Millinery Center Synagogue

Millinery Center Synagogue is a Jewish Orthodox synagogue located in the Garment District of New York City.[1]

Millinery Center Synagogue
Millinery Center Synagogue
Religion
AffiliationOrthodox Judaism
StatusActive
Location
Location1025 6th Avenue (38th St)
New York City, NY 10018 U.S.
StateNew York
Location within New York City
Geographic coordinates40.752615°N 73.986044°W / 40.752615; -73.986044
Architecture
Architect(s)Hyman Isaac "H.I." Feldman
StyleModernist
Art Deco
Completed1948
September 12, 1948
(dedication)
Construction cost$150,000
Specifications
Capacity125
Length60 feet
Width19 feet

History

The synagogue was supported by the many millinery organizations that were based in the neighborhood.[2] A group of these ready-to-wear industry business men had been meeting in various spaces, mostly in a loft on West 36th Street. Their rabbi during this very loosely organized time was Rabbi Moshe Ralbag. In January 1933, the congregation was more formally organized and the name of the synagogue, the Millinery Center Synagogue, was agreed upon, although the meeting place was temporary, at 1011 Sixth Avenue, on the second floor.[3] Moe Brillstein (the father of film producer Bernie Brillstein)[4] became president and started a building fund. At that point the congregation came together and decided to build a synagogue.[5]

Due to the density of millinery businesses in the neighborhood, at its peak, services for daily minyan were typically so heavily attended that the prayer sessions were held in rotating shifts.[6]

Structure
H.I. Feldman
Millinery Center logo

The synagogue was built by H.I. Feldman,[5] a prolific,[7] Yale-educated architect who built thousands of Art Deco and Modernist-style buildings in New York City,[8][9] notably 1025 Fifth Avenue (between 83rd and 84th Streets) on the Upper East Side and the LaGuardia Houses on the Lower East Side, as well as many buildings that line the Grand Concourse in the Bronx. Feldman and his company, The Feldman Company, also built the Federation of Jewish Philanthropies building (130 East 59th Street) and the United Jewish Appeal building (220 West 58th Street).[10]

There were wartime restrictions on building, so building was postponed for a time until 1947. The building's construction was completed in September 1948, and the synagogue was dedicated on September 12, 1948.[11]

Millinery Center Synagogue facade

The limestone building itself is narrow, approximately 19 feet wide by 60 feet deep,[12] and cost $150,000 to build.[11] It was notable for having air conditioning.[11]

Current

On May 3, 2017, the Board of Trustees of Millinery Center Synagogue nominated Rabbi Avrohom Dov Kahn to serve as rabbi. On May 10, 2017 Rabbi Kahn was elected in a landslide. It was the first election of a rabbi of the synagogue in over two decades.[13][14]

A week later on May 17, Rabbi Kahn was formally installed as rabbi in a program featuring three young professionals who spoke about the important impact the synagogue and Rabbi Kahn had made on them.[15] Harav Doniel Lander, Rosh Hayeshiva of Yeshivas Ohr Hachaim, spoke movingly of his decades-long close friendship with Rabbi Kahn and those attributes that made Rabbi Kahn eminently qualified to lead the synagogue in its rejuvenation and renewal efforts. Rabbi Kahn concluded the program by outlining what he hoped to do for the synagogue and how he hoped to guide MCS to reach out and benefit Jews throughout all of midtown Manhattan.” [16]

Leadership

Rabbinical
  • Rabbi Moshe Ralbag
  • Rabbi Morris Gordon
  • 1942-1970: Dr. Alexander J. Burnstein[17]
  • 1980-85: Rabbi Abraham Berger[18]
  • 1985-1990: Rabbi David Friedberg
  • 1990-1992: Rabbi Leonard Guttman[19]
  • 1992-2016: Rabbi Hayim S. Wahrman[20][21][22]
  • 2017-present: Rabbi Avrohom Dov Kahn[13][14]

Cantor
  • 1935-1944: Rev. Israel Wolwoff
  • 19445-1952: Cantor Seymour Tardov
  • 1952-1953: Cantor Abraham L. Eckstein
  • 1954- : Cantor Joseph Guttman

Presidents
  1. Moe Brenner, Willow Hat Co.[23]
  2. Harry Sperling, Lanrose Hat Co.[24]
  3. 1943-1950: Moe Brillstein
  4. 1950-1951: David Blum
  5. 1952-1953: Ernest "Ernie" Moskowitz
  6. 1953/4-1955/6: Abraham "Abe" Friedenberg
  7. 1955/6-1957/8: Meyer G. Kantor
  8. 1957/8-1959: Moe Brillstein
  9. 1959-: Israel E. Stillman
  10. Abraham "Abe" Kramer[25]
  11. Joseph Lobel
  12. Jack Markowitz
  13. Michael Reminick [26]

Founders
  • Moe Brillstein
  • Sam Neger[27]

Publications
  • Millinery Center Synagogue. Millinery Center Synagogue. Twentieth Annual Banquet, Hotel Astor, Saturday, February 19, 1955. New York, NY: Millinery Center Synagogue, 1955. Microfilm. OCLC 28445176 NYPL b14752188
  • Millinery Center Synagogue. Millinery Center Synagogue. Twenty-Fifth Annual Banquet, Hotel Roosevelt, Saturday, February 13, 1960. New York, NY: Millinery Center Synagogue, 1960. Microfilm. OCLC 16839624 NYPL b10013443
  • Millinery Center Synagogue. Millinery Center Synagogue. Twenty-Ninth Annual Banquet, Hotel Americana, Saturday, February 22, 1964. New York, NY: Millinery Center Synagogue, 1964. Book. OCLC 80187963 NYPL b10942020
  • Millinery Center Synagogue. Millinery Center Synagogue. Thirty-Fourth Annual Banquet, Hotel Plaza, Sunday, February 16, 1969. New York, NY: Millinery Center Synagogue, 1969. Book. OCLC 78754863 NYPL b10941979
  • Millinery Center Synagogue. Millinery Center Synagogue. Fortieth Annual Journal, Regency Hotel, Saturday, February 15, 1975. New York, NY: Millinery Center Synagogue, 1975. Book. OCLC 40554259 NYPL b13954288

