East Midwood Jewish Center
| East Midwood Jewish Center | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Basic information | |
| Location | 1625 Ocean Avenue, Midwood, Brooklyn, New York City, United States |
| Geographic coordinates | 40°37′21″N 73°57′20″W / 40.6224°N 73.9555°WCoordinates: 40°37′21″N 73°57′20″W / 40.6224°N 73.9555°W |
| Affiliation | Conservative Judaism |
| Status | Active |
| Leadership | Rabbi: Dr. Alvin Kass Cantor: Sam Levine President: Michael T. Sucher President: Larry Isaacson |
| Website | emjc |
| Architectural description | |
| Architect(s) | Irving Warshaw/Louis Allen Abramson, or Maurice Courland |
| Architectural style | Renaissance Revival |
| Groundbreaking | 1926 |
| Completed | 1929 |
| Construction cost | $1 million (today $13.9 million) |
| Specifications | |
| Direction of façade | West |
| Capacity | 800 (main floor), 150+ (balcony) |
| Width | 155 feet |
| Dome(s) | 2 |
| Materials | Structural: Steel frame Exterior walls: Masonry Facades: Buff and red brick, limestone Domes: Copper |
| U.S. National Register of Historic Places | |
| Added to NRHP | June 7, 2006 |
| NRHP Reference no. | 06000478 |
East Midwood Jewish Center is a Conservative synagogue located at 1625 Ocean Avenue, Midwood, Brooklyn, New York City.
Organized in 1924, the congregation's Renaissance revival building (completed in 1929) typified the large multi-purpose synagogue centers being built at the time, and was from the 1990s until 2010 the only synagogue with a working swimming pool in Brooklyn. The building has been unmodified architecturally since its construction, and in 2006 was added to the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP).
Membership dropped during the Great Depression, and the synagogue suffered financial hardship, but it recovered, and by 1941 had 1,100 member families. In 1950 the congregation built an adjoining school; at its peak its enrollment was almost 1,000. As neighborhood demographics changed in the late 20th century, and Brooklyn's Jewish population became more Orthodox, the East Midwood Jewish Center absorbed three other Conservative Brooklyn congregations.
The East Midwood Jewish Center has had only four rabbis since it was founded. Reuben Kaufman served from 1924 to 1929, Harry Halpern from 1929 to 1977 and Alvin Kass from 1976 to 2014. In 2014, Matt Carl became the rabbi.
East Midwood was organized in 1924 by Jacob R. Schwartz, a dentist who was concerned that his two sons had no nearby Hebrew school which they could attend. From the start his intention had been to create a Conservative synagogue: Conservative Judaism was seen as a compromise between Orthodox and Reform, providing the familiar (and lengthy) Hebrew services of Orthodox Judaism, but, like Reform, adding some English prayers. East Midwood differed from earlier Ashkenazi synagogues in New York, as services were to be conducted in Hebrew and English only (not Hebrew and Yiddish), and the members were to come from immigrants from all over Europe, not just one city or region.
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