Millinery Center Synagogue

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Millinery Center Synagogue
Millinery Center Synagogue 02.jpg
Millinery Center Synagogue
Religion
Affiliation Orthodox Judaism
Ecclesiastical or organizational status Synagogue
LeadershipRabbi Avrohom Dov Kahn
Year consecrated September 12, 1948
StatusActive
Location
Location1025 6th Avenue (38th St), Manhattan, New York City, New York 10018
CountryUnited States
Location map United States Manhattan.png
Red pog.svg
Location within Manhattan
Geographic coordinates 40°45′09″N73°59′10″W / 40.752615°N 73.986044°W / 40.752615; -73.986044
Architecture
Architect(s) Hyman Isaac "H.I." Feldman
TypeSynagogue
Style
Founder
  • Moe Brillstein
  • Sam Neger [1]
Date established1933 (as a congregation)
Completed1948
Construction cost$150,000
Specifications
Capacity125 worshippers
Length60 feet (18 m)
Width19 feet (5.8 m)
Materials Limestone
Website
millinerycs.org

Millinery Center Synagogue is an Orthodox Jewish synagogue located in the Garment District of Manhattan, in New York City, New York, United States. [2]

Contents

History

The synagogue was supported by the many millinery organizations that were based in the neighborhood. [3] A group of these ready-to-wear industry business men had been meeting in various spaces, mostly in a loft on West 36th Street. Their rabbi during this very loosely organized time was Rabbi Moshe Ralbag. In January 1933, the congregation was more formally organized and the name of the synagogue, the Millinery Center Synagogue, was agreed upon, although the meeting place was temporary, at 1011 Sixth Avenue, on the second floor. [4] Moe Brillstein (the father of film producer Bernie Brillstein) [5] became president and started a building fund. At that point the congregation came together and decided to build a synagogue. [6]

Due to the density of millinery businesses in the neighborhood, at its peak, services for daily minyan were typically so heavily attended that the prayer sessions were held in rotating shifts. [7]

Structure

A stone on the facade, marking the architect, H.I. Feldman Millinery Center Synagogue 19.jpg
A stone on the façade, marking the architect, H.I. Feldman
Millinery Center logo MillineryCenter program logo.jpg
Millinery Center logo

The synagogue was designed by H.I. Feldman, [6] a prolific, [8] Yale-educated architect who designed thousands of Art Deco and Modernist-style buildings in New York City, [9] [10] notably 1025 Fifth Avenue (between 83rd and 84th Streets) on the Upper East Side and the LaGuardia Houses on the Lower East Side, as well as many buildings that line the Grand Concourse in the Bronx. Feldman and his company, The Feldman Company, also built the Federation of Jewish Philanthropies building (130 East 59th Street) and the United Jewish Appeal building (220 West 58th Street). [11]

There were wartime restrictions on building, so building was postponed for a time until 1947. The building's construction was completed in September 1948, and the synagogue was dedicated on September 12, 1948. [12]

Millinery Center Synagogue facade Millinery Center Synagogue 15.jpg
Millinery Center Synagogue façade

The limestone building itself is narrow, approximately 19 feet (5.8 m) wide by 60 feet (18 m) deep, [13] and cost $150,000 to build. [12] It was notable for having air conditioning. [12]

Current

On May 3, 2017, the Board of Trustees of Millinery Center Synagogue nominated Rabbi Avrohom Dov Kahn to serve as rabbi. On May 10, 2017 Rabbi Kahn was elected in a landslide. It was the first election of a rabbi of the synagogue in over two decades. [14]

A week later on May 17, Rabbi Kahn was formally installed as rabbi in a program featuring three young professionals who spoke about the important impact the synagogue and Rabbi Kahn had made on them. [15] Harav Doniel Lander, Rosh Hayeshiva of Yeshivas Ohr Hachaim, spoke movingly of his decades-long close friendship with Rabbi Kahn and those attributes that made Rabbi Kahn eminently qualified to lead the synagogue in its rejuvenation and renewal efforts. Rabbi Kahn concluded the program by outlining what he hoped to do for the synagogue and how he hoped to guide MCS to reach out and benefit Jews throughout all of midtown Manhattan." [16]

Clergy

The following individuals have served as rabbi for the congregation:

OrderRabbiTerm startedTerm endedTime in officeNotes
1Moshe Ralbag
2Morris Gordon
3Dr. Alexander J. Burnstein 1942197027–28 years [17]
4Abraham Berger198019854–5 years [18]
5David Friedberg198519904–5 years
6Leonard Guttman199019921–2 years [19]
7Hayim S. Wahrman1992201623–24 years [20] [21] [22]
8Avrohom Dov Kahn2017incumbent6–7 years [14]

