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Breed Street Shul, also known as Congregation Talmud Torah of Los Angeles or Breed Street Synagogue, is an
Orthodox Jewish Orthodox Judaism is the collective term for the traditionalist and theologically conservative branches of contemporary Judaism. Theologically, it is chiefly defined by regarding the Torah, both Written and Oral, as revealed by God to Moses on M ...
synagogue A synagogue, ', 'house of assembly', or ', "house of prayer"; Yiddish: ''shul'', Ladino: or ' (from synagogue); or ', "community". sometimes referred to as shul, and interchangeably used with the word temple, is a Jewish house of worshi ...
in the
Boyle Heights Boyle is an English, Irish and Scottish surname of Gaelic, Anglo-Saxon or Norman origin. In the northwest of Ireland it is one of the most common family names. Notable people with the surname include: Disambiguation *Adam Boyle (disambiguation), ...
section of
Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
. It was the largest Orthodox synagogue west of
Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...
from 1915 to 1951, and is listed in the
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
.


Early history

Congregation Talmud Torah started in 1904, using rented quarters in downtown Los Angeles, at 114 Rose Street. It was started primarily as a Hebrew school ("Talmud Torah" is typically used to mean a supplemental afternoon religious school, though it was also used as a synagogue). Within a few years, the immigrant population moved, concentrating in Boyle Heights. Several Jews purchased a house at Breed and First, and started using it as a shul. By 1914, the Rose Street location was nonviable, for lack of a quorum (minyan), and the membership merged with the new Breed Street group. In 1915, they purchased a lot two blocks north, and commissioned a new wood-framed building on the present site. It became known as the "Breed Street Shul." The original shul on the site was designed by O.M. Warner and constructed by Bornstein & Cohn. Enrollment grew, and by 1918, a second structure was needed on the lot. By 1923, there were 110 students enrolled. The Jewish population grew from a few hundred in 1910, to 1,842 in 1920, to more than 10,000 in 1930.


Construction of the existing structure

As the size of the congregation grew, a new synagogue was built, designed by the architectural firm of Edelman and Barnett. The original wood structure was moved to the back of the lot to make room for the new brick structure which opened in 1923. The new synagogue was built from unreinforced masonry with veneer brick and cast stone embellishments on the facade. The façade includes alternating bands of dichromatic brickwork, "dense prickly foliage carving", other organic motifs, and Stars of David in bas-relief cast stone detail.


Role in the Boyle Heights community

The Boyle Heights section of Los Angeles, located east of downtown, was home to the city's most populous Jewish community from 1910 to 1950. The area around Breed Street Shul became a center for the Jewish community. The business district on Brooklyn Avenue (renamed Cesar Chavez Avenue in 1995) just north of the Shul was the location of many kosher butchers, bakeries, delis, bookstores and other shops catering to the Jewish community. The Breed Street block where the Shul was located also became home of the Los Angeles Jewish Academy (now part of Yavneh Academy) and Mount Sinai Clinic (a forerunner of
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center Cedars-Sinai Medical Center is a nonprofit, tertiary, 886-bed teaching hospital and multi-specialty academic health science center located in Los Angeles, California. Part of the Cedars-Sinai Health System, the hospital employs a staff of over 2 ...
). In 1945, Rabbi Osher Zilberstein of Breed Street Shul opened the city's first Jewish parochial elementary school. When Israel was established as an independent nation in 1948, Breed Street Shul was the site of a solemn ceremony in which the new flag of Israel was flown for the first time in Los Angeles.


Dispersal of Boyle Heights Jewish community

In the years after World War II, the Jewish community in Boyle Heights dispersed, moving to areas such as the West Fairfax District, Beverlywood, and Encino. Rabbi Zilberstein remained at Breed Street Shul until his death in 1973. Many families, including those of Jewish Veterans of WWII, went east across the L.A. River to the San Gabriel Valley.


Vacancy and deterioration

The main brick building was vacated in the mid-1980s due to seismic retrofit requirements. Services were moved to the original wooden structure at the rear of the lot for several years. By 1996, services ceased at Breed Street Shul, and the buildings have been vacant since that time.


