Borough Park, Brooklyn
Encyclopedia : B : BO : BOR : Borough Park, Brooklyn
Borough Park (sometimes rendered as Boro Park), is a neighborhood in the borough of Brooklyn, in New York City in the United States.
Borough Park contains one of the largest Orthodox Jewish communities outside of Israel. With an estimated Jewish population that some believe may be as high as 250,000 Jews (including many Hasidic and Haredi Jews),Barnes, Julian. "A Debate Over Strictures For Sabbath Observance." The New York Times. New York, N.Y. June 2, 2000. pg. B.1 it has one of the largest concentration of Jews in the United States and is among the most Orthodox neighborhoods in the world.
It is home to many inter-connected Jewish Orthodox communities with the largest being the Hasidic community of Bobov, as well as large numbers of Hasidic Jews connected to: Belz; Satmar; Stolin; Vizhnitz; Munkacz; Spinka; Burshtin; Puppa, and many others. There are also some small groups of non-Hasidic Lithuanian Haredi Jews, and a smaller number of Modern Orthodox Jews.
Baby boom
-->Borough Park has been described as having the "baby boom of New York" because of the high number of children born to families there every year. The neighborhood recorded 4,523 births in 2004,"Fertile Grounds--Baby Boom in Borough Park." New York Post. January 23, 2006. pg. 7. the highest in the city. The closest area in Brooklyn in population growth was in Williamsburg, the center of the Satmar Hasidic community, which reported 3,839 births. Borough Park's birth rate, 24.4 per 1,000 residents has translated into major growth in the neighborhood. Currently, it is expanding in all directions as Hasidic Jews are buying land in nearby adjacent communities. Real estate prices have also increased markedly in the region.
Education
The New York City Department of Education operates Borough Park's public schools.Virtually all of the large population of school-children born into Borough Park's Hasidic families, attend local yeshivas for boys and Bais Yaakov-type schools for girls. This has led to a public school population drain for local schools, such as Montauk Intermediate School. Most recently, the New York City Department of Education hoped to take advantage of the empty space and construct a small school, called the Kingsborough Early College School inside Montauk. Gootman, Elissa. "Plans for a Public School Upset Brooklyn Hasidim." The New York Times. February 3, 2006. pg. B3(Local) The Hasidic community was not pleased by the prospect of a new public school and protested the decision. The Community Educational Council heard these complaints and decided against expanding the public school system.
Many of the elementary schools have had mixed results from this student drain. For example, Public School 164 in Borough Park "...is at only 89 percent of capacity because many children in the community attend yeshivas. Classes are small, the hallways quiet, the principal and assistant principal know every student by name."Joyce Purnick."Schools Find New Test, For Themselves." ''The New York Times. April 5, 2004. pg. B.1 Subsequently, the percentage of children reading at or above the grade level has increased to 55% in 2004 from 40% in 1998 in an otherwise unchanged school.
Business development
Stores and businesses are currently expanding and gaining economically. The 13th Avenue shopping district, a shopping strip roughly one mile in length from 39th street to about 55th street, is packed with many storefronts to supply any Jewish household. Many Hasidic Jews shop at these stores, coming from all parts of the city, other parts of the country and from other countries. These stores credit their increase in profits and business to the use of entrepreneurial spirit among their storeowners, the increasing density of the Hasidic population in Borough Park, and the Internet Roane, Kit R. "For Jews Around World, Borough Park Is the Place to Shop." The New York Times. August 22, 1999. pg. 1.1 (Local)
The community has become renowned worldwide for its shopping and attractions among Hasidic Jews worldwide. In 1999, a 52-room kosher hotel called "The Avenue Plaza Hotel" opened on 13th Avenue, becoming the first hotel to rise in Borough Park in more than a decade. It is now a popular attraction for visitors to New York City and is among a very few that can accommodate the needs of many Hasids.
Through its expansion, it has become among the most economically active and expanding Jewish communities in the world, drawing-in many banks that service the community's needs, including Washington Mutual, Independence Community Bank, and Dime. Charles J. Hamm, the chairman, president, and CEO of Independence Community Bank commented on how incredible his banks have grown in Borough Park: "We went from zero deposits to more than $350 million in these two branches," he said, adding that the average branch has around $110 million in deposits. He attributed its large economic activity to its large population of merchants and the huge shopping attractions available.
Religion and politics
During much of the early 1900s, the Jewish population in Borough Park, and Brooklyn as a whole, was part of a much more liberal-leaning voting block. However, many of these early Jewish families moved to the suburbs or other places around the city while more conservative Hasidic Jews (many of them survivors of the Holocaust and immigrant families from Eastern Europe) joined their neighborhoods. As a result, the overwhelming majority of the Hasidic population in Borough Park and Brooklyn introduced a more traditional Jewish religious lifestyle. A 2002 study by the UJA Federation-New York revealed that only 2% of Borough Park's Jews identified themselves as Reform Jews and nearly 3/4 identified themselves as Orthodox Jews. Newman, Andy. "In Orthodox Borough Park, Last Holdouts Get Strange Looks; Reform Jews, Adrift in a Sea of Black Hats." The New York Times. May 13, 2005. pg. B1(Local)
The neighborhood is mostly Haredi, and identifying a person as a "rabbi" is not considered unusual.
