An opinionated guide to Manhattan synagogues
Mostly written in 2013-14, mostly Orthodox but not all.
LAST UPDATE: March 2021 (Altneu) Most of these reviews were written in 2013-14, but not all. All synagogues are modern Orthodox unless noted.To summarize, I am adding one or two word descriptions of each shul: West Side Jewish Center- Intimate Garment Center Synagogue- Needy Aderet El- Prosperous, Families Chabad of Midtown Manhattan- Tourist Town Torah Center- Chabad Shtiebel Sixth Street Community Synagogue- Young and Old Stanton Street- Intellectual, Young KKJ- Greek, Late-Starting Bialystoker- Imposing Chasam Sopher- Men's Club Brotherhood Synagogue- Conservative Chazzanut Magen David: Young and Old Altneu Shul- Park East Spinoff Safra- Rich, Syrian 5th Avenue Synagogue- Rich Park East- Delicious, Persian Sutton Place- Stately Or Olam- Old Manhattan Sephardic- Sephardic Chabad Yorkville Synagogue- Middle-Aged Shtiebel Jewish Center- Historic, Singles Young Israel of West Side- Young Shearith Israel- Formal West Side Institutional- Strollerville Lincoln Square- High-Security, Crowded West Side Institutional (Yemenite side)- Israeli Congregation Habonim- Liberal Ohev Shalom- Young, Small, and a bit to the right Shaarey Tzedek- Traditional Egalitarian Kehilat Rayum Ahuvim- Crowded and Scholarly Town and Village- aging baby boomers Darchei Noam- Big and young Emunath Israel/Chelsea Shul- Late Mt. Sinai- young KAJ - German, formal I. Midtown 1. West Side Jewish Center, 34th and 8th Size: modest. Typically about 15 men for shabbos, so they are small but not struggling for a minyan. Kiddush: unless it is sponsored by someone, a small halachic meal (bread, kugel, babka- often not more than that) Distinguishing features: –YCT-trained rabbi (YCT is a rabbinical seminary that is on the left edge of Orthodoxy) so a bit liberal-minded by Orthodox standards. On the other hand, he's not one of those almost-Conservative YCT rabbis who experiments with partnership minyans or discusses the Documentary Hypothesis. He seems VERY knowledgeable about halacha, likes to talk about recent interesting responsa and things like that. – a bit more friendly than average for NYC (low standard by the standards of the south though!) – most congregants come from one set of buildings, the Penn South co-ops in the 20s. Mostly middle-aged: very few under 40, not too many over 70. – NOT a rich congregation. I think Penn South is semi-public middle-class housing. Probably more Trump supporters than in a more affluent liberal-minded modern Orthodox congregation, but fewer than in a yeshivish/right-wing congregation. - wide range of observance, from yeshivish to not-very-observant. – magnificent but somewhat decaying building built in 20s – because its in midtown where a lot of people work but don’t live, large daily minyans in morning and in early afternoon during the workweek (nothing at night or on Sunday though) – not in Manhattan eruv (though this could change by end of 2018) – open after kiddush (sometimes all afternoon in winter) for newspaper reading, Torah study, general dawdling. Good place to be if it rains! 2. Garment Center Synagogue (40th and 7th when I last visited- moved to 1384 Broadway) (sort of Orthodox but not sure everyone would consider it that way) Size: about same as 1, maybe a few people smaller Kiddush: big enough for a full lunch but no washing stations for hamotzi- so the idea is you’ll eat a real meal and then have a meal-in-name-only (MINO) at home. This seems to be a common setup in Manhattan. Cold food- bagels and lox etc.. (I have to admit, I think having bread around without having washing stations is really an invitation to halachic mistakes since you are supposed to wash before eating bread). Distinguishing features: -older, wisecracking Runyonese rabbi -older congregation, pretty friendly – came across to me as a bit aggressive about wanting you there regularly. For me this is a deal-buster; because I am new to Manhattan I want to shop around and see all the different shuls rather than committing to one place quickly. But for someone who doesn’t feel like walking across the island and who lives in midtown, this might be a perfect place. – not sure they have a mechitza that would satisfy the most right-wing people. Women sit on their side of the room but no formal barrier. (Actually someone at another shul said it wasn’t a proper Orthodox congregation for this reason). – not enough space for a lot of women, so if I was female I’d hate it. Only two women there the shabbos I came. UPDATE: I am not sure if this shul exists anymore; they seem to have temporarily canceled services. (March 2021) 3. Aderet El (29th and Lexington) Size: moderate (40 guys for shabbos morning) Kiddush: usually more or less a full meal with multiple meat dishes- bread if you want it, salt at the rabbi's table (if I was a regular congregant I would suggest that it be at every table, but not really worth my trouble). Distinguishing features: not the oldest congregation in NYC but the oldest building continuously inhabited by one congregation (since 1860s) – a bit bland; when I have been here sermons not so memorable. – nice congregation, moderately friendly. Perfectly satisfactory but not as friendly or as interesting to me as some other shuls. – VERY family-oriented; lots of well-off middle-aged people. Someone there said that if I was single I really should be in Upper West Side instead of there. – seems affluent: doctors, lawyers etc. Near