Excerpted from The New York Jewish Week, June 2002
"Synagogue Review" by Shira Dicker
If the Kane Street Synagogue did not exist, some writer would surely have to invent it. . . .
We visited the shul, whose formal name is Baith Israel Anshei Emes, on the first weekend in June. To our tremendous luck, a bar mitzvah was under way, that of Jacob Kleinman, son of Ralph Kleinman, the shul's president, and Lisa Kleinman, one of the community's chief layners, or Torah readers. Adorable and appropriately serious, Jacob was a bar mitzvah boy sent directly from central casting. He davened and layned flawlessly, while his family and friends kvelled. . . .
Everything about the Kane Street Synagogue is understated and relaxed, including the decor, where mauve predominates. The sanctuary is among the most beautiful we have ever seen with 10 stained glass windows, installed in 1911, and cathedral ceilings. Originally a Dutch Reform church built in 1855, the building became a shul in 1905 when the congregation founded in 1856 moved in.
The Kane Street Synagogue has a venerable history, claiming Aaron Wise, father of Stephen Wise, as a former rabbi, and Aaron Copland as a former bar mitzvah boy. Rabbi Debra Cantor, one of the first women to be ordained by the Jewish Theological Seminary, was the shul's rabbi during the 1980s and 90s. The current rabbi is Samuel Weintraub. With his white hair, calm demeanor and soft voice, he could be a relaxation instructor at the Omega Institute.
The aesthetic beauty of the Kane Street Synagogue is paralled by its warm and inclusive spirit. To visit the shul is to partake of a memorable Jewish experience
