Manhattan, NY – A deep-pocketed anonymous donor has stepped forward with a $20 million donation that could allow Lincoln Square Synagogue to continue building its new shul.
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The synagogue announced the gift at a special meeting Thursday night.
Lincoln Square Synagogue halted work last month on its new building at 180 Amsterdam Ave. — the first new synagogue to be built in Manhattan in 50 years — because it didn’t have enough money to cover ballooning construction costs.
Now the hammers could start swinging again.
The anonymous donation is contingent upon the synagogue raising $3 million on its own by April 30. Synagogue leaders said in a statement that they’re hoping every member of the congregation will pitch in on the fundraising effort.
“We are exhilarated by this vote of confidence in the future of our synagogue and humbled by the size and generosity of the donation,” Rabbi Shaul Robinson, senior rabbi at the synagogue, said in a statement. “We thank God for having sent this extraordinary gift our way.”

The synagogue has had several prominent members over the years, including Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan, who was the first girl to celebrate a bat mitzvah at the synagogue.
Other well-known members include Sanford Bernstein, the founder of the investment firm Sanford C. Bernstein & Co., and Paul Shaffer, the bandleader on “The Late Show with David Letterman.”
Lincoln Square Synagogue broke ground on its new building in 2007 and hoped to finish within 18 months. (DNAinfo/Leslie Albrecht)
Lincoln Square Synagogue’s new building was initially expected to cost roughly $19 million, but construction costs have skyrocketed and another $15 to $20 million is needed to complete the project.
Lincoln Square Synagogue began in an apartment in Lincoln Towers in 1964. Its current building at Amsterdam Avenue and West 69th Street was built in 1971. In the 1980’s it bought a nearby bank building and now uses both structures for a variety of classes and groups.
A developer paid the synagogue $19 million for the two buildings, which the developer wants to replace with a high-rise. Originally that money was supposed to cover the cost of the new synagogue.
Dunno it’s a lot of money for a shul…arnt there any poor people any more?
This shul is so important to all yidden in the NYC area, that $20 million is a bargain. Sure, it could also be used for other worthy causes (such as that yeshiva that was just evicted from its building in Brooklyn) but none is as important as this symbol of yiddeshkeit and a shrine to MO throughout the world.
Is Lincoln Square Orthodox, how many people attend services? Depending on the number of people attend a decision can be be made if a synagogue is worth $40,000,000 that $40 million dollars. Somehow it doesn’t make sense. A shul where hundreds or thousands use the facilty daily or weekly, even though its a lot of money it can be justified. But for 20 people and an ocassional simcha?
are they going to keep that old stadium design that made people call it ‘wink and stare’ ?
what in the world can possibly cost 40 million dollars when building a shul??? sounds awfully weird to me…..
A matzeiva for MO.
#3,
Yes, it is Orthodox, and has a large membership. It offers many shiurim and minyanim during the week and on Shabat. It needs the new building because the old one is too small!
This shul has been the home to THOUSANDS of people who came back to yiddishkeit. Many of the original members moved to Israel and built the city of EFRAT with the charismatic Rabbi Shlomo Riskin. Who continues to inspire people worldwide. Hundreds daven here weekly. The beginners service, National Jewish Outreach and Crash Free Hebrew Classes that are the brainchild of Rabbi Ephraim Buchwald have brought THOUSANDS of jewish across the spectrum back to shul, back to shabbat observance, back to Jewish education. The notion that someone sitting in Brooklyn would think for one second that the $20 million investment was not worth has NO idea what he is talking about. It is a crown Jewel in the renaissance of orthodox Jewish learning and torah observance in Manhattan. I think the frum community is beginning to take page from the kiruv that began at Lincoln Square synagogue and has programs around the USA and Canada that are modeled after their successful events. http://www.njop.org.
face it….the place is in manhattan…near lincoln center.
its not some schlock outta boro area.
when they wear black…its for a cocktail party.
Ahh, I find it so heartening how all the Lamed Vavniks on this site can bash an upstanding iconic mosad that they have never stepped into, and can tell people how to spend their tzedakah money!
A gut voch!
lss will keep the stadium design thats why they will never succseed
What an amazing Baal Tzdakah.
The Shilchon Oruch says when giving tzdakah and building a shul you have to build it nicer then your own house. its the house of god. I’m sure that a person with such deep pockets has a house well worth over $20 mill so for him this is the proper amount. well done may hashem give you more and more.
Tzdahak Tatzil Mimuves. Uni kuri mes when you give tzdakah and with such kindness and so selfless without releasing a name. just in the name of hashem this is huge. you will enjoy your fortune for many many years.
Me being a chasidish person I’m truly amazed by people of such kindness. And disgusted with people who post the wrong comments like #1 3 6 and more/ we all do good some more some less but anonnymous? some do it with loud noise on there car some would expect a plague some just attention this is I don’t have words you have touched my heart deeply . thanks for the donation. its a donation for Klal Yisroel
No. 8 says: “It is a crown Jewel in the renaissance of orthodox Jewish learning and torah observance in Manhattan. I think the frum community is beginning to take page from the kiruv that began at Lincoln Square synagogue and has programs around .
Its amazing how so much can be written and say nothing. How does big fancy words like Renaissance and crown jewel respond to a simple non provocative question as to why a shul should cost $40million. Again, how many people daven there daily and on Shabbos. Not how many davened there during Rabbi Riskins time 30 years ago etc etc
Of course you in Bklyn cannot understand Lincoln Square – it is one of the centers of kiruv – you just mock not yet frum people as inferior. You bar the less frum from your schools. There they bring them to torah with respect.
Who cares how much it costs to build? Don’t you have some Torah to study, instead of spreading discord amongst Yidden? We should thank HaShem that they found the funds to move ahead.
Git voch.
This money is straight from Hashem, you bashers are keeping us from the ultimate Geulah. Everything that you are not willing to do for the not yet frum because you feel they are inferior to you and would never even consider bringing them in to your house, they are doing it at LSS they are doing it FOR YOU!