a bunch of hospitals. – has neighborhood monopoly- only synagogue in Kips Bay/Murray Hill. UPDATE: They have a new rabbi (March 2021). But because I have moved uptown I do not know if I will see him anytime soon. 4. Emanuth Israel (aka Chelsea Shul) on West 23rd St. Size: 20 people (about 16 or 17 men, 4 women) Kiddush: tiny by Manhattan standards- just grape juice and cake The Chelsea Shul is a bit like West Side Jewish Center in that both are small congregations in 1920s buildings – majestic structures that were made for congregations with hundreds of people. Nevertheless they are very different in some ways. The most distinguishing feature of the Chelsea Shul is that it is the shul for latecomers. The formal starting time is 10, which means the real time to start is more like 10:15 or 10:30. So if you sleep latethis is the shul for you. Davening is pretty fast, over by 12:30. Unlike the definitely-modern WSJC, Emanuth Israel is Chabad-led. Rabbi was young, reasonably intelligent. My guess is that a third of the men were Chabad-affiliated in some way. Most of the rest were over 60, but there were 2 or 3 relatively secular-looking thirtysomething guys. The age distribution is definitely more bimodal than WSJC- fewer people in 40s and 50s, more older and more younger. The building is definitely not as well-maintained as WSJC: the social hall looked like it had not been cleaned up in years, the bathroom was out of kleenex and paper towels until I complained (a big deal since tearing toilet paper on shabbos is halachically dicey)* There is a sign saying that the bathroom is being renovated; my uneducated guess is that this is a shul that hit bottom, and now Chabad is trying to rehabilitate it. It definitely feels less social than WSJC; after fifteen minutes I was ready to leave kiddush and I wasn’t the first to leave. I don’t think any of the four women at shul even bothered to show; I guess they figured that a few cookies weren’t worth the trouble. On balance, this is the shul for you if you sleep late and/or live close by. *I’m pretty sure my former rabbi (where I lived before NYC) says that if you don’t have an alternative to toilet paper you should rip it with your teeth. Given that this is hearsay based on a several-year-old memory, this advice is worth exactly what you paid for it. 5. Chabad of Midtown Manhattan (42nd and 5th) (updated May 2017) Size: 50 men or so The midtown Chabad is, like Emanuth Israel, a Chabad shul. But it is much more energetic and crowded: 50 men in a space made for less than 100, which to me felt a bit crowded. The minyan room is on the second floor of a multistory building so don't come if stairs are a problem. Like the Chelsea shul, this is a shul for late sleepers: davening is supposed to start at 10 AM on Saturday and realistically starts a bit later. The Torah reading started a bit after 11, and the service ends around 12:30. The sermon was very short, about 5 min. My sense was that there were a lot of tourists, especially Israelis: I saw women in t-shirts and jeans, and the rabbi made announcements in Hebrew as well as English. There was a very brief kiddush (cake and wine) and then most people go upstairs for a very opulent full lunch. The website implies that you should pay for lunch in advance, but they don't enforce that, so you can come on impulse and pay after Shabbos. The seudah shlichit (Shabbos afternoon mini-meal) is very unusual. At most shuls people sit around and socialize and the rabbi talks for a few minutes. But at Chabad they hold the seudah downstairs where there is not enough table space for everyone. So people squeeze their way through each other to get food at the table, then sit in chairs in the women's section and eat while the rabbi and/or rabbinic interns talks for a full half an hour or so. I guess for a shul full of tourists who don't know each other, there is something to be said for this set up. One really neat thing about Midtown Chabad: they have very late daily minyans (8:45 is the last) for those of us who want to get some sleep before davening. Also, there is an afternoon minyan even on Fridays, which is pretty rare even in Midtown. Although (as of May 22, 2017) I have only been there once for Shabbos I have been there a lot for minyans. 6. Torah Center (office building at 393 5th Avenue, 1st floor- weekdays and some Saturdays). Size: about a dozen men on shabbos Kiddush: full meals For some years, there is been a small Chabad minyan at 393 5th (between 36th and 37th). I am not quite sure why this minyan exists, but it is closer to me than the one at 42nd so sometimes I go there. This minyan has historically been the late-riser minyan on weekdays (starting 9 am, later than any other I know of) but has not met on Shabbos. For some reason, the rabbi decided in late 2018 to start having Shabbos minyans, one of which I attended recently. Like the early minyan, it is for late risers: the posted time is 10 am, but I think it started 15 or 20 minutes later, and ended around 12:30. Lunch ended an hour and a half later with mincha, and the rabbi said he would hang around for a "fabrangen" (which presumably includes more food and drink) after mincha. However, I left after mincha. There is no sermon during services; instead the rabbi does a lot of the talking during lunch, so I felt like I got as much of a dvar Torah, if not more, than at a conventional shul. There are more Israelis than at most shuls, and people tend to dress casually. II. Lower