Lenora Garfinkel (1930 – April 29, 2020) was an American architect, specializing in the design and construction of Jewish ritual buildings.

Childhood and education

Born Lenora Fay Josephy in 1930 in

the Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

, Garfinkel attended the

High School of Music & Art The High School of Music & Art, informally known as "Music & Art" (or "M&A"), was a public specialized high school located at 443-465 West 135th Street in the borough of Manhattan, New York, from 1936 until 1984. In 1961, Music & Art and the High ...

in Manhattan and was among the first women to enroll in Cooper Union’s architecture program in the class of 1950. She took the Cooper Union entrance exam on a Sunday instead of Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath; she tested under a pseudonym to increase her chances of admission.

Career

Garfinkel maintained an architecture office in

Monsey, New York Monsey (, yi, מאנסי, translit=Monsi) is a hamlet and census-designated place in the town of Ramapo, Rockland County, New York, United States, located north of Airmont, east of Viola, south of New Hempstead, and west of Spring Valley. The ...

, for more than 50 years. The business was ranked in the top 8% of New York licensed contractors. She designed the Atrium, an Ultra-Orthodox events space in Monsey, the Viznitz Synagogue, and the Masores

Bais Yaakov Bais Yaakov ( he, בית יעקב also Beis Yaakov, Beit Yaakov, Beth Jacob or Beys Yankev; lit., House fJacob) is a genericized name for full-time Haredi Jewish elementary and secondary schools for Jewish girls throughout the world. Bais Yaa ...

school in Brooklyn. She became an authority on the religious regulations and design specifications for Jewish ritual institutions, including mikvahs and

synagogues 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 wors ...

Personal

She was married to Sam Garfinkel, a pharmacist, in 1958. The couple had five children, 20 grandchildren, and over 50 great-grandchildren. Two of her sons are also architects. Garfinkel died in April 2020, from

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...

The Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

during the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City. Her son and grandson died from the virus within a week of her death.

References

1930 births 2020 deaths 20th-century American architects American Jews American women architects Architects from New York (state) Cooper Union alumni Jewish architects Fellows of the American Institute of Architects People from Monsey, New York Date of birth missing Date of death missing Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in New York (state) {{US-architect-stub