By COLlive reporter
Crown Heights was the subject of the latest episode of “Jewish History Soundbites” dedicated to “Great American Jewish Cities” presented by Yehuda Geberer, a Jerusalem-based tour guide, lecturer and researcher of Jewish history at Yad Vashem.
“One of the many Brooklyn neighborhoods that was a center of diverse Jewish life for decades, Crown Heights is also unique in many ways,” he says.
“From its pre-war days and the first JCC in America to the influx of Chassidic Jews in the post-war, it boasted a variety of shuls, shtiebels and schools.
“Bobov, Skulen, Novominsk, Radzin, Yeshiva of Eastern Parkway and Kollel Gur Aryeh were just some of the many groups and institutions who had a presence in the bustling neighborhood.
“With the arrival of the Rebbe Rayatz of Lubavitch in the United States in 1940, Chabad headquarters were eventually established at the legendary address of 770 Eastern Parkway.
“With the ‘white flight’ of the 1960’s in full swing, the Rebbe insisted that his Chassidim stay put. As the courageous holdouts, Chabad would come to dominate Jewish life in Crown Heights and eventually come to be synonymous with the neighborhood itself.”
AUDIO:
I went to mesivta of crown heights 310 crown street From 1965-1969 When I came from sheepshead bay with the nosyrand Ave bus the neighborhood even in 69 Until empire was Italian once you crossed empire The situation started to go down hill starting on1967 it Was the last year the neighborhood was semi safe By 69 the yidden accept Lubavitch ran away to boro Park mostly In the early 60 s boro park was considered not a very Orthodox neighborhood it was just beginning it had a nucleus of old shuls of course like the sefardisha shteibel But the… Read more »
very comprehensive
Highly informative and very interesting!
Mr and Mrs. Mermelstein lived on Sterling Street until their passing.
(It could be they left for a short while and then came back?)
My father told me that for a while the banks (mainly Chase) wrote off Crown Heights – they were not issuing mortgages. But when they found out that The Rebbe is telling people to stay, they stsrted issuing mortgages again.