East Side/Greenwich Village/Gramercy Park 1. Stanton Street Shul (updated Nov. 2016) Size: 20-30 men maybe Kiddush: varies. Even a small one has hummus, herring, kugel (though not a full lunch. Sometimes bigger. Distinguishing features:– – lots of young people. Majority of men were visibly under 40 (women tended to be older for some reason). – new rabbi is very friendly; congregation somewhat so. – starting time is 9:30 but they say a lot of preliminary psalms (like Chabad and Sephardim) so they don't really finish Pseuki'd'Zimra until after 10 (which is about the time they had a minyan). So good for late sleepers. If you are saying kaddish, pay attention. They don't automatically say mourners' kaddish like most shuls. Instead, the rabbi says "kaddish" near the end of a service and expects any mourner to start saying kaddish- otherwise no kaddish. 2. KKJ (Greek shul) (Rather than spelling out name I’ll just give you link) Size: maybe 15 men at most Kiddush: halachic meal, Israeli food (falafel hummus etc). Not huge but satisfying enough. — practices Romaniote Greek rites, pretty similar to Sephardic Greek but not quite identical. They use the de Sola Pool Sephardic siddur (written in 50s, blue). Like Sephardic shuls they spend a lot of time on preliminary prayers before getting to key parts of Peseuki D’Zimra (like Baruch Sheemar and Psalm 145) – THE place to go if you sleep late. Don’t think they started in earnest (with Psukei D’Zimra) till around 10. – Kind of desperate for bodies, so I felt like this is another place to go more than once only if you want to go there regularly (though they weren’t too aggressive about it; my sense is they get a lot of tourists because they are historic/ethnic). – not a neighborhood congregation; lots of people come in from suburbs. My guess is that shul never really expanded from its ethnic base, unlike Spanish and Portuguese congregations that today have very few Spanish and Portuguese. – despite nonobservance a bit sexist (if that’s the right word). At lunch men and women sat separately. – Friendly. I liked this place, but I like Stanton Street more. 3. Town and Village (Conservative) Size: 60 or so; majority over 60 I think Kiddush: full dairy meal (with ice cream! Wow!) Like Habonim (see below in Upper West Side section) this is a pretty mainstream Conservative shul. Some differences: – one of the friendliest shuls I have been to in Manhattan (if not the friendliest). I was really impressed by how many people went up to me to say hi! – it seemed a bit older to me; fewer young couples than at Habonim. – a bigger prayer space; Habonim has slightly smaller attendance but seems fuller (in my memory) compared to the size of the room. – on the negative side, people seem less halachically literate. Two people gave me business cards (which strikes me as kind of questionable). I also noticed that they didn’t have prayerbooks in the social hall so you had to go up to the sanctuary to say blessings over meals. – more outreachy than Habonim. Rabbi spoke about the virtues of unplugging from technology during Shabbat, which told me that most of the congregants probably weren’t unplugged. (Does this mean that people are more observant at Habonim, or just that the rabbi didn’t feel like talking about this sort of thing the day I was there? Who knows?) – lots of things to do after kiddush. They had mincha and two study sessions going on at the same time. I think they should have just had mincha first for everyone then the study sessions but who died and made me rabbi? 4. Bialystoker Size: about 35 men Kiddush: kichel, cake, herring, whiskey, kugel, cholent. Not a full meal but close enough that when you got home, you could do hamotzi and call it a day if you don't have a big appetite. What's unusual about Bialystoker is that has is a really imposing, beautiful sanctuary in a neighborhood (Lower East Side) where shuls tend to be small - much bigger than Stanton Street Shul. Lots of painting, lots of detail, no peeling paint. Bialystoker could probably seat a few hundred men; Stanton Street feels cramped with 30. The vibe seems to be modern Orthodox but definitely more right wing than Stanton Street- no obvious "progressive" innovations, but few black hats. People aren't as young as Stanton Street but younger than the average congregation- I'd say 1/3 were visibly under 40. Rabbi discussed Gemara a lot but concluded with a concise, noncontroversial summary. Moderately friendly- one guy talked to me. All in all, a pretty ordinary place (not in a bad way) except for its physical beauty. 5. Sixth Street Community Synagogue (Feb. 2017) Size: 35 men, about half that many women Kiddush: pasta, fruit, two types of cheesecake, apple pie, cake. Wonderful, but not for carbophobes. (No bread so make hamotzi at home- but realistically you may be too full for anything besides bread for lunch). This shul is pretty similar to Stanton Street- a liberal-minded modern Orthodox shul with a young, tieless rabbi. (Though I think the rabbi is a bit more scholarly here; he gave a long discussion of Bechor Shor's view of the Torah portion). The physical space, however, is much more commodious that Stanton Street- the shul was built in 1940 for a few hundred people, and looks very well kept up. Interesting mix of people- lots of under 40s, lots of over 60s. Not much in between though- I felt like there were not that people close to my own age (53). Not very friendly at all- a couple of people talked to me for a couple of minutes, that's about it. My sense is that the younger the shul the less friendly the people, at least if you are my age. Even so, I liked it- if I lived in the neighborhood it might be my shul (though I like Stanton Street as well). 