Temple Shaare Zedek

A few decades ago the town of West New York had a thriving Jewish population. This small brick building at the corner of Palisade and 54th was once a bustling place of worship for these men and women. As the years passed the demographics of the town changed, and before long there was a completely new cultural landscape in the region. However, the Temple of Shaare Zedek hasn't changed a bit. 

The building complex consists of the sanctuary and an attached school building. The sanctuary was built in 1916 and is constructed of yellow brick with limestone trim and an attractive copper dome on top. 

Inside is an attractive display of stained glass and plaster with a wraparound balcony.

Shaare Zedek was an orthodox temple, meaning it needed to have a "minyan", or a group of 10 men, in order to sustain their prayers. With the changing demographics of the town the shul could no longer draw that many men, so the congregation ceased at the end of 2015.

The building was already in pretty awful shape by the time the group disbanded. Before long water had worked its way through the roof and into the main sanctuary. Local kids had used the place to hang out, so there was some trash inside the sanctuary, as well as some graffiti. 

After sitting idle for a few years, the building was listed for sale in 2019.

I was driving past the shul one day in 2021 and was surprised to see a bunch of workers inside. They were stripping all the rotted woodwork and garbage out. It was really strange to see the whole sanctuary cleared out of all the seating. 

I asked the workers whether the building was going to be demolished or renovated. I was delighted when they told me it was being renovated into a new school building for the town.

I was both shocked and dismayed the next time I drove by the building to check on it. The entire structure from the second story up was gone. Most of the stained glass windows were missing, and the dome was entirely stripped back to the steel framework. 

The new school will probably end up looking nothing like the beautiful old Synagague. Im so grateful I was able to see it at all, though I'll always regret not having better photos.