Manhattan, NY – The 154-year-old Beth Hamedrash Hagodol synagogue on the Lower East Side is in doubt, Its walls are cracking. Its ceiling is crumbling. Prayer books are rotting.
Join our WhatsApp groupSubscribe to our Daily Roundup Email
Sensing a chance to profit, developers have begun offering millions of dollars to turn part of the temple into condos. So those in charge are faced with this difficult decision: to sell or not to sell.
Rabbi Mendel Greenbaum has shunned the developers, instead hoping to raise nearly $3.5 million to restore the synagogue. Developers have offered to turn the main part of the building into condos while restoring a sanctuary in the basement.
“I’ll hang on until the Meshiach comes,” Greenbaum says emphatically.