When Rabbi Adam Mintz\u2019s Modern Orthodox congregation was first looking for a space on the Upper West Side, finding one that worked was no simple task.<\/p>\n
Kehilat Rayim Ahuvim, the fledgling congregation, didn\u2019t have the resources \u2014 i.e. tens of millions of dollars \u2014 to buy a property and develop their own building, so the plan was to rent.<\/p>\n
But renting space for a congregation comes with very specific needs.<\/p>\n
They needed a room that could fit the entire congregation, which would typically draw 50 to 80 people for services. There had to be a second space for kiddush lunch after Saturday mornings. The building needed to be on the Upper West Side, where its congregants, who\u2019d broken off from Lincoln Square Synagogue following a lay leadership dispute, lived and could walk to synagogue. Perhaps most importantly, the space needed to be available for them on Friday nights and Saturdays, plus the major Jewish holidays.<\/p>\n
And all this in the Manhattan real estate market.<\/p>\n
Finally, after a months-long search, Mintz, on the advice of a congregant, found a spot that checked all those boxes, housed inside the National Council of Jewish Women\u2019s building on West 72nd Street.<\/p>\n
\u201cGod was smiling at us one day,\u201d Mintz said in an interview.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can\u2019t go on StreetEasy and find a synagogue space exactly as you want it,\u201d Mintz said. \u201cAnd that space on 72nd Street, I guess we walked past it every day. But it took somebody \u2014 one of our members had this amazing idea.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mintz said the arrangement was a win-win. For Mintz, his congregation had a place to meet while paying below market rate. Meanwhile, the NCJW was now benefiting from a new stream of income while housing a Jewish group, a partnership which Mintz said \u201cstrengthened the Jewish community.\u201d<\/p>\n
That search was just one example of the effort \u2014 and creativity \u2014 required to secure a space to congregate in New York City and solve the \u201cedifice complex,\u201d as Mintz refers to it.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs real estate prices have gone sky high, New York City \u2014 and especially Manhattan \u2014 congregations have had to get creative,\u201d said David Kaufman, author of \u201cShul with a Pool.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kaufman has written extensively on the history of American synagogues, including the entry for synagogues in Kenneth Jackson\u2019s \u201cEncyclopedia of New York City.\u201d In that entry, Kaufman segmented the history of the city\u2019s synagogues into four phases \u2014 the latest of which, starting around 2000, details the challenge of finding space as rents have skyrocketed.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn my early years, the \u201870s and \u201880s, New York was not like that,\u201d Kaufman said. \u201cRent was not astronomical and you could find premises for various purposes. Nowadays it\u2019s nearly impossible.\u201d<\/p>\n
Congregations have indeed gotten creative, leasing from a variety of properties that moonlight as synagogues. A \u201cshul community\u201d called Kehillat Harlem rents out a storefront property on Harlem\u2019s Adam Clayton Powell Boulevard. Modern Orthodox synagogue Prospect Heights Shul is housed in Luria Academy, a Jewish school in Brooklyn.<\/p>\n
But even after a congregation secures a space, it is not necessarily out of the woods.<\/p>\n
Independent minyan Darkhei Noam had been renting from Manhattan Country School on the Upper West Side since 2017. Its lease at MCS was set to expire in 2034 \u2014 but when the school went bankrupt this summer, the congregation was left scrambling for a new home.<\/p>\n
Similarly, the Fort Tryon Jewish Center has been renting from the Fort Washington Collegiate Church in Upper Manhattan, but the church\u2019s closure is forcing them out at the end of December, according to an email sent to their mailing list.<\/p>\n
Paul Wachtel, the former co-chair of Darkhei Noam\u2019s board who was involved in their building search, said it was \u201cvery difficult to find a place.\u201d The cost of renting property can be prohibitive for a congregation that only uses the space a few times per week, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need a space for all the Jewish occasions and events, but it would be impossible to buy and difficult to rent unless we have a partner who would make use of it at other times during the week, like an educational institution,\u201d Wachtel said in an interview during the search. That search recently concluded \u2014\u00a0for now \u2014\u00a0when Darkhei Noam came to a one-year lease agreement with the Trevor Day School.<\/p>\n
