Harlem’s Last Synagogue Plans a Comeback
The Old Broadway Synagogue has hired its first rabbi in 14 years; congregants feel optimistic about its future in a rapidly changing Harlem.
By Mohammad Yaghi
On a Saturday morning in West Harlem, with traffic and subways adding to the neighborhood’s hectic soundtrack, a melodic sound wafted from an off-white building nestled on Old Broadway between 125th and 126th Streets.
It’s the last operating synagogue in Harlem, its subtle Moorish exterior allowing it to blend with Harlem’s rich architecture.
Inside the Old Broadway Synagogue, 12 men on the ground floor were praying in harmonious Hebrew, celebrating the joyous harvest festival of Sukkot.
Though only a small number of Jewish residents remain Harlem and the synagogue usually draws about 25 to 30 congregants at weekly services, Paul Radensky, president of Old Broadway, feels hopeful. The congregation will expand with Columbia’s Manhattanville development, he believes, and it has just hired its first rabbi in 14 years.
“In general there have been more Jews moving to Harlem,” Radensky said. “Even before the Columbia expansion, my feeling was that things are really optimistic.”
The synagogue has had no rabbi since 2000, but Radensky decided that to attract more members, it needed a leader who could connect with both congregants and the neighborhood.
“We would have guest speakers come,” he said. “I had visiting scholars come, which is okay, but it’s not the same as someone developing a relationship with the community.”
Over the summer, therefore, Radensky hired Michael Moskowitz as the Old Broadway Synagogue’s new part-time rabbi. Moskowitz, 35, gave a talk about happiness and its meaning during Sukkot that grabbed congregants’ attention.
Though the synagogue’s fortunes may be looking up, it has endured many highs and lows.
Harlem was a predominantly Jewish neighborhood at the beginning of the 20th Century. “Harlem was, between 1890 and 1920, a vibrant Jewish community,” said Rebecca Kobrin, a specialist in American Jewish history at Columbia University. “Indeed, if you go to more Central Harlem, like along Lenox, the Mount Neboh Church used to be a synagogue.”
The Old Broadway Synagogue’s location was pivotal because of its proximity to the Number 1 subway line, Kobrin added. “It was seen as less densely crowded and unsanitary as compared to the Lower East Side. So it was attractive because it was new housing stock.”
As time passed, however, Harlem’s Jewish population slowly decreased. “Most of the people left as the subway expanded. Jews moved to new areas. So the South Bronx, in the interwar era, became a heavily Jewish neighborhood and many people who left Harlem either went to the Upper West Side… or to the Bronx,” said Kobrin.
But Old Broadway persisted. Its congregation, formed in 1911, built the two story synagogue in 1923. “They were working class people. They had plans to build a three-story synagogue. Obviously, they didn’t have enough money,” said Radensky. “But they did obviously pull the resources together and build this building.”
Jacob Kret, who grew up in a Hasidic family in Poland and briefly led a yeshiva (religious school) in Frankfurt, became the synagogue’s rabbi in 1950, went on to become its most famous spiritual leader and served in the role until 1997.
Kret developed deep personal connections with both congregants and the larger Harlem community and was able to keep the synagogue active even as the neighborhood lost most of its Jewish population. “He really recruited a lot of students,” Radensky said. “The ’80s and ’90s, which were low points of the neighborhood, probably was the high point of the synagogue.”
Old Broadway’s long history remains apparent. “I feel that there is this unbroken connection to Jewish Eastern Europe, this kind of warmth and tradition,” said Radensky.
The synagogue’ Moorish design adopted many architectural attributes of Islamic design. An Orthodox congregation, the Old Broadway separates the genders, with men seated on the ground floor and women upstairs.
The synagogue is currently undergoing repairs to its exterior and Radensky hopes to raise enough money to renovate the interior as well.
Though Kret’s legacy at the synagogue lives — portraits and documents of his support for the creation of Israel are spread throughout the building — Moskowitz, dean of students at the Yeshiva of Virginia for the last four years, hopes to be as influential.
He was enticed by Old Broadway. “It resonated with me as a place that would be a good fit for the unique creativity and personality and life experience that I have,” he said. “The diversity of the congregation made me feel like instead of having a product, they presented space to allow for individuality, creativity, and difference in a real way that allows for greatness.”
Though its only been a few weeks since his arrival, Moskowitz already feels settled. “People here are very much themselves,” he said. “There’s a lot of love and there’s a lot of acceptance.”
A few newcomers have already arrived. “I live ten blocks from here and I Googled ‘synagogue’ and this is what I got,” said Dmitry Ekshut, a music teacher who started coming to services in March.
“I like the diversity there. No one feels unwelcome,” said Rafael, a congregant for the past six months. He declined to provide his surname. Of Moskowitz, he said, “I think he’s a very good addition.”
The Sukkot service ended with a bountiful lunch: tuna salad with cucumber, the traditional cholent in a giant black pot, biscuits and a considerable amount of Canadian Club.
“You have tremendous buy-in into this community from the children and their grand-children because they know what their parents and grand-parents sacrificed in order to get here,” said Moskowitz. “They feel a sense of ownership, commitment, loyalty and real responsibility to make sure that it wasn’t in vain.”
(Featured photo of Rabbi Michael Moskowitz and other photos by Mohammad Yaghi)
well articulated!