References
  1. Bleyer, Jennifer (18 March 2007). "The City: 'City of Refuge'". The New York Times. Retrieved 21 September 2015.
  2. Miller, Tom (17 March 2012). "The 1948 Millinery Center Synagogue -- No. 1025 6th Avenue". Dayton in Manhattan. Retrieved 21 September 2015.
  3. "Millinery: Millinery Center Synagogue In Lease". Women’s Wear Daily. 50 (37). Fairchild Fashion Media. 21 February 1935. p. 18. ISSN 0043-7581. ProQuest 1653253799. ProQuest document ID 1653253799
  4. Brillstein, Bernie; Rensin, David (1999). Where Did I Go Right?: You're No One in Hollywood Unless Someone Wants You Dead! (1st ed.). Boston: Little, Brown. ISBN 978-0-316-11885-9. OCLC 40954091. Retrieved 21 September 2015.
  5. "New Synagogue Is Planned" (PDF). The New York Times. 7 October 1945. p. 28. Retrieved 21 September 2015.
  6. Trebay, Guy (14 November 2000). "Dot-Coms Intrude in the Land of Needle and Thread". The New York Times. Retrieved 23 September 2015.
  7. "Feldman Notes Widening Field For Architects in Last 30 Years". New York Herald Tribune. IHT Corporation. 2 September 1951. p. 1C. ProQuest 1321533100. ProQuest document ID 1321533100
  8. Gardner, James (21 July 2007). "A Building Now To Be Remembered". The New York Sun. Retrieved 21 September 2015.
  9. Fatouros (née Feldman), Naomi (20 March 2002). "H. I. Feldman, NYC Architect: To The Editor". The City Review. Retrieved 21 September 2015.
  10. Ennis, Thomas W. (27 January 1981). "H.I. Feldman, Head of Architecture Concern, Dies". Retrieved 21 September 2015.
  11. "Millinery Area Synagogue Is Dedicated Here: New Limestone Structure in Avenue of Americas Will Accommodate 125". New York Herald Tribune. IHT Corporation. 13 September 1948. p. 9. ProQuest 1327476516. ProQuest document ID 1327476516
  12. Levitt, Ellen (2013). The Lost Synagogues of Manhattan: Including Shuls from Staten Island and Governors Island: Including Shuls from Staten Island and Governors Island. Bergenfield, N.J.: Avotaynu, Inc. p. 26. ISBN 978-0-983-69752-7. OCLC 844074027.
  13. Kadinsky, Sergey "Storied Midtown Synagogue Installs Queens Rabbi" Queens Jewish Link May 17, 2017 http://www.queensjewishlink.com/featured-stories/storied-midtown-synagogue-installs-queens-rabbi/
  14. private email sent to synagogue members on May 5, 2017, titled "Mazel Tov - we have a wonderful new Rabbi"
  15. Millinery Center Synagogue YouTube Account "Installation of Rabbi Avrohom Kahn" Uploaded June 8, 2017 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9TY9AdJLFI&list=PL42eFX5Yh9wAAYlqyIdGog6TgfmlF2K4j
  16. Millinery Center Synagogue YouTube Account "Installation of Rabbi Avrohom Kahn" Uploaded June 8, 2017 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9axds-0_Ik&list=PL42eFX5Yh9wAAYlqyIdGog6TgfmlF2K4j&index=6
  17. "Rabbi Alexander J. Burnstein, 80, Led Millinery Center Synagogue" (PDF). The New York Times. 18 October 1980. p. 30. Retrieved 23 September 2015.
  18. "Paid Notice: Deaths; Berger, Rabbi Abraham". The New York Times. 7 February 1999. Retrieved 21 September 2015.
  19. "Chanukah Benefit Party for Milinary Center Synagogue A Major Success". The Jewish Press. January 4, 1991. p. 9.
  20. http://millinerycs.org/psak_din.pdf
  21. The circumstances under which Wahrman's tenure extended to 2016 http://millinerycs.org/psak_din_violation.pdf
  22. "Holler v. Goldberg - Norbert P. Holler et al., as Members of the Millinery Center Synagogue, Petitioners, v. Jeffrey Goldberg et al., as Officers and Board Members of the Millinery Center Synagogue, et al., Respondents". Supreme Court, New York County. 8 February 1995. Retrieved 23 September 2015.
  23. "Millinery: Synagogue For Millinery District". Women's Wear Daily. 49 (119). Fairchild Fashion Media. 18 December 1934. p. 19. ISSN 0043-7581. ProQuest 1654021534. ProQuest document ID: 1654021534
  24. "Harry Sperling Again Heads Millinery Center Synagogue". Women's Wear Daily. 62 (32). Fairchild Fashion Media. 14 February 1941. p. 7. ISSN 0043-7581. ProQuest 1699984032. ProQuest document ID: 1699984032
  25. "Paid Obituaries: Kramer - Abraham, 85". Sun-Sentinel. Fort Lauderdale: Tribune Publishing Company. 11 June 1997. p. &B. ProQuest 388377631. ProQuest document ID 388377631
  26. Certified copy of the amended Articles of Incorporation of the Synagogue http://millinerycs.org/certified_articles_incorporation.pdf
  27. "Sam Neger" (PDF). The New York Times. August 13, 1959. Retrieved 21 September 2015.
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