Old Broadway Synagogue
In many minds, Harlem is a romantic site of Black cultural innovation and a symbol of the African American community of the past, present, and future. Many pieces of Harlem stands as a living memorial to the various people and events that helped shape Black culture in America. Tucked away behind the historical sites, the churches, and the other institutions that constitute an idealized Black Harlem exist remnants of another Harlem that was once occupied mainly people of Eastern European Jewish decent. Old Broadway Synagogue, named for its location on Old Broadway Ave and 125th Street, represents the once thriving Jewish population of the early twentieth century and still functions as the only remaining mainstream synagogue in Harlem. As a traditional Orthodox synagogue in a predominantly Black neighborhood, Old Broadway embodies Harlem’s past as a Jewish neighborhood, as well as its present – a multi-racial space that is complicated by its perception as a “Black” neighborhood.
The services I attended at Old Broadway Synagogue revealed much about the presence of Judaism in Harlem and its relation to Harlem as a racially and economically diverse space. On one hand, the service resembled a typical, Ashkenazi Orthodox afternoon service that could be found in any synagogue of that same tradition. This is important for understanding Old Broadway Synagogue as a relic of Harlem’s Jewish past and its ability to preserve a nearly forgotten tradition in Harlem. In contrast, the fact that nearly a quarter of the attendees were of African American descent suggests that Old Broadway Synagogue has undergone a tremendous shift from a congregation made up of Jews of mainly Eastern European descent, to its present status as a multi-racial synagogue (Old Broadway Synagogue Website). The synagogue boasts not only white Jewish congregants from the Upper West Side and Harlem, but also Black congregants that formerly attended the Commandment Keepers Synagogue and congregants of other racial and ethnic backgrounds. In this sense, Old Broadway Synagogue fits the theoretical framework that treats Harlem as a place of diversity, rather than a strictly “Black” neighborhood.