Congregation Beth Israel West Side Jewish Center

Last updated
West Side Jewish Center
West Side Jewish Center jeh.JPG
West Side Jewish Center façade, in 2008
Religion
Affiliation Orthodox Judaism
Ecclesiastical or organizational status Synagogue
LeadershipRabbi Jason Herman
StatusActive
Location
Location347 West 34th Street, Manhattan, New York City, New York 10001
CountryUnited States
Location map United States Manhattan.png
Red pog.svg
Location in Manhattan
Geographic coordinates 40°45′11″N73°59′43″W / 40.75302°N 73.995388°W / 40.75302; -73.995388
Architecture
Architect(s) Gronenberg & Leuchtag
TypeSynagogue
Style Neo-classical
Date established1890 (as a congregation)
Groundbreaking1924
Completed
  • c.1890s(252 West 35th St #1)
  • 1905 (252 West 35th St #2)
  • 1925 (347 West 34th St)
Website
westsidejewishcenter.org
[1] [2] [3] [4]

Congregation Beth Israel, commonly referred to as the West Side Jewish Center or, in more recent years, the Hudson Yards Synagogue, is an Orthodox Jewish congregation and synagogue located at 347 West 34th Street, in the Garment District of Manhattan, in New York City, New York, [1] [3] in the United States. Established in 1890, the congregation completed its current building near Penn Station in 1925. [3]

Contents

Rabbi Jason Herman has served as rabbi since 2005. [2] Previous rabbis have included Joseph Schick, [5] Norman Lamm, [6] and Solomon Kahane. [7]

History

Early years

Congregation Beth Israel West Side Jewish Center was established in 1890 [8] by Orthodox German Jews and Jews from Austria-Hungary. [9] In its early years the congregation worshiped at 252 West 35th Street, [9] [10] a building later purchased by St. Paul Baptist Church. [3]

In 1905, the congregation constructed a new synagogue building at 252 West 35th Street, designed by architect John H. Knubel. [3] Its sanctuary sat 600. [9] In 1924, the congregation broke ground for its current three-story building at 347 West 34th Street. [3] The "somber" Neo-classical building, [4] designed by Gronenberg & Leuchtag, was completed in 1925. [3]

Recent years

The synagogue was in the news in 2007. The congregation rents the entire side of its building for advertisements and parking and that year it was covered with a huge billboard for the film Resident Evil: Extinction . The image did not offend any members, according to Herman, and the congregation who mainly found out after the fact, we’re convinced that the additional income generated by the billboard helpful for maintaining the building. [11]

In 2015 the congregation began a multi-year process with architect Esther Sperber to explore options for renovating the synagogue building. At one point it considered a proposal to demolish the existing structure, and replace it with a large, multi-story multi-use synagogue and condominium. However, in 2016 Herman, and the congregation president, stated that the membership had "quite overwhelmingly rejected any plans for demolition of our current synagogue building and any plan we might pursue will preserve our existing synagogue structure". The president stated that congregation would instead probably renovate the existing structure so that it conformed with current building codes, and develop the synagogue-owned parking lot next to the building. [12] A recent article written in the JTA detailed some of these plans as of 2019.

In 2016, the synagogue began using the additional name Hudson Yards Synagogue.

Rabbinical leadership

Dr. Joseph Schick became rabbi in 1926. [5] Born in Ónod in Austria-Hungary in 1892, he served as a chaplain in the Austro-Hungarian army during World War I, and was the rabbi of Budapest's Beth Israel synagogue of 1918 to 1922, then emigrated to the United States. His books The Kaddish: Its Power for Good and Joseph's Harvest were published in 1928 and 1932 respectively. [13] He served until his death in 1938, at age 49. [5]

Schick was succeeded in 1939 by Harry M. Katzen [14] and then William Novack, [15] and then in 1940 by Leo Ginsburg. [16]

1950s to 2000

In 1952, Norman Lamm, later president of Yeshiva University for over 25 years, was appointed to the role. [6] He would serve until 1958, before moving to the (unrelated) Upper West Side Jewish Center. [17]

Billboard for the film Angels & Demons on the side of the synagogue building West Side Jewish Center Demons jeh.jpg
Billboard for the film Angels & Demons on the side of the synagogue building

