{"id":117586,"date":"2026-02-19T00:14:13","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T00:14:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/117586\/"},"modified":"2026-02-19T00:14:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T00:14:13","slug":"defunct-synagogue-from-once-proud-community-collapses-in-pennsylvania-coal-region","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/117586\/","title":{"rendered":"Defunct synagogue from once-proud community collapses in Pennsylvania coal region"},"content":{"rendered":"

JTA \u2014 An abandoned synagogue in Pennsylvania\u2019s coal region, which until the early 2000s had served Jewish residents of Mahanoy City for more than 80 years, collapsed late Thursday night, officials and neighbors told the local<\/a> media.<\/p>\n

Emergency crews responded to reports of falling walls and scattered debris at the former Beth Israel Synagogue, a brick building whose cornerstone was laid in 1923.<\/p>\n

No injuries were reported, according to Skook News, <\/a>a news site serving Schuylkill County. Crews began demolishing what was left of the building and carted away the debris.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s sad to see the buildings go, I lived in Mahanoy City or I worked here my whole life, and one by one these historic buildings seem to be going,\u201d Paul Coombe, president and historian of the Mahanoy Area Historical Society, told television station WFMZ<\/a>.<\/p>\n

According to local histories, Mahanoy City\u2019s first organized Jewish congregation dated to 1888. Jewish merchants and families had settled in the area \u2014 about an hour and a half northeast of Harrisburg \u2014 at the turn of the century, opening shops and businesses serving the booming coal economy.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tGet The Times of Israel’s Daily Edition
\n\t\t\tby email and never miss our top stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\tBy signing up, you agree to the terms<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we talk about the Jewish communities and the Rust Belt, the Jews didn\u2019t come to be part of that particular industry or that particular labor. They came to support it,\u201d said Alanna Cooper, chair of Jewish Studies at Case-Western University and an authority on synagogues past their prime. \u201cThey understood that it was important for that economic niche to be there in order to support the people who were working the mines or doing the industrial labor.\u201d<\/p>\n

At its peak, the Jewish population in the borough rose to around 50 families, who established the synagogue and, in the 1930s, a Jewish cemetery. Like many small-town Jewish communities in the Rust Belt, the congregation at Beth Israel dwindled as the industry and local economy declined in the decades after World War II.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tBeth Israel of Mahanoy City, seen here in the 1950s, was built by Jewish merchants and businesspeople who served the area\u2019s burgeoning coal industry. (Mahanoy Area Historical Society via JTA)<\/p>\n

The synagogue ceased formal religious services in 2003, and its doors were locked and the building boarded up, according to Rabbi Akiva Males, a Harrisburg rabbi who wrote about his interest in Beth Israel\u2019s history in a 2012 article<\/a>. In the process of closing the house of worship, congregation leaders sold its Torah scrolls and offered ritual items to functioning synagogues outside the region.<\/p>\n

In 2015, author Ted Merwin reported in the New York Jewish Week that Beth Israel\u2019s stained-glass windows had ended up at Eitz Chayim of Dogwood Park, an Orthodox synagogue on Long Island\u2019s South Shore, under unclear circumstances. Eitz Chayim leaders said they had been given permission to take away the windows by unnamed local leaders.<\/p>\n

The same article reported that descendants of Beth Israel families were seeking the return of the windows or payment in \u201cfair market value,\u201d which they hoped to use towards maintaining the cemetery. The case ended up in state court in 2017, although there is no record of how it was resolved.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tA still from a streaming video of an event at Eitz Chayim of Dogwood Park, in West Hempstead, New York, March 19, 2018. (Facebook)<\/p>\n

Merwin said this week that how the eight windows ended up on Long Island remains a mystery, but perhaps one with a satisfying ending.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe windows are beautiful,\u201d said Merwin. \u201cWhat is the legacy of these communities that faded out and are forgotten? At least this is some sort of a lasting legacy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cooper, who is writing a book on preserving and disposing of the assets of fading congregations, said any synagogue\u2019s demise touches on Jewish feelings of historical loss.<\/p>\n

\u201cAmerican Jews crave community, and we\u2019re losing it now because of our mobility and digital technology,\u201d she said. \u201cThe disappearance of community is not just a Jewish story, but it resonates with people. What does it mean to be in a tight-knit community where all of the members were aunts and uncles to all of the kids? That\u2019s kind of getting lost.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\t\t\t\tIs accurate Israel coverage important to you?\t\t\t<\/p>\n

If so, we have a request.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Every day during the past two years of war and rising global anti-Zionism and antisemitism, our journalists kept you abreast of the most important developments that merit your attention. Millions of people rely on ToI for fact-based coverage of Israel and the Jewish world.\u00a0<\/p>\n

We care about Israel – and we know you do too. So we have an ask for this new year of 2026: express your values by joining The Times of Israel Community, an exclusive group for readers like you who appreciate and financially support our work.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\tI’m with you and will give\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\tI’m with you and will give\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\tAlready a member? Sign in to stop seeing this<\/a><\/p>\n


\n\t\t\t\tYou appreciate our journalism\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n


\n\t\t\t\t\t\tWe\u2019re really pleased that you\u2019ve read X Times of Israel articles in the past month. \n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

You clearly find our careful reporting valuable, in a time when facts are often distorted and news coverage often lacks context.<\/p>\n

Your support is essential to continue our work. We want to continue delivering the professional journalism you value, even as the demands on our newsroom have grown dramatically since October 7.<\/p>\n

So today, please consider joining our reader support group, The Times of Israel Community. For as little as $6 a month you’ll become our partners while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing\u00a0exclusive content\u00a0available only to Times of Israel Community members.<\/p>\n

Thank you,
David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel<\/p>\n

\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\tJoin Our Community\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\tJoin Our Community\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\tAlready a member? Sign in to stop seeing this<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JTA \u2014 An abandoned synagogue in Pennsylvania\u2019s coal region, which until the early 2000s had served Jewish residents…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":117587,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29],"class_list":{"0":"post-117586","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pennsylvania","8":"tag-pennsylvania","9":"tag-pennsylvania-headlines","10":"tag-pennsylvania-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117586","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=117586"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117586\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/117587"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117586"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=117586"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=117586"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}