Letters from Our Readers:

In a message dated June 27, 2010, Ben Budick writes to Stevie S. Stevens

Dear Stevie,

I just finished reading another one of your great articles, Random Thoughts on Edgemere, accompanied by those great photos. This is the first time that I've caught a glimpse of Shaare Zedek Synagogue since it was torn down!

But, I must take issue with you on the information about Shaare Zedek.

1. The wooden Structure on the corner of Beach 36th was built in 1918….there was a cornerstone with that date…
2. That corner building survived well into the 1960’s….possibly into the very early 70’s…
3. the congregation DID build another building next to this one…it was smaller and held a smaller synagogue and a catering hall and was HEATED.…the large wooden building did NOT have heat and was not used in the winter months…but the congregation moved back into it by late Spring for the Summer months…with it’s much larger capacity it was better suited for the Summer Population…Rosh Hashanna and Yom Kippur services were always held in the wooden building and was always a full house affair…the interior was completely wooden with high ceilings and the acoustics were wonderful….my family belonged to Shaare Zedek and it was a wealthy congregation….they would hire some of the top Cantors and their choirs at times…

I was Bar Mitzvahed in that Wooden building in October 1962….we started going there in 1957 when we moved to Beach 32nd Street and by then it had been painted completely white…as opposed to your black and white photo which seems to show it as 2 toned…

I seem to remember those brick storefronts between 35th and 36th surviving…mostly empty…well into the 1960’s…but this one I’m not as sure of…when we moved to 32nd street and Far Rockaway Blvd for us to get to Shaare Zedek we’d walk thru the block of empty bungalows on 32nd street to Seagirt Blvd, then walk up up Edgemere Ave to 36th Street….I remember the stores between 34th and 35th…In fact our Landlord, Joe Catano, owned the diner…and then at 35th the street would straddle the el on one side and there was a bunch of empty stores on the beach side….

Another thing I find a bit confusing…
The Wooden Synagogue building of Shaare Zedek had a balcony in the rear, which I was told was originally where the women sat…when womens attendance got too large they divided one side of the sanctuary…the 36th Street side… with curtains and closed off the balcony after that it was only used to accommodate the overflow crowd on the high holidays….
I don’t know this…I’m asking…but if the congregation did NOT become orthodox until 1933 why did they build a balcony to separate the women in 1918?

The present building of Shaare Zedek, on Seagirt and B.29th (?)…was built in the late ‘60’s…and the main reason I was told it was built there was because the then Rabbi, Chavel, a real autocrat, lived around the corner….

Ben