Rabbi Yeruchim Silber, Director of New York Government Relations at Agudath Israel of America, was recently driving through the streets of East Flatbush, where his father, Rabbi Meilech Silber OBM, established a yeshiva.
Back in the 60s, East Flatbush was bustling with Jewish life. There was a candy store, a kosher butcher, and, most important of all, a shul on every corner. When crime overtook the neighborhood, families slowly moved out of their homes, leaving the streets desolate of any Jewish presence.
50 years later, Rabbi Yeruchim Silber was surprised to see a visibly observant Jewish woman pushing a baby carriage and walking alongside a small boy wearing a yarmulke and tzitzis. Rabbi Silber wondered what the woman could possibly be doing in East Flatbush.
“The last time I was here,” he thought to himself, “the neighborhood had been completely emptied of its Jewish community.”
It only took him a few hours to learn that there was a Jewish community developing in East Flatbush. Rabbi Silber eagerly reached out to Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok Holtzman and was soon invited to take a tour of the neighborhood.
Rabbi Silber, former Executive Director of the Boro Park Jewish Community Council (BPJCC) and Vice President of Community Affairs for the Metropolitan Jewish Health System, returned several weeks later. Only this time, he came with curiosity and excitement to explore a community he had believed was left in his past.
Rabbi Silber was welcomed by a delegation of representatives from the community, including Rabbi Holtzman, Rabbi Yehoshua Rivkin, Rabbi Mendy Drookman, and Rabbi Zalman Bryski.
The tour began with mincha at the daily minyan in the local shul. As they drove through the streets, Rabbis Silber noticed the homes of Yidden on each block and shared memories from his childhood. They stopped by the local “Beis Medrash,” an initiative established and managed by community member Rabbi Shaya Zalmanov, where residents are welcome to daven or learn, at any time of the day!
Next, came the highlight of the trip: a school building on Ch. and 45th St. But it wasn’t just any building. The Yeshiva of Eastern Parkway, established by Rabbi Silber’s father, transferred to the space after it outgrew its previous location. Now a non-Jewish school, the building was once vibrant with Torah and held years of Jewish education.
Rabbi Silber walked through the hallways, pointing out each classroom, the gym, the old cafeteria, and finally, his father’s office. “It was a profoundly emotional experience for him to return to the building after so many years,” one of the people attending commented. “When Yidden relocated from the area, the school was forced to shut its doors. But it didn’t take away from the words of Torah learned there and the memories that remained.”
Rabbi Silber was shown the local women’s mikvah, built and maintained by community member Rabbi Zalman Phillips. He was inspired to learn that the mikvah had been used regularly since it opened 1.5 years ago.
They then visited the site of the future shul which was recently purchased to build a vibrant community center. Rabbi Silber was shown where the renovated shul and men’s mikvah would be. He shared something that was a surprise to everyone present: “My father, Rabbi Meilech Silber z”l, always had a dream to build a mikvah in the Yeshiva building, but it never happened.”
The afternoon concluded at the home of Reb Mendy Drookman, a board member of the community, where he was presented with a tanya that had recently been printed in East Flatbush. Drookman also happened to live across the street from Cong. Ahavas Achim. Unfortunately, the old shul and mikvah had been converted into a church, but the Magen David remained engraved on its exterior, along with the name: קאנג. אהבת אחים איסט פלטבוש. The shul held core memories of Rabbi Silber’s childhood, and we spent time reminiscing about the past together.
But the conversation soon shifted to the present. And before long, it was focused on the future. What would East Flatbush look like in 10 years? What could it become now? Rabbi Silber noted that the neighborhood has tremendous potential, and he couldn’t wait to see how it would grow.
APPEAL:
As we work towards building our new shul and men’s mikvah, we are turning to the broader Jewish community for support. Many of our families moved to the area so that they could afford to live near the shchuna, staying close to quality chinuch for their children. Many are educators in Crown Heights schools, dedicating themselves to teaching and shaping the future of the community’s children.
2 years ago, the families of East Flatbush purchased a building with the help of the community. After many months of paperwork and successfully obtaining proper permits, we are finally ready to start renovations!
Help us strengthen our neighborhood by contributing to the construction of our mikvah and shul! We’re just getting started again here in East Flatbush, and we need your support.
Please visit raisethon.com/eastflatbush/ and donate generously.
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I to was surprised of the growth of Yiddishkeit in East Flatbush.I visited the Chabad Shul on Remsen and Clarkson ave last year my curiosity got the best of me but was pleasantly surprised. I am 67yrs old and went to elementary school at the Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin located on 52nd street and Winthrop ave from 1964 to
to 1970 and graduated. The neighborhood was not safe in the late 60s to say the least. I wish the residents much Hatzlacha.
Ira Rubin i.rubin@earthlink.net
Having gone to Yeshiva Eastern Parkway when it was on EP, your story brought back memories. When I was in 2nd grade my father told me about saying my capital Tehillim after I daven. (I davened from a Tihelas Hashem Nusach Ari Siddur even though the whole class davened Ashkenaz). Every day after davening I would walk around the Yeshiva looking for a Tehillim. After a week or 2 of this Rabbi Silber OBM came into my classroom with a small pocket Tehillim and told me If I learned my capital by heart he would give me the pocket Tehillim.… Read more »