Architecturally, the synagogue is built like its Lower East Side counterparts, which had to adapt to close urban quarters, according to the LPC. In a statement, the commission also noted that Congregation Tifereth Israel’s design combines Gothic and Moorish elements, with its wooden frame, arched windows, and upper-story window with a roundel featuring a colored glass Star of David.
The synagogue’s infrastructure has deteriorated over the years, according to Esther Khaimov, who has run the synagogue with her husband, Rabbi Amnun Khaimov, since the mid-1990s.
Its wooden structure had been shored up with stucco, which absorbed moisture and led to further deterioration of the wood. Part of the future renovation plans for the synagogue include removing the stucco, according to Khaimov.
She said the synagogue had a thriving congregation which has dwindled in recent years. Termite infestation in the basement forced suspendion all the community programs that were held there.
“Social life started to die,” Khaimov said. “Engineers told us to knock out the basement, so we just have empty walls.” Now, the synagogue holds services only on Friday nights and Saturdays, as well as hosts events for Jewish holidays.
The rabbi’s wife said the synagogue, which serves a Bukharian Jewish population, now has about 50 families in its congregation.
“We would like to bring back the life, services, young people,” she said.
“It’s really a miracle how it survived,” Khaimov noted. “God wants it to be here.”
The synagogue has gained recognition over the years. It received the Queens Historical Society’s Queensmark in 1999 and was added to the National and New York State Register of Historic Places in 2002. It also has received several grants, but is still struggling to raise money to complete the restoration work necessary to improve its infrastructure.
The New York Landmarks Conservancy has awarded the synagogue several grants over the years, including an exploratory one to help fund an assessment of the building’s conditions and a $10,000 grant to help fund exterior repairs in 2002.
In 2005, the Borough President’s Office awarded the synagogue $700,000 in New York City capital funding. Ann Friedman, director of NYLC’s Sacred Sites Program, said landmarking would likely help facilitate allocation. The synagogue also has other funding pending, including a $200,000 matching grant from the state.
“We think this landmark designation will ensure that at least the building remains for future generations,” Friedman said, noting the prevalence of new construction in Corona. NYLC is continuing its work to help the synagogue obtain additional funding.
Heshie Baron, vice president of the synagogue’s board, said Congregation Tifereth Israel is significant architecturally, sociologically and historically. “It certainly has every merit one would look for.”
Several people from Queens and beyond have spoken in favor of landmarking the synagogue. “Congregation Tifereth Israel is a historic treasure right in the middle of Corona,” state Sen. John Sabini said, urging the city to award it landmark status.
Jeff Gottlieb, president of the Queens Jewish Historical Society, noted that by 1940, there were more than 50 synagogues in the borough. Congregation Tifereth Israel, he said “lives on as the oldest, continuously used synagogue extant in Queens.” The synagogue, he added, is an “important beacon of Jewish civilization in Queens.”
The historic vote to determine whether the synagogue is landmarked will take place in Manhattan on Feb. 12.
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