Another neighborhood photo

To outsiders of my town, this just looks like an ordinary building. However, this building happens to be a favorite of the entire Orthodox Jewish Community in my neighborhood and is considered as the “Center of Town.” This building, the Young Israel of West Hempstead Synagogue, is one the three Orthodox synagogues in West Hempstead. I’m not sure of the exact year that it was built, but my community just celebrated its fiftieth anniversary two years ago.

From this picture you can see that the right part of the building is different than the main part in the center. The part to the right looks a lot older and has old bricks, as opposed to the middle, which looks more modern. The older part is the original building built in the 1950’s when the community was very small. As the community grew, it became very important to expand, and therefore another section was added on. This new section was finished almost 23 years ago in the fall of 1984. The older section was not torn down as a reminder to the community of what it used to be and how it is now. I always love to look at the beautiful sight of the men, women and children, in their best suits and dresses, swarming into the synagogue every Saturday morning to fulfill their religious obligations. Many teenagers volunteer their time to watch the hundreds of children in the youth department, in order that the parents are able to pray without worrying about their kids. In fact, I remember when I was one of those children, eager to go to synagogue every Saturday to pray and then play. I can almost smell the delicious, hot food that is catered for certain celebrations almost every week. There are constantly many coordinated events during the week to entertain the adults as well as specially planned ones for the children.

This building, along with the Jewish elementary school across the street, is the main reason for our thriving Jewish community, now consisting of over 800 families. The prices for houses around this area have skyrocketed due to this central location. Even small houses close by can go for over $800,000 because it is a known fact that someone will buy it quickly.

This beautiful building has affected my community greatly. It is the reason that there even is a Jewish population in West Hempstead. It’s funny that I’ve been going to this synagogue all my life and I’ve passed it on the street a million times, but I have never actually thought about its history or why it looks the way that it does.