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September 28, 2009
Ceiling Collapse Shuts Down Slope Synagogue
On Thursday night a section of ceiling collapsed inside Congregation Beth Elohim's synagogue on Garfield Place and 8th Avenue, and the structural damage closed down the house of worship's sanctuary for high holiday services this weekend. The congregation held most of its weekend services at the Old First Reformed Church on Carroll and 7th Avenue. The following email was sent out on Friday about the collapse: "Sometime last night, a large section of our Main Sanctuary's balcony ceiling collapsed. The pieces of plaster are large and quite heavy. We are all so extremely lucky that no one was hurt. After House Committee Co-Chair Susan Doban called in a structural engineer for a full assessment and recommendations for next steps, we were advised that several other sections of the ceiling are compromised and that it is unsafe to sit in certain sections of the Sanctuary until repairs have been made." A Daily News story on the collapse noted that after the holidays had passed, services at Beth Elohim would be held in the synagogue's other two buildings on 8th Avenue. Beth Elohim's website says its sanctuary was completed in 1909.
Old First Reformed Church to House Congregation Beth Elohim [NY Daily News]
Congregation Beth Elohim [Official Site] GMAP
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Comments
Is this the synagogue where the Kansas nutcases protested??
Posted by: daveinbedstuy at September 28, 2009 11:03 AM
http://www.fuckedinparkslope.com/home/the-park-slope-vs-westboro-baptist-church-smackdown.html?SSScrollPosition=268
Posted by: SJ at September 28, 2009 11:06 AM
DIBS, the Kansas nutjobs were all over the city. I think they still are.
I hope this isn't too bad of a problem -- i.e., it can be fixed fairly easily. This synagogue is a beautiful structure.
Posted by: tybur6 at September 28, 2009 11:07 AM
DIBS said that old buildings never had any problems - this most be new construction then.
Posted by: wine lover at September 28, 2009 11:25 AM
DOBS never ever said any such thing.
Posted by: bxgrl at September 28, 2009 11:28 AM
This is one of the wealthiest congregations in the Boro. I am surprised they didn't catch the problem prior to the ceiling collapsing. That seems very very odd.
Posted by: Minard Lafever at September 28, 2009 11:31 AM
Yes, it's where the Kansas whackos were on Sat. There were about half a dozen of "them" & a few hundred of us. All very friendly but those people are truly sick-o.
Posted by: Arkady at September 28, 2009 11:33 AM
winelover, don't be your usual assinine self.
Posted by: daveinbedstuy at September 28, 2009 11:35 AM
who are the kansas whackos, I missed it.
Posted by: Minard Lafever at September 28, 2009 11:44 AM
Minard - It's some kind of baptist religious sect who hate Jews, gays & anyone else who wasn't born into their family in Kansas. They carry signs sasying, "Jesus hates gays" & wear tee-shirts w/ Star of David dripping blood. They're really vile & odious (physically & emotionally ugly.)
Posted by: Arkady at September 28, 2009 11:54 AM
arkady- I'm so sorry i didn't know you were going! I would have gone too- I thought everyone decided to ignore them at the wish of the Rabbi.
Posted by: bxgrl at September 28, 2009 12:03 PM
arkady, they sound awful.
Posted by: Minard Lafever at September 28, 2009 12:07 PM
Whoa. Good fortune that this happened in the middle of the week. Sandwiched between the two most highly attended weekends of the year so very scary near miss.
Posted by: BrooklynLove at September 28, 2009 12:13 PM
Plaster ceilings under balconies in old churches or synagogues tend to have problems due to vibrations from footsteps above. Usually one can see cracking or bulging. They are indeed very fortunate that the ceiling gave way when the building was empty. They should undertake a full inspection of all the interior finishes. Problems like this are not unusual. Leaks can also cause plaster failure.
Posted by: Minard Lafever at September 28, 2009 12:24 PM
"This is one of the wealthiest congregations in the Boro. I am surprised they didn't catch the problem prior to the ceiling collapsing. That seems very very odd."
Minard Lafever
Any you know this (the relative wealth of the congregation)
BTW not saying it is or isnt true, but you dint know it (nor do I) so rather then just posting stuff as fact at least qualify your statements
Posted by: fsrg at September 28, 2009 12:29 PM
Are you kiding me? It costs a fortune to belong to this congregation. The temple is on 8th Avenue in the heart of Park Slope. You may not know what you're talking about, but I certainly do.
Posted by: Minard Lafever at September 28, 2009 12:45 PM
Interesting note on the congregation's website: Park Slope was all but "impenetrable" to Jewish families in the mid-20th Century.
As late as the 70's, acquaintances living on Prospect Park West bragged how their buildings were "restricted."
Good grief!
Which is why Eastern Parkway is where middle- and upper-middle-class Jewish families lived and Turner Towers at 135 Eastern Parkway, according to a Jewish friend of my family's, was built to be "better" than buildings on Prospect Park West.
These fine points of distinction still exist, at least in Manhattan, right down to the wings of the same building.
At 740 Park, the Park-Avenue side of the building has proportionately more Jewish owners than the rear-wing, where "old money" WASPS use a separate elevator core.
My own grandparents left Park Slope in the early 1930s because, as they put it, the neighborhood was "declining." They lived a couple of blocks from the temple and its new community house.
