Congregation Agudas Achim (Livingston Manor, New York)
Agudas Achim Synagogue | |
---|---|
Religion | |
Affiliation | Reform Judaism |
Ecclesiastical or organisational status | Synagogue |
Leadership | Rabbi Fred Pomerantz |
Status | Active |
Location | |
Location | Rock Avenue, Livingston Manor, Sullivan County, New York 12758 |
Country | United States |
Location in New York | |
Geographic coordinates | 41°54′3″N 74°49′28″W / 41.90083°N 74.82444°W |
Architecture | |
General contractor | Izzy Brooks |
Date established | 1913 (as a congregation) |
Completed | 1924 |
Specifications | |
Direction of façade | East |
Materials | Concrete, stucco, wood |
Website | |
congregationagudasachim | |
Agudas Achim Synagogue | |
NRHP reference No. | 98001404 |
Added to NRHP | November 19, 1998 |
[1] |
Agudas Achim Synagogue, formally known as Congregation Agudas Achim (
The congregation was founded in 1913 as an unofficially Orthodox group that consisted of a diverse group of local Jews, not all of whom were Orthodox. The synagogue was built two years later. It combines features of Eastern European synagogues, reflecting the national origin of its founding Ashkenazi Jews, with some elements of historic Protestant Christian churches found in the area. Some features were also adapted from other contemporary synagogues in Sullivan County.[1]
After a period of decline in the decades after World War II, following the demise of the local resort industry in the Catskills as people went further for vacations, Agudas Achim officially became a Reform congregation to attract new members. It holds services year-round. The building remains architecturally intact from the period of its construction. In 1998 it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The synagogue is located a few blocks from downtown Livingston Manor on the west side of Rock Avenue, the former route of state highway NY 17. The neighborhood is a mix of residential and commercial uses.[1]
Exterior
The building is a one-story
On the east (front)
The front pavilion is echoed on the west (rear) with a smaller one holding the
The basement is lit by sash windows in a different pattern. There is a small projecting entrance to it on the southwest corner. On the southeast corner is a datestone.[1]
Interior
From the porch, paneled, glazed double doors lead into a small vestibule, which opens into a single large sanctuary. It is minimally decorated, with off-white plaster walls rising to a barrel-vaulted ceiling. The sanctuary is laid out following Eastern European traditions, with the bimah in the center and pews on three sides. The ark is behind the bimah on the rear wall.[1]
An open women's gallery, reached by two small stairs from the vestibule, extends over the rear of the sanctuary. It is serpentine in shape and supported by two round wooden columns. The gallery's outside wall is faced in rectangular panels with small square blocks in each corner; the inside wall is beaded. A raised platform at the rear is built over the vestibule.[1]
All floors are hardwood. The bimah and ark have paneled exteriors and beaded interiors. Stairs have square posts and
The finished basement is used as a vestry. It has a pressed metal ceiling and central partition. One end has a small elevated stage.[1]
Aesthetics
The synagogue building reflects the dual influence of the Eastern European background of its founders and the existing local Protestant Christian churches. It shares some features common to the other synagogues built in Sullivan County at that time. On the exterior, the former influence is strongest in the dual turrets on the facade, scaled-down versions of a common motif of the synagogues of Eastern Europe. The projecting gallery below them and colored glass in the exterior also reflect those building traditions.[1]
Agudas Achim's steep gabled roof and arched windows are both unusual features on synagogues, reflecting the
Inside, the dual influences are strongly in evidence. The synagogue's layout, with the bimah in the center, reflects what was contemporary Orthodox Jewish practice in Eastern Europe. Reading the
The building follows local custom in being oriented perpendicular to the road. This is different from Orthodox tradition, in which the ark is always placed at the rear of the building and toward Jerusalem. At Agudas Achim, the ark is located on the opposite side of the building. To conform to tradition, the entrance would have had to be built at what is the rear of the building, away from the road.[1]
History
Agudas Achim straddles the entire era of Jews in the Catskills. Founded by a religious and ethnically diverse community, it became Orthodox by default, although not all its members were. Along with the Sullivan County resort industry, it went into a slow decline after World War II when other vacation opportunities opened up to the region's primarily Jewish clientele. A change to a formal affiliation with Reform Judaism has reversed the decline of both the building and its congregation. New residents in the area often have second or retirement homes there.
