100 Years of the Chevra Talmud Torah Anshei Marovi, Inc.

On June 11, 1911, a group of Jewish men in the West Harlem neighborhood of Manhattanville incorporated their newly created minyan as the Chevra Talmud Torah Anshei Marovi, Inc. After nine years of meeting in rented spaces, the congregation bought a small, two story house at 15 Old Broadway. In 1923, the congregation constructed their house of worship, the Old Broadway Synagogue. This is the building that we daven in today. In this post, and God willing in the ones that follow, I hope to examine aspects of our shul's history during its first century.
  

A visual focal point for our synagogue has long been the large stained glass window the dominates the facade of the building. Of course, from the late 1960s until 2003, there was no window and in its place, was a bricked in arch with a marble Star of David in the center. While we take the stained glass window for granted, this was not always the case. In the 1960s, it was a liability. Teens would through stones through it from the street, and children from the congregation would sometimes push the panes of glass through their leading so that they would fall on the sidewalk. Consequently, the window always let in a lot of air and it kept the Kiddush Room breezier than one would like. A few years ago, I proudly told Mrs. Kret that we had restored the stained glass window. She was horrified - the old one was so drafty! I assured her that the new window was well sealed (it has safety glass in front of it), but I think she was still a little skeptical.

Since the original window did not exist anymore, recreating it was a challenge. We have some black and white photos that have the window in it, including one of the Ladies Auxiliary in which Mrs. Kret appears, and we have the tax photo of the facade that was taken by New York City in 1939 or 1940. These are great photos but they were challenging to use in determining the original color scheme of the windows. Fortunately, some of the original glass remained in the transom window (the small  window over the front door) and we were able to extrapolate from the remaining glass and the black and white photos what the original scheme really was.

Coming up with the design for the stained glass window was a bit tricky. The tax photo and the Ladies Auxiliary photo showed one design, but in the old dinner journals, we found a photograph of the shul in which the window had a different design, which I am including in this blog posting. The photo is from the thirtieth anniversary celebration of the congregation in 1942, but I assume the photo is actually much older. The design in the tax photo matches that of the Ladies Auxiliary, so this must be the later design. When recreating the stained glass facade (paid for by the Upper Manhattan Fund for Historic Preservation, which was administered by the New York Landmarks Conservancy), we had to decide which design to recreate, the older, possibly original, one and that of the 1940s and 1950s. Ultimately, we chose the latter scheme, which the Gil Studio beautifully executed.  I think you will agree it was a good choice.

Selecting the glass for the new stained glass window

Passover Message, 5771

Nissan 5771

April 2011

Dear Friends,

I hope this letter finds you and your families well.

We often take for granted Passover’s connection with spring. The holiday always takes place in the spring, and of course the Seder includes spring symbols such as the karpas and the egg. That Passover should take place in the spring is not a forgone conclusion. If we had a pure lunar calendar, Passover would start about ten days earlier each year, and over a few decades, would actually take place in every season of the year. Our sages created a calendar with a lunar foundation, but with the provision of an additional month (Adar sheni) added seven times in a nineteen year cycle. Why all the effort? The Torah states explicitly that God brought us out in chodesh ha-aviv, “the month of spring.” Rashi explains that God treated us with special kindness by bringing us out of Egypt at a time that was “neither hot nor cold nor rainy.” It has been a long and hard winter here in New York. I am grateful, at long last, to feel the warmth of the new season, the trees beginning to the flower and to see the sun finally coming out. As we enjoy spring, we should remember that this too is a kindness from God and we should use it to recall how God rescued us long ago, but ultimately, enabled us to be here today.

We are proud to report that thanks to your generous response to our emergency roof appeal and the help of the New York Landmarks Conservancy, which has agreed to loan us the reminder of the money on favorable terms, the work on the new roof is almost done. We are thrilled that the new roof will protect the shul for the next generation and will allow us to continue restoring the building.  Our next projects are installing emergency exit hardware on all the doors in the sanctuary and repairing and repainting the tin ceiling. After that, we hope to take down the paneling, upgrade the electrical system, rebuild the plaster walls and restore the decorative stenciling.

