Astoria Center of Israel

{{short description|Synagogue in Queens, New York}}{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2023}} {{Infobox religious building | name = Astoria Center of Israel

| native_name = | native_name_lang = | image = Astoria_Center_of_Israel._Side,_angled_shot..JPG

| image_upright = 1.4 | alt = | caption = | religious_affiliation = [[Judaism]] | tradition = | sect = | district = | prefecture = | province = | region = | deity = | rite = [[Conservative Judaism|Conservative]] | festival =  | organisational_status =  | ownership = | governing_body = | leadership = | bhattaraka = | patron = | consecration_year = | functional_status = | religious_features_label = Notable feature | religious_features = Murals by Louis Pierre Rigal | location = 27-35 Crescent Street, [[Astoria, New York|Astoria]], [[Queens, New York|Queens]], [[New York City]], [[New York (state)|New York]] | locale = | municipality = | cercle = | state = | country = United States | map_type = New York City | map_size = 250 | map_alt = | map_relief = 1 | map_caption = Location in [[New York City]] | grid_name = | grid_position = | sector = | territory = | administration = | coordinates = {{coord|40|46|12.79|N|73|55|25.58|W|region:US-NY_type:landmark|display=inline,title}} | coordinates_footnotes = | heritage_designation = | architect = Louis Allen Abramson | architecture_type = Synagogue | architecture_style = [[Classical Revival architecture|Classical Revival]] | founded_by = | creator = | funded_by = | general_contractor = | established = {{circa|1880}}s {{small|(as a congregation)}} | groundbreaking = | year_completed = 1926 | construction_cost = | date_demolished =  | facade_direction = | capacity = | length = | width = | width_nave = | interior_area = | height_max = | dome_quantity = | dome_height_outer = | dome_height_inner = | dome_dia_outer = | dome_dia_inner = | minaret_quantity = | minaret_height = | spire_quantity = | spire_height = | site_area = | temple_quantity = | monument_quantity = | shrine_quantity = | inscriptions = | materials = | elevation_m =  | elevation_footnotes = | nrhp = | designated = | added = | refnum = | delisted1_date = | website = {{url|astoriacenter.org}}

| module = {{Infobox NRHP | embed = yes | name = Astoria Center of Israel | nrhp_type = | added = October 16, 2009 | area = less than one acre | governing_body = | refnum = 09000833 }} | footnotes = <ref name="nris">{{NRISref|version=2009a}}</ref> }}

The '''Astoria Center of Israel''' is a [[Conservative Judaism|Conservative]] [[Jewish]] [[synagogue]] located at 27-35 Crescent Street, [[Astoria, New York|Astoria]], [[Queens, New York|Queens]], [[New York City]], [[New York (state)|New York]], United States.

The congregation's forbears date from the 1880s. Completed in 1926, the [[Classical Revival architecture|Classical Revival]] historic building was listed on the New York State Register of Historic Places and the [[National Register of Historic Places]] in October 2009.<ref name=nrhpdoc>{{cite report|type=none|url=https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75321058 |title=National Register of Historic Places Registration: New York SP Astoria Center of Israel|publisher=National Archives and Records Administration |author= Virginia L. Bartos|date= June 2009| access-date=November 21, 2025 }} ({{NationalArchivesNote}})</ref>

==Design==

The Astoria Center was designed by architect [[Louis Allen Abramson]] as one of the [[Oldest synagogues in the United States|earliest synagogues]] in Queens. The building features a brick [[façade]], two stories tall, and five bays wide. The trim is cast stone, and features double-height Ionic piers flanking round-arched windows. The piers support an [[entablature]] and are topped by a balustrade. Its round-arched entrance is topped with a cartouche, within which is inscribed a [[Star of David]].<ref name=Landmarks>{{cite web |url=http://www.nylandmarks.org/events/lectures_and_other_events/conservancy_holds_exclusive_tour_of_historic_queens_synagogues/ |title=Conservancy holds exclusive tour of historic Queens Synagogues |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100715145202/http://www.nylandmarks.org/events/lectures_and_other_events/conservancy_holds_exclusive_tour_of_historic_queens_synagogues/ |archive-date=July 15, 2010 |website=[[New York Landmarks Conservancy]] |access-date=April 2, 2010}}</ref>

Among the synagogue's features is a set of murals by French artist Louis Pierre Rigal, added a few years after the building was completed.<ref name=Landmarks />

==History==

The roots of the Astoria Center of Israel can be traced back to Jewish congregation Mishkan Israel, begun sometime in the 1880s, constructing a building in 1906. In 1921 that congregation built a [[Talmud Torah]] next to its first building, where education could "implant in our children a love and reverence for our noble tradition." That education building later became the home of the Astoria Center of Israel, with the original Mishkan Israel building later destroyed in a fire.<ref name="website">{{cite web |url=http://www.astoriacenter.org/about.htm |title=About ACI |website=Astoria Center of Israel |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120425122352/http://www.astoriacenter.org/about.htm |archive-date=April 25, 2012 |access-date=October 30, 2011}}</ref>

In 1926, efforts were begun to enlarge the building that housed the new Astoria Center of Israel, and by 1929 ACI "had become a fully operational 'Center' of Jewish life in Queens." It was added to the National and State Registers of Historic Places in 2009.<ref name="website"/>

==Rabbis==

In 1926, Rabbi [[Joshua L. Goldberg]] became the center's first rabbi.<ref name="obit">{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/12/26/nyregion/joshua-l-goldberg-jewish-chaplain-98.html |title=Joshua L. Goldberg, Jewish Chaplain, 98 |work=The New York Times |date=December 26, 1994}}</ref> He had been drafted into the Russian Army during World War I, fled to the United States to enlist and serve with American forces in Europe, then returned to New York to attend rabbinical school and become a rabbi.<ref name="obit"/> With the outbreak of World War II, Goldberg returned to the U.S. military, this time as a chaplain, as the first rabbi to serve with the U.S. Navy in World War II.<ref name="obit"/> In 1951, he was named rabbi emeritus of ACI.<ref name="obit"/>

==References== {{Reflist}}

== External links == {{Commons category|Astoria Center of Israel}} * {{official website|https://astoriacenter.org}}

{{Astoria, Queens}} {{Synagogues in the United States}} {{National Register of Historic Places listings in Queens}} {{Authority control}}

[[Category:Synagogues in Queens, New York]] [[Category:Unaffiliated synagogues in New York City]] [[Category:Properties of religious function on the National Register of Historic Places in Queens, New York]] [[Category:Synagogues completed in 1926]] [[Category:Astoria, Queens]] [[Category:Synagogues on the National Register of Historic Places in New York City]] [[Category:Neoclassical synagogues]] [[Category:Neoclassical architecture in New York City]] [[Category:Jewish organizations established in the 1880s]] [[Category:1880s establishments in New York City]] [[Category:20th-century synagogues in the United States]]