Dan Damon had remarked that he had lived as a youngster in the area near the Eldridge Street Synagogue Museum which is now a National Landmark and would be interested in some more pictures of the interior.
The Synagogue was built in the late 19th Century by Jews who has emigrated from Eastern Europe. It was the first one in the United States not built by Sephardic Jews of Spanish/Portuguese descent or Western European Jews, and was an outgrowth of one of many small "storefront shules" that were in the lower East Side of New York.
Since Orthodox Jews believe that on the Sabbath and holy days the Torah commanded the day to be set aside for worship for the Lord rested on the Seventh Day. Thus it was forbidden to use any mechanical device or form of transportation. They had to walk to their place of worship. For the extreme orthodox in that era lighting a gas lamp or fire was sacrilege. Today the switching on a light would be the equivalent.
With the changing demographics of the postwar era the Jews had migrated away from the Bowery lower east side area as have the large Italian population that had also settled there, Today that part of New York City is one of the largest Chinese Cites in this country.
The Synagogues Congregation had dwindled to only a few members and the building had fallen into almost total disrepair. It took several decades and millions of contribution dollars for a dedicated group to restore most of the building to its original elegance.
With that sketchy and perhaps slightly inaccurate background here are the first three of some pictures taken under difficult lighting conditions and unfortunately without a tripod.
The first picture is of ceiling of the Sanctuary with a skylight around one supports for a smaller chandelier. If you look closely you will note that the ceiling is covered with stars to represent Heaven.
This view is from the Women's and Children's balcony looking forward toward the Ark which hods the Torah Scrolls. You will note that the large windows in the front are clear glass (actually composed of glass bricks) The original stained glass windows were partially destroyed by a hurricane that hit New York many years ago. There are plans to ultimately when enough funds become available to replace with stain glass. Unfortunately there are no accurate descriptions of what the original windows looked liked.
When the building was being built the Congregation had limited funds and only a few wealthy patrons. They were able to obtain wooden pews from a church that had lost its congregation to the migration of ethnic populations that continues to this day in this country. The origin of the pews explains the unique wood cutouts in pew's ends.
There will be a few more posted in the future when time permits.
My childhood friend, Eva Brune, is the Development Director for the Eldridge Street Synagogue, and when I saw her last year she had already brought in over a million dollars for the restoration.
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