Magen David Synagogue

2017 67th Street | also 2021 67th Street | Bensonhurst | built 1921

Open on the map7 entries

The lot about 1940
About 1940. Via 1940s.nyc
The lot about 1985
About 1985. Via 80s.nyc

The city photographed every building for its tax records around 1940 and again in the 1980s. NYC Municipal Archives.

Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.

  1. 1919

    Syrian Jews in Bensonhurst charter the Magen David Congregation

    Some of the first Syrian Jews to settle in Bensonhurst founded the Magen David Congregation, which New York State chartered in 1919. Its first services were held in an Ashkenazic synagogue's basement on 66th Street, and the group soon bought a rowhouse nearby on the same street. A large wave of new immigrants from Syria around 1919 made a bigger building necessary.

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

  2. 1920

    Asian and Salha Chalom buy a lot on 67th Street and give it to the congregation

    The Chaloms, Asian and Salha, who belonged to the Syrian-Jewish community, bought a lot on 67th Street in October 1919 and donated it to the Magen David Congregation the next year, so that it could build a new synagogue. The congregation had already bought a rowhouse on 66th Street, and a large wave of new Syrian immigrants around 1919 had created a need for more space.

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

  3. 1921

    December 21

    The synagogue is dedicated on 67th Street

    The cornerstone of the new synagogue was laid on September 12, 1920, and the building opened and was dedicated on December 21, 1921. The congregation asked for a sanctuary large enough for at least 500 worshipers, one that could serve for many years to come, and hired architect Maurice Courland to design it.

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

  4. 1921

    Maurice Courland, a Palestine-born architect of synagogues, designs the building

    The congregation hired Maurice Courland (1892-1957), who was born in Palestine, studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, then at City College in New York. He had practiced in Buenos Aires before setting up in New York in 1919 and specialized in synagogues and schools. His other work included the Gates of Hope Temple on West 179th Street and the Free Synagogue of Flushing.

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

  5. 1921

    Brick patterns, Egyptian motifs and a Star of David roof mark the neo-Romanesque design

    Courland built the synagogue on a modern steel skeleton but clad it in patterned brick, with round-arched windows and projecting piers that suggest buttresses. Egyptian motifs over the main door and on stone panels near the roofline point to the Middle Eastern roots of the congregation and architect. Stone Tablets of the Law top the front roof and a bronze Star of David crowns the pyramidal roof.

    “Egyptian motifs above the main door and on the stone panels near the roofline are suggestive of the Middle Eastern provenance of both the congregation and the architect.”

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

  6. 1940

    As families move to Midwood and Gravesend, the synagogue remains the place for funerals

    In the 1940s most Syrian Jews left Bensonhurst for larger houses in Midwood and Gravesend, where new synagogues were built. Magen David kept serving a small local group, and Rabbi Jacob Kassin, the community's chief rabbi, was long affiliated with it. Community members who no longer attend regularly still commonly hold their funerals in the building.

    “…it is common for members of the Syrian-Jewish community who do not attend here regularly to have their funerals at this building.”

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

  7. 2001

    April 24

    The city designates the synagogue a landmark

    The Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the synagogue a landmark on April 24, 2001, after a public hearing on February 13. Four speakers backed designation, including the congregation's president and a representative of the Historic Districts Council, and no one spoke against it. The commission also received a letter of support from the congregation.

    “There were four speaker s in favor of designation, including the president and another representative of the congregation and a representative of the Historic Districts Council.”

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

Further reading

Nearby

All 5 buildings with stories in Bensonhurst