Kingsbrook Jews Hold Maccabean-Like Menorah Lighting
by Jay Sorid
“The Maccabean Revolt was a Jewish rebellion led by the Maccabees against the Seleucid Empire and against Hellenistic influence on Jewish life…Jewish practices were banned, Jerusalem was placed under direct Seleucid control, and the Second Temple in Jerusalem was vandalized.”
Members of the Kingsbrook Congregation are being denied access to the Chaim Albert Synagogue, which is a separate synagogue building, landlocked inside the Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center (“KJMC”) complex of buildings.
Kingsbrook Hospital, along with Brookdale Hospital and Interfaith Hospital, merged and formed One Brooklyn Health (“OBH”).
Since the start of COVID (March’2020), One Brooklyn Health has instituted a blockade of the Synagogue building where Jewish practices were banned like weekly minyans on Fridays and Saturdays, as well as Jewish religious holiday services. A request by the Kingsbrook Shul to hold Yom Kippur Services this past year was dismissed by One Brooklyn Health at their board meeting held just prior to the Jewish holiday.
The “Kingsbrook Jews” (Jews local to the Kingsbrook hospital) gathered outside on the sidewalk at the main hospital entrance to the synagogue building at E 49th Street & Rutland Ave on December 31, 2024, the seventh night of Chanukah, for a very special menorah lighting.
“The rebellion started as a guerilla movement in the Judean countryside…but it eventually developed a proper army…”
The menorah lighting on the quiet sidewalk of E 49th Street brought light to the recent years of darkness at KJMC. There was food, prayer and the continued tradition of Jewish religious services that goes back to1928. To find out more about how Kingsbrook was founded with a Jewish purpose and originally built with a synagogue and a kosher kitchen, go to https://www.kingsbrookshul.com/.
This is the wrong neighborhood to sell off a synagogue building to build more million dollar state funded subsidized studios and 1 BR rentals for the homeless and hipsters.
Since One Brooklyn Health’s “Mission Statement” promises to “respect the diversity of our communities”, OBH should “Protect and Preserve” an existing vibrant 96 yr old Jewish cultural and religious institution that was forced to suspend services only because of COVID emergency orders, which have long since expired. https://onebrooklynhealth.org/about-obh
OBH brought back OBH Gospel Fest on October 13, 2024, but cancelled Yom Kippur the day before. https://onebrooklynhealth.org/events/2024/2024/obh-gospel-fest-2024
The next time you see Governor Hochul on Eastern Parkway, tell her to give back Kingsbrook to the Jews who originally paid for it.
Special thanks to Shomrim for stopping by E 49th St to make everyone feel safe & secure.
G.Singh
Great news!
anonymous
where is rabbi chazan?
Jay Sorid
Rabbi Chazan is the Director of Chaplaincy Services at Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center & the Rutland Nursing Home
It was my decision not to inform nor invite Rabbi Chazan to the unauthorized Kingsbrook Menorah lighting because I thought I would put his job.at risk if he knew ahead of time what I was planning.
https://onebrooklynhealth.org/about-obh/leadership
Henna White is Boss of Kingsbrook
Anonymous
I was there for high holiday services several years ago and was very inspired and impressed with the beautiful appearance of this traditional synagogue. It was a very lovely experience and I’m very sad to hear that it has been appropriated to be destroyed and it’s land area used to pay off debts for the hospital which didn’t build it or pay for. It was built and paid for privately 100 years ago.
Yehudah Friedman
I used to pray there, and would still go back there if the place we’re open. I would bring all my children it was a very lovely place to pray. the building is its own structure separate from the hospital, with 5000 plaques decorating the walls from all the people who gave money and supported the synagogue.
parent
Once again Jay Sorid is right. Kathy hochul washes one hand with the other. What good is the million dollar donation to the museum if she is destroying the rest of the neighborhood. Lets be honest, if the building is Chas v’sholom sold then nothing good will be built. Either a shelter or whatever a greedy developer decides. WE must act!
G.Singh
You are right and righteous. But probably the woke or the greedy developer will win
Kingsbrook Chairperson Henna White Needs to be Replaced by NYS AG James
Why would the unpaid Lubavitcher Jewish Chairperson of Kingsbrook for over 20 years, Henna White, deny fellow Jews access to an empty shul for the High Holidays and minyans, when the shul sits empty with the lights on ?
https://theawarenesscenter.blogspot.com/2011/02/brooklyn-ny-religious-women-protest.html – contains video link of previous protests against Henna White
Ominous Weather
After the Menorah lighting came to a close, the heavens opened up in biblical fashion with torrential rains and flooding. A rare winter thunder and lightning storm was a sign that Hashem was not happy with how business was being conducted at Kingsbrook.