October 2, 2021 Building series: 1876 synagogue that still serves the Jewish community
Site: Temple Beth Elohim / now Pupa Kindergarten
Location: 274 Keap Street, Brooklyn, NY 11211
This page is still under construction, but here are some notes:
At 274 Keap Street stands Bnos Yakov of Pupa, now home to the Pupa Hasidic community. The site itself has deep roots in Jewish Brooklyn—it first hosted a congregation in 1851, making it the location of the borough’s earliest synagogue. The building that survives today was completed in 1876 in the Ruskinian Gothic style and originally housed Temple Beth Elohim.
Here’s some interesting information about its days as a temple from NYCGO:
As the first Jewish congregation established in Brooklyn and Long Island, Union Temple has a long and proud history of service to the Jewish community, and to the Brooklyn community at large. Officially founded in 1848, the congregation originated in what was known as the Village of Williamsburgh, one of a number of principalities that at the time comprised what we now know as the Borough of Brooklyn. The congregants designated as their first synagogue the home of Moses Kessel on North Second Avenue, now known as Marcy Avenue. They named the synagogue Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim and the congregation worshiped according to Orthodox ritual.
In 1860 the congregation purchased and remodeled a church building on South First Street, and subsequently opened a Day School. The Day School offered elementary education in English and German, and included both secular and religious subjects. The school closed when free public education was instituted in Brooklyn.
Soon K.K. Beth Elohim had outgrown its building, and a new synagogue was built on Keap Street in 1876. For many years it was the largest synagogue in Brooklyn, acquiring the nickname of The Keap Street Temple.
It now belongs to the Pupa sect, a large Hungarian Hasidic sect, although not as large as the Satmar sect. The Pupa sect has its Head Start here (meaning it’s a school) as well as a wedding venue called Royal Manor Hall.
Architecturally, the synagogue is striking: a gabled roof, square tower to the right, and arched entrance doors with intricate ironwork.
The version of the photo that’s from the 1965 Irvin Herzberg collection has Talmud Torah Tiferes Yisrael signage on it, presumably as it was a Talmud Torah / Orthodox school at the time.
NYC – Brooklyn – Williamsburg: Bnos Yakov of Pupa | Bnos Yak… | Flickr
Union Temple – Brooklyn, N.Y. (nycago.org)
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Undated picture
Photo 1965 by I Herzberg
