+ Ark Dedication 9/24

On September 24, 2014, we installed and dedicated the Mezertiz Ark.

The Journey of the Mezeritz Ark

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100 YEAR OLD JEWISH ARK OF THE COVENANT AND TORAH INSTALLED AT ST. PAUL’S CHAPEL

A Jewish Ark of the Covenant will be installed at St. Paul’s Chapel (Trinity Wall Street) on September 24, 2014. The Sacred Ark (aron ha kodesh) belongs to Tamid, the Downtown Synagogue, the resident Jewish congregation at St. Paul’s which meets on Shabbat and Jewish holidays at the Chapel (since 2012).

This Ark was found and recovered from the old Mezeritz synagogue on the Lower East Side in April 2013 just days before that building was sold to a condominum developer. Now, after being restored, the Ark will continue its role of serving to hold and protect the ancient Torah scrolls, now at a new spiritual and physical home.

How Tamid came to recover this Ark is a story in itself. Before Tamid’s rabbi knew anything about the closing of the Mezeritz Shul on East 6th St and Avenue A, he gave a sermon at Rosh Hashanah in the Fall 2012 about the importance of having an Ark for his brand new congregation. Six months later, he received a call from Jason Friedman, an architect working on the deal to convert the landmarked old shul on East 6th St to condominiums. He told Rabbi Levine “there is this Ark on the wall and the caretaker of the shul needs some help determining what to do with it. Can you help?”

Two days later, the rabbi and one of his congregants, Salvo Stoch, owner of Lost Object, a company that travels the world finding old artifacts, met with the caretaker. “It was Tuesday and he told us, we need to do something with the ark this week. If you want it, please take it. But it has to be out of here by Friday when the demolition team comes,” said Stoch. Two days later, they returned to remove the Ark and placed it in storage until they could determine what do next with it.

“When we open the doors of the Ark that first time, we also discovered an old Torah scroll, covered in dust and cardboard. In that moment it was clear to me, the ark and Torah needed a new congregation as much as our new congregation needed an Ark,” said Rabbi Darren Levine, founding rabbi of Tamid.

Tamid was introduced to Sergio Freitas, a New York based artist and furniture restoration expert, to restore the Ark. “I am a spiritual Catholic man from Brazil, and when I looked at the Ark, then in  25 pieces, I knew it would be a creative project that I would want to try. But the wood was brittle and it would not be easy.”

When this story first went public in May 2013, the rabbi was contacted by Bruce and Ellen Salkin. She said, “my parents and grandparents were involved in that synagogue, they were all from Mezeritz, Poland. And my grandfather had his bar mitzvah in that shul – so did Bubsy Seigal and Meyer Lansky.” Since then, the Salkins have become involved at Tamid and helped lead a Tamid delegation trip to Mezeritz Poland.

“We speak of ‘generation to generation’ – the Salkins are the connective tissue that bridge the new Ark to the past and I’m delighted that they have been reunited with their family history,” said Rabbi Levine.

During the wave of immigration in the late 1800’s, it was common for Jewish communities from abroad to name their synagogues from their home cities in order to serve as a link to the old country and as a support network to the recent arrivals. The Mezeritz shul was named for the town in eastern Poland from where the original members came from.

To complete the circle, a delegation of Tamid members and Rabbi Levine traveled to the original town of Mezeritz Poland to retrace the past. Nothing but a few memories of Mezeritzer  descendants living in Israel, America, and Canada are alive. Once a thriving Jewish community in Poland of 18,000 people, nothing remains, everything was destroyed by the Nazis. Yet as luck would have it, there are some photographs of the old synagogue in Mezeritz Poland and one picture of the first Ark.

Jamie Propp, a member of the Tamid delegation said, “when they came to America, they built a shul and an ark that resembled the Ark from their synagogue in Poland. Now, nothing remains of the synagogue in Poland or here, except this Ark, and it’s a huge responsibility we have to protect it and carry it forward to another generation.”

While Tamid congregants were in Poland, the actual Ark was being restored at a craft shop in Astoria Queens. After six months, the Ark was complete. On August 14, 2014, the Ark was delivered to St. Paul’s where it will rest on the floor of the chapel year round for the public (2.5 million visitors) to see.

For Rabbi Levine, “it’s a privilege to be at St. Paul’s, New York’s oldest and most venerated sacred house of prayer. And now the Ark will be a permanent Jewish presence there, weaving a new thread into the history of New York, one that is shared by all.”

On September 24, 2014, Tamid will install the Ark officially with leaders of the Jewish community of Lower Manhattan and Rector and Clergy of Trinity Wall Street.