Actors' Temple - NY, NY - Synagogues on Waymarking.com

The Actors’ Temple was founded in 1917 as the West Side Hebrew Relief Association to help Orthodox Jews who owned shops in the Hell's Kitchen district of Manhattan. The founders named the temple Ezrath Israel, "the One who assists Israel".

Since the temple is near the theater district of Manhattan and show business people were not readily accepted in society, Rabbi Bernard Birstein and Cantor, Louis Malamud made friends with Broadway actors such as Sophie Tucker and Red Buttons and provided them a place to be accepted and worship.

Over time many many other famous people came to the temple and it became known as the Actor's Temple. The Three Stooges, Shelley Winters, Milton Berle, Al Jolson, Jack Benny, Joe E. Lewis, Edward G. Robinson, Sandy Koufax and Hank Greenberg were frequent visitors to the Actors' Temple.

The temple is located in a four story high, three bay wide building in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of Midtown Manhattan. The entrance at the lower level is flanked by side doors. The second level has four by two array of windows flanked by double hung windows. The third level has a large circular stained glass window with the Star of David above four smaller windows all of which are framed by an arch. On each side of this window complex are two vertically stacked windows. The upper floor has four double hung windows.

The temple began as a Orthodox then a Conservative and now it is a non-denominational temple serving all branches of Judaism.

Status: Active house of prayer Denomination/Group: Other Address: 339 West 47th Street in New York, N.Y. New York, NY United States 10036 Relevant Web Site: [Web Link]

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