6. Chasam Sopher (added Oct. 2017) Size: 20 or so guys, about 3 women Kiddush: kugel, herring, deli meat, whiskey, a little parve cake. Almost a meal, except no bread. (However, my sense from the announcements is that sometimes they have full meals). Chasam Sopher is one of the Lower East Side's oldest shuls; the congregation occupies a building built in 1853 for another shul, though the congregation itself has only been around since 1892. Because the minyan was in a downstairs space instead of the main sanctuary, I can't tell whether the latter is as magnificent as the outside of the building. This struck me as a very right wing shul by Manhattan standards, at least if "right wing" means "excluding women." They were behind a mechitza so tall and think that they could not see anything that was going on. Not surprisingly, I saw only three women at the kiddush, and i am not sure how many of them were present for the service. Also, most of the siddurim were all Hebrew, though I managed to snag an Artscroll. The people were moderately friendly and a mix of young black hat types and LES old-timers. The rabbi speaks with a thick NY accent, and talked about a midrash cited by Rashi to show that the land of Israel is really ours. One thing l liked: speed davening. The minyan started at 8:45 and was over at 10:35, and the rabbi ended kiddush at 10:50 (he spoke at kiddush instead of giving a sermon, but I'm not sure this is normal procedure). 7. Brotherhood Synagogue (Conservative) Size: 50 people or so, about 60 percent women Kiddush: a full (though not huge) meal if you wanted it- bread for hamotzi, cheese, chickpea salad, lots of sweets. Brotherhood Synagogue is another aging, mid-sized Conservative shul. What's distinctive about it? A few things: *The building is historic, built in 1859 or so for Quakers. It wasn't used as a synagogue till the 1950s. *The congregation seems old even by Conservative standards. My guess is that about 20 percent of the people were under 60. *They skip a LOT of Pseuki'd'Zimra: everything but Baruch Shemar and Yistabach. (Though they do everything else slowly enough that you can do a lot of it on your own). Also they do a triennial Torah cycle, which shortens the Torah reading. Sermon was not short though; rather than focusing on one or two key points, the rabbi covered a lot of difficulties in the parsha. *Because they have a chazzan who is a bit operatic and does not exactly daven at lightning speed, they take a full 2.5 hours despite leaving out some stuff. I would say it is moderately friendly, but not quite as much so as other comparable synagogues (by which I mean, synagogues dominated by old people - my experience is there is a fairly strong correlation between age and friendliness). 8. Magen David Sephardic (177 Sullivan, just north of Houston) Size: 50 men and about half that many women Kiddush: a huge meal with chicken, noodles, hummus etc. Magen David is a Sephardic synagogue in a new building in Greenwich Village, just a few blocks south off Washington Square. A few random thoughts: *The liturgy is typical Sephardic, which means that there are a lot of introductory psalms before Baruch Sheemar. People use a wide variety of siddurim; the rabbi occasionally calls out page numbers in two Sephardic ones, one written in 2012 with English translations, one all-Hebrew. *People tend to come in moderately late; for the first 10 or 15 minutes there wasn't a minyan. *The people tend to be very young (perhaps because it is just south of NYU) or very old. Not a lot of black hats- basically a modern Orthodox Sephardic shul. *There is duchening (that is, the blessing of the congregation by Kohanim) in both morning and musaf services, so if you are a Levi be prepared to help! * The observance range seems to be pretty wide; I saw young women in wigs and old women wearing pants. *The rabbi is very young and is a pretty good speaker. Because I met someone who was already a friend and took up most of my time, I didn't get a real sense of how friendly the shul is. III. Upper East Side 1. Safra Synagogue (customs of Aleppo, Syria) (E 63rd between 5th and Madison) Size: 70 or 80 men Kiddush: no bread so you’ll have to have MINO (meal in name only) at home but really enormous. One table of nothing but meat pies (this is not a shul for vegetarians). Even desserts were good despite being pareve. The best food I’ve ever had in a shul I think. But caveat: some of it goes quickly and is not replenished, and they take it all away after an hour. (This is not a shul where you are encouraged to dawdle). – moderately friendly; I managed to have a short conversation and horn in on another (which is how I judge Manhattan friendliness- no one will ever invite you to lunch the first time they meet you as far as I can tell, which was also true in Queens). – feels incredibly rich, new – security guy wands you to make sure you aren’t packing heat or something. – like many ethnic shuls not super frum. Lots of women with short sleeves, pants. – quaint Aleppan custom: when you are called to Torah you don’t get your name mentioned or touch Torah, just go straight into the blessings. Also no transliteration so you better read Hebrew! 2. 