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16 | Harav Ron Yitzchok Eisenman Harav Ron Yitzchok Eisenman | 17

H arav R on Yi t zchok E i senm an Keep in mind that at that time, in the three districts administered by Dr.
Bildersee, who was a Jew, there were 30,000 public school children under his
Rav, Congregation Ahavas Israel jurisdiction – and 20,000 of them were Jewish.

In 1950, the total population of New York City was less than 8 million people,
The Ultimate Day of Judgment with 2.5 million of them Jewish. That means almost one in three New Yorkers
was Jewish!

We kids, of course, were never aware of the park’s namesake’s controversial,
afi Feinberg (not his real name) grew up in Canarsie, Brooklyn. He was yet brave, stand on this crucial religious issue.
born in the late 1950s and, along with many other Jews, moved with The only thing that interested Rafi and me was that Bildersee Playground was
R his family to Canarsie in the mid-1960s. well-maintained and had many basketball hoops. As long as we could spend
The expression “by way of Canarsie” meant reaching a place in a roundabout hours at “Bildersee” playing ball, we were the happiest boys in the world.
manner. Canarsie was always considered the boondocks – a remote area of We would play basketball until nightfall and then, in the warm darkness, we’d
wetlands that were reclaimed only in the 1950s and 1960s, and private or two- speak about our hopes and dreams for the future. We imagined ourselves
family homes were built there. married with kids, and would describe the homes we wanted to build.
I knew Rafi very well. After all, I, too, grew up in Canarsie. Eventually, we grew up and left Bildersee Playground and, separately, we each

In the 1960s and ’70s, the neighborhood was over 95% Jewish or Italian, set off to Eretz Yisrael to learn in yeshiva.
though that changed in the ’80s. We lost touch as I went off to Litvishe yeshivas and Rafi drifted toward

After my marriage, I settled in Washington Heights before moving to Passaic Chassidus, eventually becoming a full-fledged chassidishe bachur.
in the late 1980s. But while I was growing up, Rafi and I would spend hours I was pleased when I heard he had married and was living in Monsey. However,
playing basketball at the Isaac Bildersee Playground located on Flatlands our paths never crossed.
Avenue between East 81st and East 82nd Streets. The playground and the
adjacent school with the same name were opened in 1965. Over the summer, I heard his mother had passed away, and I recalled her
walking to Bildersee Park every morning at about 11 a.m. to bring Rafi and me
Dr. Isaac Bildersee, interestingly enough, had been the assistant superintendent drinks and cookies. I remembered her generosity and decided to make the trek
of New York City’s Public Schools, and was specifically in charge of the public to Monsey to be menachem avel.
schools in Brownsville, Canarsie, and the East Flatbush sections of Brooklyn.
He made national headlines when in December of 1947 he issued a ban on the Rafi, who now goes by Refoel, was dressed in full Chassidishe garb. He
singing of holiday carols in the three schools under his jurisdiction. His ban recognized me immediately.
stated, “There must not be any reference in dramatizations, songs, or other He nodded to me and asked if I’d mind going into another room with him for a
aspects of the occasion, to any religious significance involved. Xmas carols moment. He closed the door and took out an envelope that had yellowed with
with reference to the Nativity may not be sung, nor any decorations include time.
religious symbols of any faith” (NY Times, Dec. 5, 1947).

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