1882–1972: Rise and decline
Jewish settlement in the Livingston Manor area began in 1882 when what was then known as the
In 1900, with the arrival of a new wave of Jews from Eastern Europe, new resorts were developed that catered specifically to Jewish guests. The first Jewish family settled in Livingston Manor in 1906; the first Jewish resort opened two years later. In those early years antisemitism was overt, with local residents regularly referring to the Jews as "kikes". The first recorded action of the Jewish community in the hamlet was in 1912, when several families banded together to buy land for a cemetery. Local Christian graveyards would not accept Jews.[1]
By the 1920s, Jews made up 10% of the local population and played a larger role in local public life, lessening the hostility. Local members of
Beginning in that decade, newer Jewish arrivals in Livingston Manor were as committed to Judaism as a faith as well as a culture. These immigrants began holding
More secular Jews also supported the synagogue, and eventually the school founded by the Arbeiterring closed down. The synagogue observed traditional rites and came to be considered Orthodox although it was never formally affiliated with any broader Orthodox Jewish group. Farmers and hotel owners in the congregation, many of whom lived a long distance from the town, would often drive in for
The Jews of Livingston Manor and their synagogue prospered during the Depression due to a summer influx of middle-class garment workers from the city. Newly unionized, the workers could afford summer vacations at Jewish mountain resorts. Among the Rabbis who served the congregation during this time were Rabbi Meir Bilitsky, ordained at Yeshiva Chaim Berlin, who began his rabbinical career in this synagogue, later moving to New Hyde Park, where he served as rabbi for the rest of his life. This increasing affluence turned against the Catskills in the 1950s. These same Jews and their descendants moved into suburban homes and began to vacation elsewhere, including those resorts that had once been closed to them. Jews began to leave the village, and by 1972 Agudas Achim was open only during the High Holy Days and beginning to deteriorate.[1]
1973–present: Reform and rebirth
As the congregation had dwindled to 35 members, its board began to explore formally becoming a Conservative or Reform synagogue. In 1981 it began hiring Reform rabbis, including women, to conduct services. Several years later, newer members joined with some of the older ones to form a revitalization committee. In 1984, after several older members had retired to Florida, the congregation formally became Reform.[4] The congregation president at the time, Leon Siegel, invested Ladies' Aid Society funds from the 1960s to create an endowment that helped pay for repair and maintenance of the building.[1]
In 1990 the synagogue hired a regular rabbi and began holding services once a month.
It now holds monthly services year-round, even though some of Livingston Manor's Jews
See also
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v LaFrank, Kathleen (July 1998). "National Register of Historic Places nomination, Agudas Achim Synagogue". New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. Archived from the original on October 7, 2012. Retrieved February 6, 2010.
- ^ LaFrank, Kathleen (August 2000). "National Register of Historic Places nomination, Ohave Shalom Synagogue". New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. pp. 4–5. Archived from the original on May 24, 2012. Retrieved April 18, 2009.
- ^ LaFrank, Kathleen (January 2001). "National Register of Historic Places nomination, Hebrew Congregation of Mountaindale Synagogue". New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. p. 5. Archived from the original on May 24, 2012. Retrieved April 14, 2009.
- ^ a b c Rozhon, Tracie (August 16, 1998). "Borscht Belt's Spiritual Survivors; Resilient Catskill Synagogues Enter Historic Register". The New York Times. p. 1. Retrieved February 7, 2010.
... Agudas Achim switched to Reform Judaism in 1984 to increase its membership ('We had to wait until some of our older members moved to Florida,' said the congregation's president, Bob Freedman. 'We didn't want them to feel cut out').
- ^ Times-Herald Record. Middletown, N.Y. Retrieved February 8, 2010.
- ^ "Congregation Agudas Achim, Livingston Manor, NY". Congregation Agudas Achim. 2010. Retrieved February 7, 2010.