B'nai Israel Synagogue, more commonly called The Woodbourne Shul, is an

Orthodox Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to: Religion * Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pag ...

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

congregation and historic, yet popular,

synagogue A synagogue, also called a shul or a temple, is a place of worship for Jews and Samaritans. It is a place for prayer (the main sanctuary and sometimes smaller chapels) where Jews attend religious services or special ceremonies such as wed ...

, located at 457 NY State Route 52, in Woodbourne, in the town of

Fallsburg Fallsburg is a town in Sullivan County, New York, United States. The town is in the eastern part of the county. The population was 14,192 at the 2020 census.US Census Bureau, 2020 Census Report Fallsburg, New York QuickFacts https://www.census. ...

, in the

Catskills The Catskill Mountains, also known as the Catskills, are a physiographic province and subrange of the larger Appalachian Mountains, located in southeastern New York. As a cultural and geographic region, the Catskills are generally defined a ...

region of Sullivan County,

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

, in the United States. The congregation follows the

Ashkenazi Ashkenazi Jews ( ; also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim) form a distinct subgroup of the Jewish diaspora, that Ethnogenesis, emerged in the Holy Roman Empire around the end of the first millennium Common era, CE. They traditionally spe ...

rite Rite may refer to: Religion * Ritual, an established ceremonious act * Rite (Christianity), sacred rituals in the Christian religion * Ritual family, Christian liturgical traditions; often also called ''liturgical rites'' * Catholic particular ch ...

History

The first rabbi of the synagogue was David Isaac Godlin (1868-1943). The synagogue was built in 1920 and is a two-story building above a shallow concrete basement. It is a wood-frame structure, three bays wide by four bays deep and surmounted by a steep gable roof with deep wooden cornice. ''See also:'' The synagogue building was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1999.

Modern times

In 2010, Rabbi Mordechai Jungreis, ''

Rebbe A Rebbe () or Admor () is the spiritual leader in the Hasidic movement, and the personalities of its dynasties.Heilman, Samuel"The Rebbe and the Resurgence of Orthodox Judaism."''Religion and Spirituality (Audio)''. UCTV, 20 Oct 2011. web. ...

'' of the Nikolsburg-Woodbourne

Hasidic Hasidism () or Hasidic Judaism is a religious movement within Judaism that arose in the 18th century as a spiritual revival movement in contemporary Western Ukraine before spreading rapidly throughout Eastern Europe. Today, most of those aff ...

dynasty A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family, usually in the context of a monarchy, monarchical system, but sometimes also appearing in republics. A dynasty may also be referred to as a "house", "family" or "clan", among others. H ...

, purchased the synagogue building, then in decline, from the congregation board for $120,000. Jungreis also leads a congregation in the Borough Park neighborhood of

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

. After completing necessary repairs, in the first year of acquisition, approximately 2,000 people attended the ''shul'' throughout the summer. By summer 2011, the number of attendees had tripled. In the 2014 summer, the ''shul'' had approximately 10,000 weekly attendees; and in the summer of 2015, approximately 120,000 people attended the ''shul''; described by some as a

Minyan In Judaism, a ''minyan'' ( ''mīnyān'' , Literal translation, lit. (noun) ''count, number''; pl. ''mīnyānīm'' ) is the quorum of ten Jewish adults required for certain Mitzvah, religious obligations. In more traditional streams of Judaism ...

factory, with minyanim commencing every ten minutes throughout the day, from early morning to past midnight. The synagogue was initially used during the summer months, from

Memorial Day Memorial Day (originally known as Decoration Day) is a federal holiday in the United States for mourning the U.S. military personnel who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces. It is observed on the last Monday of May. It i ...

Labor Day Labor Day is a Federal holidays in the United States, federal holiday in the United States celebrated on the first Monday of September to honor and recognize the Labor history of the United States, American labor movement and the works and con ...

, when Sullivan County sees a large influx of Jewish vacationers. After COVID more people began using the synagogue during the year and now it is currently open all year long.

References

External links

* *
A video of the Rebbe making a blessing

A video of the Rebbe dancing at a wedding of one of his followers
20th-century synagogues in the United States Ashkenazi synagogues in the United States Carpenter Gothic architecture in New York (state) Carpenter Gothic synagogues Czech-American culture in New York (state) Czech-Jewish culture in the United States National Register of Historic Places in Sullivan County, New York Synagogues in Sullivan County, New York Synagogues on the National Register of Historic Places in New York (state) Synagogues completed in 1922 Wooden synagogues {{US-synagogue-stub