Manhattan, NY - Condo-loving Developers Eye Aging Synagogue

Manhattan, NY - The 154-year-old Beth Hamedrash Hagodol synagogue on the Lower East Side is in doubt, Its walls are cracking. Its ceiling is crumbling. Prayer books are rotting.

Sensing a chance to profit, developers have begun offering millions of dollars to turn part of the temple into condos. So those in charge are faced with this difficult decision: to sell or not to sell.

Rabbi Mendel Greenbaum has shunned the developers, instead hoping to raise nearly $3.5 million to restore the synagogue. Developers have offered to turn the main part of the building into condos while restoring a sanctuary in the basement.

"I'll hang on until the Meshiach comes," Greenbaum says emphatically.