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Everyone in LES is still pretty stunned by the demolition of the Rivington Street temple that took place last week. We walked by over the weekend, and tons of people were still gathering on the sidewalk, staring into the ruined shell of a building that was once described as "Carnegie Hall for Cantors." Everyone had their cameras out-- snapping pictures of the remaining back wall, which still had the stained glass and undamaged bema. Yesterday the Times had a good article on the collapse of the Temple-- along with some bad news-- sounds like the lot is zoned up to 12 stories, and the temple might rebuild as part of a larger building:
Rabbi Spiegel repeated a commitment that he had made after the roof collapse, when he said the congregation would remain on Rivington Street. He said it would rebuild on the same site.He declined, however, to discuss the size or shape of a new building, which could be far larger than the old synagogue and designed for more than a single use, according to city zoning rules. The 70-by-100-foot site would be suitable for a 12-story building without any zoning changes under the city's current rules.
But the city is expected to rule within a year on a proposal to reduce the scale of new development in the neighborhood, responding to widespread fears of overdevelopment.
We've heard lots of conspiracy theories that the congregation allowed the roof to deteriorate in order that it would collapse and give them an excuse to sell the building. Let's hope that's not true.
Related: we're still looking for an overhead shot of the ruined temple-- if you live in one of the buildings across the street, and can take a shot from a window or the roof, please send it in. Until then, we'll all have to make do with these links:
Times shot of the interior before collapse
Curbed shots of bulldozing in progress
Pix by Jordarnold on Flickr
Set by NemB on Flickr
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Technically, the "Bema" is the elevated stage portion set before the "Aron" where the Torahs are actually stored.
Yesterday, we read of human tragedy (a 14 year old suicide victim), today it is architectural tragedy. Again, let us learn and not repeat our mistakes. I am sure I don't have all the fact about why this shul was demolished, but I am certain it had to do with dwindling membership and dwindling coffers. What a shonde to allow any beautiful building fall to the wrecking ball, particularly when it was so much a part of neighborhood history. The Europeans would never have let this happen (but then again, they are taxed at a higher rate than we are to allow socialist governments to spend money on health care and historic preservation).
yeah, let it deteriorate=collapse in order to demolish...as long as it collapses when no one is actually inside the temple or around it.
right...
I could see its people second that. nice try.
It would not shock me at all if this temple was allowed to 'naturally' collapse after years of conscious neglect. This has actually happened to Temples all around the city and it's something that isn't talked enough about.
I'm not a religious Jew, but my impression of the religious Jewish community in NYC nowadays is that they are not greedy as much as the 'beauty' of the places they worship in is not as important to them as they proclaim. There are TONS of storefront temples and home-based congregations all over the place. The Jewish religious community in NYC right now is painfully uncaring about the history of the diaspora in NYC.
I don't know where it comes from. Israel being around. Or maybe this "Mosiach is Coming" mentality is making the religious community reassess their 'earthly trappings' but it's really sickening.
I'm not that old (37) but I really do remember going to high school and going to TONS of different Knish and Jewish food places ALL OVER this city in the 1980s. Nowadays, there's Yonnah Shimmel, Katz's Deli and that's it.
Perhaps connecting the fate of a century's old temple and Jewish food places is a stretch, but the secular Jewish community in NYC seems to really be dying. And I'm personally a bit sick of it. And in its own odd way, the collapse of this temple affects the secular community as well because it's yet another sign of a rich Jewish Lower East Side heritage fading away.