5th Avenue Synagogue (E 62nd between 5th and Madison) Size: maybe 30 or 40 men (about half that at mincha) Kiddush: Ashkenaz version of Safra (see above)- not a halachic meal but HUGE. Lots of meat. Cholent. Best parve cake I’ve ever had. Distinguishing: – rich. Seemed to have a lot of non-Jewish stuff, including coat-check person and bartender to regulate drinks at kiddush (which I didn’t like but I guess they figured its better to have a prodiguous amount of alcohol and a bartender to keep you from overindulging than not to have a prodiguous amount of alcohol at all) – old. Most people had gray hair. – moderately friendly; one person talked to me but no one else did. – sermon sweet and bland. – people seemed less frum than most Ashkenaz shuls ADDITION: I moved near here in July 2021. Post-COVID it seems far less elegant; they meet in the basement, which is far less elegant than the higher floors. Kiddushes tend to be smaller but still decent- herring, maybe kugel or cholent sometimes, some sweets and salad-y things. 3. Park East (went to Persian minyan but visited Ashkenaz kiddush after) 163 E 67th Size: about 20-50 men on Persian side (I’ve been twice, once when it was more occupied, one less so); 300-400 (my guess) in main shul. Kiddush: Ashkenaz on lower floor Persian on upper floor. I’ve been to Persian side twice- one kiddush was minimal, the other time it was catered by Chatanooga (great kosher Persian place) in Great Neck- probably the best food I’ve ever had in shul except maybe Safra. Ashkenaz side is just OK but a lot of food- they have bread so you can make hamotzi. Also lots of liquor unlike Persian side. Distinguishing features (other than amazing food): – Persian side: Very eloquent, friendly British-born rabbi, Jeremy Rosen (jeremyrosen.com) – as with other ethnic shuls not homogenously observant – you can find English siddur but you have to look for it, most were Persian/Hebrew (I used Artscroll I think) – if you are going to Persian side go in back on E 68th (I think), not main Park East entrance. There are security guys at both entrances but you won’t get quizzed as much on Persian side. On main side they asked me for ID and I had to explain that I lived outside the eruv. Main shul- Huge, rich like other UES shuls. People tend to be on old side though. A little more religiously diverse than some. 4. Sutton Place Synagogue (51st and 2nd) (Conservative) Size: 70 or so Kiddush: medium size- lox, kugel,lots of sweets. (Bread but no salt for hamotzi so whether you make a meal of it depends on how picky you are about such things). Distinguishing features: – seems laid back, almost stately. Lots of old people, a few families too. No singles that I noticed. – some parts of davening done very slowly (sometimes singing same passage two or three times), but makes up for it by speeding through most of Amidah. Service still took 2 and 3/4 hrs (9:15 to 12). – friendlier than average. – cantor did hamotzi as well as kaddish at the end of service. Did he not wash or did I just not notice?\ 5. Or Olam (55th and 1st) (Conservative) Size- 30-35 Kiddush- a full (dairy) meal more or less- salad, vegetables, herring, tuna, sweets. The rabbi was the only person who washed for hamotzi and I'm not sure if there was salt since I wasn't planning to wash anyhow since I had bread at home and washing seemed kind of awkward. Distinguishing features: - very friendly - old. I could identify about 5 people who were visibly under 50, one of whom was the cantor. My guess is that the median age is late 60s or early 70s but I'm not good at telling the difference between 60 and 75 so how would I know? - long service (almost 3 hrs) because the (very erudite, very old looking) rabbi rambled a bit. - cantor is woman with voice so high that it could probably shatter glass. - traditional in some ways, not so much in others: cantor did an English song about Miriam in the middle of the Torah reading (point for not-so-traditional) but they did the full Torah reading rather than following the triennial cycle as many Conservative shuls do. 6. Manhattan Sephardic: Chabad Sephardic Size: 50 guys or so, but slightly cramped because space holds less than 100 Kiddush: huge meat, lots of different things but not a full meal because even though I saw rolls I didn't see salt or anyplace to wash (though maybe if I was motivated I could have). I ate and then had a token kiddush/hamotzi at home and assume most people did the same. Food a mix of classic Ashkenazic (Chabad influence?) and some things with olives and chickpeas that I assumed were more Sephardic Distinguishing features: - LONG service, from 8:30 to almost 12. Rabbi, a Chabad guy, gave a long sermon (at least 20 min.) and there are extra recitations (maybe Pirkei Avot since I heard a lot of rabbis mentioned?) between Musaf Amidah and En Keloheinu, and the Kohanim did duchening during both Shachrit and Musaf. - People seemed a bit old for an Orthodox shul, though not as old as in a Conservative one. - less frum than I expected; I saw a lot of women with short skirts 7. Yorkville Synagogue Size: 15 men. Kiddush: small by Manhattan standards, just herring, cookies, nuts, dips. But I was informed that once or twice a month they have a bigger kiddush (not sure whether that means bread for hamotzi or not). This is a very unusual shul. It has a rabbi who is a major-league halachic expert, J. David Bleich. Since the shul is built for 100 people or so and is in a neighborhood with a significant Jewish presence, I have no idea why it has so