November 4, 2012, Sunday, 308

User:Bailey.lustig

From The Peopling of New York City

Bailey's Profile
Bailey Lustig
Birthdate May 8, 1988
Location Brooklyn, NY
Education
First-Year Undergraduate student at
Macaulay Honors College at Brooklyn College
Extracurricular Activities
University Scholars Council Representative
Vice President of BC Hillel Chessed Club
SERVA volunteer
Member of Golden Key International Honor Society
Hobbies

Playing Piano
Dancing
Reading

How I Became a New Yorker

I was born in New York. My parents were born in New York. My grandparents were born in a different world. They were born in Czechoslovakia and Germany, not places you want to live if you are a Jew, and the Nazi Party is in power. After surviving the Holocaust, my grandparents came to a new world. They came and started over by rebuilding their families in memory of those they left behind.

I don’t like thinking about why my family moved to New York. It wasn’t because they wanted to. It was because they had to, and I’m glad they did. I love living in Brooklyn. As the largest Orthodox Jewish community outside of Israel, it made sense for my grandparents to end up here. As a Jew, living in Brooklyn makes life much easier. There are plenty of schools, synagogues and kosher restaurants. On Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath, all the stores along Avenue J close, and traffic in the area is practically nonexistent, very different from the rest of the week.

Many of my family members live within walking distance, and we’re all very close. My mother tells stories of how she used to grow up together with her second cousins, and how uncles, aunts, and everyone else was welcome in their home, because they were all my grandparents had left. Family is a top priority, and we see each other often. Especially as an only child, I was always over at my cousin’s house, and I consider them my siblings. I can’t imagine not being able to walk over and just say hi.

I live in a very close-knit community. I am an active member of my synagogue, I regularly volunteer, and I know my family. However, when my parents began looking for a high school for me, none of the private Jewish schools in Brooklyn were up to their standards. They wanted a school that would instill strong Jewish values, but would also provide a strong secular education. The school they found was Manhattan High School, and only since I have gone their have I become a true New Yorker, someone who knows and loves the city they live in.

My high school encouraged us to get to know Manhattan, which was kind of difficult considering we weren’t allowed to leave the building until we were seniors. But we did explore our neighborhood. We went to Strawberry Fields on John Lennon’s deathday, and we planned scavenger hunts on our days off. The school would take advantage of our proximity to some of the world’s top museums, and Central Park was only two blocks away. You could say we were all New Yorkers, we knew our way around the subway system, and didn’t flinch at the large crowds. In fact we were a commuter school, with girls from all over the tri-state area, and even some boarders. Yet we did share similar backgrounds. Our grandparents came from Europe to begin new lives, and they started fresh in America, giving their children and grandchildren the opportunities they were deprived of, a chance to grow up safely in a Jewish neighborhood, and to become New Yorkers.

Last year, I studied abroad in Israel for ten months. During that time, I went to school and lived in a dormitory. It was my first time away from home for that long, away from my family, friends, language and culture. Any difficulties I may have experienced, I know that they were but a shadow of those of my grandparent’s faced, maybe less. Being away made me appreciate my community at home that much more, but also made me realize that by settling in New York, my grandparents provided me with more than a place to live. They provided me with family, friends, and a home. I will always be a New Yorker, whether I live in Brooklyn, Miami, or even Jerusalem. That is where my community is, and that is where I where I want to stay.