Solomon (Shlomo) Kahane, ordained in 1954 at Yeshiva University, was subsequently rabbi of the congregation for 38 years and widely considered the synagogue's most prominent Rabbi. He died in April, 2004. [7] [18] He was a first cousin of Rabbi Meir Kahane, the founder of the Jewish Defense League and the Israeli political party Kach. The Jewish Defense League's first meeting was held at the West Side Jewish Center on June 18, 1968. [19] [20]

Leadership since 2000

Kahane was succeeded by Dr. Richard Weiss. [21] A licensed physician, Rabbi Weiss subsequently became rabbi of Young Israel of Hillcrest in Queens. [22]

Jason Herman succeeded Weiss as the congregation's spiritual leader. [23] [24] Herman received a degree at Yeshivat Chovevei Torah. He is the Executive Director of the International Rabbinic Fellowship, serves as an officer of the New York Board of Rabbis and the Zionist Rabbinic Coalition, is the founder of the Israel Academic Institute and is a past fellow at Rabbis Without Borders. [2] Known for his activism, he was one of 22 Rabbis arrested at the United Nations in 2007 after a protest demanding Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad be barred from speaking to the General Assembly. [23] [24] In 2008, he was one of a group of individuals who boycotted kosher meat from Agriprocessors over concerns that the company's practices were unethical. [25]

Herman discovered in 2017 that his name had been added to a "blacklist" of 160 rabbis whose credentials were rejected for the purposes of certifying to the Chief Rabbinate of Israel that individuals in Israel claiming to be Jewish were, in fact, Jewish. He surmised that it was because of a letter he had written in 2012 vouching for a non-Orthodox Jewish woman. Oddly, after a different married rabbi vouched for the individual, the Rabbinate allowed Herman to officiate at the wedding. [26] [27]

Related Research Articles

The Rabbinical Council of America (RCA) is one of the world's largest organizations of Orthodox rabbis; it is affiliated with The Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, more commonly known as the Orthodox Union (OU). It is the main professional rabbinical association within Modern Orthodox in the United States. Many rabbis of the RCA are graduates of the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary of Yeshiva University or otherwise identify with Modern Orthodox Judaism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shlomo Riskin</span> American-Israeli Orthodox Jewish rabbi

Shlomo Riskin is an Orthodox rabbi, and the founding rabbi of Lincoln Square Synagogue on the Upper West Side of New York City, which he led for 20 years; founding chief rabbi of the Israeli settlement of Efrat in the Israeli-occupied West Bank; former dean of Manhattan Day School in New York City; and founder and Chancellor of the Ohr Torah Stone Institutions, a network of high schools, colleges, and graduate Programs in the United States and Israel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Congregation Beth Israel (West Hartford, Connecticut)</span> Historic Reform synagogue in West Hartford, Connecticut, US

Congregation Beth Israel is a Reform Jewish congregation and synagogue located at 701 Farmington Avenue, in West Hartford, Connecticut, in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Avi Weiss</span> American Open Orthodox ordained rabbi, author, teacher, lecturer and activist

Avraham Haim Yosef (Avi) haCohen Weiss is an American Open Orthodox ordained rabbi, author, teacher, lecturer, and activist who led the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale in The Bronx, New York until 2015. He is the founder of Yeshivat Chovevei Torah for men and Yeshivat Maharat for women, rabbinical seminaries that are tied to Open Orthodoxy, a breakaway movement that Weiss originated, which is to the left of Modern Orthodox Judaism and to the right of Conservative Judaism. He is co-founder of the International Rabbinic Fellowship, a rabbinical association that is a liberal alternative to the Orthodox Rabbinical Council of America, and founder of the grassroots organization Coalition for Jewish Concerns – Amcha.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lincoln Square Synagogue</span> Modern Orthodox synagogue in New York City

The Lincoln Square Synagogue is a Modern Orthodox congregation and synagogue located at 180 Amsterdam Avenue between West 68th and 69th Streets in the Lincoln Square neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Congregation Shaare Zedek (Manhattan)</span> Synagogue in Manhattan, New York

Congregation Shaare Zedek is a Conservative synagogue located on West 93rd Street in Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beth Hamedrash Hagodol</span> Synagogue in Manhattan, New York

Beth Hamedrash Hagodol is an Orthodox Jewish congregation that for over 120 years was located in a historic building at 60–64 Norfolk Street between Grand and Broome Streets in the Lower East Side neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. It was the first Eastern European congregation founded in New York City and the oldest Russian Jewish Orthodox congregation in the United States.