Mintz said he believes the optimal model is to rent space from a large Jewish organization\u2019s building. He stuck to that model earlier in September when his congregation moved, after 21 years at NCJW, into the Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan, rebranding as the Shtiebel @ JCC.<\/p>\n
Mintz said he was excited by the move, for starters, because the congregation would be moving into \u201cprobably the busiest Jewish building in Manhattan.\u201d (Mintz had long wanted to move into the JCC; things were finally set in motion after KRA held a service there last year, which served as something of a trial run, while its own air conditioning was broken.)<\/p>\n
About a month into the relocation, Mintz said the Shtiebel @ JCC has been successful, with new people \u201cfrom the community and people connected through JCC\u201d joining services every week. His congregation is also planning to use the JCC\u2019s rooftop sukkah.<\/p>\n
But Mintz said this model \u2014\u00a0renting space from a Jewish organization \u2014\u00a0goes beyond just the JCC, and that he\u2019d like to see it \u201creplicated everywhere.\u201d He added that big synagogues often rent out their spaces to non-Jewish organizations between services, and could do so with smaller Jewish nonprofits in mind.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhether it\u2019s synagogues looking to find space in Jewish buildings, or big synagogues looking to rent [out] space to Jewish things \u2014 and nothing wrong with the non-Jewish things \u2014 but I think within the community, it only strengthens the community,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Kaufman said he hadn\u2019t seen much precedent for the concept of a congregation leasing space from a Jewish community hub.<\/p>\n
There are examples, Kaufman said, of congregations that were formed within organizations, such as at the Educational Alliance (originally called the Hebrew Institute) and the former Young Women\u2019s Hebrew Association building on 110th Street.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut in none of these cases is it another congregation that moves into and takes over space in one of those buildings,\u201d Kaufman said. \u201cSo that is new to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
UJA-Federation of New York, the city\u2019s largest Jewish organization, \u201cregularly gives space to community organizations \u2014 including synagogues \u2014 for a wide variety of events and activities in our building,\u201d public relations director Emily Kutner said by email. But she said that until now, \u201cWe have not been approached by a congregation to hold services in our building.\u201d<\/p>\n
Other Jewish organizations have been approached, and have rented out their space.<\/p>\n
Temple Emanu-El\u2019s downtown campus moved last year into the Center for Jewish History\u2019s building. Executive director Dina Mann said the search involved looking at \u201cdozens\u201d of commercial spaces and reaching out to other \u201cmission-aligned\u201d nonprofits and museums that \u201ccould have had spaces.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI think having a similar sensibility about how to approach different aspects of Jewish community and life in New York is helpful. Specifically around security,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Another perk of being in the building, Mann added, is that \u201cour religious school kids get exposed to different aspects of Jewish history.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rabbi Jonathan Leener, who leads Prospect Heights Shul, said the synagogue\u2019s partnership with Luria Academy has opened up new opportunities in jointly applying for grants.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt made sense to be like, \u2018Wow, we could split this,\u2019 and working really together to take advantage of what\u2019s out there,\u201d Leener said. \u201cWe\u2019re hoping that some of the larger foundations and philanthropists are attracted by this model of Jewish community, of working together.\u201d<\/p>\n
As congregations like the Fort Tryon Jewish Center continue searching for a home, Mintz said he\u2019d love to see a fund that incentivizes Jewish partnerships by kicking money to both the hosting and renting organizations. Some congregations face more obstacles with this model than others; FTJC, for example, serves the community of Washington Heights, which lacks Jewish organizations that could house tenants.<\/p>\n
Still, for congregations that are walking distance from those organizations, Mintz said he believes these partnerships could be fruitful for all.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s such an important real estate model, and we don\u2019t utilize our real estate properly,\u201d Mintz said.<\/p>\n