Agudas Achim

Yesterday I attended a rally in support of Agudas Achim North Shore Congregation, which, as I wrote in my previous entry, had been vandalized about a week ago. All who attended were given the opportunity to brush a bit of white paint over the graffiti, though given the extreme cold, it was largely a symbolic act.

According to news reports, nearly 200 assembled there, a large enough group that it was necessary to gather in the unheated sanctuary. The goyim kept their heads covered just to keep their ears warm. We all shivered, and our toes grew numb as we listened to the words of the neighborhood's religious and community leaders. One speaker, Rev. Richard Simon of St. Thomas of Canterbury Catholic Church, actually put together a few complete sentences of Yiddish. A Yiddish-speaking Catholic priest -- now I've seen it all!

This was my first time inside the Agudas Achim building, an impressive structure built for a much larger and more prosperous Jewish community than now exists in the neighborhood. Looking around the ruin of the sanctuary, I could imagine what it must have been like when it was new. But now the roof leaks, ceiling tiles are falling off, plastered walls are deteriorating, and windows are boarded up. The only parts that have not suffered from neglect are the bimah and the ark, which contrasted with their surroundings, are radiantly beautiful. Above the ark were the Hebrew words: Daw lifnei mi ata omed -- Know before whom you stand.

It is unfortunate that a building such as this should lose its congregation and fall into such disrepair. The rabbi of the congregation, Rabbi Lefkowitz, has been working to keep the synagogue going, but it must be an uphill battle. The work that needs to be done looks so overwhelming. From their website:

Structurally sound, this more than three quarters of a century old building needs a great deal of repair to make it fully functional. Its functionality is essential to respond to the needs of a large population numbering in the thousands, living at or slightly above the poverty level, who desperately need a center to meet their religious, cultural, social and medical needs. Unlike other majestic buildings of the past, Agudas Achim North Shore Congregation is once again a functioning Synagogue. Its congregants, mostly seniors from the former Soviet Union, require a full array of support activities.

As Rev. Simon said, "It is a shame what was sprayed on the bricks of this building. But it would be a tragedy for the bricks not to be there at all."