City's senior synagogue restored to former glory.New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of City's second-oldest building built as a synagogue synagogue (sĭn`əgŏg) [Gr.,=assembly], in Judaism, a place of assembly for worship, education, and communal affairs. The origins of the institution are unclear. One tradition dates it to the Babylonian exile of the 6th cent. B.C. , the 1853 Congregation Chasam Sopher, at 8 Clinton Street, off Houston, is undergoing a $3 million renovation by Meltzer/Mandl Architects. The synagogue declined in recent decades as its congregation shrank shrank v. A past tense of shrink. shrank Verb a past tense of shrink shrank shrink and a lack of funds for maintenance took its toll. The first phase of work, including a sparkling new basement worship area, was completed by Wednesday, September 7. Work in the main sanctuary is to be finished by spring of 2005. Despite the ongoing construction, services take place every day at 7 a.m. in the basement worship area. When architect Meltzer walked into Chasam Sopher for the first time, he immediately recognized the musty, old world smell that characterized the synagogue. It transported him back more than 50 years to--his youth in Saint Paul, Minnesota
"The smell was exactly the same," Meltzer said. "It was the accumulated years of dust and activity, and maybe even a little of that herring from the Saturday ceremonies," during which congregation members gather to eat fish, cake and other delicacies This is a List of national delicacies. This list is sorted from where the food originated from. Many of these dishes may be normal to one culture, however to other cultures may seem bizarre. A delicacy is a food that is particularly prized within a given culture. . Meltzer came to feel a very personal connection to the Chasam Sopher project. "I understood when the people with a long-time connection to this synagogue worried about the project. I saw my father go through similar challenges when things changed at the synagogue to which he had dedicated his life," he said. "As a renewal, this project represented a major change to the synagogue that these people had known for years. It was very threatening," said Meltzer. "That's one reason we decided to restore, rather than renovate." The work in the basement is already complete and included a new kitchen, air conditioning air conditioning, mechanical process for controlling the humidity, temperature, cleanliness, and circulation of air in buildings and rooms. Indoor air is conditioned and regulated to maintain the temperature-humidity ratio that is most comfortable and healthful. , finishes, lighting, flooring, heating and furniture. Upstairs there are new widows and the restoration of the red-brick German Romanesque facade, a new roof, new floors and walls, steel supports for the facade, the restoration of marble plaques, and a new cherry wood ark for the Torah. A new community garden is being created in the neighboring neigh·bor n. 1. One who lives near or next to another. 2. A person, place, or thing adjacent to or located near another. 3. A fellow human. 4. Used as a form of familiar address. v. lot. The wood pews are being removed, refinished and replaced. The project did not begin as a restoration. Instead, the architect was first asked to work on a six-story residential apartment building for the empty lot next to Chasam Sopher. "Revenue from the building was to be dedicated to supporting the synagogue into the future," said Marvin H. Meltzer, vice president of Meltzer/Mandl Architects, architect for the project. The building was to be paid for by Quik Park parking magnate Hank Sopher, who has supported the synagogue for many years. That project proved unworkable and the land where the apartment building was to be constructed has instead been designated as a new community gar den. The synagogue is located in a neighborhood considered by historians to be "the cradle of the American Jewish experience." Erected by German Jews The Jewish presence in Germany is older than Christianity; the first Jewish population came with the Romans to the city Cologne. A "Golden Age" in the first millennium saw the emergence of the Ashkenazi Jews, while the persecution and expulsion that followed the Crusades led to the less than a decade before the American Civil War American Civil War or Civil War or War Between the States (1861–65) Conflict between the U.S. federal government and 11 Southern states that fought to secede from the Union. , the building came to be used by Polish Jewish congregations beginning in 1891. Fewer than 10 other shuls live on in various states amid an influx of younger Jews to the neighborhood. |
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