Park East Synagogue

Park East Synagogue is located on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, in New York City.

Park East Synagogue,
Congregation Zichron Ephraim
Park East Synagogue is located in New York City
Park East Synagogue
Location163 East 67th Street
Manhattan, New York City
Coordinates40°46′1.0596″N 73°57′48″W
Built1889–1890
ArchitectSchneider & Herter
Architectural styleByzantine Revival, Moorish Revival, Romanesque Revival
NRHP reference No.83001738[1]
Significant dates
Added to NRHPAugust 18, 1983
Designated NYCLJanuary 8, 1980
Domes were present in 1893

Building

The building was built in 1889–1890. The architects were Schneider and Herter,[2] who designed numerous tenements on New York's Lower East Side as well as in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhoods.[3]

The building is built in the Moorish Revival style[2] and features a prominent rose window. One of its most remarkable characteristics is the asymmetrical twin towers, as the eastern tower is taller. In comparison, most other synagogues of the period featured twin towers of similar height. The towers are also adorned differently. Each of the towers originally was also topped by a bulbous dome that has since been removed.[4] It is one of fewer than a hundred surviving nineteenth-century American synagogues.[5] The synagogue building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.[6]

Over the doorway, engraved in granite and written in Hebrew, is a verse from Psalm 100. "Enter into His Gates with Thanksgiving and into His courts with praise."[4]

History

Congregation Zichron Ephraim was established by Rabbi Bernard Drachman and Jonas Weil to promote Orthodox Judaism as an alternative to Reform Judaism popular on the Upper East Side.[4]

Rabbi Drachman served as spiritual leader for fifty-one years. He died in 1945. Rabbi Zev Zahavy was appointed rabbi of the synagogue on September 1, 1952. He was known as a dynamic spokesman for Orthodox Judaism and many of his sermons were reported on in the New York Times.[7] He and his wife Edith, a noted educator, founded the Park East Day School. On March 16, 1957, Robert Briscoe, the Jewish Lord Mayor of Dublin, carrying his tallis bag, visited and prayed at the synagogue on Shabbos morning.

Since 1962, the synagogue's rabbi has been Arthur Schneier. Rabbi Schneier serves Park East Synagogue full-time while also drawing a salary from the Appeal of Conscience Foundation he founded.[8] This leadership structure was criticized in 2021 by Daniel L. Kurtz, former head of the Charities Bureau at the New York State Attorney General’s Office,[9] when he alleged that Park East has failed to hold regular membership meetings to ensure financial transparency.[10] Kurtz also alleged that Park East’s trustees are directly appointed not elected, in a process which he has called “blatantly illegal”.[11]

Rabbi Harold Einsidler is the religious spiritual organizer; his wife Toby is the office and youth leader. The synagogue's chief cantor is Yitzchak Meir Helfgot.[12]

The October 2021 dismissal of Rabbi Benjamin Goldschmidt,[13] who had served as Park East's assistant rabbi for ten years,[14] sparked a protest within the synagogue community[15][16] and a public objection from Israeli Government minister Yoel Razvozov.[13]

Activities

The Park East Day School now educates children from early childhood through eighth grade.

In 2008, Pope Benedict XVI visited the synagogue in the midst of a visit to New York City. This was the third papal visit to a synagogue and the only such visit in the United States of America. The Pope was given a box of matzahs and a silver Seder plate (it was almost Passover when the visit occurred); members of both the Catholic and Jewish religions wore their respective skullcaps.[17][18]

In 2016, the synagogue was the subject of international press coverage when members of the synagogue heckled and jeered U.N. Director General Ban Ki-moon as he gave an address in honor of International Holocaust Remembrance Day. In his speech, he called the Holocaust a "colossal crime" and added that he is "deeply disturbed by the massacres in South Sudan, by the continued carnage in Syria, and by the atrocities being inflicted by Daesh and Boko Haram." Earlier he had criticized Israel's occupation of the West Bank, and congregants were angry regarding his criticism of Israel, claiming it promoted terrorism. He later repeated his criticism of Israel but added that he in no way condoned terrorism.[19]

Notable members

See also

References
  1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
  2. "New York Architecture Images- Park East Synagogue". nyc-architecture.com. Retrieved 2022-02-21.
  3. Violette, Zachary J. (2019-04-30). The Decorated Tenement: How Immigrant Builders and Architects Transformed the Slum in the Gilded Age. U of Minnesota Press. ISBN 978-1-4529-6046-3.
  4. Application for National Historic Site status Archived 2012-02-12 at the Wayback Machine
  5. "Rediscovering Jewish Infrastructure: Update on United States Nineteenth Century Synagogues," Mark W. Gordon, American Jewish History 84.1 (1996) 11–27 . 2019 article update.
  6. National register of historic places, 1966-1994 : cumulative list through January 1, 1994. Washington, D.C.: National Park Service, National Conference of State Historic Preservation Officeers. 1994. ISBN 978-0-89133-254-1.
  7. Palmer, Joanne. "Wash your hands!". jewishstandard.timesofisrael.com. Retrieved 2022-02-21.
  8. "A world-famous rabbi, a popular assistant and a succession crisis: Inside the rupture at Park East Synagogue". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. 2021-10-27. Retrieved 2022-02-21.
  9. Moody, Lizabeth A. (1988). "Review of Board Liability: Guide for Nonprofit Directors". The Business Lawyer. 43 (4): 1605–1608. ISSN 0007-6899. JSTOR 40686971.
  10. Stack, Liam (2021-12-03). "A Synagogue Feud Spills Into Public View: 'Only Room for One Rabbi'". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-03-01.
  11. Stack, Liam (2021-12-03). "A Synagogue Feud Spills Into Public View: 'Only Room for One Rabbi'". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-03-01.
  12. "Chief Cantor Helfgot Bio: Park East Synagogue". Jewishboxoffice.com. Retrieved January 6, 2013.
  13. Stack, Liam (2021-12-03). "A Synagogue Feud Spills Into Public View: 'Only Room for One Rabbi'". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-02-21.
  14. "Park East Synagogue Fires Assistant Rabbi". Tablet Magazine. 2021-10-26. Retrieved 2022-02-21.
  15. Sales, Ben (21 October 2021). "Park East Synagogue pushes out assistant rabbi, sparking protest". The Forward. Retrieved 2022-02-21.
  16. Hakimi, Lauren (17 February 2022). "Months after public controversy, Park East Synagogue replaces ousted assistant rabbi". The Forward. Retrieved 2022-02-21.
  17. Garland, Sarah (April 3, 2008). "Pope To Visit Upper East Side Synagogue". The New York Sun. Retrieved April 4, 2008.
  18. Paul Vitello, "In Another Historic Act, Pope Benedict Visits a Manhattan Synagogue", The New York Times, April 19, 2008.
  19. UN chief heckled at NY synagogue during holocaust speech Times of Israel, Feb 11, 2016.
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