Our Mission Statement

Our History

Architect: Louis A. Sheinart

The following description was prepared by Anthony Robbins, Architectural Historian, and emphasizes the architectural aspects of our synagogue. Note that the congregation continues to be called Congregation Bnai Jacob Anschei Brzezan and that the "merger" with Bnai Joseph Macheneh Degel Ephraim described in the article never happened in a formal sense.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION by Anthony Robbins, Architectural Historian

Bnai Joseph Anshe Brzezan (originally Bnai Jacob Anshe Brzezan, "Sons of Jacob, People of Brzezan") at 180 Stanton Street is historically significant as one of the few early 20th-century "tenement synagogues" surviving on New York City's Lower East Side. Constructed in 1913, the synagogue housed a congregation founded in 1894 by immigrant Jews from the town of Brzezany ("Brzezany" is the Polish name, "Brzezan" the Yiddish name) in Galicia, in Poland. Though hundreds of similar synagogues large and small once flourished on the Lower East Side, today Bnai Joseph Anshe Brzezan is one of only a dozen or more still functioning there. The building is an intact early 20th-century vernacular synagogue on the Lower East Side, one that adapted the religious and physical needs of a synagogue to the 20-by-100-foot lot typical of the tenement blocks in which its congregants lived. As such, Bnai Joseph Anshe Brzezan survives today as a distinctive architectural, cultural and religious landmark of the Yiddish-speaking Eastern European Jewish community of New York City.

Bnai Joseph Anshe Brzezan in New York City stands as a testament to the survival of the Brzezany Jewish community through its emigrants.

Founded in 1894, by 1908 Bnai Jacob Anshe Brzezan numbered 120 members ("synagogue members" is a statistic generally understood to mean the number of member families), and was housed at 155 Rivington Street. In 1913, nineteen years after its founding, the congregation built its own synagogue on Stanton Street. By 1918, the congregation had grown to 135 members, and its new synagogue had a seating capacity of 400. Bnai Joseph Anshe Brzezan on Stanton Street has been singled out as a fine example of the phenomenon of the vernacular synagogue building. Its 20-foot-wide façade is arranged in a typically tripartite design with a central entrance. Ornament reflects both Classical and Jewish influences. The façade’s three bays are separated by cast-stone pilasters, which carry a cornice and pediment with classical moldings. Hebrew lettering incised in the pediment spells out the congregation’s name and the year of construction. There are circular stained glass windows at the second and third levels of the central bay, each with a Star of David, but containing only remnants of the original glass.

Inside, the narrow sanctuary is barely 20 feet wide, but about 100 feet long. It includes a raised reader’s platform, and a built-in ark for the torah scrolls at the north end. Rising above the room on either side are galleries for the women’s section, and a pressed-metal ceiling with two octagonal skylight domes. A series of 12 wall paintings of the months, with zodiac signs – said to be unique to the Lower East Side – date back at least to 1939.

Population shifts on the Lower East Side during the latter half of the 20th century led to the closing of most of the neighborhood's synagogues. The new immigration law passed in 1924 reduced the numbers of Jewish newcomers to the neighborhood, while improved housing, transportation options, and employment prospects elsewhere in the city encouraged existing residents to move on. Bnai Jacob Anshe Brzezan prospered for several decades, but saw its membership decline following the end of World War II. In 1952 , the congregation merged with another shrinking congregation, Bnai Joseph Dugel Macheneh Ephraim ("Flag of the Camp of Ephraim," a reference to the Israelite camp in the desert before Joshua’s conquest of Jericho) -- founded by residents of two towns not far from Brzezan -- formerly located on East 3rd Street. The merged congregation, with the name Bnai Joseph Anshe Brzezan, struggled against declining membership, but managed to survive. Today, of the 228 synagogues that once served the surrounding district, the Stanton Street Synagogue is one of the few survivors, with a small but active congregation working for its revitalization.

During the 1990s, population trends on the Lower East Side changed again. In the southern part of the district, major new immigration has come from China. In the northern part of the district, however, where the Stanton Street synagogue is located, young professionals have begun moving in, bringing with them avant-garde clothing stores and new bars and restaurants. Many of the newcomers are descendants of the Jewish immigrants of a century ago, and are joining synagogues like Bnai Joseph Anshe Brzezan and bringing them new life.

Bnai Joseph Anshe Brzezan survives today as one of the few remaining vernacular "tenement synagogues" on the Lower East Side, as well as one of the last functioning synagogues in the area. Its congregational mix – old-timers and new arrivals; recent immigrants, immigrants from three quarters of a century ago, and third generation returnees to the neighborhood – is reflected in the many languages spoken in the synagogue. Reflecting so many different aspects of the history of the Jewish presence on the Lower East Side, Bnai Joseph Anshe Brzezan remains a vital part of the living history of this remarkable neighborhood.