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I. Masas Benjamin Ansche Podhajce, Kochob Jacob Anshe Kamenitz Lite
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i. masas benjamin ansche podhajce (Gift of Rabbi Benjamin People of Podhajce [“Podhajcer Shul”]; Congregation Rodeph Sholom Independent Podhajcer [Pursuers of Peace]; Kochob Jacob Anshe Kamenitz Lite [Star of Jacob of the People of Kamenitz, Lithuania]; Congregation Beth Yitzchok [Congregation House of Isaac]) (Repurposed to Residential Use) 108 East 1st Street (between First Avenue and Avenue A) immigrants from the Galician village of Podhajce in pre–WorldWarIsoutheastPoland,whichthenbelongedto theAustro-HungarianEmpire(nowtheUkraine),organized this congregation in 1895—naming it Congregation Masas Benjamin Anshe Podhajce. By 1926, the congregation had grown sufficiently to require much larger quarters. They purchased a three-story building at 108 East 1st Street, which they expanded and transformed into a working synagogue . The building was shared with the short-lived Congregation Rodeph Sholom Independent Podhajcer, whose name was perhaps chosen to demonstrate that congregation ’s individuality and independence from its host congregation . Theyellowbrickandlimestonebuildingissimple,butstrikingwithahandsomeground floorentrancewithaprominent round-headedlimestonearch.Notethetimewornsigncarved in the arch that reads: Synagogue for the People of Podhajce— (Yiddish transliteration, Padheitze). On the two upperstories are two generously scaled windows flanked by graceful narrowlancetwindows ,whichonceshedlightintothelargetwostory sanctuary. Two-story engaged yellow brick pilasters, toppedwithunusualcapitalsintheshapeofTorahscrolls,add grandeur to the building. A circular plaque with a Mogen David is boldly placed overhead in the pediment. The first floor of the synagogue was designated as the bais medrash. The two-story sanctuary (no longer extant) occupied the second and third floors with the women’s 133 18317-Wolfe_Synagogues 9/24/12 12:05 PM Page 133 gallery overhead on the third level. The sanctuary was once decorated with mazoles—painted images of the twelve Zodiac signs and the associated months of the Jewish calendar . A tall marble tablet on the sanctuary wall once listed the Hebrew names of deceased members of the congregation . Marble inscriptions outside the sanctuary listed the congregation’s officers and contributors to the synagogue. The PodhajcerShul soon became a local centerof learning and remained popularformost of its existence, until it became insolvent as the nearby Orchard Street businesses closed or relocated elsewhere. For a number of years, the PodhajcerShuljoinedwith,andassumedthenameofanother congregation—this one consisting of immigrants from Lithuania: Kochob Jacob Anshe Kamenitz Lite. (Kamenitz was a village in Lite or Lithuania.) Although the name of KamenitzLitewasofficiallyadopted,thecongregantsalways referred to the shul as the “PodhajcerShul.” 134 the “lost” or endangered synagogues After conversion to residence Entrance arch (2012) 18317-Wolfe_Synagogues 9/24/12 12:05 PM Page 134 [3.16.81.94] Project MUSE (2024-04-17 21:32 GMT) From about 1985 until 1990, the synagogue lay abandoned — at which time Congregation Beth Yitzchoch (House of Isaac) took it over. Rabbi Moshe Rotenberg made a valiant, but ultimately failed effort to revitalize the synagogue with a young East Village and West Village crowd. In 1995, three artists rented the building and founded The Synagogue Space for the Visual and Performing Arts. Ultimately, the congregation sold the building to a developer who converted it into an attractive apartment building. Thebuilding’sinteriorspacesweredemolishedintherenovation , but the original synagogue façade was preserved —including the “Yinglish” wording spanning the arched iron entrance gate that reads, “Presentirt fun di Podhajcer Ladies Auxiliary.” Written entirely in Hebrew letters, the masas benjamin ansche podhajce, kochob jacob anshe kamenitz lite 135 Kochob Jacob Anshe Kamenitz Lite (called “Anshe Podhajce”) (1975) Entrance Arch (1975) 18317-Wolfe_Synagogues 9/24/12 12:05 PM Page 135 sign mixes Yiddish with English words (“Presented by the PodhajcerLadies Auxiliary”), perhaps as a way to demonstrate the women’s pride in being part of a shul that was modern enough to have a Ladies Auxiliary with money enough to pay forthe shul’s new gate. Podhajce, from which the first congregations originated, was home to nearly 3,000 Jews (roughly 40 percent of the population)andthesiteofalarge,historicsynagogue.Inthe autumn of 1942, the Nazis removed the Jewish inhabitants to the concentration camp at Belzec for extermination. By June 6, 1943, its Jewish community was completely liquidated and the city was declared “Judenfrei” (Jew-free). In 1957, a memorial was erected in Mt. Zion Cemetery in Maspeth,NewYorkintheirmemory.Carvedintothememorial are these words in Yiddish and English: We mourn the death of the men, women and children of our home town Podhajce, Galicia that were slaughtered bytheNazisandtheircohortsintheyear1944.Theirmemory lives forever. The Soviets took over Podhajce in 1944, although the Nazis had declared the town “Judenfrei” one year earlier, in 1943, perhaps explaining the date “1944” on the memorial. In recent years Eastern and Central European cities such as Podhajce have demonstrated a...