In the beginning ... there were two groups of Jewish families who held services in two locations - one above a store on Bell Boulevard and the other in a store on 32nd Avenue.
|
| By 1938 the two groups had joined together, bought land and erected a building on it on 35th Avenue between 206th and 207th Streets.
In 1952 Dr. William A Orentlicher was engaged as Rabbi. (He remained with us until his retirement fifty years later.) In 1958 the property was condemned to make way for the Clearview Expressway.
The cornerstone for the present building was quarried from Mt. Olive in Jerusalem and was laid in 1959. The dedication took place on October 6, 1960. We are now located on 32nd Avenue, just West of the Clearview Expressway.
|
Our current Rabbi, Moses Kirsh, joined us on November 1, 2007. He conducts services with warmth and feeling, and a voice superior to many cantors. He is a Rabbi in the true sense of the word – he loves to teach (and is good at it).
Over the years we were host to many great personalities. These included Eleanor Roosevelt, President Jimmy Carter, Vice President Hubert Humphrey, Senator Jacob Javits, Harry Belafonte, Mayors Robert Wagner and John Lindsay, and Cantor Moshe Kousavitsky. Steve Lawrence and his wife, Eydie Gorme, were members of our General Organization.
More than a few of our members are Holocaust survivors; in some cases both spouses are survivors. One of our members was on Schindler's List.
|
|
