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Inwood Couple Opens Home to Growing Jewish Population

 Rabbi Herschel Hartz has been doing outreach activities for two years, but recently moved to Inwood.
'Inwood Jews' Open Home as Community Center
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INWOOD — After more than two years of hosting events in local parks and community spaces, the couple behind the group Inwood Jews is opening their arms - and their doors - to welcome their new neighborhood.

Rabbi Herschel Hartz and his wife Raiza moved to Inwood from Crown Heights last month and have opened their home at 585 Isham St. as a Jewish community center.  

They have already hosted one Shabbat dinner there and are planning another one for this week. They also plan to hold an open house on August 30.

“We are trying to create a space for a Jewish community here,” Hartz said. 

The organization Inwood Jews, which was founded by Hartz in 2013 when he worked with the community from afar, aims to serve the growing Jewish community in Inwood through prayer services, holiday celebrations and opportunities for learning. 

The Jewish population of Inwood stands at about 2,000, a significant increase from a decade ago. And while Inwood lacks many of the conveniences of Crown Heights’ large Jewish community, like kosher restaurants, the couple said the neighborhood has its own appeal.

“I really love Inwood,” Raiza Hartz said. “It might not be bound by a particular religion or culture, but people here know each other. They know the shop owners. Where else do you find that in New York City?”

Hartz became interested in the neighborhood after a chance conversation with a librarian at Yeshiva University, which is located in Washington Heights.

“He told me that there were Jews here who were not being served in any regard,” Hartz said. “I thought he was crazy. I had never even heard of Inwood.”

Hartz later learned that Inwood was home to about 10,000 Jewish people and several synagogues in the 1960s, the last of which closed around 2003.

But Hartz sees signs of a revival in the community.

Inwood Jews' previous events have drawn groups of about 30 people, and many from the Jewish community have reached out to Hartz.

“I get emails once or twice a month from people who are either interested in moving here or live here and want to make some sort of Jewish connection,” he said.

Hartz emphasized that Inwood Jews doesn’t require community members to subscribe to a particular strain of Judaism.

“We’re interested in serving all kinds of people," he said, "not just people who look and think like us."

The couple is working to reopen a local synagogue before the end of this year. Hartz said they already have a site in mind, but can’t yet provide details.

For now, the couple offers events in their home and attend services at a Washington Heights synagogue. But Hartz is looking forward to the day when Inwood has its own place of worship.

“Even though it sounds likes it’s not a big journey to go to Washington Heights or Riverdale, people really want something in their own backyard,” Hartz said. “Inwood is such a neighborhood-oriented place. I think people want a way to express their Jewish identity here.”