Rosh Hashana at Ahavas Israel

Low murmurs, warm greetings, and the laughter of toddlers running up and down the corridor echoed through the aisles of Ahavas Israel Tuesday morning, as the Jewish community of Greenpoint gathered in the halls of the neighborhood’s oldest synagogue to welcome the New Year with open arms.

Sundown on Monday evening signaled the beginning of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year celebration that inaugurates the ten days of reflection that follow, known as the High Holy Days, which culminate in Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year. Tuesday’s service, which lasted roughly three hours, is deeply steeped in tradition, and is dedicated to rebirth, awakening and reflection.

“The holiday is a mix of celebration and seriousness. We celebrate the renewal of the world, and we embrace our reflective and creative capacities, through introspection, as we consider our actions and attitudes,” said Benjamin Schiller, a rabbinical student in his final year of study, who performed the services. “This is a period when Jews around the world re-connect to the divine, to prayer and spirituality, and re-commit and move toward social justice in the world.”

Ahavas Israel stands on the Eastern end of Noble Street, just a few houses up from the corner, and is modest and unassuming in stature. The main hall is lined with small stained glass windows, and the ceiling supports three skylights, each one patterned with red, blue, purple and white panels of glass. Beneath the archway at the front of the hall, the Torah is guarded by two bronze lions, hand-crafted in Coney Island, by carousel makers.

Aside from the interior detail, the building itself is more than 100 years old and is the only remaining synagogue (shul) in Greenpoint, a neighborhood that, several decades ago, supported several. According to longtime Jewish Greenpoint residents, the distinct lack of shuls in the area has to do with the disappearance of Jews from the neighborhood.

“This synagogue is truly a jewel of the neighborhood,” said Harold “Brett” Bretstein, a lifelong congregant who has served as sexton for the last 20 years, following in the footsteps of his father before him. “Before World War II, people used to spill out onto the streets, the shul was so crowded. Now, it’s not like that anymore.”

Despite the small number of committed members, local residents that frequent the synagogue on a weekly basis are confident that the abundance of upcoming housing developments in the neighborhood will exponentially increase the Greenpoint Jewish population, stimulating shul membership.

“This synagogue is central to the growth of the Jewish community here,” said Lorenz Wolffers, a Greenpointer who has belonged to the shul for over five years. “As the neighborhood changes, young people are looking for a Jewish community, and hopefully they can find it here.”

In addition to Jews living in the neighborhood, many of the most loyal members of the congregation do not even live in the area, but spend hours commuting in order to spend their religious holidays at Ahavas Israel. The synagogue, which is traditionally Orthodox, prides itself on being open-minded, as demonstrated by its insistence on hosting free and ticketless services for the High Holy Days, which typically require a donation of $300-400 at most other synagogues.

“This place has got ruach,” Bretstein explained. “Do you know what that means? It means, it’s got a soul, a spirit, a special feeling. It is an intimate synagogue because that’s what we want. We don’t want to be small in the eyes of God. We want to be close to each other.”

“You can even come in jeans and a T-shirt,” his wife Carol added. “It’s so relaxed, warm and comfortable here.”