On Friday afternoon, I stopped by my building's basement to check on how the work was coming along on the building/constructing of the new Soloveitchik shul. As you can see from the pictures (three of them are from the new shul, 
the last picture is of the building facade of their previous location), it is pretty much ready to be operational. This will be great, as we won't have to traverse
any hills or go very far. That, plus we can build a stronger sense of community in our building and with another building with Jewish units located nearby which are both between the two ערובים (eruvs) in the Heights.I'll post about the shul's official opening once it happens, though that should be soon, as I sp
oke to our landlord and he said it should be ready soon.-----------------------------------
Tags: Washington Heights, Washington Heights shul, Soloveitchik minyan, Wadsworth Jewish community, Washington Heights Jewish community
5 comments:
Where is the mechitzah going to be? Side-by-side or women in the back? Just curious. I've been thinking about mechitzah orientations more because I realized that the way a shul is set up has a huge affect on my desire to go to shul (or not).
ALG,
That's a good question. I would like it to be side-by-side, especially as I think that's more fair. However, both with there being more guys in our building and with guys probably being more interested in attending minyan added to how the minyan was probably previously, I think the mehiza may be such that the women are in the back. However, that isn't to necessarily exclude the possibility that the mehiza could be moved to allow women to daven on the side rather than situating them in the back.
Drew,
Not that you're in charge of this mechitza, but one thing you should remember for any future shul you run is that mechitza(placement, material, and height) is often a chicken vs. egg problem. As alg hinted, it's often necessary to change the mechitza to attract enough women to justify the original change.
Why is it called the Soloveitchik shul?
I am curious why no one ever answered Scott's question: why is the shul called "Soloveitchik?" Is it because of the school? Did any of the Soloveitchiks daven there? What is the history of the place? Why was the red building torn down? Thanks.
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