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This may seem like a strange question but I was curious if there was any religious significance to this. Possibly, Jews following the opinion of a Rabbi who saw the name as signifying a place of belonging or a place related to Jewish symbolism. Thus, Jews started showing up in Brooklyn partly because they associated it with the Jewish faith.

  • The "Crown" or the Keter is typically spoken in relation to Kabbalah and the Sefirot. The Keter happens to be the top most point of the tree of life.

  • The "Crown" relates to the idea of the Mashiach and how they will eventually come and reestablish the Davidic royal line.

  • The "Crown" relates to Hashem and how we identify him as one would identify a king. We are not only taught to give Hashem the respect we would as one does a King, we refer to him as "King" of the universe.

It just seems to me that it makes sense from a religious standpoint that the Jewish people would gather in a place that can symbolically reflect different Jewish themes. That seems like more than just a coincidence to me.

I was curious if this is a verified idea or not.

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    Borough Park is also heavily Jewish and religious, Brownsville once was as well. What significance would you attach to Monsey, or Lakewood? – Josh K Dec 30 '18 at 22:51
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    There are some that believe personal given names hold some mystical meaning. I’m not sure it extends to place names, but there may be something to that idea. However, Crown Heights was a heavily Jewish neighborhood well before the Lubavitcher rebbe emigrated to USA. That began to change in the 1950s and 1960s. Despite the hype, the neighborhood’s white (probably Jewish) population is less than 20% today. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crown_Heights,_Brooklyn – JJLL Dec 31 '18 at 0:44
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    There is spiritual significance to every Jewish neighborhood – Dude Dec 31 '18 at 0:51
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    I have to research this. But, I'm fairly confident that the choice of Lubavitch with Crown Heights has about as much "destiny" as the Bostoner Rebbe has to Boston. In short the name Crown Heights was most likely in existence far long before Lubavitch appeared there. – DanF Dec 31 '18 at 3:28
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    Gee, I hope this doesn't make all of us whose families live/lived in the Lower East Side or Hell's Kitchen or DUMBO feel bad. – Gary Dec 31 '18 at 4:26
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Indeed, the Lubavitcher Rebbe made reference to this in his later years. In addition to the address of the center of operations for Chabad Chassidim (770), the Rebbe would often show the spiritual significance of various such details (often including the date at which he spoke), playing on the idea that Hashgacha Pratit holds it that nothing is by chance, and we can learn a lot from seeing that which surrounds us.

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    This answer would be a great deal more valuable if you'd edit in examples of the Rebbe referring to the significance of the name "Crown Heights" in particular. – Isaac Moses♦ Dec 31 '18 at 16:17

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