish community in the United States. Many families still had relatives in Europe and letters from them raised alarm in the New York area. Even before the Nuremberg Laws were passed in 1935, Hitlers rise to power in 1933 scared Jews in America. In 1933, the largest anti-Hitler rally was held in the 13th Regiment Armory, located in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn[28].
Six years later, an anti-Nazi Stop Hitler march drew half a million protestors. But by 1939, it was too late. World War II had started, and along with it the Holocaust, a genocide so evil and horrible that it would change the face of the world, and the face of world Jewry, with the murder of six million Jews.
Immigration, as discussed before, was severely limited for Jews from Eastern Europe, but Jews in Western Europe were not as restricted, and a small but significant community came from Germany to settle in New York. They chose Manhattan over Brooklyn, and settled in Washington Heights. They are notable group because of their accomplishments in the Arts and Sciences. Henry Kissinger, who served as Secretary of State, and Ruth Westheimer, the famous therapist, both immigrated as children at this time[29]
Post War World II, Jews around the world were shocked at the decimation of European Jewry that occurred during the War. Survivors of the Holocaust had no home to return to, and turned to America as a place to relocate and forget the atrocities that occurred in Europe. Thousands of Satmar Hassidic survivors immigrated to the States and moved to Williamsburg under their leader Rabbi Yoel Teitalbaum. Other survivors settled in Brighton Beach, forming one of the largest survivor communities in the country[30]
Besides for the influx of survivors from Europe, Brooklyns Jewish community changed in other ways. Pre-WWII, most Jews could be found in New York City, with communities spread throughout the country and the Tri-State area. Post WWII changed that. Jews began to leave to the suburbs and settle around the City in Rockland County and Nassau County on Long Island. Other Jews left New York altogether, and formed communities all over the country in major cities like Detroit and Chicago. This change affected Jewish life and the insular communities that were formed in the City broke and Jews began to assimilate and marry outside of the faith. By 1990, the rate of mixed marriages was a little over 42% nationally but was significantly lower in many of New Yorks more Jewish neighborhoods[31]
Another change that occurred in post-War Brooklyn was the addition of many traditional and religious Jews. As mentioned before, the ultraorthodox Hassidic Samar community settled in Williamsburg and is still living there. The Lubavitch Chassidim, commonly known as Chabad formed a strong community in Crown Heights under their Rebbe, Menachem Mendel Shneerson. Borough Park, which had a Jewish presence since World War I was transformed by the Belzer Chassidim who came and settled there. They made Borough Park one of the fastest growing Jewish communities in all of North America[32]. It is so heavily populated by Chassidim that it is not strange to see storefront signs written in Yiddish with English translations in small font under that!
Political activism by the Jewish community has always been important, as it has been for every ethnic minority in New York City. But post-WWII the Jewish community felt very strongly about taking charge of their role in government. The experience in Europe traumatized the community, and they had to ensure that nothing like that would ever happen again, especially not in their beloved America, not on their watch. In 1962, Abe Stark becomes the first Jewish Borough President of Brooklyn. The story of how he came to the position is a very humorous one. He has a sign posted in Ebbets Field that said Hit Sign. Free Suit for his clothing store. The sign gained him so much popularity that he became involved in City politics and finally became Borough President in 1962[33]. In 1973, New Yorks first Jewish Mayor was elected. Some say that the title goes to Mayor La Guardia, whose mother was Jewish, but Mayor Abe Beame was the first practicing Jewish Mayor. Son of two Polish Jews, he was an immigrant himself, born in London in 1906. Like most Jewish immigrants of that time, he grew up on the Lower East Side. He was Comptroller for two terms and then decided to run for Mayor in 1965 but lost out to the Republican candidate at the time. He ran again in 1973 and won, and ran again in 1977, but lost to Edward Koch, the cities second, or third, Jewish Mayor[34].
More recently, in 1998 Chuck Schumer was elected as Senator of New York and has been in office ever since. In 1993 Ruth Bader Ginsburg was nominated and appointed as a Justice to the Supreme Court. She is the first Jewish Woman to have this position. She is also the second woman to hold this position. She is from Brooklyn, and grew up in East Midwood[35].
