From The Peopling of New York City
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Rabbi Lehrfield Speaks
Tova Lehrfield interviewed Rabbi Yaakov Lehrfield, Rabbi of the largest synagogue in Staten Island, The Young Israel of Staten Island.
Boro Park, Queens, Manhattan or NJ happens to be Staten Island. So if someone does live here, it gives him tremendous access to these Jewish communities because you don’t have to go from one extreme to the other. Rather because we’re in the center, it only takes 30-45 minutes to get to one end or the other. So physically, its very centrally strategically located.
Besides for that, the people are middle class. Not that they’re not wealthy, or not poor. But middle class in terms of the community’s simplistic, easygoing outlook. The people are middle class, meaning they are middle minded- they don’t need the fanciest houses or cars, they don’t feel they need to beat the other one, or to keep up with the Jones. I don’t know why, but in Staten Island, you don’t get that feeling of competition that often arises when many people live together in one community. Staten Island is certainly notable in the sense that it stands above other communities when it comes to its perspective on life, on the community, and on happiness.
Another aspect shedding light on Staten Island; In other communities, because they’re so big, you don’t know your neighbor. You might know the one you pray with, the one you send your children to school with, but you might not know the person next door, across the street. In Willowbrook there are 800-900 families, and everybody knows everybody. They pray together, send their children to school together, and celebrate in each other’s weddings. It’s a very nice mix, which usually you only feel out of town. The people all get along very well together, which is uique to an in- town community.
There are around 8 synogogues. Most have around 75 families, but the Young Israel located in the heart of the Willowbrook community on Willowbrook Rd. and Forest Aven. bears the most, with 800 - 900 families. All these are centered in Willowbrook, which hosts the largest Jewish population, but there are communities in New Springville and Eltingville as well.
I do hope Staten Island will continue to grow. The problem is that many people to the left go to the five towns because homes are bigger. Staten Island is more simple, and for those that feel that they need it, five towns attract people who need more extravagant, bigger homes. For those to the right, they head over to Lakewood, because why not- there are 5,000 people there who are like-minded. So it could be the fact that we’re in the middle that doesn’t attract people because they like to associate themselves with one or the other.
Staten Island has not remained stagnant over the past ten years. Older people have moved out to Florida, and younger famiiles have moved it. Overall, it grew a little, with some new younger people coming in. And I hope it will continue to grow, and more young people will move it. Staten Island has much to offer, and we welcome all those who would like to share in the Staten Island experience.
Mrs. Schwartz Speaks
Tova Lehrfield interviewed Mrs. Schwartz, a native of Hungary, Holocaust Survivor, and now proud resident of Staten Island.
Her Journey
Honestly, I was nervous. I was about to interview my neighbor, an elderly woman from across the street. I could tell from her appearance and thick accent that she was clearly an immigrant, so she seemed to be the perfect candidate for this project. However, besides for being a foreigner, there was something more to her. The stitched- in numbers on her left arm, A-7002, mark her as a survivor.
A Holocaust survivor.
As I sat with her for over an hour, her life unfolded before me, as she wove tails of horror, escape, hope, and rebuilding. Her very existence seemed to be a miracle, and her story of how she left Europe and came to America fascinated me. As I stepped out of her small apartment, I felt as if a new world opened before me, one that I had not known before. She was the link that bridged the gap for me between America, the “New World,” and Pre-War Europe, the “Old World.”
Mrs. Schwartz was born in Hungary in 1926. She lived there with her parents and 7 siblings until the Germans gained power and systematically and cruelly transported thousands of citizens to death camps. Mrs. Schwartz, a teenager at the time, was first sent to the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland. She remained there for 8 months, working 20 hours a day, sorting the clothing of those people who were annihilated in the gas chambers. It was there, while dutifully performing her job, that Mrs. Schwartz found the clothing of her mother. Unfortunately, this was how Mrs. Schwartz found out that her mother had been murdered in the crematorium by the Nazi’s.
As the war progressed and the Russians approached, Mrs. Schwartz was transported to Bergen-Belson in Germany, one of the most notorious death camps of all. She remained there for 4 months until the British liberated them in 1945. Like all the other freed prisoners, Mrs. Schwartz was sent to a DP camp in Austria where she stayed for a number of months.
After receiving news that two brothers survived the war and were residing in Hungary, she then traveled back to the place she called home. Back in Hungary, Mrs. Schwartz met her future husband, who at that time was a business friend of her brother. As soon as she saw him, she asked if he had two sisters who were in Bergen – Belson. She saw a striking familiarity between those girls and the man in front of her. As he nodded his head, a connection was immediately created between him and her, two young adults, tormented by unspeakable pain and tragic nightmares, alone with their haunting memories, and almost completely bereft of any family. Ten days after their first meeting, Mrs. Schwartz, 22 years old, was engaged to this young man.
They decided to build their life together in Hungary, in her husband’s hometown. After two years, they decided to move to a neighborhood with a larger Jewish population since there was only one other Jewish family where they were at the time. A relative had told them of an apartment in the Jewish neighborhood that had just been evacuated. Mr. and Mrs. Schwartz paid the money to buy that apartment, and began packing up to move in. When they arrived at the new town, they saw another non-Jewish family living in their apartment! There was nothing the Schwartz’s could do- with the Communist government and their Jewishness, Mr. and Mrs. Schwartz could not complain to any governmental agency about the foul play that befell them. Their non- Jewish neighbors also warned them that they’d call the police if they tried to claim their apartment. Everyone seemed to side against them. With nothing to claim their own, Mrs. Schwartz and her husband decided the time had come to leave the country. Like Mrs. Schwartz sighed, “With the communist government, we had no choice.”
At first, the Schwartz’s wanted to immigrate to Israel. However Mrs. Schwartz had a sister who came to America earlier. The plans were changed and Mr. Mrs. Schwartz boarded a boat with their two-year-old daughter, Eva, headed for America. “We left everything. What could we take?..... We come to America without a penny.” The week- long boat ride was awful; Mrs. Schwartz got so sick, she could barely care for her young daughter. Upon reaching shore, the Schwartz family moved to Boro Park where there was a fairly large Hungarian population. Mrs. Schwartz admits how hard it was to integrate into her new lifestyle. She did not know a word of English, she had no profession, and everything was foreign to her. After six months, the Schwartzs’ relocated to New Jersey where Mr. Schwartz held a good job. They built a beautiful home, and for 52 years, the Schwartz family focused on becoming happy people once again. Once Mr. Schwartz passed away, Mrs. Schwartz moved to Staten Island to be closer to her only daughter, Eva, my neighbor across the street.
It is clear from her experience that all the events that lead up to her immigration to America pushed for her to leave Europe. The devastation of war, the pain of becoming an orphan, the lack of any material possessions, the political oppression from an unfair Communist government, and the bitterness that seemed to be her portion in life simply cried out for hope, relief, salvation. With hardly any relatives left, Mrs. Schwartz eagerly latched on to the possibility of living near her sister in America. But going through the entire immigration process was hard. As Mrs. Schwartz tried to emphasize in her broken English, “It wasn’t little things to get to America… We went though a lot of things.”