Gebruiker:Mondo/Kladblok

De Bialystoker Synagogue is een orthodox joodse synagoge in de wijk Lower East Side in de Amerikaanse stad New York. De synagoge is gevestigd op 7–11 Bialystoker Place (ook wel Willett Street genoemd^[1]). Het gebouw dateert van 1826 en was van oorsprong een Episcopaalse kerk: de Willett Street Methodist Episcopal Church. De synagoge kocht het gebouw in 1905 aan.

In 1966 is het gebouw opgenomen in de National Register of Historic Places, waardoor het de status van monument heeft verkregen, omwille van het feit dat het slechts een van de vier resterende 19e-eeuwse religieuze gebouwen in laatfederale stijl in Lower Manhattan is. Het is tevens het oudste gebouw in de stad dat nog in gebruik is als synagoge.

Congregatie

The Bialystoker Synagogue was first organized in 1865 on Manhattan's Lower East Side as the Chevra Anshei Chesed of Bialystok, founded by a group of Jews who came from the town of Białystok, at that time located in the Russian Empire, but now in Poland. The congregation was begun in a building on Hester Street, it later moved to Orchard Street, and ultimately to its present location 7–11 Bialystoker Place on the Lower East Side.

In order to accommodate the influx of new immigrants from that area of Poland, in 1905 the congregation merged with congregation Adas Yeshurun, also from Bialystok, and formed the Beit Ha-Knesset Anshei Bialystok (The Bialystoker Synagogue). The newly formed congregation then purchased (and moved into) the Willett Street Methodist Episcopal Church at 7 Willet Street, which was later renamed Bialystoker Place. During the Great Depression a decision was made to beautify the main sanctuary, to provide a sense of hope and inspiration to the community.

The community today is the biggest synagogue in the Lower East Side with several daily minyanim.^[2] Rabbi Menachem Tuchman serves as the rabbi.

Architecture

The fieldstone Methodist Episcopal Church building was built in 1826 with a simple pedimented roof and round arched windows.^[3] The building is made of Manhattan schist from a quarry on nearby Pitt Street. The exterior is marked by three windows over three doors framed with round arches, a low flight of brownstone steps, a low pitched pediment roof with a lunette window and a wooden cornice.

The elaborate Torah Ark is believed to have been carved in Bialystok and shipped to New York.

As the synagogue is home to an Orthodox Jewish congregation, a balcony section was constructed to accommodate female congregants. In the corner of the women's gallery a small hidden door in the wall leads to a ladder going up to an attic, lit by two windows. When the building was first opened, it was a rest stop for the Underground Railroad movement; runaway slaves found sanctuary in this attic.

When the air conditioning was updated in the 1990s, an issue arose concerning the possible construction of rooftop units because of the building's historical landmark status. Because of these concerns, the cooling units were installed on the side of the building.

Present activity

In 1988, the congregation restored the interior to its original splendor, and the former Hebrew school building that is attached, but had become dilapidated, was renovated and reopened as The Daniel Potkorony Building. The magnificent stained glass windows were recently completely recreated and renewed.