Monthly Archives: March 2013

Tucked between a co-op for senior citizens and a parking lot is a synagogue that at first glance looks strangely out of place. No one comes in or out. It is as if it does not exist as people walk right past it without looking twice, heading two blocks up for the livelier atmosphere on Delancey Street on the Lower East Side.

The Synagogue, Beth Hamedrash Hagadol, has the most vibrant history in the Lower East Side and is still standing because it is a city landmark. The building has been there since the early 1800’s, originally a Baptist church with impressive Christian art on the glass windows that were taken out after it became a synagogue. Inside there are high ceilings, seats in beautiful oak that complement the gold accents inside the once impressive synagogue. Today it is the ghost building of the neighborhood. The synagogue closed in 2007 after a series of storms in the late 90’s that caused a lot of damage to the building, making it inhabitable.

It is estimated that 3.5 million dollars is needed to repair the building, but Rabbi Mendl Greenbaum, The current owner of the building, wants to work with developers and make this New York City Landmark a condominium. The synagogue is more than a beautiful building. It is part of Lower East Side history, a witness of the German and Jewish immigrants that are such an ingrained part of the neighborhood and always will be.

Many organizations such as the Lower East Side Jewish Conservancy have tried to raise money to renovate the building and are outraged at the bid to destroy the building. Thus, people from the conservancy would be good sources to talk to, as well as the Jewish people in the Lower East Side who used to attend the synagogue and the Rabbi.

Factiva:

Petition Started to Save Norfolk Street Synagogue