NEW YORK, NY — Rabbi Shaya Gansbourg never meant to find himself in Harlem. Two years ago, buoyed by decades of news reports on inner-city violence, his impressions of the northern Manhattan neighborhood as downtrodden and crime-ridden didn't solicit his visit. But when a bus back from the airport landed him at 125th Street, he took a walk that not only changed his mind, but would soon trail blaze the revival of Harlem's Jewish community.
Centered Around a College, Family Guides Harlem’s Jewish Renaissance
NEW YORK, NY — Rabbi Shaya Gansbourg never meant to find himself in Harlem. Two years ago, buoyed by decades of news reports on inner-city violence, his impressions of the northern Manhattan neighborhood as downtrodden and crime-ridden didn’t solicit his visit. But when a bus back from the airport landed him at 125th Street, he took a walk that not only changed his mind, but would soon trail blaze the revival of Harlem’s Jewish community.
“I started walking around Seventh Avenue and was inspired,” says Gansbourg, now co-director of Chabad-Lubavitch of Harlem, which he founded with his wife, Goldie Gansbourg. “I saw a nice Starbucks, plenty of boutiques, nice shops and businesses.”
Many people still associate the Harlem of today with the crime-ridden and drug-infested locale that was the epitome of urban neglect through most of the late 20th century. But, as Gansbourg found, the neighborhood has been experiencing a rebirth of late. Former President Bill Clinton even set up his post-White House office there in 2001.
Up until World War I, Harlem was seen as an attractive living area by New Yorkers, but overcrowding soon led to its deterioration, culminating with a riot by residents in 1935. In the late 1990s, however, situations changed with the city’s reconstruction of the transportation system and the growth of the local city college. Fueled by a $300 million largesse by the Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone, the neighborhood finally embarked on an ambitious revitalization.
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I’m so impressed that older people are now moving out on Shlichus my father is close to sixty still talks about going out . this guy is doing it! KOL HAKOVOD.