Young Israel Beth El of Boro Park

1906 - present

Congregation Beth El of Boro Park is one of the oldest Jewish congregations in Boro Park and built the singularly oldest synagogue building in the neighborhood four years later. The magnificent structure was built in a Moorish revival style and features a prominent arched doorway in its bricked facade. Young Israel of Boro Park was established in 1935 at a building on 50th Street, this congregation merged with Beth El in the 1980s due to its lack of congregants. Throughout its illustrious history of more than a century, many notable figures have served as rabbis and hazzanim (cantors) at this congregation. Of note is Rabbi Simon Glazer, a prominent Lithuanian orthodox rabbi, who immigrated to the United States in the early years of the 20th century. Glazer was instrumental in the establishment of the Aggudath Harabbanim (Rabbinic Congress) of the United States and was an early proponent of Zionism in the years after the Balfour Declaration of 1917.