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Ezras Torah Fund

1915 establishments in New York (state)Haredi Judaism in New York (state)Jewish community organizationsJewish organizations based in the United StatesJewish refugee aid organizations
Religious organizations established in 1915

The Ezras Torah Fund was founded on August 25, 1915 (15 Elul, 5675) at a meeting in Congregation Mishkan Israel in the Lower East Side of New York. The meeting was conducted by members of the Agudas HaRabbanim and the Vaad HaRabbanim of New York. It was an outgrowth of the Central Relief Committee (CRC) that was created to assist Orthodox Jews in Europe during World War I. The CRC had been founded in late 1914 by the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America with much help from the aforementioned rabbinical organizations. Ezras Torah's role was to specifically assist town rabbis, roshei yeshiva, and yeshivas during the upheaval years of World War I. They eventually broadened their scope to a worldwide level after the war. The founding leadership of Ezras Torah was composed of Rabbi Israel Rosenberg, Rabbi Dr. Philip Klein (aka Hillel HaKohen) and Rabbi Yaakov Eskolsky. Rabbi Rosenberg was president until his passing in 1956. Rabbi Klein was treasurer until his passing in 1926. Rabbi Eskolsky was secretary until 1928. The personality who would be most prominently associated with Ezras Torah was Rabbi Yosef Eliyahu Henkin. He served as the director of Ezras Torah from the summer of 1925 until his passing in 1973.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Ezras Torah Fund (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors).

Ezras Torah Fund
East Broadway, New York Manhattan

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N 40.714277777778 ° E -73.986472222222 °
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East Broadway 235
10002 New York, Manhattan
New York, United States
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Beth Hamedrash Hagodol
Beth Hamedrash Hagodol

Beth Hamedrash Hagodol (Hebrew: בֵּית הַמִּדְרָש הַגָּדוֹל, "Great Study House") is an Orthodox Jewish congregation that for over 120 years was located in a historic building at 60–64 Norfolk Street between Grand and Broome Streets in the Lower East Side neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. It was the first Eastern European congregation founded in New York City and the oldest Russian Jewish Orthodox congregation in the United States.Founded in 1852 by Rabbi Abraham Ash as Beth Hamedrash, the congregation split in 1859, with the rabbi and most of the members renaming their congregation Beth Hamedrash Hagodol. The congregation's president and a small number of the members eventually formed the nucleus of Kahal Adath Jeshurun, also known as the Eldridge Street Synagogue. Rabbi Jacob Joseph, the first and only Chief Rabbi of New York City, led the congregation from 1888 to 1902. Rabbi Ephraim Oshry, one of the few European Jewish legal decisors to survive the Holocaust, led the congregation from 1952 to 2003.The congregation's building, a Gothic Revival structure built in 1850 as the Norfolk Street Baptist Church and purchased in 1885, was one of the largest synagogues on the Lower East Side. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1999. In the late 20th century the congregation dwindled and was unable to maintain the building, which had been damaged by storms. Despite their obtaining funding and grants, the structure was critically endangered.The synagogue was closed in 2007. The congregation, reduced to around 20 regularly attending members, was sharing facilities with a congregation on Henry Street. The Lower East Side Conservancy was trying to raise an estimated $4.5 million for repairs of the building, with the intent of converting it to an educational center. In December the leadership of the synagogue under Rabbi Mendel Greenbaum filed a “hardship application” with the Landmarks Preservation Commission seeking permission to demolish the building to make way for a new residential development. This application was withdrawn in March 2013, but the group Friends of the Lower East Side described Beth Hamedrash Hagodol's status as "demolition by neglect". The abandoned synagogue was "largely destroyed" by a "suspicious" three-alarm fire on May 14, 2017.