BROOKLYN – A historic Orthodox synagogue in Brooklyn is taking legal action to stop its building from being torn down amid a large hospital redevelopment project.
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Congregation Chaim Albert, also known as the Kingsbrook Shul, has filed a lawsuit against One Brooklyn Health System, seeking to block the demolition of its longtime sanctuary located on the grounds of Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center in East Flatbush. The synagogue, which dates back to the 1920s and occupies a building constructed in 1950, argues that the site should be protected as a charitable religious trust.
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The redevelopment, backed by $400 million in state funding, includes plans for new housing—plans that now threaten the synagogue’s future. Congregants say they were previously assured the building would remain intact, but were later informed it would be sold and demolished to make way for residential construction.
“This isn’t just brick and mortar—it’s a sacred space,” said Rabbi Zalman Goldstein, reflecting on the many life events marked there over the decades.
Supporters allege the synagogue was kept closed after COVID to avoid community pushback over the hospital’s development plans. Community leaders, including Rabbi Yaacov Behrman, are urging Governor Kathy Hochul to step in and help preserve the site.
The congregation is asking the court to recognize its claim to the building and prevent what it views as the destruction of nearly a century of Jewish heritage in the neighborhood.
Why cant they incorporate it into the new development – build a space the size of the shul into the new hospital. If they turn it into protected trust, it would need constant high costs to maintain and never ending issues with the neighbors. Salvage the furnishings, and build out a space in the new development for the shul.
Call Mayor La’gardenhose to stop it.
You should follow the link to read the text of the lawsuit. It is interesting.
The hospital seems to have deliberately kept the shul closed after Covid, in anticipation of shutting it down and selling it to raise some cash. So any “Congregation” would refer to people that used to daven there – and even then, only once a week. It might be noteworthy to realize that the Hospital – know as “Kingsbrook Jewish Hospital” was obviously once at least somewhat Jewish. But it is located in a neighborhood that is now completely Black, and I can’t imagine where the Jewish congregants would be coming from.
Here is an excerpt from the legal filing:
“When the Shul Building was last opened (right before the Pandemic), its
services were sometimes attended by more than three hundred worshipers, and a
minyan (attracting forty to fifty people on a regular basis) was held every Shabbat and Jewish Holiday. At the present time, there are approximately sixty to seventy persons who consider themselves members of the Shul who are currently worshiping at alternative locations, but would, upon information and belief, readily return to services at the Shul Building if permitted to do so.”
why do Yidden have issues with a movement that is mesirat nefesh to help bring Yidden closer to their father in heaven with minimal financial support.
Chabad is the best
The hospital seems to have deliberately kept the shul closed after Covid, in anticipation of shutting it down and selling it to raise some cash. So any “Congregation” would refer to people that used to daven there – and even then, only once a week. It might be noteworthy to realize that the Hospital – know as “Kingsbrook Jewish Hospital” was obviously once at least somewhat Jewish. But it is located in a neighborhood that is now completely not-Jewish and not-White, and I can’t imagine where the Jewish congregants would be coming from.
What exactly is their claim? This is a building that always belonged to the hospital which let it be used for a Shule. How do mispalelim become owners.
we have the same situation here in cleveland heights ,ohio.
our synagogue the taylor road synagogue is an existential fight with a developer who wants to redevelop our historic synagogue and kollel into a concert music hall.
we need any help the Jewish community can provide .