One of the Last Synagogues on the Lower East Side May Soon Shut Its Doors

At the beginning of the 20th century, Manhattan’s Lower East Side was densely populated by immigrant Jews and their children. The stretch of East Broadway between Clinton and Montgomery Street at one point had over 50 small synagogues, known as shtiblekh. Now one of the few that survive on this erstwhile Shtibl Row is Agudath Israel Youth of Manhattan, which stands on the brink of dissolution with the anticipated loss of one of its members and, with him, its ability to get a quorum of adult males on Saturday morning. Jon Kalish reports:

Now in its 94th year, the congregation was incorporated in 1930 as Zeirei Agudath Israel. The shtibl was previously located on Avenue C in what is now known as Alphabet City; it then moved to a building on East Broadway that was subsequently torn down and replaced by a church. The Aguda moved into its current location in 1968 when it leased the second floor from the congregation that owned the four-story structure, Beth Hachasidim DePolen. A sign over the entrance to the building says, “Congregation Beth Hachasidim DePolen, Inc.” and to the right of that an old, sun-bleached sign reads “Agudath Israel Youth of Manhattan, one flight up.”

Today there are ten or so shuls still functioning in the greater Lower East Side. In 1900, . . . there were more than 500 shuls in the area between Bowery and the FDR Drive, and between Division Street and 14th Street.

But this story is not an entirely sad one: the departing member isn’t defecting from religion or dying, but getting married and moving to a different neighborhood.

Read more at New York Jewish Week

More about: American Jewish History, Lower East Side, Synagogues

Expand Gaza into Sinai

Feb. 11 2025

Calling the proposal to depopulate Gaza completely (if temporarily) “unworkable,” Peter Berkowitz makes the case for a similar, but more feasible, plan:

The United States along with Saudi Arabia and the UAE should persuade Egypt by means of generous financial inducements to open the sparsely populated ten-to-fifteen miles of Sinai adjacent to Gaza to Palestinians seeking a fresh start and better life. Egypt would not absorb Gazans and make them citizens but rather move Gaza’s border . . . westward into Sinai. Fences would be erected along the new border. The Israel Defense Force would maintain border security on the Gaza-extension side, Egyptian forces on the other. Egypt might lease the land to the Palestinians for 75 years.

The Sinai option does not involve forced transfer of civilian populations, which the international laws of war bar. As the United States, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and other partners build temporary dwellings and then apartment buildings and towns, they would provide bus service to the Gaza-extension. Palestinian families that choose to make the short trip would receive a key to a new residence and, say, $10,000.

The Sinai option is flawed. . . . Then again, all conventional options for rehabilitating and governing Gaza are terrible.

Read more at RealClear Politics

More about: Donald Trump, Egypt, Gaza Strip, Sinai Peninsula