We have had an impressive array of learning programs this year. Daniel Fridman a rabbinical student at Yeshiva University, continues to give his excellent shiur every Sunday morning, and since the fall, we have been fortunate to have had a series of thoughtful Shabbos lectures given by Wendy Amsellem of the Drisha Institute, Mishael Zion of Yeshivat Chovevei Torah, Raphy Rosen of Columbia University, and Professor Rabbi David Flatto of Pennsylvania State University.

Under Rhonda Taylor’s leadership, we now have women’s group that meets every month on the Sunday before Rosh Chodesh. Funded by a grant from New York State, and led ably by Dr. Eliott Kahn, we are hosting a phenomenal Jewish music series. The most recent program was a wonderful concert with the Avram Pengas Ensemble, which featured Sephardic and Israeli music. We look forward to future events.

This year is the one hundredth anniversary of our founding, in June 1911. We are organizing a gala anniversary dinner, which will take place, G-d willing, on October 30, 2011. I am proud to announce our honorees: Gloria Landy, Dale Brown, Avi Terry, and myself. Please save the date for the dinner. We hope you will join us.

As you may know, Mrs. Chana Kret passed away in November 2010. She was a wonderful person in her own right – warm, outgoing and optimistic - and also a true ezer kenegdo, a partner with Rabbi Kret in everything that he did. Together Mrs. Kret and Rabbi Kret led our congregation, officially for forty eight years and also informally for many years after Rabbi Kret’s retirement. They are both deeply missed.

Although Rabbi and Mrs. Kret are no longer with us, we are striving to maintain their spirit of welcoming newcomers, warmth, and Torah. We are also working to keep our building safe and usable for generations to come. Please continue to support our efforts, and with your help the Old Broadway Synagogue will continue to be a very special and very holy place for years to come.

Warm regards for a happy and kosher Passover,

Paul Radensky

President

In Memory of Rebbetzin Chana Kret, z"l

I am saddened to report that Mrs. Chana Kret passed away today (November 15, 2010) after a long illness. I unfortunately did not have the zekhus (merit) to know her well, but I would like to share what I learned about her at her funeral today. She was a loving wife, mother, grandmother, and great grandmother. Mrs. Kret was born Chana Lichtenfeld and grew up in a wealthy family in Berlin. The family was on vacation when the war broke out, and Mrs. Kret and her parents were arrested and exiled to a labor camp in Siberia. Her parents both died, but Mrs. Kret survived and there she met Rabbi Jacob Kret, her bashert. She traveled with him from Siberia to Germany after the war, and from there to the United States, where her husband took the pulpit of the Old Broadway Synagogue. There she and Rabbi Kret worked to build up the shul (which needed a lot of building up, and could still use some). She helped recruit new congregants, and hosted the many guests which her husband brought home. She did not complain despite very modest circumstances, and she was very creative, I recall visiting her and Rabbi Kret a number of years ago at their apartment on the Lower East Side. I noticed that they had a number of presentation awards that were given to Mrs. Kret in the 1960s. They were from Manhattan Day School, where Miriam and I believe Norman went to school, and the awards acknowledged Mrs. Kret's excellent work there. When I asked her about it, she told me that she created costumes for the students, if I recall correctly, for a school Purim play. I saw later evidence of this talent when I saw some wonderful photos of some of her grandsons, who for Purim, she dressed up as some rather convincingly cute girls. Her grandson, Aryeh Mezei spoke about how she loved to give, and I recall that for every Shalosh Seudos, she made a special dish for one particular congregant. Whenever I visited or whenever I phoned, she was warm and genuine. She always asked about my family and the other members of the shul. She will be deeply missed. Yehi zikhronah livrakhah - may Mrs. Kret's memory be for a blessing.