few attendees. Some other distinguishing features: - very middle-aged: only one or two people visibly under 40 or over 70 (kind of the opposite of shuls like Sixth Street or Stanton Street that are dominated by those demographics) - rabbi doesn't give a sermon, so davening over in 2 hrs. The rabbi sometimes does talk at kiddush but not always (about once or twice a month I think- not the day I came). He apparently gives a Talmud talk before Mincha as well. - congregation pretty friendly; rabbi didn't go out of his way to meet me though. He is 82 and maybe doesn't have as much energy as he once did. - men sat separately from women at kiddush. I don't think a single woman was less than 70. - after kiddush we davened mincha. - lots of different types of siddurs and chumashes. So I used Birnbaum siddur and Hirsch Chumash for the first time in years. All in all, I would definitely go to this shul more often if I lived closer to it, though it probably is a bit right-wing for me. 8. Altneu Size: maybe 150 people Kiddush: big, definitely a full lunch (though I didn't see bread for hamotzi, other than chopped-up pita; however, I overheard someone suggesting that this was a goof rather than standard operating procedure). Altneu is a spinoff of Park East; the junior rabbi was fired for some reason, and set up his own shul. But because so many people followed him to the new shul, it has not yet found a permanent meeting place. Instead, they bounce from event site to event site. When I went to one of these sites, it was almost standing room only- a big crowd, about half under 40. The rabbi gave a sermon that didn't excite me, but he had a nice story about a recently deceased rabbi (Chaim Kanievsky, a great scholar). They had a guest chazzan who was very operatic, causing the service to drag on past the two and a half hour mark (despite the fact that they skip Anim Zmirot and seemed to rush through the last few minutes of Musaf). I am not sure if this is typical. IV. Upper West Side 1. Lincoln Square (Amsterdam in high 60s) Size: 200 people at least. Biggest shul I’ve been to in NYC. Room barely big enough for this many people- you can describe it as overcrowded or spiritually energized depending on your taste. Kiddush: big but no bread/salt (can’t remember whether lacking one or both) so make your MINO at home. Similar to 5th Avenue synagogue- not halachic meal but big. Distinguishing features: – They quizzed me for 5 minutes before I entered shul to make sure I wasn’t terrorist. – Kiddush was also in room that was not quite big enough for number of people- felt like “bumper cars.” – Service itself perfectly normal- nothing I really liked or disliked about it. Update: You don't have to go through the quiz if you go to the early morning Shabbos minyan (7:45). 2. Chabad (65th St, on 5th floor of where Drisha meets) Size: 20 guys. Kiddush: big but no bread so make your MINO at home. Meat there if you want it but didn’t dominate meal. Distinguishing features: nothing much (regular Chabad rabbi not present so I can’t comment on that). Nice, friendly place. Sweet and bland. 3. West Side Institutional Synagogue, Yemenite minyan (main shul is on right side of first floor, Yemenite on left side) Size: 40 men I would guess Kiddush: full (halachic and otherwise) meal, very good, Israeli. They had some sort of baked bread dish that was delish (I think Jachnun) plus chicken. Not much of a dessert though. Distinguishing features: Sermon in Hebrew. Everyone seems Israeli, many people spoke Hebrew at kiddush. 4. Shearith Israel (Spanish and Portuguese synagogue, 70th at Central Park West) Size: maybe 100 men at least? Big. Kiddush: first time I went it was probably average for America outside NYC- Enough to keep you full for an hour or two but not a meal. Second time was almost a meal (though no bread for hamotzi so if you go you should leave bread at home for that). Distinguishing features: – Very formal. When I took off my coat someone suggested I put it on (though the second time I came I saw men without coats- I don’t know whether they’ve changed their policies or I just attracted notice by taking off a coat I already had on) – Very friendly though too. The first time I came someone apologized for not asking me to lunch because he already had lunch plans- the closest I’ve ever came to being asked to lunch in Manhattan. – VERY ornate shul, built in 1870s I think. Beautiful. – Not an ethnic shul; rabbi says about evenly divided between Sephardim and Ashkenazim. – Feels rich but not as ridiculously frou frou as Upper East Side. – Uses De Sola pool siddur. If you’re used to Spanish and Portuguese I don’t have to tell you anything. If not- basically its the Sephardic service (which means lots of early psalms) so even if service technically starts at 8ish you get to main features of service at about the same time as in Ashkenazic shul). Having said that, when I came in at 9:15 they were already doing the Shma- so my guess is that if you want to start when most Ashkenazim start, try 8:45 or 9 – Lots of teenagers. While some shuls are full of old and young, this shul seems like middle-aged family country. 