Editing Crown Heights (section)

== The Struggle for the Neighborhood's Character ==
The character of the neighborhood during the years when the Frierdiker Rebbe established his residence there was distinctly Jewish, similar to the neighboring areas of Brownsville and East Flatbush. Dozens of kehillos, including rabbonim and Rebbes, established their homes in the neighborhood, built shuls and mikvahs, and maintained a complete Jewish life system.

In 5720 (1960), a gradual process began where many Jews left the neighborhood and moved to nearby neighborhoods, while simultaneously there was a reverse process of African-American residents moving into the neighborhood. This population belonged to a lower socio-economic status. As the process intensified, it turned the neighborhood into a crime-stricken area considered dangerous for living. At the height of the exodus, entire buildings were sold at a loss, and Jews sold everything they could, including shuls and Torah and chesed institutions.

The Rebbe cried out painfully against this phenomenon and demanded that the chassidim maintain the Jewish character in the neighborhood and avoid selling houses to non-Jews. For this purpose, he established a system of propaganda and an active committee, and delivered many sichos to the chassidim in which he quoted from Torah sources about the prohibition of these actions and the obligation incumbent upon each resident to maintain the Jewish character.