National Register of Historic Places

B'nai Israel Synagogue

Woodbourne, Sullivan County, New York
Listed
January 15, 1999
Type
Building
Period
Industrial
Ref No.
98001620

About this property

B'nai Israel Synagogue, more commonly called The Woodbourne Shul, is an Orthodox Jewish congregation and historic, popular synagogue, located at 457 NY State Route 52, in Woodbourne, New York, United States. The congregation follows the Ashkenazi rite. The first rabbi of the synagogue was David Isaac Godlin (1868–1943). The synagogue was built in 1920 and is a two-story building above a shallow concrete basement. It is a wood-frame structure, three bays wide by four bays deep and surmounted by a steep gable roof with deep wooden cornice. The synagogue building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1999. In 2010, Rabbi Mordechai Jungreis, Rebbe of the Nikolsburg-Woodbourne Hasidic dynasty, purchased the synagogue building, then in decline, from the congregation board for $120,000. Jungreis also leads a congregation in the Borough Park neighborhood of Brooklyn. After completing necessary repairs, in the first year of acquisition, approximately 2,000 people attended the shul throughout the summer. By summer 2011, the number of attendees had tripled. In the 2014 summer, the shul had approximately 10,000 weekly attendees; and in the summer of 2015, approximately 120,000 people attended the shul; described by some as a Minyan factory, with minyanim commencing every ten minutes throughout the day, from early morning to past midnight. The synagogue was initially used during the summer months, from Memorial Day to Labor Day, when Sullivan County sees a large influx of Jewish vacationers. After COVID more people began using the synagogue during the year and now it is currently open all year long. National Register of Historic Places listings in Sullivan County, New York "Wooden synagogues: Woodbourne Shul (11 of 14 in this Tour)" (moving panoramic images of the synagogue's interior). Synagogues360. 2024. A video of the Rebbe dancing at a wedding of one of his followers

Location

Woodbourne, Sullivan County, New York
41.75264, -73.80825

Categories

SOCIAL HISTORYARCHITECTURE
National Register nomination ›
Sources

Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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Nearby Historic Sites

Newcomb-Brown Estate
Industrial
1.3 mi
Pelham Parkway Station (Dual System IRT)
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2.3 mi
Lynfeld
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3.6 mi
Top Cottage
Industrial
4.2 mi
Bloomvale Historic District
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4.3 mi

Questions about this property

When was B'nai Israel Synagogue listed on the National Register?

B'nai Israel Synagogue was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on January 15, 1999.

What type of historic resource is B'nai Israel Synagogue?

B'nai Israel Synagogue is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.

What is the period of significance for B'nai Israel Synagogue?

The period of significance for B'nai Israel Synagogue is recorded as the industrial era.

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