| Synagogue | Organized | Dedicated |
|---|---|---|
| Tremont Temple | 1906 |
| Non-Synagogue | Type |
|---|---|
| First Union Baptist Church | church |
2064
Grand Concourse
at
East 180
Bronx, NY 10457
The building is currently a church.
small - medium - large - full
Personal Impressions
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11I was Bar Mitzvah there and went to confirmation class. In 1946 I was married there.
My brother and I were very active in the Junior League and we ran many socials and dances at the synagogue.
My husband and I were active members for 15 years. Before we moved to Florida the Sisterhood tendered a wonderful farewell party during a Friday evening service.
When the Tremont Temple building was sold, we gave the plaques to Scarsdale Reform Temple.
We ran a Bingo game at the Temple. We made $25,000 a year. The workers got tired so we stopped.
A Senior Citizens' Center was started in the building. The city paid the temple $15,000 a year in rent. We had plenty of money but the neighborhood changed and we didn't have enough people.
I remember that the cantor used to fall asleep during the services.
A group of us did not want to lose our friendship when the Tremont Temple closed. We formed a charity group and have just celebrated our thirtieth anniversary.
Services on Friday night were beautiful. There was a mob on the High Holidays.
My most memorable reminiscence was my father's reaction to the Reform religious service. In spite of his criticisms, I knew he enjoyed the services, the music and the singing. He continued to attend reform services after he moved from the Bronx.
I was disturbed by the fact that the rabbi left the rabbinate to affiliate himself with his father-in-law in the business world.
We belonged to the Concourse Center of Israel which was Orthodox. We lived next door to the Tremont Temple. It was reform and the attendees were more elegantly dressed and more impressive than those at the Concourse Center. My family's comments included those about those 'Chazzer fressers'.
In a New York Times article titled, Tremont Temple Quits the Bronx
,
dated December 17, 1976, an early member of the Tremont Temple says,
I remember my brother and I being the only Jews in P.S. 56 on Hull
Avenue and having to say we were sick to explain why we stayed home on
the high holy days.
On the nearest Saturday to October 8, 1928, I became Bar-Mitzvah in the Tremont Temple. The rabbi who performed the ceremony was Dr. Irving Reichert, who, I understand, later moved to California.
My husband, now 87 years old, was Bar-mitzvahed at the Tremont Temple. He thinks that the rabbi at the time was Rabbi Levy. The rabbi was extremely well dressed and a very pleasant man.
The only other recollection he has was that the temple had a
performance of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
. His older
brother played the handsome prince and he was one of the seven
dwarfs holding a shovel.