5. Jewish Center (131 W 86th St.) Size: big. About 70 or 80 men but this was vacation weekend so probably normal attendance over 100. Kiddush: the smallest I’ve seen in Manhattan. Nothing but cookies, brownies (though a decent variety of those- if you’re on some sort of anti-wheat diet know that you won’t be fed here). Distinguishing features: – lots of women, I think lots of young singles. – nobody talked to me, which might be seen as a negative. On the other hand no one will hassle you (ask for ID, etc) . Basically a place to commune with God and mind your own business, at least the first time you go. (Can’t comment about second time!) – people more frum (in terms of women’s dress) than Upper East Side, less so than outer boroughs. No women wearing pants, but lots of women whose dresses weren’t up to elbow or skirts a little on short side. (In more right wing places women might wear short sleeves but nothing above elbow- in REALLY right wing places everyone wears long sleeves but that’s probably just Hasidim and far-right Yeshivish isn’t it?) – rabbi bright but uses a lot of Hebrew terms that less educated visitor might get. I get the sense he’s talking to a modern orthodox but frum-from-birth audience, as opposed to being more outreachy. 6. Young Israel of the West Side (W 91st I think) Size: about 150 normally (the first time I visited only half that but that was Shabbat Hagadol so lots of younger members home with parents elsewhere) Kiddush: good sized but not preposterously overwhelming. Fruit (including blueberries!), hummus, brownies. Cholent and kugel the second time I visited. Distinguishing features:- magnificent main sanctuary, built for several hundred people at least. – Anim Zmirot done before Torah reading; a nice feature because it makes service seem shorter at end – rabbi is young, bright enough, seems on the right-wing side of modern Orthodox (more so than I would like)- still, I liked this place better than I liked comparable UWS shuls. – second time I visited seemed like mostly 20 somethings. Kiddush was in a room that was a bit small for 150 people, so the overall feel was of rock-concert-like crowding and noise. I suppose that as a single person I should have liked it, but overall setting brought out whatever latent claustrophobia I had, so I didn’t feel like talking to anyone and for that matter no one felt like going out of their way to talk to me. (The first time fewer people showed up and the shul president talked to me). 7. West Side Institutional Synagogue (120 W 76th) Size: 80 men, half that many women Kiddush: really a meal, but not a formal one (no salt for hamotzi). They had traditional Ashkenazi hot stuff (cholent, kugel, herring, chicken nuggets) and parve sweets, but also a real green salad so it was vegan friendly (as well as Israeli salad). A nice contrast to many kiddushes that are very limiting for people with health issues or unusual diets (not that I’m one of them, fortunately!) Distinguishing features: – LOTS of young families and children running around. If I had to use one word to describe this shul, it would be “strollerville.” (Not so many singles as Jewish Center I suspect) – old-fashioned operatic cantor. – about as friendly as most UWS shuls; someone will talk to you but only if you talk to them first. 8. Ohab Zedek (W 95th) Size: hard to tell since they had three or four minyans going on at same time. I think 80-100 in main room though. Kiddush: cholent, kugel, and sweets, nothing healthy. And this was a gala kiddush in honor of a guest speaker, so average is probably worse. Like the Jewish Center and Young Israel, this is a big, super-ornate Upper West Side shul with a modern orthodox congregation. But it definitely seems more right-wing, and not just because the rabbi wears a black hat. A couple of small things I noticed: – like yeshivish rabbis I’ve known, rabbi seems to take tradition a bit literally regardless of the meaning of the text; in describing the Haftorah, he kept talking about Moshiach ben David and Moschiah ben Joseph, describing a portion of Ezekiel that doesn’t explicitly mention any sort of Moschiah. – when a guest speaker spoke between the end of services and Kiddush, the men and women sat apart. I’m not saying that anyone from Kew Gardens Hills or Flatbush would consider OZ anything but modern- but it somehow does seem a bit less so than similar Manhattan shuls. 9. Habonim (Conservative) Size: about 45 or 50. About half over 60. Kiddush: full dairy meal. Bread with washing stations, lox, fruit, cookies, herring, kugel, even vegetables. (I don’t know if this was typical). To me, what was most noteworthy about Habonim is that it seems a bit to the left of most Conservative shuls I know, primarily I think because they cut Pseuki’d’Zimra (the psalms before Barchu) in half. They kept Baruch Sheamar, Psalm 145, and Nishmat but not much else. They did the vocal (but not silent) Amidah for Shachrit, though they did both the silent and repeated Amidah for Musaf. Rabbi wears ponytail, smart but a little on the abstract side. It is a bit on the friendly side by Manhattan standards. I sat down at a table full of young couples (not sure who was single if anyone) and even though I didn’t exactly dominate the conversation I at least wasn’t completely ignored either. 