From the NY Times:Jerry Banberger scarcely observed any of his tribe’s rituals, but after watching the twin towers collapse from the roof of his Queens loft, he felt a primal need to say Kaddish.
So he wandered into the Sunnyside Jewish Center, and ended up staying long enough to say a kind of Kaddish — a mourners’ prayer — for the synagogue building itself. Once flush with 1,500 members, the congregation had fewer than 50, who could no longer afford the building’s upkeep.
Within four years, the grand edifice that had hosted teeming Yom Kippur services and countless bar mitzvahs was sold to and torn down by a developer, leaving a rubble-strewn lot.
But unlike many of his broken-hearted members, Mr. Banberger, who had become the Jewish center’s president, did not simply grieve.
Using some of the $4.9 million from the sale of the old building, he has resurrected the synagogue in what was a two-family house a few blocks away. The new basement prayer space is what many Jews might have dismissed as a shtibl, a little prayer room, but Mr. Banberger is working with an architect to a remodel it for a synagogue look.
Still, Mr. Banberger, a tall, bearded 66-year-old graphic designer whom other members call “the new kid on the block,” acknowledges that it is a desperate roll of the dice. “So you might call me a dreamer,” he said. “Yeh, I’m a dreamer, but sometimes fantasies become reality.”
7 comments:
about time sunnyside jews had some more presence in the neighborhood. there are a few of us...might as well have a place to hang out.
This story is similar to my own.
Every Saturday, my friend Mendy and I visit the Selfhelp senior residences near downtown Flushing, where a tiny Orthodox service scrapes by. Click on my name for the story.
A few blocks away, my friend Isaac Sasson leads the services at the Kissena Jewish Center.
The second floor is rented to a Chinese pre-k school, and the parking lot is used by a nearby Chinese church.
Often, we can barely gather enough men to hold services, but we are a resilient people.
Arent gentiles considered insignificant in comparision to jewish people?
What a wonderful way of living/thinking.
Arent gentiles considered insignificant in comparision to jewish people?
What a wonderful way of living/thinking.
re:
"Arent gentiles considered insignificant in comparison to jewish people?
What a wonderful way of living/thinking."
I assume you're just trolling, but just in case...
Where exactly is it stated that Gentiles are "insignificant" in comparison to Jewish people?
Also, Jews were shown much "love" by their Gentile neighbors throughout the ages (including in this country as well) for their belief that Jesus is not divine. Why should that non-belief have made the Jews "insignificant" and worthy of the many atrocities committed against them by, of all faiths, people whose founder and Lord exhorted them to love their neighbor like themselves?
My point is that many faiths allegedly believe that they and their adherents are granted certain glory or reward; How each individual person acts towards others is the way in which others should judge them, not by an alleged theoretical precept.
Incidentally, at a Jewish institution I have some affiliation with, the Gentile (unarmed) security guards and other Gentile employees are greeted warmly and respectfully, with as much respect as that given to the Jewish employees.
Sei gesund.
"The second floor is rented to a Chinese pre-k school, and the parking lot is used by a nearby Chinese church."
I can relate to your story Sergey - but as a Protestant. Many of our smaller churches are now "multi-faith" houses of worship and/or rent out their space for various activities and events.
I don't go to Church except for he holidays. This year for XMas I went to my childhood church in Flushing. The congregation is small and also mostly elderly. Their children are around my age. It was great to reconnect with them after all these years. I so admire their loyalty to the Church and to each other.
I enjoyed your story - thank you for sharing it.
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