Congregation Shomrei Emunah
5202 14th Avenue | also 1374 52nd Street | Borough Park | built 1930
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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.
- 1910
Congregation Shomrei Emunah builds its own yellow-brick synagogue at 14th Avenue and 52nd Street
Founded in 1907, Shomrei Emunah first met at a Masonic hall on New Utrecht Avenue at 56th Street. In 1910 it put up its own Romanesque Revival building of yellow brick, with a large skylight over the bimah, at the corner of 14th Avenue and 52nd Street. Congregations such as Beth El, Anshei Sfard and Bnai Yehuda later drew members from it, and in Borough Park it is known as "The Mother of Jewish Institutions."
Source: Wikipedia
- 1935
Dr. Harry I. Wohlberg becomes rabbi and receives a lifetime contract, a first for an American Orthodox synagogue
Harry I. Wohlberg, who held a professorship in Bible and homiletic literature at Yeshiva University, served as Shomrei Emunah's rabbi from 1935 through 1973. His lifetime contract was the first that an American Orthodox synagogue gave a rabbi. His predecessor from 1928 to 1935, Wolf Gold, had helped found the Williamsburg Talmud Torah and Mesivta Torah Vodaas.
“From 1935 through 1973, Dr. Harry I. Wohlberg, a professor of Bible and homiletic literature at Yeshiva University, was the rabbi. Wohlberg was the first rabbi to receive a lifetime contract…”
Source: Wikipedia
- 1938
After Kristallnacht the congregation holds a public gathering that praises President Roosevelt
After news of the Kristallnacht pogrom arrived in November 1938, Shomrei Emunah held a public gathering at which Franklin D. Roosevelt was praised for the position he had taken on behalf of Jews. The synagogue was by then known for its emphasis on Torah study, which made it a popular stop for visiting European Torah scholars.
Source: Wikipedia
- 2009
Westboro Baptist Church members target the synagogue for an anti-Jewish protest
Fred Phelps led the Westboro Baptist Church, a hate group, and in 2009 its members singled out Shomrei Emunah as the target of an anti-Jewish protest. The congregation, founded in 1907, was by then led by Rabbi Aviezer Cohen, who became its rabbi in 2008.
Source: Wikipedia
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