Tour Temple Beth David

AMENIA — Congregation Beth David was established in the 1920s following the arrival of Jewish families relocating from Ellsworth, Conn. Some of these men became shopkeepers. Saperstein’s department store in Millerton is one of the modern survivors of this era. So, too, is Max Paley’s farm and produce shop in Sharon, Conn. In Amenia, there was a Jewish pharmacist named Max Rubin, whose son, Ed Rubin, still lives in the town. Alfred Dube operated a dry goods store in Amenia for many years.

With the advent of the railroad, in order to escape the summer heat, boarders who today would be called weekenders, came to the Amenia area. Nathan Osofsky and his wife, Rebecca, moved from Ellsworth to open The Grand House Hotel in the center of Amenia. The family of Muriel Rothstein, who still lives in Sharon, owned another boarding house in Amenia. 

Among the boarders and their landlords were many Orthodox Jews. At first, they gathered in private homes to hold religious services. Then, in the late 1920s, Harry Weinstein and Jacob Shoifet were among the founding families who decided to build a synagogue on a small plot of land on East Main Street in Amenia, which was donated by Bessie and Harry Rosenson.
    The cornerstone for the synagogue was laid on Sunday, May 14, 1929, at a ceremony that brought together members of the local Jewish community, visiting rabbis and other Jewish leaders, with religious and civic leaders from the Amenia area. In all, several hundred people attended. Speakers included Supervisor Joseph McEnroe of Amenia and Rabbi Schwartz of Vassar Temple in Poughkeepsie. The Rev. S. W. Steele of the Amenia Presbyterian Church expressed his pride in his Jewish neighbors and assured the audience that intolerance did not exist in Amenia.

For the next two decades, the synagogue prospered. After World War II, in the 1950s, changes in vacationing habits led to the summer resorts closing down. Flooding after hurricane Diane in 1955 destroyed the dam and drained Lake Amenia (now Beekman Park), ending that industry in the area. Many children of the founding families left the area.

With second-​generation members of the temple’s founding families leaving Amenia for other pursuits, the congregation’s numbers fell significantly. Originally orthodox, it changed to conservative and eventually to the reform temple it is today.

Congregation Beth David, a proud symbol of earlier times, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2002. It is the only synagogue in New York east of the Hudson River and north of New York City to be listed. In 2004 the congregation celebrated the synagogue’s 75th anniversary.

This year’s Open House Weekend will be celebrating New York’s Diverse Houses of Worship and is being organized as part of the 50th anniversary of New York City’s Landmarks Law. Refreshments will be served to visitors attending Beth David’s synagogue tour. The tour will be held Saturday, May 16, from 10 a.m. to noon, and Sunday, May 17, from 3 to 5 p.m. The aim of the annual open house weekend is to inspire residents to be tourists in their own town, introducing non-​members to the history, art and architecture embodied in sacred places. 

Sherry Frankel is president of Congregation Beth David.