First American-Roumanian congregation

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First American-Roumanian congregation, or Congregation Shaarai Shomoyim, or the Roumanishe Shul, was an Orthodox synagogue located in Manhattan, New York, on the Lower East Side.

Originally built around 1857 as the German Evangelical Church, it was designed to convert Jews. It was bought in 1864 by Shaaray Hashomayim, New York's oldest Orthodox German-Jewish congregation.

In 1890 it reverted back to a church when a Methodist mission society moved the Allen Street Memorial Church, though in 1902, it was finally bought by Congregation Shaarai Shomoyim. Congregants who gave as much as $5 or $10 were honored with a stone engraving in the stairway to the main sanctuary (the most generous gift being an astounding $500).

The synagogue was a rare historic building; its sanctuary, seating almost 1,700, contained multiple seating levels to separate men from women and, with such a lofted ceiling, it became renowned for its acoustics. Known as "the Cantor's Carnegie Hall," the synagogue became a center for cantorial music, and many of the greatest cantors of the 20th century, including Moishe Oysher, Yossele Rosenblatt, Moishe Koussevitsky, Jan Peerce and Richard Tucker, performed there. Choir members included Red Buttons and Eddie Cantor, ^[1] and George Burns was also a member. ^[2]

With the dissipation of the Jewish population out of the Lower East Side during the latter half of the 20th century, the synagogue's constinuency dwindled, and with the turn of 21st century, the synagogue often struggled to muster a minyan. After suffering a heart attack, the synagogue's leader, Rabbi Jacob Spiegel, died, leaving charge of the synagogue to his son, Rabbi Shmuel Spiegel. The stretch of Rivington Street on which the synagogue is located was thereafter dubbed "Rabbi Yaakov Spiegel Way." By 2004 the regular membership had declined to 40. ^[3]

The roof had long been in bad shape, and in 2001 was threatening to collapse. In December, 2001, Speigel managed to raised $25,000 for emergency repairs. ^[3] In January of 2006, the roof of the synagogue caved in, severely damaging the main sanctuary. No one was injured, since services had long since been held in the basement. Because the synagogue had never been registered as a historic landmark, it was thereafter demolished in March 2006. ^[4]