Dear Editor,
I’ve been reading a lot about the fact that there’s an effort to “bring back” young couples to Flatbush, with millions of dollars being spent to do so. And I wonder why there is so much excitement over this.
These young couples are being brought back from Lakewood, NJ, where their children were growing up in a suburban community, to the city, which is a concrete jungle where children should not play outside if it can be helped.
In general, I don’t quite understand why there is a tendency of trying to hold on to areas that, for whatever reason, have passed their prime. Why do people invest money in countries like Lithuania, Poland and Hungary, rebuilding shuls and the like, just because we lived there once? The same with Flatbush. Stop throwing good money after bad, especially when it’s likely not sustainable. Let communities grow organically, and if we move around, so be it. It is golus, after all, isn’t it? Other than Eretz Yisroel, we don’t need to go back anywhere. They are merely stops in golus.
A Reader