In the 1970s and 1980s, many of New Yorks Jews moved to the suburbs, along with many other middle-class Americans. The city total was about 100,00 Jews leaving for the suburbs. However, at the same time Jews from the Soviet Union were immigrating. Approximately 50,00 Jews came to New York from that area during those same years. About the same amount came from Middle Eastern countries like Iraq, Syria and Iran. Many Iranian Jews fled the country when the Shah was overthrown and the Ayatollah Khomeini came to power. Another group of Jews immigrating at this time were Israelis, many of whom came for the educational opportunities in the United States. All of the above groups had settlements in Brooklyn. [36]
It is hard to map exactly where Jews have been since they began to move into Brooklyn. In some neighborhoods, they stayed for a long time and remain there today, while in other neighborhoods, immigration patterns of other ethnic groups and neighborhood changes have led Jews to move out and leave the area completely.
Jews first began to move into Bensonhurst in the early 1900s. These were mainly Syrian and Egyptian Jews. They shared the area with a large Italian population. These Sepharic Jews brought along their culture, and spoke mostly in Arabic.
This Jewish population lived in the area until the late 1950s and 1960s, when many people moved closer to Ocean Parkway and Gravesend. During this half century, many Jewish institutions were built, including Magen David Congregation, which was built in 1921, and whose congragants were mainly from the Syrian city of Allepo. It also had a school attached to it, where parents would send their children. The building eventually became landmarked. Damascus Jews opened their own synagogue, Ahi Ezer Synagogue, on 71st Street and in 1933 brought Rabbi Jacob Kassin to be the Chief Rabbi. At first, many of the children attended public schools, bu as more after school Jewish programs and eventually schools, opened, children were more likely to get a Jewish education. Both Ahi Ezer Yeshiva and Magen David Yeshiva opened up nearby, so eventually all of the children were enrolled in Jewish schools. By the 60s however, most of the Jews had moved out and the area remained Italian until the 1980s when many Asians began to move in. The area has become very multiethnic today.[37]
Source: http://brooklynjewish.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/magen-david-congregation
Brighton Beach was developed by William Engemann in the late 1870s, who built a seaside resort specifically catered no non-Jews, whom he considered vulgar and working class. However, many Jews moved into the area when boardinghouses were built nearby. Engemann also built an elevated train line, which made the area more accessible, which brought in even more Jews. In the early 1900s, the beachside neighborhood became a thriving Jewish community, with a Yiddish theater, restaurants, a dance hall and horse racing track made the area a great entertainment district. The residents there served t summer visitors who would come to the beach to escape their heated apartments in the city. The area had no real synagogue, and until 1923 the residents would pray in a run-down lot. Money was raised for a synagogue, and the Hebrew Alliance of Brighton by the Sea Inc. was created.
In 1920, many new immigrants and other Jews from overcrowded parts of Brooklyn joined the community. This growth brought with it new and modern buildings. These attracted those who could afford the resort style lifestyle if offered. However, the prosperity could not last, for shortly after the construction, the Great Depression hit and everyone was thrown into poverty. At the same time, many Jews were escaping persecution in Nazi Germany, and they came to Brighton Beach hoping for a better life. During this time, the Jews there were involved in radical activism. The area hosted the headquarters of the Communist, Socialist, Mizrachi, Labor, Zionist, Democratic and Republican parties. Many Jews became involved in Communism at the time. Workers unions were active and housewives unions like The Emma Lazarus Council would organize strikes to protest high food process. The different groups of course did have their differences, with some disagreeing with the choice to support Communism when Jews were being persecuted in the Soviet Union.
After World War II, many people began to move out. With nearly half of the young men killed in battle, and the area unbearably overcrowded, many decided to leave. Soon there were no American-born Jews in the area. That was not a problem as there were many immigrants eager to move in, Holocaust survivors from Poland and nearby countries. The first to come were those with relatives in the US. The New York Association for New Americans helped those survivors settle in, and within a few years, Brighton Beach had one of the largest communities of survivors.
Sadly, the bad economy in the 1970s led to many young people fleeing, leaving behnd a very old and poor community. Fortunately, the Soviet Unions change in immigration policy allowed many nwcomers to arrive and sac ethe area from decline. 40,000 Soviet Jews arrived, and Brighton Beach became the largest Russian community in the city, and received the nickname Little Odessa. The neighborhood picked up again.
The Soviet newcomers clashed with the older group of Jews in terms of religion. Having been restricted in The Soviet Union from practicing Judaism, most did not know much about the religion or its practices, yet they had also been discriminated against for being Jewish. The older Eastern European Jews were much more connected, and the two groups made people question what being Jewish meant. While many Soviet Jews had no interest in becoming religious, other did, and eventually there were quite a few of them who became part of synagogues and learned about Jewish culture and practices. The community was a place of healing for many Jews who had suffered, and the close sense of community was felt all around.
