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From: SofPasuk@imagen.UUCP (Munach Rvi'i)
Newsgroups: net.religion.jewish
Subject: Re: Memories
Message-ID: <235@imagen.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 3-Feb-86 15:18:50 EST
Article-I.D.: imagen.235
Posted: Mon Feb  3 15:18:50 1986
Date-Received: Thu, 6-Feb-86 21:39:58 EST
References: <843@decwrl.DEC.COM>
Organization: Imagen Corp., Santa Clara, CA
Lines: 63

> 
>     	I have some fond memories of growing up in The Bronx, (NYC) 
>         during the early 1950s. For those of you who are unfamiliar 
>         with the Grand Concourse during that period, it was one of 
>         those neighborhoods, where for miles around *everyone* was 
>         Jewish. This is no exaggeration. I was about eight or nine 
>         years old before I discovered that there was such a thing as a 
>         non-Jew. But that is another story. Every five or so blocks 
>         there was a shul. Some were small, some were very large, and 
>         all were full when Shabbos came. It was not uncommon to see a 
>         group of Lubovitchers, with there long coats and broad brimmed 
>         hats, on their way to shul. If someone had gray hair, by 
>         definition they also spoke with an accent. It's unfortunate 
>         that neighborhoods like that have dispersed.
>     
>	...     
>     
>     	This story, however personal to me, is not unique. We share a 
>         common heritage and I am sure each one of you has your own 
>         little story to tell.
>     
> 				Shalom,
> 					Fred

... and how everything closed up for the Jewish Holy Days.

... and the Moishe's chain of supermarkets/appetizing stores (later gobbled
up by Daitch then merged into Daitch-Shopwell then neutered into Shopwell
- Chad Gadya) where the price of lox and sturgeon changed by the minute by
Mottel (aka "Martin") behind the counter.

... and the local "candy stores" serving Chocolate Eggcreams.

... and Krums (how many baby teeth I lost on their chocolate chip ice cream)

... and some of the best Kosher delis in the world!

... and the ability to stroll Fordham Road on Saturday evening without fear, 
visiting Alexander's, that famous Taj Mahal of the Bronx.

... and the local residents sitting on chairs outside their apartment
buildings in the evenings during the heat of the Summer without fear of attack.

Too bad most of this was wiped out in the '60s when block after block of
the Jewish community of the Bronx moved out to New Jersey, Westchester, and
Longuyland.  Two factors were important in this exodus:

(1)	The inability of the city to control the growth of slums
	from the South Bronx and the greed of the real estate
	interests that profited from "block busting".  Add to this
	problem the Lindsay administration's lack of ability to
	control crime in the streets and in the transit system.
	Stir into this a degradation of public elementary, secondary,
	and college education to the "lowest common divisor" in
	order to please various ethnic voting blocks (remember the "open
	admissions" fiasco!).
		

(2)	The upward mobility of the residents which caused
	second and third generation American Jews to seek better
	housing in the suburbs and/or careers in professions
	traditionally closed to Jews centered in areas other than
	New York (engineering, for example).