Concerns of Boro Park’s Orthodox Community the Focus of Roundtable Discussion With Congressional Reps and BPJCC

By M.C. Millman

Capital Hill representatives met with the Boro Park JCC on Thursday, June 27, to develop a dialogue on issues facing the largest and most identifiably Jewish community outside the State of Israel.

Over 22 congressional offices participated, including Representative Burgess Owens of Utah. All of them sit on relevant committees that shape US policy and considered changes in policy and positions affecting the Orthodox Jewish community. Also in attendance was Ezra Friedlander of the Friedlander Group. 

Avi Greenstein, CEO of the Boro Park Jewish Community Council, opened the discussion by providing an overview focused on the unique challenges facing not only Boro Park but Orthodox Jewish communities across the United States.

The meeting created awareness of what makes Boro Park unique while highlighting the community's unique concerns.

High on the agenda was advocating for increasing security for the more than 300 shuls in Boro Park as well as yeshivas after creating awareness of the substantial local uptick in antisemitism and hate crimes. 

The BPJCC presented a concise presentation to the delegation, which clearly delineated general information on the uniqueness of Boro Park as well as detailed data on the troubling overwhelming uptick in local hate crimes and the overall needs of the largest Orthodox Jewish community in America. 

"Today's meeting was critical for so many reasons," Avi Greenstein, BPJCC CEO, shares with BoroPark24. "For one thing, advocating for additional security funding was of critical importance, especially given the unique challenge our shuls have in acquiring security funding given how small they are, which means they don't have the capacity to apply for the funds. Even if there were a billion dollars made available for security funding, it still wouldn't help the places most at risk. We want to change that and bring the security funding to where it's most needed."

Additional discussions included the growing challenge of meeting the social service needs of the rapidly expanding community that has a 45% higher cost of living than non-Jewish populations due to the Ultra-Orthodox/Hassidic lifestyle with its mandatory costs for kosher food, yeshiva education, and religious observance.

Boro Park's distinctions include the fact that the location boasts more than twice the average number of births in NYC and has the highest number of births on the eastern seaboard. Boro Park also has the highest child population of all community districts in New York City. There is also the largest number of private schools in New York City, more than any other place.  Boro Park is also home to the largest concentration of Holocaust Survivors in the United States. 

Greenstein also made it a point to pay a personal visit to Congresswoman Yvette Clarke at her office, where he was warmly greeted and thanked for the tremendous effort the BPJCC put into making today’s roundtable discussion both elucidating and successful.

The mission of the first-of-its-kind meeting for Boro Park was to develop strong relationships with critical governmental officials and future major power brokers. Such relationships will be crucial in ensuring that the community's needs are understood and supported should future assistance be required.