Allan L. Nadler is Wallerstein Professor Emeritus of Religious Studies and Former Director of the Jewish Studies Program at Drew University in Madison, New Jersey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Congregation Beth Israel Ner Tamid (Milwaukee)</span> United States historic place

Congregation Beth Israel Ner Tamid is an egalitarian Conservative synagogue located at 6880 North Green Bay Road in Glendale, a suburb north of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Congregation Beth Israel (Malden, Massachusetts)</span> Orthodox synagogue

Congregation Beth Israel, is an Orthodox Jewish synagogue located at 10 Dexter Street in Malden, Massachusetts, in the United States. It was founded in 1904 by Jewish immigrants from Lithuania.

Congregation Beth Israel is a Modern Orthodox synagogue in Berkeley, California, in the United States. Established in 1924 as the Berkeley Hebrew Center, it traces its origins to the First Hebrew Congregation of Berkeley, founded in 1909. It was Berkeley's first synagogue and remains its oldest. Lay-led for four decades, it hired its first rabbi, Saul Berman, in 1963.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beth Israel Congregation (Washington, Pennsylvania)</span>

Beth Israel Congregation is a Conservative synagogue located at 265 North Avenue in Washington, Pennsylvania, in the United States. Founded in 1891, it was the first Jewish congregation in Washington County. Its first rabbi, Jacob Goldfarb, served for 50 years.

Congregation Beth Israel Abraham Voliner, abbreviated as BIAV, is an Orthodox Jewish congregation and synagogue, located 9900 Antioch Road, in Overland Park, in the Kansas City Metropolitan Area of Kansas, in the United States.

Congregation Am Tikvah is a combined Conservative and Reform Jewish congregation and synagogue located at 625 Brotherhood Way in San Francisco, California, in the United States. The congregation was formed in 2021 as the result of the merger of the Conservative B'nai Emunah and the Reform Beth Israel Judea congregations, with the latter formed in 1969 through a merger of the Conservative Congregation Beth Israel and the Reform Temple Judea. The congregation is affiliated with both the Union for Reform Judaism and the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jewish Center (Manhattan)</span> Orthodox synagogue and Modern Orthodox congregation, in New York City

The Jewish Center is a Modern Orthodox Jewish synagogue located at 131 West 86th Street, on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, in New York City, New York, United States.

Shaarey Tphiloh is a Modern Orthodox Jewish congregation and synagogue located at 400 Deering Avenue, in Portland, Maine, in the United States. The congregation claims it is the oldest continuously operating synagogue in Portland. The name of the synagogue literally means "Gates of Prayer" in Hebrew.

Henry Hoschander was a rabbi and lecturer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sutton Place Synagogue</span>

Sutton Place Synagogue, also called the Jewish Center for the United Nations, is a Traditional synagogue and congregation located at 225 East 51st Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States.

References

  1. 1 2 Synagogue website.
  2. 1 2 3 Rabbi's Page, Synagogue website.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Dunlap (2004), p. 23.
  4. 1 2 Levitt (2015), p. 124.
  5. 1 2 3 The New York Times, March 18, 1938, p. 19.
  6. 1 2 The New York Times, November 22, 1952, p. 14.
  7. 1 2 The New York Times, April 20, 2004.
  8. According to Dunlap (2004), p. 23 and The American Hebrew, Vol. 47 Iss. 2 states that the congregation celebrated its 50th anniversary on May 25, 1940. American Jewish Year Book, Vol. 21, p. 460 gives the founding date as 1885, and History, Synagogue website gives the founding date as "Sometime in the mid-1880s".
  9. 1 2 3 History, Synagogue website.
  10. American Jewish Year Book, Vol. 21, p. 460.
  11. Dunlap (2007).
  12. Oswald (2016).
  13. Rosenstein (1990), p. 143.
  14. The New York Times, February 13, 1939, p. 2
  15. The New York Times, September 15, 1939, p. 20.
  16. The New York Times, April 26, 1940, Sports section p. 33.
  17. History, Upper West Side Jewish Center website.
  18. Yeshiva University Review, Winter 2005, pp. 38–39.
  19. Wheatcroft (1996), p. 279.
  20. Friedman (1990), p. 87.
  21. West Side Jewish Center, Orthodox Union website, 2000.
  22. Weiss, (2007).
  23. 1 2 Traiman (2007).
  24. 1 2 Herman (2007).
  25. Nussbaum Cohen (2008).
  26. Maltz (2017).
  27. Sales (2017).

Citations