June 2006 Brooklyn Is In! By Rabbi Alvin Kass It is no secret that Brooklyn is the "in" place to be these days. There is a dynamism and energy that pervades every aspect of life in the borough. All this has generated tremendous public interest in Brooklyn's past, present and future. The history of Kings County is a fabulous tale in which Jews have played an enormously important role. The 600,000 Jews who live in Brooklyn now make this the most populous Jewish borough in the city. Over 40% of New York Jewry resides within the 88.8 square miles of Brooklyn, more than the combined total of the Jewish population of 42 states. A larger number of Jews can be found in Brooklyn than in all of Europe except for France and Great Britain. The first Jewish congregation was formed in Brooklyn in 1851 when Kahal Kodesh Beth Elohim came into being. The synagogue, which met in the home of its founder, Moses Kessel, also operated a Hebrew school in the back of the Grand Street grocery store of David Barnard who likewise served as Cantor. The first synagogue building was erected in Brooklyn on Keap Street in 1871 as the home of the borough's second congregation, Baith Israel. The first rabbi of Baith Israel was Aaron Wise, father of the famed Dr. Stephen S. Wise. Furthermore, the municipal traffic court at Lafayette and Bedford Avenues used to be the home of Temple Israel, two of whose rabbis, Judah L. Magnes and Nathan Krauss, later occupied the pulpit of Temple Emanu-El in Manhattan, the largest Reform congregation in the world. Today more than half of the synagogues of New York City are located in Brooklyn. When U.S. Senator Charles Schumer was a congressman in Brooklyn, he often commented that there were more synagogues per square inch in his district than any other congressional district in the country. Among Brooklyn's Conservative Jews the synagogue center movement took hold, and the largest of these institutions is the East Midwood Jewish Center founded in 1924. East Midwood has had three rabbis in its 82 year history, the second of whom, Dr. Harry Halpern, occupied the pulpit for 48 years. Incidentally, the first rabbi, Dr. Reuben Kaufman, left East Midwood in 1929 to become the rabbi of Temple Emanu-El of Paterson, New Jersey, where the third rabbi, Dr. Alvin Kass, was born and brought up. We are also proud to note that the Hon. Marty Markowitz, the Borough President of Brooklyn, who is presiding over this era of unprecedented growth and development in this borough, is a member of the East Midwood Jewish Center. The saga of Brooklyn continues with our own Midwood community playing a leading role. Here the East Midwood Jewish Center is joined together with Sephardic, Syrian, Orthodox, Reform and Hasidic organizations to constitute one of the largest, most vibrant, and beautiful Jewish communities in the entire world. Brooklyn is not only a great place to be from, it's a great place to be now, and, with God's help, will remain so for many, many years to come! Miryom and the whole family join me in extending our best wishes for a healthy and restful summer.