Congregation Kol Israel

{{short description|Historic Modern Orthodox synagogue in Brooklyn, New York, United States}} {{Use mdy dates|date=March 2024}} {{Infobox religious building | name = | native_name = | native_name_lang = | image = Kol Israel Synagogue on St Johns Place Brooklyn IMG 6708.jpg | image_upright = 1.4 | alt = | caption = The synagogue in 2018 | religious_affiliation = [[Modern Orthodox Judaism]] | tradition = | sect = | district = | prefecture = | province = | region = | deity = | rite = | festival =  | organisational_status = [[Synagogue]] | ownership = | governing_body = | leadership = Rabbi Ben Keil | bhattaraka = | patron = | consecration_year = | functional_status = Active | religious_features_label = | religious_features = | location = 603 St. John's Place, [[Brooklyn]], [[New York City]], [[New York (state)|New York]] 11238 | 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|40|29|N|73|57|29|W|region:US-NY_type:landmark|name=Congregation Kol Israel|display=it}} | coordinates_footnotes = | heritage_designation = | architect = Tobias Goldstone | architecture_type = [[Synagogue architecture]] | architecture_style = [[Moorish Revival architecture|Moorish Revival]] | founded_by = | creator = | funded_by = | general_contractor = | established = 1924 {{small|(as a congregation)}} | groundbreaking = | year_completed = 1928 | 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 = Stone, brick | elevation_m =  | elevation_footnotes = | nrhp = | designated = | added = | refnum = | delisted1_date = | website = {{url|ckibrooklyn.org}} | module = {{Infobox NRHP | embed = yes | name = Kol Israel Synagogue | nrhp_type = | added = December 2, 2009 | area = Less than one acre | refnum = 09000966 }} | footnotes = <ref name="nris">{{NRISref|version=2013a}}</ref><ref name=robins>{{cite web |author=Howe, Kathy |url=https://anthonywrobins.com/National%20Register%20nominations/Kol%20Israel%20Synagogue%20NR.pdf |title=Registration Form: Kol Israel Synagogue |work=[[National Register of Historic Places]] |publisher=[[National Park Service]] |date=October 13, 2009 |access-date=March 9, 2024 |via=Anthony W. Robins }}</ref>

}} '''Congregation Kol Israel''' is a historic [[Modern Orthodox Judaism|Modern Orthodox]] [[Judaism|Jewish]] congregation and [[synagogue]], located at 603 St. John's Place in the [[Crown Heights, Brooklyn|Crown Heights]] neighborhood of [[Brooklyn]], [[New York City]], [[New York (state)|New York]], in the United States.<ref name="kolisrael">{{cite web |url=http://ckibrooklyn.org/about |title=About us |work=Congregation Kol Israel |date= |access-date=2020-02-03}}{{self-published-inline|date=March 2024}}</ref>

== History == The congregation was established in 1924 as an [[Orthodox Judaism|Orthodox]] congregation. The synagogue was built in 1928 and is a vernacular "tenement synagogue." It is a small, two story rectangular building faced in random laid [[fieldstone]]. It was designed by Brooklyn architect Tobias Goldstone.<ref name=nrhpdoc>{{cite report|type=none|url=https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75318429 |title=National Register of Historic Places Registration: New York SP Kol Israel Synagogue|publisher=National Archives and Records Administration |author= Howe, Kathy|date= October 2009| access-date=November 3, 2025 }} ({{NationalArchivesNote}})</ref> The western side of its midblock lot overlooks the open cut of the [[Franklin Avenue Line]] of the New York City Subway.<ref name="googlemaps">{{cite web|url=https://www.google.com/maps/place/Congregation+Kol+Israel/@40.672216,-73.9584951,116a,35y,39.52t/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x89c25b9fe1235a0b:0xa9529fd84f002f39!8m2!3d40.6727376!4d-73.9582404|title=Congregation Kol Israel|work=Google Maps}}</ref>

The synagogue building was listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]] in 2009.<ref name="nrhp">{{cite web|url=https://www.nps.gov/subjects/nationalregister/upload/weekly-list-2009-national-register-of-historic-places.pdf|title=National Register of Historic Places|date=2009-12-11|work=WEEKLY LIST OF ACTIONS TAKEN ON PROPERTIES: 11/30/09 THROUGH 12/04/09|publisher=National Park Service}}</ref>

