New York, NY - Questions Rise From The Dust Of An Old Synagogue

New York, NY - The demolition of the 150-year-old First Roumanian-American synagogue on the Lower East Side is generating widespread criticism among preservationists, who say that one of the city's historic religious buildings has been lost because too little was done to save it.

By yesterday, much of the synagogue, on Rivington Street between Orchard and Ludlow Streets, had been reduced to rubble. Its arched Romanesque entry was gone, and only the rear wall, adorned with richly ornamented stained glass, provided evidence of what had been a grand sanctuary.
Preservationists have recounted a litany of miscues and failed efforts to help shore up the sagging building.
The president of the New York Landmarks Conservancy said, "People don't come out of rabbinical school with a lot of course work in building maintenance." "It is a shame there are not more sources of funding to help."