The latest depressing installment of New York City real estate having its way with historic houses of worship (see: “Historic NYC Synagogue Fights Foreclosure;” “16th Street Synagogue Fights to Stay“) has at least avoided a tragic casualty. The ark at Congregation Adas Le Israel Anshei Meseritz—the last surviving tenement synagogue in the East Village, which was sold to a developer and is being renovated into a controversial condominium with the synagogue occupying the ground floor—has found an unlikely new home: an Episcopal Church on Wall Street.
The Wall Street Journal reports that the ark has been acquired by Tamid, a congregation that meets at St. Paul’s Chapel on Wall Street. (The stained glass windows at Anshei Meseritz have also been removed for construction.) With a few tweaks—”A local general contractor reassembled pieces of the ark to fashion a large, rolling, ornate cabinet that both fits the style of St. Paul’s Chapel and tucks easily into a corner”—the ark has been spared an uncertain future as its old home undergoes a dramatic transformation. Still, for many, the ark’s preservation is bittersweet.
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From Tablet Magazine
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