Temple B'Nai Israel was a

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

congregation and

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 ...

located in Olean,

Cattaraugus County Cattaraugus County (locally known as Catt County) is a county in Western New York, with one side bordering Pennsylvania. As of the United States 2020 census, the population was 77,042. The county seat is Little Valley. The county was created ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, in the United States. ''See also:'' Established in 1894 as the Olean Hebrew Association, the synagogue closed in 2019 and was

deconsecrated Deconsecration, also called secularization, is the act of removing a religious blessing from something that had been previously consecrated by a minister or priest of that religion. The practice is usually performed on churches or synagogues to b ...

in December 2020. The former synagogue heritage building is now used as a

community theater Community theatre refers to any theatrical performance made in relation to particular communities—its usage includes theatre made by, with, and for a community. It may refer to a production that is made entirely by a community with no outside hel ...

; and was listed on 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 ...

in 2012.

History

The congregation was established by Harris W. Marcus, a native of

Mobile, Alabama Mobile ( , ) is a city and the county seat of Mobile County, Alabama, United States. The population within the city limits was 187,041 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, down from 195,111 at the 2010 United States census, 2010 cens ...

who had come from

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

and settled in Olean in 1881, establishing the first Jewish community in the region. Its attendance peaked during the

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

era as Jewish communities joined in solidarity against the ongoing

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...

. A

Sefer Torah A ( he, סֵפֶר תּוֹרָה; "Book of Torah"; plural: ) or Torah scroll is a handwritten copy of the Torah, meaning the five books of Moses (the first books of the Hebrew Bible). The Torah scroll is mainly used in the ritual of Tora ...

was donated in 1941 by Oscar Rosenbloom, a local merchant. The membership was down to 23 families as of 2017. B'Nai Israel continued to hold its twice-monthly regular services at the time, but it was said to be in danger of closing within a decade due to the ongoing exodus of young people from the Olean region.Dinki, Tom
"Dwindling B’Nai Israel congregation celebrates Rosh Hashanah"
''

Olean Times Herald The ''Olean Times Herald'' is a daily newspaper serving the western Twin Tiers region, based in Olean, New York. The afternoon newspaper, one of the few remaining afternoon papers in the nation, is published by Bradford Publishing and is publis ...

'', September 21, 2017. Retrieved May 17, 2018 Since deconsecrating its synagogue in 2020, it has rented space in the former Saint John's School on North Union Street for services.

Heritage building

B'Nai Israel's synagogue building from 1929 to 2019 was a three- to four-story tall, light brown brick structure with

terra cotta Terracotta, terra cotta, or terra-cotta (; ; ), in its material sense as an earthenware substrate, is a clay-based unglazed or glazed ceramic where the fired body is porous. In applied art, craft, construction, and architecture, terracotta ...

decorative details. (Before the Temple was constructed, the Olean Jewish community had rented facilities to serve as a house of worship.) Built in 1929, it measures 85 feet long, 42 feet wide, and 50 feet tall. The front facade features a massive arched terra cotta portal encircling a large, round stained glass window. It was listed on the

in 2012. In July 2019, the synagogue announced that it would be closing after

Yom Kippur Yom Kippur (; he, יוֹם כִּפּוּר, , , ) is the holiest day in Judaism and Samaritanism. It occurs annually on the 10th of Tishrei, the first month of the Hebrew calendar. Primarily centered on atonement and repentance, the day's ...

services that fall as it sought to rent a smaller facility. A zoning variance was unanimously approved in August to allow the

deconsecration Deconsecration, also called secularization, is the act of removing a religious blessing from something that had been previously consecrated by a minister or priest of that religion. The practice is usually performed on churches or synagogues to b ...

. A Torah originally donated to the congregation was reunited with a family member of the original donor in 2019, Oscar Rosenbloom Jr., who then donated it to Camp Towonga, a Jewish youth summer camp outside Yosemite National Park in Northern California. The temple was formally deconsecrated in December 2020; attendance had fallen even further by then, with only 16 families attending the high holiday services, which are the most-attended services on the calendar. The building was sold to a local

organization, where it is in the process of being renovated into Olean Community Theatre.

References

External links

Official Facebook page of Temple B'Nai IsraelOfficial Web site of Olean Community Theatre
Former synagogues in New York (state) National Register of Historic Places in Cattaraugus County, New York Synagogues on the National Register of Historic Places in New York (state) Synagogues completed in 1929 1929 establishments in New York (state) Gothic Revival architecture in New York (state) Gothic Revival synagogues Jewish organizations established in 1894 1894 establishments in New York (state) Olean, New York Religious organizations disestablished in 2020 2020 disestablishments in New York (state) 20th-century synagogues in the United States {{CattaraugusCountyNY-NRHP-stub