I never correlated their decision with Beth Elohim's arrival and expansion. But I have to wonder.
Posted by: NOP at September 28, 2009 12:59 PM
I dont want to make more of this than it is (which to me appears to be another example of a poster here - writing things as facts that they have no f'ing clue as to whether what they post is actually true or not)
So I'll leave it at this......
Please post, one cite, on link, one tidbit of verifiable data that supports your statement "This is one of the wealthiest congregations in the Boro." (other than its location)
If you cannot - then I submit, I am correct, you are posting out of your a$$ - dont feel bad, it is typical
Posted by: fsrg at September 28, 2009 12:59 PM
fsrq, now you're just being rude. congratulations. I hope it makes you feel superior.
Posted by: Minard Lafever at September 28, 2009 1:20 PM
As I understand it, there's still a co-op on the park that's restricted to catholics.
Posted by: Arkady at September 28, 2009 1:24 PM
fsrq, Minard is right, you know he's right. I know people who go here, I know a wealthy congregation when I see one.
Posted by: infinitejester at September 28, 2009 1:39 PM
My goodness if anyone has been involved in the real estate or architecture business in New York City for longer than ten minutes they know about which are the Jewish builings and which are the Gentile buildings and which are the buildings with the rich Catholic families etc etc. Same with private clubs. It's not the sort of thing that is enforced by law, it is enforced by human mores, for better or worse.
Twenty years ago the racial boundaries in Brooklyn were as hard and fast of those in Johanesburg. Apartheid was not a state law but it may as well been.
Are you all that young?
Posted by: Minard Lafever at September 28, 2009 1:42 PM
You can say that again, Minard.
Emery Roth, architect of today's co-op of the day, was a Jewish immigrant from Hungary who was denied admission to the AIA and wouldn't be allowed to own or rent in several of the buildings he designed. (He ended up building his own pile on the West Side and moving into the penthouse.)
More recently, my parents, who were in the arts, were friends of Harry Belafonte. He couldn't find an apartment for his family so he bought an entire pre-war building just so they could move in. Eventually, he sold off all the other units as co-ops, making a bundle.
Justice of a kind, I suppose.
Posted by: NOP at September 28, 2009 2:01 PM
NOP, yes, there are tons of stories like that. One of the most shocking is that when the UN established its HQ in NYC the staffers from countries in Africa and Asia could not find a place to live. The UN had to build a complex in Queens, financed by Rockeller, so that the staffers could have a decent place to live and raise their families while on duty in the US. That complex is about fifty years old and I heard it was up for landmark designation now, I can't recall the name. But it should definitely be landmarked for the cultural history alone.
Posted by: Minard Lafever at September 28, 2009 2:17 PM
No infinitejester I know know such thing...the statement was one of the "Wealthiest Congregrations" in Brooklyn.....NOT is this a "wealthy" congregation.
Now lets assume that Minard was only talking about Jewish Congregations....do you know how many wealth areas there are in Brooklyn that have sizeable Jewish populations? I know everyone here just focuses on Brownstone Brooklyn (and the 6 neighborhoods that it encompaces) but Brooklyn is FAR bigger. Do you know about the Jews who live in Gravesend (see most expensive home sold in Brooklyn 2 down), what about Manhattan Beach? What about the Jews who live in Brooklyn Heights or Cobble Hill, can you really know how wealthy the very religious congregations are in neighborhoods like Borough Park, Crown Heights, Flatbush???
Again it isnt that its all that important but it is perfect example of the nonsense that people post here constantly - words matter - and so it infuriates me that people dont spend any time choosing theirs (especially in a post that ascribes wealth to jews - when the poster cant possibly know), is it so hard to say (if it is even necessary) - ...this has got to be a wealthy congregation, therefore I am surprised....
It might sound nit picky but again - words have meaning
Posted by: fsrg at September 28, 2009 2:42 PM
Sorry meant "I Know NO such thing"
Posted by: fsrg at September 28, 2009 2:43 PM
It's as if the sacred space recoiled so hard from the hateful nutjobs that it got a hernia. The nutjobs, btw, have no connection with any actual Baptist church (the Baptists have disavowed them), they are a small but virulent hate group dominated by a single sicko family.
Posted by: Brenda from Flatbush at September 28, 2009 2:52 PM
fsrq -I find your words have little if any meaning. You also tend to run your sentences together.
Posted by: Minard Lafever at September 28, 2009 3:00 PM
frsq, go nuts dude! Way to believe.
Posted by: infinitejester at September 28, 2009 3:03 PM
Minard - that's only because you are a moron.
Posted by: fsrg at September 28, 2009 3:12 PM
fsrq, you seem like a very angry person. I'm sorry if I have written something to offend you. I really am. I engage in this for fun not to offend people and cause ill will.
There are many synogogues and churches in the city with dwindling congregations and few if any resources to help maintain their buildings. This is not the case here. This is a healthy, thriving, well-to-do congregation. I am a bit surprised that this problem went undetected until the ceiling collapsed. That's all.
What makes you so angry?
Posted by: Minard Lafever at September 28, 2009 3:24 PM
"This is a healthy, thriving, well-to-do congregation. I am a bit surprised that this problem went undetected until the ceiling collapsed."
- if you said it like this from the beginning then I'd have had no beef.
Posted by: fsrg at September 28, 2009 3:41 PM
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