Culture, Justice

Lillian Edelstein: The Forgotten Heroine

The Bronx, outside of Riverdale, is no longer known as a particularly Jewish borough. This wasn’t always the case, though.
Once it was a vibrant area for working class Jews. 
The fall of the Jewish presence in the Bronx was not a gradual or organic process.  Rather, one of its most Jewish neighborhoods, East Tremont, was bulldozed into oblivion. 
One woman tried to save her neighborhood.  There are no pictures of her to be found.  If it weren’t for Robert Caro, the details of her story might have been lost.
But she is an important figure, and should be remembered. 
Find out how and why in this week’s Forward.  

6 thoughts on “Lillian Edelstein: The Forgotten Heroine

  1. The Jews have moved on, but there is a move underway to preserve the remaining gorgeous Art Deco apartment buildings along the Grand Concourse and other major thoroughfares.
    Maybe a new generation of Jews will come back to these gentrified areas, just as they have moved back to lower Manhattan.

  2. OK, OK, I’ll read the Caro book already!!
    Seriously, congrats on getting the piece in the Forward.
    Have you ever read Marshall Berman’s book “All That is Solid Melts into Air”? Far be it from me to recommend a Lefty’s book, but he has an interesting take on what killed the Bronx (two takes, actually).

  3. Just want to caution you that the part about the South Bronx is just a couple of chapters, so you might want to just skim or borrow the book. (However, I thought the book-a reflection on modernism and urban living- was pretty interesting, at least for a Marxist. And since you have a special interest in urban issues, and this is considered something of a classic in its field…)
    Standard Disclaimer – this is in no way an endorsement of Marxism or its associated maladies.

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