A Passover Story
Eighty-six-year-old Bernard Lifschultz is in the fish business here in East Harlem. In his small stall at La Marqueta on 115th Street and Park Avenue, he cuts the ends off piles of dried cod (bacalao) and organizes the fish into neat stacks on his front counter.
Although Lifschultz has been selling this kind of fish for decades to Spanish Harlem locals, he admits it’s not his favorite dish. Instead, he prefers fresh fish – particularly gefilte fish.
“We used to make it for the festive occasions, like Passover,” he says. “But now my wife usually buys it ready-made at this stage of the game.”
At this ‘stage of the game’, Lifschultz finds himself among the last in a generation of European Jews who work at La Marqueta in Spanish Harlem. There were well over 100,000 Jews in this area when the market opened in 1936, and a host of Jewish vendors set up shop.
"It was very busy," Lifschultz says, recalling the hundreds of food and clothing vendors present in the market’s heyday. “Customers had to fight their way in!”
He came to the neighborhood after serving overseas in World War II. Since then – for 55 years – Lifschultz has made a tiny corner under the Metro-North Viaduct his own. Six days a week, from 9am to 4pm, you can find him here at “Benny’s Place”, selling fish and chatting with the regulars in both English and Spanish.
“I like the atmosphere here and I like the people,” he says. “So even though I don’t have to come to work every day, I come because I enjoy being here. I like to be productive.”
Today, due to a combination of economic downturns and political upheavals, of the 500 business that were once at La Marqueta, only eight are left. While plans are in the works to expand the market, Lifschultz isn’t entirely optimistic.
"A lot of people have forgotten we're here," he says as a Metro-North train rumbles by on the tracks above. “Those officials have been talking about making it better here for years. I’m not holding my breath.”
But as I detail to Lifschultz some of the changes I’ve seen sweeping through the area he seems excited and says that he’s not planning to leave anytime soon. He chuckles when I tell him about my quest for the missing bagel in East Harlem and I ask him if he thinks a bagel stand could be in La Marqueta’s future.
“I do like a good bagel,” he says wistfully. “I suppose anything’s possible.”
posted by Rachel Natalie Klein at 1:30 AM
5 Comments:
I've noticed that, regularly, people you speak with comment about the lack of follow-thru on the part of the City and developers on their promises to bring economic development and stimuli to the neighborhood of East Harlem. I have been watching closely, since I am one of the soon-to-be new homeowners there.
I guess my question is: is the feeling of (I don't want to overstate it) abandonment or lack of trust unique to the neighborhood? Or is this a common attitude toward government and developers? And, don't we see the same broken promises and unexplained 'delays' in EVERY neighborhood of the City? The redevelopment of Ground Zero is about as high-profile as it gets and they have not put in even the first steel girder nearly 5 years after 9/11.
I am hopeful about the neighborhood and the people who live there. Not hopeful that it will change to my liking, but hopeful that I will find a way to belong, and to share the burden of growing the community and making a home.
139 comments on posts about hatred, 0 comments on a post about a local merchant serving the community six days a week for the past 55 years. Kinda sad.
Thank you Bernard Lifschultz for your positive service and contribution to the community. Thank you Nat Klein for pointing out that other races and ethnicities have populated, served and contributed to the community since this country was founded. A diverse Harlem is not a new idea, nor is it a bad idea, nor must it lead to the destruction of the black community and its history.
Happy Passover to you both and to all.
11:15am
From my experience, you will be pleasantly surprised with the neighborhood
Harlemwhite
Natelie,
Great story
Is that a gefilte fish next to Mr Lifschultz ??
I agree with the second poster here. Positive things never get enough attention. I love walking by the market, and I'm glad I got to know some if its history. Thanks!
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