| Congregation B'nai Israel Synagogue | |
|---|---|
 South elevation and partial west profile, 2008 | |
| Religion | |
| Affiliation | Conservative Judaism |
| Ecclesiastical or organizational status | Synagogue |
| Status | Active |
| Location | |
| Location | Wagner Avenue,Fleischmanns,New York |
| Country | United States |
  Location inNew York | |
| Coordinates | 42°9′19″N74°31′59″W / 42.15528°N 74.53306°W /42.15528; -74.53306 |
| Architecture | |
| Style | Neo-Classical |
| General contractor | Crosby and Kelly |
| Established | 1918(as a congregation) |
| Groundbreaking | 1920 |
| Completed | c. 1920 |
| Specifications | |
| Direction of façade | South |
| Materials | Wood, stone |
| Website | |
| bnai-israel-fleischmanns-ny | |
Congregation B'nai Israel Synagogue | |
| NRHP reference No. | 02001396 |
| Added to NRHP | November 21, 2002[1] |
Congregation Bnai Israel Synagogue is aConservativesynagogue located on Wagner Avenue inFleischmanns,New York, in the United States.
The wooden building dates from the 1920s, built two years after local farmers founded the congregation.[2] Originally anOrthodox synagogue, it has since become Conservative. It is the only synagogue in theCatskills with an exposedtruss roof. In 2002, the synagogue was added to theNational Register of Historic Places,[1] after a multi-year effort by Bernard Rosenberg, the descendant of a founding member. Congregation Bnai Israel Synagogue is the only synagogue inDelaware County to be listed.
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Nearly all the original synagogues of the Catskill Congregations were, in fact, renovated 19th Century local District Schools. The still extant examples stand in the exact locations of former district schools as plotted on the New York State Topographical Maps of the Mid to late 19th Century, commonly called Beers Atlas Maps. The buildings all have the unmistakable gable facing façade of the New York District Schools of the Hudson Valley. TheGreek Revival style of the early 19th Century with its signature Eave Return was reminiscent of Dutch gable fronted architecture. The design was widely used in New York for Dutch Reformed Churches, Town Halls and District Schools (one room school houses.) Later buildings used the similarNeo-Classical architecture of the Fleischmanns synagogue. In the 1920s the style was archaic as shown by the many examples of updating to the then popularMission style. The proof is in the many examples of the eave-less hidden roof Mission style with Roof Eave Return that exists solely on the synagogues of the Catskill Mountains of the 1920s.
The synagogue occupies a 120-by-192-foot (37 by 59 m)lot on the north side of Wagner Avenue, a side street that runs along the south side of the village, between Ellsworth Avenue and Park Road, southwest of downtown Fleischmanns. The neighborhood is largely residential, with many old boardinghouses from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Behind the houses across the street the ground slopes up to theNY 28state highway, rerouted there from the center of the village. To the west is the park created by Julius Fleischmann, son ofCharles, after whom the village, originally called Griffin Corner, were renamed. Behind the synagogue, to its north, a small grove of trees surrounds the rear of the building, buffering it from theBush Kill. As a consequence of being on the creek'sflood plain, the synagogue's lot is flat and grassy, set off by ornamentalhedges.[2]
The building itself is a one-and-a-half-story three-by-five-bayframe structure on aconcrete blockfoundation. It issided inclapboard and topped by agabled roof with overhangingeaves supported bybrackets. Along the south (front) and side elevations the bays are divided by flatpilasters withDoriccapitals supporting anarchitrave with widefrieze.[2]
On the southfaçade the windows are in deepmoldedlancet arch frames. Below thesashes the eight panes are filled with colored glass; above them they have aStar of David design filled with yellow glass surrounded by blue. Larger versions of this design are in the circular windows at each gable end.[2]
A set of concrete steps leads up to the main entrance, double wooden doors surrounded by an enframement in which pilasters on the side support a large pointed arch with iridescent glass panels. Inside, a narrowvestibule, with a kitchen on the side, leads to another set of double doors which open onto the community room. It has a pass-through window to the kitchen on a rear wall that replicates the sanctuary's original rear wall.
Another set of double doors leads into thesanctuary, which occupies the rear third of the building. The tripartiteark is on the north wall, on abalustraded platform with round-archedcarved wooden doors. On either side are projecting sections with panels.Corinthian columns support anentablature with a wide frieze and projectingcornice with modillions that extends across the center. Atop either side projection is a carved lion. The center section holds theTorah behind sliding wooden doors. It is topped with a round-arched panel with key molding depicting two wooden tablets carved with theTen Commandments.
Thebimah is in front of the ark. It has four heavy posts, two withfinialcarvings on top and wide wooden moldings on its exterior walls.Pews with foliate moldings on their scrolled, curved handrails, surround it on three sides.[2]
The walls and ceiling are finished in wallboard with appliedbattens. A narrow strip old wooden molding makes acourse around the interior at windowsill level. The ceiling has exposed woodentrusses. Above the vestibule, community room, and kitchen is a space that could have been a gallery, with a railing, yet is unfinished and too small to be used as such. It may have been purely decorative.[2]
Jews began settling in the Catskills around the end of the 19th century. Many came to farm but soon found that the hotel business was as lucrative, if not more, with many of their urban co-religionists wanting a mountain vacation at resorts that welcomed them and accommodated theirdietary obligations. In 1918, six of these farmers in the Fleischmanns area who had been meeting in each other's homes for informal religious study formallyincorporated as Congregation Bnai Israel.[2]
A month afterwards, they bought the land for the synagogue they hoped to build for $1. The following year they held a ball to raise more money. A thousand guests attended; it would be remembered for long afterwards as one of the best such events in the region. It raised about $3,500 ($63,000 in contemporary dollars[3]) from affluent Jews in the area and construction was able to begin in 1920.[2]
Local builders Crosby and Kelly, who had also built the village'sSkene Memorial Library two decades earlier, did the construction. It reflects a number of influences common to Catskill synagogues. Its overall plan and sanctuary layout, and the Stars of David in the windows, are in keeping with the Orthodox traditions of the founders. The gable roofs and combination of Gothic andclassical detailing are features borrowed from the Protestant churches abundant in the region. B'nai Israel is unique in the Catskills in having an exposed truss ceiling, a feature suggestingEpiscopalian influences.[2]
After 20 years, the sanctuary was partitioned to create the current community room, kitchen and vestibule. Finishings from the original rear wall were saved and reinstalled on the new rear wall of the community room. There have been no other significant modifications to the building.[2]
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