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The Bialystoker Synagogue at 7-11 Willett Street on the Lower East Side of Manhattan
Manhattan

Manhattan is one of the five borough of New York City, located primarily on Manhattan Island at the mouth of the Hudson River.With a United States Census of 1,620,867 living in a land area of 22.96 square miles , Manhattan, coextensive with New York County, is the most population density county in the United States, w...
, New York City
New York City

The City of New York is the List of United States cities by population in the United States, while the New York metropolitan area ranks among the List of urban areas by population....
, New York State is an Orthodox
Orthodox Judaism

Orthodox Judaism is a Jewish denominations of Judaism that adheres to a relatively strict constructionist and application of the laws and ethics first canonized in the Talmudic texts and as subsequently developed and applied by the later authorities known as the Gaonim, Rishonim, and Acharonim....
 Jewish synagogue
Synagogue

A synagogue is a Jewish house of prayer.Synagogues usually have a large hall for prayer , smaller rooms for study and sometimes a social hall and offices....
. The physical building is registered as an historic landmark.

Bialystoker Synagogue was first organized in 1865 on Manhattan's Lower East Side as the Chevra Anshei Chesed of Bialystok, founded by a group of Jews who came from town of Bialystok
Bialystok

Bialystok is the largest city in northeastern Poland and the second-densely populated city of the country. It is located near Poland's border with Belarus and is the capital of the Podlachia region....
 in Poland
Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe. Poland is bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian Enclave and exclave, to the north....
.






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The Bialystoker Synagogue at 7-11 Willett Street on the Lower East Side of Manhattan
Manhattan

Manhattan is one of the five borough of New York City, located primarily on Manhattan Island at the mouth of the Hudson River.With a United States Census of 1,620,867 living in a land area of 22.96 square miles , Manhattan, coextensive with New York County, is the most population density county in the United States, w...
, New York City
New York City

The City of New York is the List of United States cities by population in the United States, while the New York metropolitan area ranks among the List of urban areas by population....
, New York State is an Orthodox
Orthodox Judaism

Orthodox Judaism is a Jewish denominations of Judaism that adheres to a relatively strict constructionist and application of the laws and ethics first canonized in the Talmudic texts and as subsequently developed and applied by the later authorities known as the Gaonim, Rishonim, and Acharonim....
 Jewish synagogue
Synagogue

A synagogue is a Jewish house of prayer.Synagogues usually have a large hall for prayer , smaller rooms for study and sometimes a social hall and offices....
. The physical building is registered as an historic landmark.

History

The Bialystoker Synagogue was first organized in 1865 on Manhattan's Lower East Side as the Chevra Anshei Chesed of Bialystok, founded by a group of Jews who came from town of Bialystok
Bialystok

Bialystok is the largest city in northeastern Poland and the second-densely populated city of the country. It is located near Poland's border with Belarus and is the capital of the Podlachia region....
 in Poland
Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe. Poland is bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian Enclave and exclave, to the north....
. The congregation was begun in a building on Hester Street
Hester Street

Hester Street is a street in the Lower East Side, Manhattan of the New York City borough of Manhattan. The street stretches from Essex Street to Centre Street , with a discontinuity between Chrystie Street and Forsyth Street for Sara Delano Roosevelt Park....
, then it later moved to Orchard Street
Orchard Street

The name Orchard Street can refer to the following roads:* Orchard Street , New York City* Orchard Street * Orchard Road, Singapore* Orchard Street ...
, and ultimately to its present location 7-11 Bialystoker Place on the Lower East Side.

In order to accommodate the influx of new immigrants from that area of Poland, in 1905 the congregation merged with congregation Hadas Yeshuan, also from Bialystok, and formed the Bait Ha'Knesset Anshi Bialystok (The Bialystoker Synagogue). The newly formed congregation then purchased and moved into The Willett Street Methodist Episcopal Church at 7 Willet Street (now 7-11 Willet Street, later renamed Bialystoker Place). During the Great Depression
Great Depression

File:International depression.pngThe Great Depression was a worldwide economic Recession starting in most places in 1929 and ending at different times in the 1930s or early 1940s for different countries....
, a decision was made to beautify the main sanctuary, to provide a sense of hope and inspiration to the community.

Architecture

The fieldstone Methodist Episcopal Church building was built in 1826 in the late Federal style architecture. The building is made of Manhattan schist
Manhattan schist

The Manhattan schist is a formation of mica schist rock that underlies much of the island of Manhattan in New York City. It is well suited for the foundations of tall buildings and the two large concentrations of skyscrapers on the island occur where the formation is close to the surface....
 from a quarry on nearby Pitt Street. The exterior is marked by three windows over three doors framed with round arches, a low flight of brownstone steps, a low pitched pediment roof with a lunette window and a wooden cornice.

The synagogue was listed as a New York City Landmark on April 19, 1966. It is one of only four early-19th century fieldstone religious buildings surviving from the late Federal period in Lower Manhattan. Richard McBee and Dodi-Lee Hecht have both written in-depth articles about the building.

As the synagogue is home to an Orthodox Jewish congregation, a balcony section was constructed to accommodate female congregants. In the corner of the women’s gallery a small hidden door in the wall that leads to a ladder going up to an attic, lit by two windows was constructed. When it was first opened, the building was a rest stop for the Underground Railroad
Underground Railroad

The Underground Railroad was an informal network of secret routes and safe houses used by 19th century African American Slavery in the United States in the United States to escape to free state and Canada with the aid of Abolitionism who were sympathetic to their cause....
 movement; runaway slaves found sanctuary in this attic.

When the air conditioning
Air conditioning

An air conditioner is an appliance, system, or Mechanism designed to extract heat from an area via a refrigeration cycle. In construction, a complete system of heating, Ventilation , and air conditioning is referred to as "HVAC." Its purpose, in a building or an automobile, is to provide comfort during either hot or cold...
 was updated in the 1990's, an issue arose in the construction of rooftop units because of the building's historical landmark status. Because of these concerns, the cooling units were installed on the side of the building.

Present activity

In 1988 the congregation restored the interior to its original splendor, and the former Hebrew school building that is attached, but had become dilapidated, was renovated and reopened as The Daniel Potkorony Building. The magnificent stained glass windows were recently completely recreated and renewed.

See also

  • Kossar's Bialystoker Kuchen Bakery
    Kossar's Bialys

    Kossar's Bialys on the Lower East Side, Manhattan is the oldest bialy bakery in the United States....
  • Bugsy Siegel Cultural References
    Bugsy Siegel

    Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel was an United States gangster who was a major driving force behind large-scale development of Las Vegas, Nevada....


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