The First Roumanian-American Congregation, also known as Congregation Shaarey Shomayim, or the Roumanishe Shul, was an Orthodox Jewish congregation that, for over 100 years, occupied a historic building at 89–93 Rivington Street on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, New York. Those who organized the congregation in 1885 were part of a substantial wave of Romanian-Jewish immigrants. The synagogue became famous as the \”Cantor’s Carnegie Hall\”, because of its high ceiling, good acoustics, and seating for up to 1,800 people. The congregation’s membership was in the thousands in the 1940s, but by the early 2000s had declined to around 40. In January
About First Roumanian-American Congregation in brief
The First Roumanian-American Congregation, also known as Congregation Shaarey Shomayim, or the Roumanishe Shul, was an Orthodox Jewish congregation that, for over 100 years, occupied a historic building at 89–93 Rivington Street on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, New York. Those who organized the congregation in 1885 were part of a substantial wave of Romanian-Jewish immigrants. The synagogue became famous as the \”Cantor’s Carnegie Hall\”, because of its high ceiling, good acoustics, and seating for up to 1,800 people. The congregation’s membership was in the thousands in the 1940s, but by the early 2000s had declined to around 40. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1998, but the congregation was reluctant to accept outside assistance in maintaining it. In January 2006, the synagogue’s roof collapsed, and the building was demolished two months later. It was built around 1860 by the Second Reformed Presbyterian Church, which served the area’s large German immigrant community. The origins of the congregation are disputed; its establishment in 18 85 may have been a re-organization of a congregation founded in 1860. An estimated three-quarters of the Jews in Romania emigrating to the United States settled in New York City, primarily in the LowerEast Side. Over 75,000 of these immigrants were from Romania, where Jews faced antisemitic laws, violence and expulsion. In 1881 through 1914, approximately 2 million Jews immigrated to the U.S.
from Europe, and about 30 percent of them settled in Manhattan. In 1895, the pastor of the Methodist Episcopal Church stated that the church’s new purpose was to “attract Jewish immigrants seeking conversion” It was unsuccessful in this endeavor, however, and in 1895 the church was renamed the Allen Street Church. In 1889, the congregation moved to 216 East 15th Street, near Second Avenue, selling the building to the New York city Church Extension and Missionary Society. In November 1864, it was sold to the Orthodox German-Jewish Congregationshaaray HashomayIM, which had been founded in 1841. The church later purchased the building in 1902 and again remodeled it. The renovations cost approximately $36,000 and included an entirely new Romanesque Revival facade in the reddish-orange brick that was also used on several other churches. In December 2005, water damage was found in the structural beams, and services were moved to the living room of the rabbi’s mother. The structure was demolished in January 2006. It had been the preferred house of worship for the Romanian quarter’s inhabitants, with 1,500 to 1-800 people per block. The original church building was designed by Cady, at the time, and included the original Metropolitan Opera building, the American Museum of Natural History, and several other public buildings, including university museums and hospitals and other institutions. The new church was built in 1864.
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