Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By richards on February 21, 2017

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OGDENSBURG The historic Anshe Zophen synagogue on Greene Street once one of the most active Jewish houses of worship in the area is now up for sale.

The Congregation Anshe Zophen was founded in 1875 but it wasnt until 1924 that the group purchased the former Unitarian Church at 416 Greene St., according to historical archives.

For approximately the past seven years, the building has been vacant, according to Dr. Robert Saidel, an optometrist in Gouverneur, who serves as the caretaker of the synagogue, as well as the Anshe Zophen Cemetery on Route 812 near the Ogdensburg International Airport. He said continuing acts of vandalism, coupled with the reality that there are few Jewish families to serve in Ogdensburg, are the main reasons for selling.

It was broken into twice in the last month, he said of the recent acts of vandalism. It made me realize that its time to sell it.

Mr. Saidel said he is willing to donate the building to another non-profit entity, or to sell it outright.

Id give it away if it was for a good cause, he said.

Rena Goldberg, 81, believes she is the last of the synagogues congregation to still live in Ogdensburg. Her father, Mayer Sperling, started the Sperlings Furniture store business, a company that once flourished across the north country. She said in the Ogdensburg synagogues heydey there were at least 100 active members, with people traveling weekly from across Northern New York and parts of Canada to worship and find fellowship among Ogdensburgs once sizeable Jewish community.

It breaks my heart, it just breaks my heart to see it boarded up like this, said Mrs. Goldberg as she stood outside the synagogue Monday. We had such times here.

Like many north country communities, Ogdensburgs business district once boasted a large number of Jewish entrepreneurs. Some of those names, like Edwin L. Dobisky, still remain part of the city as the namesake for the communitys Dobisky Visitors Center.

But the names of other early and prominent Ogdensburg retailing families, including the Fisher, Sperling, Rothenberg and Scwartz families, have been lost to all but area historians, according to Mrs. Goldberg.

The streets used to be buzzing back in those days, said Mrs. Goldberg, who stays active as the owner of the Way Back Inn bed and breakfast on Proctor Avenue. Now they are all gone. Urban Renewal.

Mrs. Goldberg said she understands the need to sell the synagogue building, and like Mr. Saidel, hopes a new use is found for the historic structure. She said she also understands that time changes many things in life, and that there is no reason to expect a new flood of Jewish immigrants to Ogdensburg or the north country any time soon.

It used to be such an active place, she said. We had doctors from the St. Lawrence Psychiatric Center, and people who would come over from Canada to our synagogue. Others would come from Massena or Potsdam. It was so much fun when I was a teenager.

The earliest written record of the Congregation Anshe Zophen shows up in the form of a deed conveying the original cemetery lot to Nathan Frank and Charles Paris on Oct. 21, 1873, according to historical records. On Sept. 6, 1875, the Congregation Anshe Zophen was incorporated under state law.

Although the cemetery was purchased in 1873, the Congregation did not own a synagogue, and for many years, the third floor at 207 Ford St., in the former Fisher Building served as a Hebrew School as well as a synagogue. In 1924, the congregation bought the unused Universalist Church.

Go here to read the rest:
Historic Ogdensburg synagogue being offered for sale - WatertownDailyTimes.com

Category: Synagogue
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