Historic designation and proposed restoration

In 1988, the building was designated as a City of Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument. The building fell into disrepair in the 1990s, and the City of Los Angeles foreclosed on the property after recording an assessment for barricading and protection. In 1998,
Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...
visited the Shul as part of her ''Save America's Treasures'' campaign. In July 2000, the City quitclaimed the property to Breed Street Shul Project, Inc., a subsidiary of the Jewish Historical Society of Southern California. The organization plans to rehabilitate the buildings as a county museum, educational and cultural center. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2001.


Rabbis


Solomon Michael Neches (1921–1935)

Jerusalem-born Rabbi Solomon Michael Neches (October 13, 1891 - February 11, 1954) was the first rabbi of the synagogue originally named Congregation Talmud Torah. Rabbi Neches fought the battles of * Reform - Rabbi Neches advocated for Orthodox education for the community's Jewish children. *
Kashrut (also or , ) is a set of dietary laws dealing with the foods that Jewish people are permitted to eat and how those foods must be prepared according to Jewish law. Food that may be consumed is deemed kosher ( in English, yi, כּשר), fro ...
- He was instrumental in California's (first) Kosher Law. * Jewish education - the name of the shul (Congregation Talmud Torah) made it clear that a Yeshiva/day school would have to await his successor. Neches also is recognized for having begun the Los Angeles-based Western Jewish Institute, and initially led it. He was succeeded as rabbi of the Breed Street shul by Rabbi Osher Zilberstein.


Osher Zilberstein (1935–1973)

Osher Zilberstein (1888–1973), a noted
Torah The Torah (; hbo, ''Tōrā'', "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In that sense, Torah means the s ...
scholar, was a tenth generation rabbi from Mezritch,
Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...
. In 1935 he assumed the rabbinical position as the rabbi of the Breed Street Shul, also known by the name Talmud Torah Los Angeles. Rabbi Zilberstein was instrumental in the opening of an Orthodox day school, Yeshivas HaMaarav. He was buried at Home of Peace Cemetery in
East Los Angeles, California East Los Angeles ( es, Este de Los Ángeles), or East L.A., is an unincorporated area in Los Angeles County, California. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census it had a population of 118,786, a drop of 6.1% from 2010 United States Cen ...
. His
Yartzeit Bereavement in Judaism () is a combination of ''minhag'' and ''mitzvah'' derived from the Torah and Judaism's classical rabbinic texts. The details of observance and practice vary according to each Jewish community. Mourners In Judaism, the p ...
is 14 Shvat (5733) and his father's name was Rabbi Yisroel Aharon Zilberstein. He was born in the Ukraine, immigrated to Winnipeg, Canada in 1924, and moved to Los Angeles in 1935.


Cantors

Cantor Israel Reich (1946-1953) did not begin his career at the Breed Street Shul, nor did he end it there. One of the reasons he was described as a "Cantor's Cantor" was that he "helped train countless students, including his own three children, to become cantors."


See also

* Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monuments on the East and Northeast Sides *
List of Registered Historic Places in Los Angeles This is a List of the National Register of Historic Places in the city of Los Angeles. (For those in the rest of Los Angeles County, go here.) Current listings :' ...
*
Hal Bernson Harold M. Bernson (November 19, 1930July 20, 2020) was a Los Angeles City Council member for 24 years, from 1979 until his retirement in 2003. A conservative Republican, he was a leading proponent of the San Fernando Valley seceding from the rest ...
, Los Angeles City Council member, 1979-2003


Notes


External links


Breed Street Shul Project, Inc.

A Feasibility Study For Saving Congregation Talmud Torah Of Los Angeles, Silverstein, David. 1995
from the
American Jewish University American Jewish University (AJU), formerly the separate institutions University of Judaism and Brandeis-Bardin Institute, is a Jewish institution in Los Angeles, California. Its largest component is its Whizin Center for Continuing Education in w ...
{{National Register of Historic Places Synagogues in Los Angeles Boyle Heights, Los Angeles Synagogues completed in 1923 Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monuments Properties of religious function on the National Register of Historic Places in Los Angeles Jewish organizations established in 1904 Byzantine Revival synagogues Orthodox Judaism in Los Angeles Orthodox synagogues in California Synagogues on the National Register of Historic Places in California