Crown Heights History: The Synagogue That Stayed

This series on Crown Heights History has been compiled by Instagram account @crownheightshistory, a born and raised Crown Heightser, and shows some of the ongoing research taking place.

The Lubavitch community of today occupies many of the synagogues and institutions in buildings already built by the Jewish community proceeding it. Had the previous Jewish community not built these building it would have taken decades for the Lubavitch community to build the centers they have today.

White flight was helped by the black and Jewish-led blockbusting which meant that after all the houses were sold or abandoned, after the buildings were emptied or sold, the only property really left to sell were the synagogues and they were to be sold to the incoming black community to be used as churches.

This left the Jewish community in a quandary whereas they wanted to keep the the synagogues in Jewish hands, but some of them were out of the way and unsafe for them to walk to on Saturday. 315 Troy Ave is an example.

The Lubavitcher Rebbe fought behind the scenes to keep these synagogues in Jewish hands even explaining that if his followers won’t go to keep them then he would have to go there himself. However many synagogues in the neighborhood were sold to churches.

Specifically during the turbulent transition years of the later 60s early 70s the Lubavitch community decided to stay in Crown Heights and diligently worked towards keeping the synagogues in Jewish hands.

One such synagogue was a Vishnitz shul located on 680 Montgomery right off Kingston Ave. The leadership wanted to sell it to a church, but one of the Vishnitz Chassidim contested this in court and won.

In general, you’re not allowed to sell or even merge a synagogue without permission from the government. A synagogue does not belong to its leader a synagogue belongs to the congregation and for that reason they are exempt from taxes etc. This man argued that the synagogue belongs to its congregants and it, therefore, remains the synagogue to this day.

Montgomery Street between Kingston and Albany is one of the most Jewish blocks in the whole neighborhood. Considering how fledgling the Lubavitch community was back in the 60s this story was unique. Most synagogues were sold the churches. The ones that were not took a lot of effort to do so.