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References

  1. "Sam Neger" (PDF). The New York Times . August 13, 1959. Retrieved September 21, 2015.
  2. Bleyer, Jennifer (March 18, 2007). "The City: 'City of Refuge'". The New York Times . Retrieved September 21, 2015.
  3. Miller, Tom (March 17, 2012). "The 1948 Millinery Center Synagogue – No. 1025 6th Avenue". Dayton in Manhattan. Retrieved September 21, 2015.
  4. "Millinery: Millinery Center Synagogue In Lease". Women's Wear Daily . Vol. 50, no. 37. Fairchild Fashion Media. February 21, 1935. p. 18. ISSN   0043-7581. ProQuest   1653253799. ProQuest document ID 1653253799
  5. Brillstein, Bernie; Rensin, David (1999). Where Did I Go Right?: You're No One in Hollywood Unless Someone Wants You Dead! (1st ed.). Boston: Little, Brown. ISBN   978-0-316-11885-9. OCLC   40954091 . Retrieved September 21, 2015.
  6. 1 2 "New Synagogue Is Planned" (PDF). The New York Times . October 7, 1945. p. 28. Retrieved September 21, 2015.
  7. Trebay, Guy (November 14, 2000). "Dot-Coms Intrude in the Land of Needle and Thread". The New York Times . Retrieved September 23, 2015.
  8. "Feldman Notes Widening Field For Architects in Last 30 Years". New York Herald Tribune . IHT Corporation. September 2, 1951. p. 1C. ProQuest   1321533100. ProQuest document ID 1321533100
  9. Gardner, James (July 21, 2007). "A Building Now To Be Remembered". The New York Sun . Retrieved September 21, 2015.
  10. Fatouros (née Feldman), Naomi (March 20, 2002). "H. I. Feldman, NYC Architect: To The Editor". The City Review. Retrieved September 21, 2015.
  11. Ennis, Thomas W. (January 27, 1981). "H.I. Feldman, Head of Architecture Concern, Dies" . Retrieved September 21, 2015.
  12. 1 2 3 "Millinery Area Synagogue Is Dedicated Here: New Limestone Structure in Avenue of Americas Will Accommodate 125". New York Herald Tribune . IHT Corporation. September 13, 1948. p. 9. ProQuest   1327476516. ProQuest document ID 1327476516
  13. Levitt, Ellen (2013). The Lost Synagogues of Manhattan: Including Shuls from Staten Island and Governors Island: Including Shuls from Staten Island and Governors Island. Bergenfield, N.J.: Avotaynu, Inc. p. 26. ISBN   978-0-983-69752-7. OCLC   844074027.
  14. 1 2 Kadinsky, Sergey (May 17, 2017). "Storied Midtown Synagogue Installs Queens Rabbi". Queens Jewish Link.
  15. Millinery Center Synagogue YouTube Account "Installation of Rabbi Avrohom Kahn" Uploaded June 8, 2017 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9TY9AdJLFI&list=PL42eFX5Yh9wAAYlqyIdGog6TgfmlF2K4j%5B%5D
  16. Millinery Center Synagogue YouTube Account "Installation of Rabbi Avrohom Kahn" Uploaded June 8, 2017 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9axds-0_Ik&list=PL42eFX5Yh9wAAYlqyIdGog6TgfmlF2K4j&index=6%5B%5D
  17. "Rabbi Alexander J. Burnstein, 80, Led Millinery Center Synagogue" (PDF). The New York Times . October 18, 1980. p. 30. Retrieved September 23, 2015.
  18. "Paid Notice: Deaths; Berger, Rabbi Abraham". The New York Times . February 7, 1999. Retrieved September 21, 2015.
  19. "Chanukah Benefit Party for Milinary Center Synagogue A Major Success". The Jewish Press . January 4, 1991. p. 9.
  20. Millinery Center Synagogue [ dead link ]
  21. The circumstances under which Wahrman's tenure extended to 2016 Millinery Center Synagogue [ dead link ]
  22. "Holler v. Goldberg – Norbert P. Holler et al., as Members of the Millinery Center Synagogue, Petitioners, v. Jeffrey Goldberg et al., as Officers and Board Members of the Millinery Center Synagogue, et al., Respondents". Supreme Court, New York County. February 8, 1995. Retrieved September 23, 2015.

Further reading