Historic synagogue in Brooklyn, home to Hebrew Israelites for half a century, set for demolition
Congregation could not repair the building after a 2017 fire, but hopes to rebuild on the site
The home of B’nai Adath Kol Beth Yisrael, a Hebrew Israelite congregation in Brooklyn, that has been vacant since suffering a fire in 2017 was estimated to cost millions of dollars to repair. Photo by Susan Zinder
By Robin Washington March 25, 2024
A demolition crew on Monday brought an end to services ever resuming at the building housing Congregation B’nai Adath Kol Beth Yisrael in Brooklyn.
Leaders of the Hebrew Israelite congregation had long hoped to reopen the 19th century building deemed uninhabitable after a 2017 fire but were unable to raise the millions of dollars needed to restore it. Those hopes faded earlier this year.
“In January the roof fell in,” said Susan Zinder, a lawyer for the mostly Black congregation who called restoring the worship space her family’s passion.
Rabbi Baruch Yehudah, the spiritual leader of the congregation that has been meeting in a private home in recent years, said that collapse was the building’s final death knell. “We were working toward raising the money to tear down the building, but the weather beat us to it,” he said.
Zinder said the city of New York covered the cost of the demolition, deemed necessary because the building was leaning toward a neighboring property. Yehudah said the congregation, which still owns the property, would pay back the city for the demolition.
“It will bring a further financial burden on us, but everyone is safe. No one was hurt,” he said.
B’nai Adath Kol Beth Yisrael was founded in 1954, and purchased the location at 1006 Greene Street in 1966 from B’nai Jacob Joseph, an Ashkenazi congregation. Yehudah said the building quickly became a thriving home for the congregation that now numbers about 300.
“We burnt the mortgage in 1973,” he said. “The founders of the congregation mortgaged their homes. Nobody lost their homes and they paid off the entire synagogue in seven years.”
B’nai Jacob Joseph had owned it since the 1800s, buying it from a Christian denomination, Yehudah said.
Zinder said the Torahs were saved after the 2017 blaze, which the congregation’s leaders say was caused by an errant contractor. But the library was destroyed. Looking to the future, she said the congregation’s immediate need is to raise money to cover the demolition. It will also petition the city to rezone the site with the goal of adding housing to the site along with a rebuilt shul.
On Monday, though, Yehudah and the shul’s congregation concentrated on the present.
“It’s like the funeral for a grandparent,” he said.
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