=== Eruv === In 2015, "after several failed attempts to bring in new members," the board hired Rabbi Sam Reinstein to "transform his ailing Modern Orthodox synagogue into a place young people consider cool." In addition to adding monthly art shows and after-parties to its programming,<ref name="forward">{{cite news |first=Britta |last=Lokting |url=https://forward.com/culture/380339/can-this-28-year-old-rabbi-save-a-landmark-brooklyn-synagogue/ |title=Can This 28-Year-Old Rabbi Save A Landmark Brooklyn Synagogue? |date=2017-08-31|work=Forward| access-date=2020-02-03}}</ref> the synagogue in 2016 hosted "the first Jewish Comic Con," which featured comics artists Isaac Goodheart of [[Postal (comics)|Postal]] and [[Jordan B. Gorfinkel]].<ref name="jta">{{cite news |first=Ben|last=Sales |url=https://www.jta.org/2016/11/15/united-states/at-first-jewish-comic-con-artists-and-geeks-revel-in-tradition |title=At First Jewish Comic Con, Artists and Geeks Revel in Tradition |date=2016-11-15|work=Jewish Telegraphic Agency| access-date=2020-02-03}}</ref>

In June 2016, an [[eruv]] built to benefit the Kol Israel congregation "increased sixfold the area in which observant Jews can carry items, and, most importantly, push strollers during Shabbat," but was opposed by [[Hasidic]] [[Chabad]] neighbors who believed the neighborhood was geographically and [[halakhically]] impossible to enclose in an eruv.<ref name="jewishweek">{{cite news |first=Amy Sara |last=Clark |url=https://jewishweek.timesofisrael.com/fight-over-new-eruv-erupts-in-crown-heights/ |title=Fight Over New Eruv Erupts In Crown Heights |date=2016-06-22 |work=New York Jewish Week |access-date=2020-02-03}}</ref> Chabad's Crown Heights [[beth din]] rabbinical court issued a ruling rejecting the eruv as a "devastation of the Shabbat."<ref name="JTA2">{{cite news |author= |url=https://www.jta.org/2016/06/24/united-states/crown-heights-lubavitch-rabbis-issue-edict-against-new-eruv |title=Lubavitch Rabbis Issue Edict Against Modern Orthodox Eruv in Crown Heights |date=2016-06-24 |work=Jewish Telegraphic Agency |access-date=2020-02-03}}</ref> A few months after the eruv was repeatedly vandalized and its organizers allegedly harassed,<ref name="dna1">{{cite news |author=Holliday Smith, Rachel |last=|url=https://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20160725/crown-heights/newly-built-eruv-repeatedly-vandalized-amid-uproar-crown-heights/ |title=Newly Built Eruv Repeatedly Vandalized Amid Uproar in Crown Heights |date=2016-07-25 |work=DNAinfo |access-date=2020-02-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200203193742/https://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20160725/crown-heights/newly-built-eruv-repeatedly-vandalized-amid-uproar-crown-heights/ |archive-date=2020-02-03 |url-status=dead }}</ref> two Chabad members were arrested and charged with criminal mischief, although the New York City Police Department had previously said that they would be charged with criminal mischief as a hate crime and criminal tampering.<ref name="dnainfo2">{{cite news |first=Rachel |last=Holliday Smith |url=https://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20161027/crown-heights/crown-heights-eruv-vandal-under-arrest-police-say/ |title=Crown Heights Eruv Vandals Under Arrest, Police Say |date=2016-10-27 |work=DNAinfo |access-date=2020-02-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200203193742/https://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20161027/crown-heights/crown-heights-eruv-vandal-under-arrest-police-say/ |archive-date=2020-02-03 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="forward2">{{cite news |first=Sam |last=Kestenbaum |url=https://forward.com/news/352853/2-hasidic-jews-charged-with-vandalizing-controversial-brooklyn-eruv/|title=2 Hasidic Jews Charged With Vandalizing Controversial Brooklyn Eruv |date=2016-10-28 |work=Forward |access-date=2020-02-03}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

== External links == * {{official website|http://www.ckibrooklyn.org}} * {{cite web |url=http://www.nylandmarks.org/advocacy/preservation_issues/conservancy_guides_historic_brooklyn_synagogues_towards_state_national_regi/ |work=[[The New York Landmarks Conservancy]] |title=Conservancy Guides Historic Brooklyn Synagogues Towards State, National Register Listing |date= }}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kol Israel, Brooklyn}} [[Category:1924 establishments in New York City]] [[Category:1920s architecture in the United States]] [[Category:20th-century synagogues in the United States]] [[Category:Jewish organizations established in 1924]] [[Category:Modern Orthodox synagogues in New York (state)]] [[Category:Moorish Revival architecture in New York City]] [[Category:Moorish Revival synagogues]] [[Category:Properties of religious function on the National Register of Historic Places in Brooklyn]] [[Category:Synagogues completed in 1928]] [[Category:Synagogues in Brooklyn]] [[Category:Synagogues on the National Register of Historic Places in New York City]]