The flow of immigration slowed by the 1990s, but the area remained Russian, of not completely Jewish. The newest immigrants were more educated and cultured, and the area felt more modern. The area still has an Eastern European feel to it, though it has become more diverse in recent years. Many of the Jews there today are unaffiliated with the religion. It is mainly Russian now as the other immigrants have moved out by now. A new Asian wave of immigration is on its way in to the community now.[38]
Coney Island has long been known as an area of fun, entertainment, and the beach. The Jews of the area had much to do with its development. The area itself first saw growth with the introduction of public transportation. The Coney Island Causeway was build in 1823 by the Coney Island Road and Bridge Company, which linked Coney Island to the rest of Brooklyn. Later on, roads were built, like Ocean Parkway and Coney Island Avenue, which also helped bring people over to Coney Island. In the 1920, the subway was built. These changes made Coney Island more accessible, and also allowed more people to find permanent homes there. These changed brought many Jews with them. Many Jews had originally settled in the Lower East Side, but now they were spreading out. Jewish, Irish and Italian immigrants began to move in in the 1910s, and they settled into groups based on their ethnic backgrounds. Many Jews there were shop owners, and there were signs of a Jewish presence in the neighborhood which could be seen in the synagogues, Judaica store sand funeral homes in the area. In fact, Nathans Famous hot dog standwhich still stands today and runs a hot dog eating contest every summerwas started by a Jew: Nathan Handwerker, an immigrant from Poland.
Jews had a part in the entertainment world of Coney Island. Jewish singers sang on its stages, and Samuel Gumpertz managed Dreamland, a circus and freak show that recruited people from all over the world. Many of the performers in those shows were Jews as well. They also had a part in the famous carousel horses on the merry-go-rounds all over Coney Island. Some immigrants painted the horses, while some entrepreneurs opened manufacturing companies that made the carousel horses themselves.
Luna Park, 1904, V1972.1.773; Early Brooklyn and Long Island photograph collection, ARC.201; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Sadly, after many years, the entire area of Coney Island declined. Luna Park and Dreamland had burned to the ground, and in 1964, Steeplechase Park closed. Attempts to rebuild the area failed, and eventually low-income housing developments were demolished and replaced with NYC Housing Authority towers. Jews and business owners moved to nicer neighborhoods in the 1960s and today the area has virtually no Jews. However, the entertainment scene has picked up a bit, considering the opening of MCU Park (formerly Keyspan Park), home of the Brooklyn Cyclones, in 2001, the introduction of the new Luna Park in 2010, and other attractions.[39]
Jews began to move to Canarsie before World War II. Holocaust refugees moved to the area in the 1950s and the community grew significantly. By the middle of the twentieth century, the community had eight Orthodox synagogues, two non-Orthodox temples, several yeshivas and at least five shtiebles, or less formal synagogues.[40]
Today, the community is much smaller than what it used to be. A key persona in Canarsie jewry, Rabbi Jungreis, and his father and brother all were heads of synagogues and a yeshiva, Ateres Yisroel. The synagogues are now closed and the yeshiva needs to bring in students from other locations to keep it running.[41]
The largest shtieble (a type of synagogue) in Canarsie that belonged to Rabbi Wolf Gruber once held services on Shabbat morning with 200 attendants. Currently, about 35 attend each week ever since the head rabbi of the shul died. Most synagogues and shteibles are closed today, some of which had closed at recently as five years ago. [42]
[The Jewish community] was up and coming in the 1960s and started to go down in the 80s, Rabbi Jungreis said. It took 20 years to build it and 20 years to lose it. [43]
Kosher City was the first large-scale supermarket in the United States and it was located in Canarsie. According to Rabbi Rakowitz, the head of the dwindling Sephardic Jewish Center, Jews would socialize at Kosher City. Today, Kosher City has been closed down along with all of the other kosher restaurant establishments in Canarsie.[44]
Rabbi Rakowitz believes that many Jews sold their houses when the real estate became more valuable in 1970s and 1980s and moved out. The Jews that stayed were mostly older Jews that passed on as the years did. Young couples did not elect to live in Canarsie as its popularity dropped. It is often compared to the decline that occurred in the once bustling Jewish community of Brownsville.[45]
According to Rabbi Avrohom Hecht, the director of the Jewish Community Council of Canarsie, the Jewish population of Canarsie has stabilized. He believes that the record low attendance in local synagogues is due to homebound community members that cannot attend. This is has given the impression of a low Jewish population.[46]
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Brooklyn Jews | The Peopling of New York
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