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A Ravaged Central Synagogue To Welcome New Year in Style
This Rosh Hashana, some 4,000 members of Manhattan's Central Synagogue will stand humbly before God -- or as humbly as one can stand in a breathtaking sanctuary that cost a record-breaking $39 million to renovate.
The High Holy Days will be an occasion not only to celebrate the reopening of the national and city landmark after it was ravaged by a fire in August 1998, but to capitalize on a three-year process of community-building, in every sense of the term. According to Central Synagogue's senior rabbi, Peter Rubenstein, among the important lessons learned by the East Side congregration was the realization that the synagogue is more than a beautiful building.
The sanctuary "is not our identity," Rabbi Rubenstein said. "It's an expression of who we are, it's not what we are."
Still, knowing the cost was steep, the congregation opted to renovate rather than relocate, raising almost $24 million despite having completed a $16 million fundraising campaign just before the blaze. Insurance money provided another $16 million.
Built in 1872 on Lexington Avenue at 55th Street, the synagogue, the oldest one in continuous use in the state, was designed in the Moorish revival style that was popular in the era. Founded as Congregation Ahawath Chesed in 1846 by Bohemian immigrants, the congregation, like many Jewish immigrant families, eventually traded downtown squalor for a more luxurious lifestyle uptown. The Reform synagogue practically oozed excess: enormous ceilings, gold-colored ornaments gracing the columns, a pulpit that placed the rabbi on a stage fit for a Broadway play.
Then as now, the building is a wonder to behold. The renovated sanctuary is a Jewish-themed Taj Mahal, a montage...