10. Ohev Shalom (84th and Broadway) Size: about 50-60 (though the shul president recited his bar mitzvah portion and apparently he had a lot of friends come in who don’t ordinarily go- so not sure if this is normal size). On the young side- lots of strollers, about 1/3 clearly under 40. Kiddush: big. Cholent, kugel, fruit, kale, sweets, hummus etc (not sure if this was typical though) This shul is smaller and friendlier than most UWS shuls- I had actual conversations with human beings there (though nothing very deep). The rabbi has a dynamic style but is a little right-wing religiously speaking; he gave a speech that seemed targeted to yeshiva bochers and referred to Avigdor Miller (who was VERY right-wing indeed) as his teacher. He spoke about how in the World to Come you’ll be judged on how much you focused on Torah study. The crowd was pretty modern though- not too many beards on men, women were all wearing skirts but didn’t all cover their elbows as you might see in a frummier place. Not really for me – I feel more comfortable in someplace where the rabbi is more on my wavelength. 11. Darchei Noam (270 W 89, gym on 3rd floor) (“partnership minyan”- that is, has a mechitza but gives women a greater role than at most Orthodox synagogues, women can lead some prayers and read from Torah) Size: 150-200 people in a space made for only slightly more people. One of the most jam-packed shuls I have been to in NYC. Kiddush: medium sized-fruit, cupcakes, pasta salad. Barely enough to go around so eat quickly if you go there! This shul is probably one of the youngest and largest I have been to- most people probably under 40. I think it is probably a great place for young singles if you know a lot of people there. It is a booming, lay-led minyan, like a bigger version of Washington’s DC Minyan. My guess is that people come from modern Orthodox and observant Conservative backgrounds. On the negative side, it is a bit on the icy side- perhaps because it is so big and crowded and noisy, no one spoke to me without being spoken to. And I think that the younger the congregation the less friendly it is – probably because, I suspect, most people do not want to feel like they are at a singles event at shul (or maybe its just that I am so obviously older than they are that they don’t want to talk to me). 12. Shaarey Tzedek (now at 214 W. 97th while their traditional space on 93rd is being renovated) (Conservative) Size: 25-30 people. Like many Conservative shuls it skews a bit old- but probably less so than many. Only about 1/3 of people were visibly over 65, and I even saw a couple of strollers. Kiddush: one of the best. Full halachic lunch; they had kugel, cholent etc. like many Orthodox shuls. This shul feels a bit more traditional than most Conservative shuls. There are no microphones (though that may be because they are temporarily in a smaller than usual space), they use the 1973 Silverman siddur instead of the newer Cons. movement prayerbooks, they do the full Torah portion instead of a triennial cycle. Nothing weird or faddish. Rabbi gave nice sermon (though I am biased because we are distantly related). Shul is pretty friendly; I talked to a couple of people at lunch. If I lived on the UWS this shul might tempt me back to Conservative Judaism. 13. Kehilat Rayum Ahuvim (about 40 guys) This is a modern Orthodox congregation that seems to have an older membership than most UWS Orthodox shuls (maybe half over 60?) and seems to have a pretty high-achieving membership (more academics than most I think). I would put on it the liberal side because it looked like most women were wearing hats or doilies instead of wigs etc. The rabbi, Adam Mintz, seems pretty scholarly (see his website for more info). I really like KRA and might go again, because: *The people seemed friendly and a good fit- more lawyers and professors than shuls I am used to. *Innovative- instead of a drash in the middle of davening, they have quick davening (which took less than two hours) and then a presentation between davening and kiddush. This week there was an exercise in "bibliodrama" (which you can google if you are curious about). The meal was a full lunch (except there was no salt or honey with the bread which I thought was odd). The shul does not have its own building; it meets on the second floor of the National Council of Jewish Women Building on W. 72nd St. One thing I disliked was that the room was really crowded: 40 men in a room made for about 60 means zero elbow room, especially if (like me) you want a front row seat for maximum bathroom access. V. Washington Heights 1. Kol Adath Jeshurun (KAJ) (Bennett Ave and 186th) Size: about 40 guys when I went there, which was during the summer. Lots of empty space. Kiddush: the only Manhattan shul I have ever been to that had no kiddush. This shul was founded by German refugees in the 1930s, and is unique in a variety of ways. It has slow, formal melodies like a Spanish/Portuguese shul. But lots of black hats (and a few summer hats as well) giving me the sense that it was a pretty right wing place. Since there was no sermon, no kiddush and no one talked to me after shul (with the exception of one guy who asked me if I had a place for lunch, said he didn't have a place, and directed me to a study session in their beit midrash where no one was particularly interested in my place) its hard to say more. 2. Mt. Sinai (across from KAJ) The weekend I went to KAJ for Saturday morning services, I went to Mt. Sinai for mincha, the mini-meal between mincha and maariv, and maariv. Washington Heights has a reputation for attracting 20-somethings, and I suspect that Mt. Sinai is the reason for that. There were about 40 guys there and half that many women, and 80 percent of them seemed to be under 40, if not under 30. People pretty friendly, unusually so for such a young group. It probably helped that I sat at a table with no women - nobody was trying to pick up the opposite sex! I liked it!
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