Park Slope Jewish Center - Part 4

The third historic South Brooklyn congregation from which the present-day Park Slope Jewish Center evolved (after Tifereth Israel and B'nai Jacob) was B'nai Sholaum. PSJC's current history exhibit, "Building on a Strong Foundation," tells us:

B'nai Sholaum began between 1875 and 1886 (sources disagree about this fact) as a Reform congregation, but later took a Conservative path. This was an active congregation, with "modern" ideas, including mixed gender seating. Helen Hadassah Levinthal, the first woman to finish a course of Rabbinical Studies, preached from the pulpit on the High Holidays in 1939. In 1943, it dedicated a Sabbath to "Interfaith Amity and Goodwill." A Unitarian minister gave a speech entitled "Can the Gulf be Bridged?"

By the early 1900s, B'nai Sholaum had two schools, a Sabbath School with 200 students and a Daily School with 25. By 1921, it had 560 contributing members.

In 1897 B'nai Sholaum built the first synagogue in South Brooklyn, at 329 Ninth Street:

Congregation B'nai Sholaum, 1897-1914
329 9th Street
Photo: Brooklyn Public Library

Various local and state politicians attended the cornerstone-laying ceremony. The last mayor of Brooklyn, Frederick Wurster, even donated $100 to the building fund. The congregation choir provided entertainment.

In 1915, the congregation sold 329 9th Street to make way for a movie theater:

(Former) RKO Prospect Theater
Replaced B'nai Sholaum, 1914

They moved a block away and erected a "modern home of worship." The new building, which cost $50,000, had an organ and seating for 800:

Congregation B'nai Sholaum, 1915-1960
Hedman & Schoen, architects - 1913-1915
Photo: Brooklyn Public Library

The first merger discussions with B'nai Jacob Tifereth Israel were held in 1948 (motivated by declining membership?). By 1960, when they finally merged, B'nai Sholaum had 80 members. The building became an American Legion post.

The 1960 merger of Congregation B'nai Sholaum into Congregation B'nai Jacob Tifereth Israel created the present-day Park Slope Jewish Center; we'll conclude the story in a subsequent post.

401 9th Street, 2010

Axel Hedman and Eugene Schoen were the principals of Hedman & Schoen, architects of B'nai Sholaum at 401 9th Street. Axel Hedman was active elsewhere in Park Slope and is the subject of recent articles at the Brooklyn Public Library (1, 2) and on Brownstoner (1, 2).

Hedman & Schoen's building appears to have lost a small projecting cupola over the main entrance, and the two handsome lamps on either side of the steps. The hedges are gone. The neighbors have put away their awnings. Otherwise, the view across 9th Street looks much the same today as it did nearly 100 years ago.

Park Slope Jewish Center - Part 3

The second historic South Brooklyn congregation from which the present-day Park Slope Jewish Center evolved (after Tifereth Israel) was B'nai Jacob. PSJC's current history exhibit, "Building on a Strong Foundation," tells us:

An Orthodox group, it erected a synagogue in 1898 at 136 Prospect Ave., between 3rd and 4th Avenues. The building cost $8,500 and seated 350. New York Mayor Van Wyck and other officials joined in the cornerstone-laying, as did the rabbi of Beth Elohim.

According to the exhibit, B'nai Jacob (together with B'nai Sholaum, another ancestor of PSJC) facilitated the creation of a YMHA that once stood at 345 9th Street, between 5th and 6th Avenues:

In 1906 a Hebrew Young Men's Institute of Brooklyn was formed. (The initial meeting was held at B'nai Jacob.) The group purchased 345 9th Street, and the Y opened the following year. The first successful YMHA in Brooklyn, it was closely affiliated with B'nai Sholaum. The Y's baseball teams played at the Parade Grounds, and its dramatics program was led by Moss Hart. In the 1930s the Y moved to 339 8th Street, the building that now houses Camp Friendship.

The original building at 345 9th Street was approximately where the 9th Street CVS now stands:

345 9th Street - site of YMHA

The Camp Friendship building, where the YMHA met in the 1930s, was erected in 1884 as the Sixth Avenue Methodist Church (later to become the Park Slope United Methodist Church):

Sixth Avenue Methodist Church
John Mumford, architect - 1884

PSJC's exhibit informs us of Congregation B'nai Jacob's ultimate fate:

B'nai Jacob was small. It grew steadily from 75 members in 1908 to 115 by 1925. But the property was condemned in 1942 to make way for the Prospect Expressway. The congregation merged with Tifereth Israel that same year.

Ouch! B'nai Jacob's even-numbered address (#136) would have placed it on the south side of Prospect Avenue, between 3rd & 4th Avenues. As can be seen from the photo below, only the north side of Prospect Avenue still stands; the south side of that block was lost to one of Robert Moses's contributions to Park Slope, the Prospect Expressway:

Prospect Expressway (r) meets the Gowanus Expressway (l)

Thus Congregation B'nai Jacob merged with Congregation Tifereth Israel in 1942 to create the new, consolidated Congregation B'nai Jacob Tifereth Israel.

Up next: Congregation B'nai Sholaum.