Edith and Carl Marks Jewish Community House of Bensonhurst


The Edith and Carl Marks Jewish Community House of Bensonhurst, known as "the J", was incorporated in 1927 and has helped over one million Jews in the Bensonhurst section of New York City's borough of Brooklyn. It initially served as a community center for Eastern European Jewish immigrants and their children. As the complexion of the Jewish community in Bensonhurst changed, its community center changed in accord. During the 1940s and 1950s, a large influx of Syrian Jews immigrated to the area. It was during this period that Sandy Koufax, the son of Jewish immigrants, played on the basketball courts of "the J". In the 1980s, a third wave of immigrants, this time from the former Soviet Union, once again shifted the focus of the community center to that of a settlement house.

Services

"The J" offers social service programs, including Nutrition Outreach and Education Program, financial and mental health counseling, citizenship application aid, Family Violence Prevention Program, Hurricane Assistance Center, and LGBT Refugee Center.

Children

The community center focuses a lot on children and teens; establishing after school aid programs, tutoring classes, summer camps, Farber-Bruch early childhood center, Zehut teen center, and a Cammarata youth sports center.

Former members