Historical component I

Mechanic, Chaim. “The Orthodox Jewish Community of West Hempstead- It’s History.” 1997. September 9, 2007. http://www.yiwh.org/yiwhhst.html

This article explains how there came to be a Jewish community in West Hempstead. It explains how all of the Jewish institutions are connected; first the Jewish day school was created and then as the community began to grow, so did the need for an orthodox Synagogue. It describes how both the synagogue and the school came into being and how much money it cost as well as how much it's a part of the community.

"West Hempstead" September 9, 2007
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Hempstead%2C_New_York

This website gives all the West Hempstead demographics from the year 2000. It gives details about the population, income, etc. This website also gives us the Jewish population in West Hempstead (1/5 of the families in West Hempstead are Jewish), all of Long Island, and New York as a whole (the most Jews in the United States), although it's not s recent and it has definitely increased since 2000.

Another neighborhood photo

To outsiders of my town, this just looks like an ordinary building. However, this building happens to be a favorite of the entire Orthodox Jewish Community in my neighborhood and is considered as the “Center of Town.” This building, the Young Israel of West Hempstead Synagogue, is one the three Orthodox synagogues in West Hempstead. I’m not sure of the exact year that it was built, but my community just celebrated its fiftieth anniversary two years ago.

From this picture you can see that the right part of the building is different than the main part in the center. The part to the right looks a lot older and has old bricks, as opposed to the middle, which looks more modern. The older part is the original building built in the 1950’s when the community was very small. As the community grew, it became very important to expand, and therefore another section was added on. This new section was finished almost 23 years ago in the fall of 1984. The older section was not torn down as a reminder to the community of what it used to be and how it is now. I always love to look at the beautiful sight of the men, women and children, in their best suits and dresses, swarming into the synagogue every Saturday morning to fulfill their religious obligations. Many teenagers volunteer their time to watch the hundreds of children in the youth department, in order that the parents are able to pray without worrying about their kids. In fact, I remember when I was one of those children, eager to go to synagogue every Saturday to pray and then play. I can almost smell the delicious, hot food that is catered for certain celebrations almost every week. There are constantly many coordinated events during the week to entertain the adults as well as specially planned ones for the children.

This building, along with the Jewish elementary school across the street, is the main reason for our thriving Jewish community, now consisting of over 800 families. The prices for houses around this area have skyrocketed due to this central location. Even small houses close by can go for over $800,000 because it is a known fact that someone will buy it quickly.

This beautiful building has affected my community greatly. It is the reason that there even is a Jewish population in West Hempstead. It’s funny that I’ve been going to this synagogue all my life and I’ve passed it on the street a million times, but I have never actually thought about its history or why it looks the way that it does.

My Neighborhood

This picture of a small street in West Hempstead is the epitome of a Long Island suburban neighborhood. You don’t see many streets like this in New York City or Brooklyn.

I think that it’s reasonable to assume that this town is very child friendly for many reasons. The most obvious reason being that the sign says “Children at play” in order to warn drivers that children live in this area and may suddenly run in the middle of the street to catch a rolling ball or they may be riding their bikes. Not only is there a sign that suggests there are children, but also there is a basketball hoop on the side of the street, which is probably not there to amuse adults.

Unlike the house in this picture, you don’t often see old fashion mailboxes with a red handle anymore. When I see a mailbox like this, I can’t help but think about the series of these types if mailboxes lined up outside the house of Forrest Gump, which was in a very country-like town. This mailbox suggests that at one time this must have been a very rural town.

The houses in the picture are very simple. It can be inferred that the people who live in these houses don’t care for big mansions but rather pretty little houses. The houses are also very similar in structure and look old fashioned with the archway and the porches. Also, most of the lawns are well taken care of. They are very bright and green and some have beautiful flowers in flowerpots and around the porch.

The street has a very serene and quiet look to it. Just looking at the street filled with many trees, I can almost hear the birds chirping on a quiet summer’s morning. It appears as if not many cars pass down this street except for the inhabitants living there. There probably wouldn’t be a basketball hoop in the street for kids to play with if it was a very crowded and busy street.

From this picture, West Hempstead seems like a very quiet and beautiful town full of children. The people living there seem to lead uncomplicated lives, living in their simple houses, caring for their gardens.

http://www.silent-edge.org/wp/?p=295

http://home.wangjianshuo.com/archives/20050105_life_in_new_york_is_tough_for_me.htm

Forgotten New York

Living the 21^st century, we only know the city of New York how it appears to us today. However, New York is a historical state that most New Yorkers know nothing about. There are remains of its history everywhere we look but the casual observer, too busy with all the new technology and talking on their cell phones, seem to overlook its significance. The website, www.forgotten-ny.com tells us about the history of lamps, cobblestones, cemeteries and many other landmarks which have, over the years, become “forgotten.”

It’s easy to forget that once there was a different material used for streets before there was cement and black tar. However, in the early 1900’s, there were cobblestones for streets. Looking at the pictures of cobblestones reminds me of old movies where people come to New York for the first time and see horses pulling carriages as a means of transportation. We have gotten so used to our modern day streets that we don’t even look twice if we see an old cobblestone street. Even if we do take notice of it, it’s followed by a complaint of the difficulty of walking on the uneven stones.

One of the pages on this website shows the different cobblestones in Flushing, Queens. We go to college in Flushing many times a week and most of us probably have no idea what history lies in these streets. One of the pictures is of a cobblestone sidewalk lying alongside a regular concrete sidewalk that we are used to. It’s interesting to see what a long way we’ve come over the past 100 years. While most of the pictures show the bricks in straight, uniform lines, some streets are lined with bricks in a circular pattern. Some bricks are red while others are blue and a few even have patterns. The old cobblestones definitely have a lot more character and are more beautiful than the cement we have today. You can see that there was much more time and effort put into the designing of old streets and sidewalks. It’s a shame that all that time was forgotten by paving over many of these old streets.

Looking at this website has really opened my eyes to look at my surroundings and see things for more than just face value. There are historical items all around us and hopefully now when I see these landmarks, I will think about what has become forgotten in our generation.