The Harlem Hebrew Language Academy Charter School has announced it will be based at 147 St. Nicholas Avenue which was formerly the Catholic school of St. Thomas Church. According to the organization website, the first two years of the lease will have the dual language school sharing the 33,000-square foot building just north of 117th Street with another charter school. All of the operations of St. Thomas was shuttered by the Catholic Church several years ago but now the school will be refurbished in the upcoming months for the new students to arrive. Another dual language charter opened in Harlem a couple of years back to serve the French speaking West African community in New York City:
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More details and registration for Harlem Hebrew can be found on the charter site:
www.HarlemHebrewCharter.org
Here's a sign of the times! My question is, what kind of relations will they have with the various Black/Ethiopian/Hebrew congregations uptown. I'm not optimistic...
ReplyDeleteAre there any Black/Ethiopian/Hebrew congregations left uptown? As to optimism, you might consider, as precedent, the fact that a number of Arnold Ford's (one of the first leaders of Black Hebrews in NYC and Marcus Garvey's former musical director), followers quit his congregation, joined Eastern European Jewish ones and sent their kids to their Hebrew schools. Allegedly, one of the Hebrew schools' valedictorians was once an African-American girl in the early 1920s.
ReplyDeleteI'm delighted. A couple of years ago CB10 tried to put the kibosh on this...
ReplyDeleteImportant to know that Harlem Hebrew isn't a Jewish school, simply a charter school with Hebrew language. This is great for the neighborhood and will have students of all backgrounds.
ReplyDelete