Under its roof, our community, which now counts many multi-generational families,  joins in song to celebrate Shabbat and holy days as well as life cycle events. Hundreds of couples have stood under the huppah, and babies and b’nai mitzvah have been blessed. Martin Luther King Jr., Eleanor Roosevelt, and Shimon Peres once delivered impassioned speeches from its bimah.

B’nai Jeshurun’s Sanctuary has a long and rich history, and in 2018, we commemorate 100 years in its current, 88th Street location. First dedicated in 1918, the Sanctuary has been a leading force in New York Jewry, serving as a center for Jewish spirituality and learning, community service, and social justice. It’s been a home away from home for many, a place of music, study, introspection, growth, fellowship, and service.

Within its walls, community members have inspiration and insight from BJ’s long line of rabbis and cantors, and speakers including ambassadors, Knesset members, clergy of different faith traditions, political leaders, human rights and civil rights activists, writers, and artists. Over the years, the Sanctuary has also served the broader community. In 2012 for example, it became a staging ground for Hurricane Sandy relief supplies; in January 2017 it was a gathering point for the Women’s March.

Architecture and design

The community’s current home on 88th Street between Broadway and West End Avenue is its fifth location since B’nai Jeshurun was founded in 1825. The Sanctuary was built in a Moorish Revival style—a synagogue style very much in vogue at the time—with elaborate, colorful mosaics and paintings.

Visitors make their way into the building through an arched, intricately carved entrance made of weathered stone. Inside, at either end of the lobby, grand staircases rise up to the balcony, which is crowned by the magnificent rose window brought in from BJ’s previous synagogue building.

Heading further into the Sanctuary, one is struck by the large, open space and richly ornamented bimah, painted in reds, blues, and gold, with Coptic-like designs that suggest a Moorish and Persian influence. Over the years, the building’s original side windows were replaced with intricate stained glass panels depicting Jewish stories and dedications made in memory of congregation members. The BJ sanctuary seats about 1,100.

The 20th century

In 1927, the cornerstone was laid for the B’nai Jeshurun Community House, behind the Sanctuary, on 89th Street. Dedicated in 1928, the seven-story building included an auditorium, ballroom, chapel, classrooms, clubrooms, women’s salon, and library.

The congregation flourished on 88th Street, until, in 1991, a large chandelier collapsed, bringing half a ton of plaster from the original ceiling down onto the bimah. Luckily, the building was empty at the time. In 1996, repairs were completed and the synagogue was rededicated. The original pews were removed to open up the space, and a new ceiling with a grid-like structure, known as the space frame, with programmable lighting system was installed.

In 2010 BJ reacquired the 89th Street building, which it had sold to the Abraham Joshua Heschel School in the early 1980s. The reacquisition allows members and guests to pray and celebrate together on Shabbat. In September 2017, BJ celebrated “Under One Roof,” as the link that joins the Sanctuary and the Community House was completed to create one, unified campus.

Early history

BJ’s current home was more than 350 years in the making. John Quincy Adams was president in 1825 when a group of Ashkenazic members of the Spanish-Portuguese Congregation Shearith Israel in Lower Manhattan broke off to establish Congregation B’nai Jeshurun. The synagogue then migrated across the city, making its home in a number of different locations until 1918.

BJ started out in temporary facilities at 533 Pearl Street. In the 1800s, members bought and remodeled the former First Coloured Presbyterian Church—at 119 Elm Street, near Canal Street, for $8,300. Elm Street served as the congregation’s home for 25 years.

In 1849, the congregation outgrew itself, and members built a new synagogue on Greene Street, between Houston and Bleecker. In 1865, as Jews began to move uptown, the congregation purchased land on 34th Street where it built a new synagogue. Macy’s now stands on the site. BJ moved north again in 1885, constructing a new synagogue on Madison Avenue between 64th and 65th Streets.