Questions surround the destruction of the Chevra Anshei Lubawitz shul in the Borough Park neighborhood of Brooklyn, N.Y.
On Sunday, after years of legal challenges, demolition began on the shul that was built in 1907. “The heavens are trembling,” said Yaacov Behrman, president of the Jewish Future Alliance, according to ABC7 New York. “The men and women who built the shul 100 years ago, who gave up everything … .”
The shul closed in 2017 after the expenses to maintain it grew too large. Asher Gluck, a board member, explained that “the problem with this building was that it needed a lot of money throughout the years for maintenance. And because it wasn’t maintained, the building was in a dilapidated state, in a dangerous state, and it was about to fall apart.”
Still, Behrman said the demolition began too soon, and that the developers had violated a 30-day court order and failed to secure a $5 million bond. “They have to follow Jewish law in how they take down the synagogue,” he told ABC7. “They have to respect Jewish law. None of this was followed.”
The new owner of the property intends to construct a building that would feature space for religious worship on the lower two floors and apartments on the four above them.
Gluck expressed optimism towards that development, noting that the shul would gain more than “9,000 square feet of a facility” and “we’re getting it free of charge—state of the art—ready to turn the new key.” JNS
Where exactly is it located?
Nobody should move into any of the apartments that were built k’neged halacha and k’neged the explicit psak of the Gedolei Haposkim.
What happened is a terrible Chillul Shem Shamayim.
Up until now, the only “Jewish” people that engaged in such public aveiros were the reform and conservative. Never has a supposedly “frum” person been willing to participate in an outrageous desecration of our holy Shulchan Aruch until these greedy developers came onto the scene. Rachmana Litzlan!
I’m not going into whether or not they had permits. That is something only they know. The fact of the matter is that the building was not being used. It was dilapidated and to fix the building would have cost millions of dollars. They couldn’t do it. So it’s nice that you have a few people who want to save the building, but for what reason? So the rats have where to live?