The Verrazano Bridge is one of my own, and my family's, favorite places in Brooklyn.
Eighteen months ago, when I graduated high school, I hadn’t even contemplating attending Brooklyn College. I had made deposits at two colleges—yes, one is not supposed to do that—and was on my way to Israel for a gap year program. While most of my high school friends were continuing on, like me, to a gap year in Israel, all of them had already decided on a college to attend. Several universities that had accepted me were too expensive, and I had been rejected from two honors programs that would have given me a full scholarship. One of those two programs was the Macaulay Honors College at Queens College.
Since the moment I heard about the Macaulay program, I knew it was for me. It was an honors program that focused a lot on students’ understanding and connection of New York City. As someone who longed dearly to return to New York after twelve years in exile in New Jersey, the setting right in the city and the seminars that were all about New York absolutely sold me. So, in November of my year in Israel, I decided to reapply to Macaulay. After finding out that I was forbidden from re-applying to Queens, several long-distance telephone calls with my parents ensued, and I eventually settled on Brooklyn. Nine months later when I walked onto campus, I couldn’t help but feel that the choice of Brooklyn College was arbitrary and, not really knowing anyone or having any friends there, potentially a poor decision. But, into my second semester, I have plenty of friends, the instructors are wonderful, and Macaulay is everything I had hoped it would be.
Although I had no particular reason for selecting Brooklyn College, the decision did mark a homecoming of sorts; I am the sixth generation of my family to live in Brooklyn. Almost 160 years ago, when the first of my family arrived in Brooklyn—and until the last half-century, or so—the Jewish community in Brooklyn was an immigrant community defined by the Jewish heritage and traditions the immigrants brought from Europe. However, it was not a particularly religious community; none of my great-grandparents were observant. Nevertheless, the sense of Jewish identity was strong amongst the Jews in New York, and the community remained cohesive and close-knit. But gradually, the once-insular Jewish community became assimilated into the wider culture of America, and the Jews began moving out of New York, pursuing jobs, education, and suburbs to raise kids. As many secular and assimilated Jews were leaving New York, the observant Jewish community in America was experiencing a resurgence, and many of these religious Jews found a home in Brooklyn and the other boroughs. Consequently, Brooklyn’s Jewish community—and communities in other parts of New York—has been transformed from a center of Jewish cultural life to a center of Jewish religious life.
As the Brooklyn Jewish community has changed, my family has changed as well. My grandfather became a rabbi and all of his children and grandchildren (and great-grandchildren) are Orthodox. Whereas my great-grandparents were drawn by Brooklyn’s vast community of middle-class people who shared the same Jewish heritage they did, my parents and I are drawn to Brooklyn because of the vibrancy of the religious life in Brooklyn and the abundant religious and ritual resources available. As my family has changed over the generations, and as the dynamic of the Jewish community in America has changed, Brooklyn has changed as well and has reinvented itself and remained relevant.
My family’s history in Brooklyn is in many ways exemplary of the Jewish immigrant experience in Brooklyn. My family has changed a lot, and so have Brooklyn, yet the relationship still endures strong as ever. But my family is by know means unique in that respect. I believe that every individual and family in Brooklyn has a story to tell about how they ended up in Brooklyn and what Brooklyn has meant to them and their family. For this reason, I am excited to study the “Peopoling” of New York City this semester to learn about other immigrant communities but also, how the history and experiences of them combine to form the fabric of our New York of today.