Religious observances
The Hasidic population adheres strongly to Halakha ("Jewish law") and the Shulkhan Arukh ("Code of Jewish Law") based on the Torah following many strict Judaic laws in their daily lives. There are many important Hasidic Rebbes as well as many lesser rabbinical personalities with their own synagogues and followings. The neighborhoods in which the Hasidic and Haredi communities live are connected by an Eruv which enables those who accept it to carry items outside of their homes on the Shabbat, an activity which is Halakhically forbidden, without an Eruv. Saturday is the Shabbat, a day of rest, which is strictly observed to the full extent of Halakha, by most members of the community. In some areas a siren is sounded on Friday afternoons to indicate the upcoming arrival of the Shabbat eve.Many stores in Borough Park sell or prepare kosher food made under rabbinic supervision.
Originally, there was a large controversy surrounding the erection of an Eruv in Borough Park, because of differing interpretations of the application of Jewish law. In the 1950s, recent Jewish immigrants, mostly Hasidim, from Poland and Hungary began to expand their influence. These Hasidim, who populate most of the neighborhood today, brought their own traditions and religious customs to Borough Park. The Eruv, which was used to network Orthodox families in many places of eastern Europe for a long time, was originally challenged by the older Jewish community. Lithuanian Jews, who settled in Borough Park beginning around 1910, saw it as a move of religious liberalism. However, over time, the Hasidim grew reaching roughly 85% in 2000.Barnes, Julian. "Symbolic Line Divides Jews in Borough Park." The New York Times. New York, N.Y. June 2, 2000. pg. B.1 After some debate, the eruv was constructed to link the community, circumventing the Shabbat prohibition of carrying necessary items. It was built in 1999-2000 and has remained an enormous network, numbering about 225 blocks in Borough Park.
Bobov dynastic schism
Borough Park is the center of the large Bobov community, part of Hasidic Judaism. Numbering roughly 1,800 to 2,000 families,Newman, Andy. "A Battle for Succession Takes No Holiday." The New York Times, March 26, 2005 p. B4 col 01 (19 col in) it is one of Brooklyn's largest Hasidic communities and has followings in Canada, England, and Israel.
In 2005, the Bobover Rebbe, Rabbi Naftali Halberstam died, and his followers were left with a difficult line of succession. Rabbi Halberstam, who had no sons, had a half-brother Rabbi Ben Zion Halberstam and a son-in-law, Rabbi Mordecai David Unger, who both claimed the right to be the Grand Rabbi ("Rebbe") of the community. Tension broke out upon his death, leading to a split in the Bobov community. Rabbi Ben Zion Halberstam now in leads the main Bobov synagogue on 48th street. Many of Rabbi Unger's supporters remain firm in their decision to follow him and congregate in the temporary synagogue in the Bais Yakov building (a Jewish girls' school) on 45th Street. They also installed another of Halberstam's sons-in-law, Rabbi Yehoshua Rubin as chief rabbi of the 45th Street community. Today, the division is awaiting a ruling from a Beth din Jewish religious court with the involvement of New York's court system.
Police and security
The Hasidic community has developed a network of residents to handle emergencies in the neighborhood. The Hatzolah are a group of volunteers who serve as middlemen between local law enforcement, fire departments, healthcare agencies and the community. They act as a first-response in many instances and use their understanding of Jewish laws, languages, and cultural nuances to react to problems with greater sensitivity. The Hasidic community has been able to form close ties with the local authorities, leading to a close, but often fragile relationship.
2006 Boro Park riot
On April 4, 2006, the arrest of a 75-year old Haredi man sparked a minor riot in Borough Park. The man was arrested for allegedly talking on his cell phone at a red light and continued to remain idle and talk when the light turned green. While he stayed still, he was blocking a police car behind him, with its lights and sirens turned on. In the process of being ticketed the man got out of his car and was arrested for refusing to get back in it. A large crowd had watched the man being arrested, many of them irate at the treatment the man received. NYPD Chief Of Department Joseph Esposito allegedly used what was perceived as anti-semitic language in response to the crowd, which then set several garbage fires as well as setting a police car on fire.[link] Mayor Michael Bloomberg stated that residents of Borough Park acted inappropriately by rioting after the arrest. [link] The rioters were mostly young boys and men on leave from their schools in preparation for Passover. The wild behavior of the crowd was condemned by Jewish community leaders and in the local Jewish newspapers.References
| Neighborhoods in the New York City Borough of Brooklyn
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