By Jeremy Walsh
After more than eight decades of operation, an Astoria synagogue known for its lush interior has earned a spot on the state and national Register of Historic Places.
But while the congregation is proud of the recognition, its members seemed determined to look to the future as much as the past during a celebration at the temple Sunday.
Rabbi Jonathan Pearl, who just finished his first year leading the congregation, set the theme for the evening.
“Historic status, it is nothing if it is about nothing but looking back,” he said. “Building does not stop when the last brick is put in. It goes on always unless we’re lazy.”
The congregation, which currently numbers around 100, was founded in 1925 by Rabbi Joshua Goldberg, who three years later recruited muralist Louis Pierre Rigal to paint the interior according to a quotation from rabbinic literature: “Be bold as a leopard, light as an eagle, swift as a gazelle, and strong as a lion.”
Rigal painted golden representations of these animals on the front wall on both sides of the pulpit. Above the pulpit he painted the scene of a dove with the freshly plucked olive branch in its mouth from the story of Noah.
The impressive paintings made an impression on successive generations of Astorians, including Mitchell Blas, who recalled how they amplified his experience of a childhood Yom Kippur fast.
“Those animals just seemed to come alive to us at that time, and always seemed to emit a golden energy that helped me through the final moments of the day,” he said.
The landmarking is a success for the synagogue, but also for the New York Landmarks Conservancy, which hopes to parlay the achievement into a fund for synagogues. The group currently can offer matching grants of up to $75,000 for the restoration of churches but only $10,000 for synagogues.
“Not only do you have a beautiful space and people, but you have the best records of any church or synagogue I’ve ever visited,” said Ann-Isabel Friedman, director of the Sacred Sites program for the New York Landmarks Conservancy.
Congregants at the Astoria Center of Israel would certainly agree a restoration grant would be helpful. The ornate murals decorating the temple’s interior walls have been faded by eight decades and were damaged by smoke from a fire in a neighboring synagogue in the 1980s.
But again and again the temple’s leadership emphasized the importance of keeping the congregation vital and engaged with the neighborhood. To reach out to younger residents, the shul boasts a page on the social networking Web site Facebook and updates on twitter.com.
“A building, even one as beautiful and tasteful as this one, is just a building,” said the congregation’s previous rabbi, Alvin Kass. “It’s the people that make it special.”
Reach reporter Jeremy Walsh by e-mail at jewalsh@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 154.
