The Jews were not the first to settle in West Hempstead. It was one a 4-square mile place where the long Island Indians used to have meetings. It also has a great historical background and significance. In 1790, our first President, George Washington, passed through the town and commented on the agricultural method and soon after it became a prosperous farm community. Hiram K. Bedell built a large house in West Hempstead in 1835, which is now for the public to view in the Bethpage Village Restoration. Hempstead Lake State park is now on the property which in the early 1800s, was home to Oliver’s Eagle Flour Mill, which was the largest gristmill on Long Island. “The Long Island Rail Road built a station on Hempstead Turnpike west of Hempstead Village in 1891 and called it West Hempstead. The railroad provided service to Mineola until 1935, when West Hempstead became a terminal.” Orville Wright, who helped invent the plane, lived in West Hempstead in the early 1900s. (http://www.newsday.com/community/guide/lihistory/ny-historytown-hist0095,0,3968277.story)
Most Jewish communities start first with a synagogue, followed by a Jewish school and everything else needed to sustain a thriving Jewish community. West Hempstead started a little differently; first the Yeshiva school was established in 1953 called the Hebrew Academy of Nassau County (HANC). This was the first Yeshiva to be set up on Long Island. This school was desperately needed since orthodoxy in America was being washed out due to the conservative movement. People on Long Island were searching for a Jewish school to send their children and finally a three floor house was bought for $19,000 for the purpose of educated the young Jewish children. It started out only for first graders, who were taught both Hebrew and English. Soon there were more families who moved into the community and they were in desperate need of a synagogue. However, in the meantime, the men prayed in one of the rooms in the school building. Since at least ten men are needed to have proper services, teenage boys from another Yeshiva would also come. In order to attract more people to the community, it was decided that West Hempstead join the Young Israel movement. A piece of land was bought and the synagogue was build and named “The Young Israel of West Hempstead. Before 1983 there were two different Rabbis of the Young Israel. In 1983, another rabbi came to West Hempstead and he has been here since. (Mechanic, 1997)
2 comments:
West Hempstead seems as though it was not always a Jewish community but now it is a thriving Jewish community.
From your paragraphs it seems as though West Hempstead is a well estabished Jewish community, and that this wasnt always the case.
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