Beth Joseph Synagogue

{{Short description|Former synagogue, now museum, in ustate New York, US}} {{Use American English|date=July 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=February 2024}} {{Infobox religious building | name = Beth Joseph Synagogue | native_name = | native_name_lang = | image = Beth Joseph Synagogue, Tupper Lake, NY.jpg | image_upright = 1.4 | alt = | caption = The synagogue, in 2008 | religious_affiliation = [[Judaism]] | tradition = | sect = | district = | prefecture = | province = | region = | deity = | rite = [[Nusach Ashkenaz]] | festival =  | organisational_status = {{ubl|[[Synagogue]]|[[Jewish museum]]}} | ownership = | governing_body = | leadership = | bhattaraka = | patron = | consecration_year = | functional_status = Active {{small|(summer only)}} | religious_features_label = | religious_features = | location = 59 Lake Street, [[Tupper Lake, New York|Tupper Lake]], [[New York (state)|New York]] 12986 | locale = | municipality = | cercle = | state = | country = United States | map_type = New York Adirondack Park | map_size = 250 | map_alt = | map_relief = 1 | map_caption = {{nowrap|Location in the [[Adirondack Mountains|Adirondacks]], [[New York (state)|New York]]}} | grid_name = | grid_position = | sector = | territory = | administration = | coordinates = {{coord|44|13|29|N|74|27|55|W|region:US-NY_type:landmark|format=dms|display=it}} | coordinates_footnotes = | heritage_designation = | architect = | architecture_type = [[Synagogue architecture]] | architecture_style = [[Italianate architecture|Italianate]] | founded_by = | creator = | funded_by = | general_contractor = | established = {{circa|1890s}} {{small|(as a congregation)}} | groundbreaking = | year_completed = 1905 | 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 = [[Clapboard]]; timber frame | elevation_m =  | elevation_footnotes = | nrhp = | designated = | added = | refnum = | delisted1_date = | website = {{url|bethjosephtupperlake.org}} | module = {{Infobox NRHP | embed = yes | name = Beth Joseph Synagogue | nrhp_type = | added = September 1, 1988 | area = less than one acre | refnum = 88001441 }} | footnotes = <ref name="nris">{{NRISref|version=2010a}}</ref> }}

'''Beth Joseph Synagogue''' is a [[Jewish]] congregation and historic [[synagogue]], located in [[Tupper Lake (town), New York|Tupper Lake]], [[Franklin County, New York|Franklin County]], [[New York (state)|New York]], in the United States. The synagogue is open only in the summer months; and it houses a small [[Jewish museum]]. The congregation has traditionally practiced in the [[Nusach Ashkenaz|Ashkenazi]] [[Nusach (Jewish custom)|rite]].

== History == As a congregation, Beth Joseph was established in the late 1800s by [[Yiddish]]–speaking Eastern European Jewish immigrants, including those from [[History of the Jews in Russia|Russia]] and [[History of the Jews in Lithuania|Lithuania]], who were [[peddler]]s, and wealthy [[History of the Jews in Germany|German Jews]] from New York City, who took summer vacations in the area.<ref name=chiat/> By 1899 the Jewish community acquired land to build a synagogue and in the summer of that year, before construction began, a major fire devastated many of buildings in Tupper Lake. The new synagogue building, completed in 1905, was part of a building resurgence.<ref name="Synagogue360">{{cite web |url=https://synagogues-360.anumuseum.org.il/gallery/beth-joseph/ |title=Beth Joseph |work=Synagogue360 |date=2013 |access-date=February 4, 2024 }}</ref>

The synagogue building was built in 1906, and is a {{frac|2|1|2}}-story, three-bay by five-bay, vernacular [[Italianate architecture|Italianate]] style frame building. It is sheathed in [[clapboard]] and has a false front that hides a steep gable roof. The front [[façade]] features a "sun dial" arch and [[rose window]], round arched windows, and square corner towers.<ref name="NysNrhpNom">{{cite report|type=none|url=https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75317832 |title=National Register of Historic Places Registration: New York SP Joseph, Beth, Synagogue|publisher=National Archives and Records Administration |author=Hyde, Gilbert F. and Garofalini, Lynn|date= December 2004 | access-date=October 29, 2025 }} ({{NationalArchivesNote}})</ref>{{rp|2, 4–5}}

Decling membership forced the synagogue to close in 1963,<ref name="Synagogue360"/><ref name=chiat>{{cite book |author=Chiat, Marilyn J. |chapter=Beth Joseph Synagogue |title=America's Religious Architecture: Sacred Places for Every Community |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |year=1997 |location= |page=78 |isbn=978-0-471-14502-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I0GviYfRKOsC&dq=Beth+Joseph+Synagogue&pg=PA78 |via=[[Google Books]] |access-date=February 4, 2024}}</ref> and it was restored and reopened from the mid-1980s, for summer services only.<ref name="Synagogue360"/>

It is the [[List of oldest synagogues in the United States|oldest congregation]] in the [[Adirondack Mountains]].

The synagogue building was added to the [[National Register of Historic Places]] in 1988.<ref name="nris"/>

== References == {{reflist}}

== External links == * {{Official website|https://bethjosephtupperlake.org}}

[[Category:1890s establishments in New York (state)]] [[Category:20th-century synagogues in the United States]] [[Category:Ashkenazi synagogues in the United States]] [[Category:Italianate architecture in New York (state)]] [[Category:Italianate synagogues]] [[Category:Jewish museums in New York (state)]] [[Category:Jewish organizations established in the 1890s]] [[Category:Museums in Franklin County, New York]] [[Category:National Register of Historic Places in Franklin County, New York]] [[Category:Orthodox synagogues in New York (state)]] [[Category:Synagogues completed in 1905]] [[Category:Synagogues in Upstate New York]] [[Category:Synagogues on the National Register of Historic Places in New York (state)]] [[Category:Synagogues preserved as museums]]