The Synagogues of New York's Lower East Side: A Retrospective and Contemporary View, 2nd Edition

2. The Bialystoker Synagogue (Bait Ha’Knesset Anshe Bialystok)

2. the bialystoker synagogue (Bait Ha’Knesset Anshei Bialystok— Synagogue of the People of Bialystok) 7 Bialystoker Place (Willett Street) (between Broome and Grand Streets) among the few remaining Great Synagogues on the LowerEastSide,theBialystoker,withthelargestactivecongregation , has fared quite well. It is one of about a halfdozensurvivingsynagogueswhosebuildingswereoriginally churches. As the great waves of Eastern European Jewish immigrants began sweeping across the Lower East Side in the mid-nineteenth century, more and more Christian congregations found it expedient to sell theirhouses of worship to the newcomers, who then converted them into large and impressive synagogues. In 1905, the Jews of the Bialystoker congregationpurchasedtheformerWillettStreetMethodist Episcopal Church, which had been built when the area was stillsemi-rural.Thecongregationwasfirstorganizedin1865 as ChevraAnsheiChesedofBialystok by a group of immigrants from the town of Bialystok, Poland, who established its original house of worship in a building on Hester Street. The group latermoved to anothersite on Orchard Street, ultimately settling in 1905 at its present location on BialystokerPlace (formerly named Willett Street). At the time of the move to the new building, the congregation merged with Congregation Adas Yeshurun, which also hailed from Bialystok. In 1966, the Bialystoker Synagogue was designated a New York City Historic Landmark and in 1972, a National HistoricLandmark.Itcontinuestobeveryactiveandprides itself on its large Orthodox membership, which is due in part to its proximity to the massive cooperative apartment 35 18317-Wolfe_Synagogues 9/24/12 12:05 PM Page 35 36 the archive synagogues complexes, the Amalgamated Dwellings and the Sidney Hillman Houses. The shul has long been noted forits several daily minyanim (prayer services), for its weekly classes for women in Halacha (Jewish laws), for its popular classes in Talmudic studies, and forits wide range of public programs and tours. The current membership consists of around 500 families. Bialystok is a large city in what is now northeastern Poland, but earlier had been in the Russian Pale of Settlement , the area to which the Jewish community was mainly confined in the Russian Empire. According to the Russian censusof1897,outofthetotalpopulationof66,000people, 41,900 (around 63 percent) were Jewish. A pogrom by Czarist forces on June 1, 1906, resulted in the flight of many of the Jews from Bialystok—some of whom came to New York City and contributed to the growth of the Bialystok community on the Lower East Side and especially to the membership of this shul. After World War I, Bialystok became part of the Second Polish Republic; however, the city was laterinvaded by the Nazis and then the Russians in WorldWarII,andwassubsequentlycededtoRussiaaspart ofthe1939Molotov-RibbentropPact.TheNazisrecaptured the city in 1941. At the end of World War II, the city was made part of the Soviet controlled People’s Republic of Poland. Since 1999, with the collapse of the Soviet Union, Bialystok is now within the Republic of Poland. TheFederal-stylesynagoguebuildingwasoriginallyconstructed in 1826 as the Willett Street Methodist Episcopal Church using Manhattan schist obtained from a quarry on nearbyPittStreet.Fortunately,thisexteriorhasnotrequired any extensive renovation. Stone stairs rise to the building’s threestone-frameddoorswithround-archedwindows,surmounted by a second row of three round-arched windows, which add a distinctive touch and draw the eyes upward to the crescent-shaped lunette in the pediment. In 1988, the BialystokerSynagogue restored the impressive sanctuary of the Synagogue. At the same time, the congregation renovated the former Hebrew school building next door, which reopened as The Daniel Potkorony Building and is used forvarious educational programs. Among the synagogue’s restored treasures is its nearly three-story-highhand-carvedwoodenAronKodesh,which is flanked by brilliantly colored stained glass windows of comparable magnitude and majesty. The Italian master restoreranddecorativepainter,PaoloSpano,performedthe extensive restoration of the Ark. The Bialystoker Synagogue (2012) 18317-Wolfe_Synagogues 9/24/12 12:05 PM Page 36 The Ark was constructed in the city of Bialystok, (some suggest that it may have been in Italy) and was brought to thesynagoguesoonafterthecongregationmovedtoitscurrent address in 1905. Biblical and other animals such as giraffes with decorative symbols such as cornucopia form part of its lavish carvings. The Ark shows a succession of three crowns rising over the doors that enclose the holy Torah scrolls. The Crown of Kingship rests over a carved eagle, symbolic of the royalty of the house of David. In the middle register the Crown of Priesthood surmounts a pair of hands shown making the Cohen’s (priest’s) blessing. Biblical priestly blessings flank the priestly hands: May the Lord bless you and safeguard you. May...