A Shul with a Rich History
Congregation Ahavas Israel is a 120 year-old
synagogue located in the Greenpoint Historic
District in North Brooklyn, New York. The
synagoguge holds Sabbath and holiday
services, all of which are followed by
communal meals. It also organizes classes
by visiting rabbis and scholars, and hosts
Hanukah and parties as well as other
communal events.
Ahavas Israel is the only remaining Jewish
congregation in a neighborhood that once
supported five synagogues. Today’s Ahavas
Israel is the result of a merger of three of
five synagogues that had begun serving
Greenpoint in the late 19th century: Temple
Beth El of Greenpoint, Ahavas Israel and
Hebrew Educational Alliance of Greenpoint.
According to available records, the East
Building of Ahavas Israel was originally a
Congregationalist Church dating back as far
as 1871. From at least 1886 onwards it
operated as a German-Jewish Reform
synagogue called Temple Beth El.
Ahavas Israel itself came into existence in
1893 when it was incorporated by German-
Jewish émigrés in Kings County as an
Orthodox congregation. Both institutions
merged in 1898 and laid the cornerstone for
the West Building in 1903. In the early
1900s, the Hebrew Education Alliance of
Greenpoint formed and constructed a
synagogue on Manhattan Avenue,
Greenpoint’s main commercial thoroughfare.
After a fire destroyed this structure in 1960,
the Hebrew Education Alliance merged with
Ahavas Israel on the basis of an executive
order of then-Governor Nelson Rockefeller.
Download the Ahavas Israel by-laws.
Congregation Ahavas Israel is a 120 year-old
synagogue located in the Greenpoint Historic
District in North Brooklyn, New York. The
synagoguge holds Sabbath and holiday
services, all of which are followed by
communal meals. It also organizes classes
by visiting rabbis and scholars, and hosts
Hanukah and parties as well as other
communal events.
Ahavas Israel is the only remaining Jewish
congregation in a neighborhood that once
supported five synagogues. Today’s Ahavas
Israel is the result of a merger of three of
five synagogues that had begun serving
Greenpoint in the late 19th century: Temple
Beth El of Greenpoint, Ahavas Israel and
Hebrew Educational Alliance of Greenpoint.
According to available records, the East
Building of Ahavas Israel was originally a
Congregationalist Church dating back as far
as 1871. From at least 1886 onwards it
operated as a German-Jewish Reform
synagogue called Temple Beth El.
Ahavas Israel itself came into existence in
1893 when it was incorporated by German-
Jewish émigrés in Kings County as an
Orthodox congregation. Both institutions
merged in 1898 and laid the cornerstone for
the West Building in 1903. In the early
1900s, the Hebrew Education Alliance of
Greenpoint formed and constructed a
synagogue on Manhattan Avenue,
Greenpoint’s main commercial thoroughfare.
After a fire destroyed this structure in 1960,
the Hebrew Education Alliance merged with
Ahavas Israel on the basis of an executive
order of then-Governor Nelson Rockefeller.
Download the Ahavas Israel by-laws.
The Greenpoint Shul in the News
 | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  |
The Greenpoint Shul
Synagogue Jewish house of worship Greenpoint Brooklyn Shul 108 Noble Street Jewish
House of Worship North Brooklyn Williamsburg Long Island City Astoria Sunnyside
Jewish life Jews
House of Worship North Brooklyn Williamsburg Long Island City Astoria Sunnyside
Jewish life Jews
Greenpoint orthodox Shul
Synagogue Jewish house of
worship Williamsburg orthodox
Shul Synagogue Jewish house of
worship Astoria orthodox Shul
Synagogue jewish house of
worship Long Island City orthodox
Shul Synagogue Jewish house of
worship Sunnyside
Synagogue Jewish house of
worship Williamsburg orthodox
Shul Synagogue Jewish house of
worship Astoria orthodox Shul
Synagogue jewish house of
worship Long Island City orthodox
Shul Synagogue Jewish house of
worship Sunnyside