Beth Hamedrash Hagadol

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Beth Hamedrash Hagadol
Basic information
Location 60-64 Norfolk Street,
Lower East Side,
Manhattan, New York,
Flag of the United States United States
Geographic coordinates 40°43′02″N 73°59′17″W / 40.7173, -73.987922Coordinates: 40°43′02″N 73°59′17″W / 40.7173, -73.987922
Religious affiliation Orthodox Judaism
Functional status Active
Leadership Rabbi Mendl Greenbaum
Architectural description
Architectural style Gothic Revival
Direction of facade West
Year completed 1850
(U.S. National Register of Historic Places)
Added to NRHP: November 30, 1999
NRHP Reference#: 99001438

Beth Hamedrash Hagadol (also Beth Hamedrash Hagodol and Beth Midrash Hagadol) is an Orthodox synagogue located at 60-64 Norfolk Street in Manhattan, New York, on the Lower East Side. It is the first Eastern European synagogue founded in New York City and the oldest Orthodox Russian Jewish congregation in the United States.[1]

Contents

[edit] Early History

Beth Hamedrash Hagadol was founded by Russian American Jews in 1852, and included both a rabbinic family court and a group devoted to daily study of the Talmud.[2][3] The founding rabbi, Abraham Joseph Ash, was born in Siemiatycze (then in Congress Poland) in 1821, and emigrated to New York City in 1851.[4] Rejecting the reformist observances of New York's German-Jewish congregations,[5] he soon organized a minyan of Polish Jews,[4] and by 1852[6] began conducting services in a hall at Pearl and Chatham streets[4] as Beth Hamedrash synagogue.[6] For the first six years of the congregation's existence Ash was not paid for his work as rabbi, instead earning a living as a peddler.[4]

In 1856, with the assistance of wealthy Sephardi Jews who sympathized with the traditionalism of the congregation's members, a Welsh chapel was purchased on Allen Street.[5] The synagogue, both a place of prayer and a beth midrash (study hall),[7] "rapidly became the most important center for Orthodox Jewish guidance in the country".[5]

[edit] Schism

In 1859[8] disagreement broke out between Ash and the synagogue's president, Joshua Rothstein,[9] over who had been responsible for procuring the Allen Street location,[10] and escalated into a conflict "over the question of official authority and 'honor'".[11] Members took sides in the dispute,[5] and, following synagogue disturbances and a contested election,[11] Ash took Rothstein to an American court in an attempt to oust him as president of the congregation. After the court rejected Ash's arguments,[10] the majority of members left to form Beth Hamedrash Hagadol ("the Great study hall").[5]

Beth Hamedrash Hagadol which initially occupied the top floor of a building at the corner of Grand and Forsyth Streets, moved in 1865 to a former courthouse on Clinton Street, and in 1872 built a synagogue at Ludlow and Hester Streets.[1][9][5] There the congregation's younger members introduced some mild innovations—changing the title of parnas to president, and, in 1877, hiring a professional cantor in order to bring greater decorum to the services—but in general remained quite traditional, still training men for rabbinic ordination, and sponsoring Talmud and Mishna study groups.[5]

[edit] Move to current building

In 1885 the congregation purchased its current building at 60 Norfolk Street on the Lower East Side, a former Baptist church built in 1850 in the Gothic Revival style.[1][9] The intent of the purchase was, in part, to garner prestige for the relatively new immigrants Jews from Eastern Europe, and to show that Jews on the Lower East Side could be just as "civilized" as the reform minded Jews of uptown Manhattan. To that end, the congregation also hired a famous and highly paid cantor, Israel Michaelowsky,[12] and by 1888 there could be counted among its membership "several bankers, lawyers, importers and wholesale merchants, besides a fair sprinkling of the American element."[13]

From 1888 to 1902 Jacob Joseph, the first and only Chief Rabbi of New York City, was the congregation's rabbi.[14] Harry Fischel was the congregation's Vice President until 1902.

In the late 1800s synagogues in Manhattan each focussed on a particular constituency, typically Jews from a single region or town in Europe. Beth Hamedrash Hagadol was unique in welcoming and assisting all Jews, regardless of origins. The synagogue's Passover Relief Committee (dedicated to providing funds and food to poor Jews so that they could properly celebrate the holiday of Passover), stated "In dispensing money and matzos to the poor, all are recognized as the children of one Father, and no lines are drawn between natives of different countries."[15]

In 1913 the synagogue was the site of a "historic mass meeting" to raise funds for the first Young Israel synagogue, at which Jacob Schiff was the guest speaker.[16]

[edit] Post World War II

In 1952 Ephraim Oshry, one of the few European poseks to survive The Holocaust, became the synagogue's rabbi, a post he retained for 50 years.[17]

[edit] 2000s

Though designated a landmark in 1967, the building deteriorated and suffered damage. On December 6, 2001, a fire severely damaged the roof, ceiling, mural paintings and decorative plasterwork. The main window was later blown out in a storm, and subsequent storms damaged the partially exposed interior.

In 2003, the National Trust for Historic Preservation designated the building an endangered historic site.[18] By 2006 $1 million of an estimated required $3.5 million had been raised for repairs to the structure.[19] However, as of October 2007 it was still mostly closed to the public (as its damaged interior was considered a hazard for visitors), and its membership had dwindled to around 15.[20]

As of 2006, the synagogue's rabbi was Mendl Greenbaum.[19]

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ a b c Beth Hamedrash Hagadol, Gotham Center for New York City History. Retrieved March 22, 2007.
  2. ^ Sussman, Lance J. New York Jewish History , Jewish History Resources, New York State State Archives. Retrieved March 22, 2007.
  3. ^ Mark, Jonathan. A Remnant Of Israel, The Jewish Week, June 17, 2004.
  4. ^ a b c d Rabbi Ash's FuneralPDF, The New York Times, May 10, 1887.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Kaufman (1999), p. 175.
  6. ^ a b Kaufman (1999), p. 174.
  7. ^ Maffi, Mario. Gateway to the Promised Land: Ethnic Cultures on New York's Lower East Side, Rodopi, 1994, p. 122.
  8. ^ According to Kaufman (1999) p. 175 and the National Historic Landmark Nomination, Eldridge Street Synagogue OMB No. 1024-0018, p. 16. Karp (1988) p. 14, while agreeing substantively on the details, gives the date of the split as 1858.
  9. ^ a b c Olitzky & Raphael (1996), p. 251.
  10. ^ a b National Historic Landmark Nomination, Eldridge Street SynagoguePDF (270 KB), NPS Form 10-900, USDI/NPS NRHP Registration Form (Rev. 8-86), OMB No. 1024-0018, p. 16.
  11. ^ a b Karp (1988), p. 14.
  12. ^ Kaufman (1999), p. 176.
  13. ^ Diner (2000), footnote 52, p. 204.
  14. ^ Tannenbaum, Rabbi Gershon. My Machberes, The Jewish Press, January 24, 2007.
  15. ^ Rischin (1977), p. 105.
  16. ^ Kaufman (1999), p. 203.
  17. ^ Amateau, Albert. Rabbi Ephraim Oshry, 89, religious scholar, dies, Downtown Express, Volume 16, Issue 19, October 07-13, 2003.
  18. ^ 11 Most Endangered Places: Urban Houses of Worship, National Trust for Historic Preservation, 2003.
  19. ^ a b Siegel, Jefferson. Rebirth, and reunion, at historic Norfolk synagogue, The Villager, Volume 76, Number 14, August 23-29, 2006.
  20. ^ Austerlitz, Saul. "Synagogues tell story of Lower East Side's past", The Boston Globe, October 28, 2007.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

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