All services on the first and third Fridays of each month through June of 2009 will be held at:

Friends Meeting House
15 Rutherford Place
(off 15th Street between 2nd and 3rd Avenues).

We also hold Torah study, classes and some events at:

Hope Martin Studio
39 West 14th Street
(between 5th and 6th Avenues).

We note the location of special events on our Special Events page. Please write to us if you have any questions about the location of any of our services or events.

The Orensanz Foundation and the Shul of New York

The history of the Angel Orensanz Foundation begins in 1849, when a community of German Jews built a large Gothic-style synagogue on Norfolk Street designed by the noted architect, Alexander Saeltzer. In 1921 the synagogue became the home for a community of Polish Jews from the city of Slonim. By 1974 the Slonim community had dispersed and the synagogue was abandoned. In 1986 the magnificent but forsaken building was purchased by the Spanish artist Angel Orensanz and his brother, Al, a sociologist. They restored and transformed the run-down structure into a performing arts space. The building was designated an historic landmark by the City in 1987. In 1999 the Orensanz brothers invited the Shul of New York to make the Orensanz Foundation its home.

As the congregation grew, Shul member Bonnie Kozek organized an effort to give the community an important emblem of its spiritual life -- a Torah. In order to first find a Torah, she turned to her friend, Rabbi Philip Hiat, Scholar-in-Residence at New York's Central Synagogue. Rabbi Hiat, an authority in Judaica and Torah script, located a vintage Torah, which he determined was scribed over 100 years ago in Slonim. With the generous support of the Tisch family and Shul members, and after a hiatus of more than 25 years, the synagogue on Norfolk Street was reunited with a Torah from the city of its former congregation.