During the Shabbat prayer service at BJ nowadays, as people sit in the sanctuary singing niggunim from Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa, their eyes rest upon the filigreed walls, designs whose sources echo the geographic reach of the Jewish people. Knitted from the motifs of many civilizations and cultures, the sacred space is illuminated by the combined splendor of voice, color, and form.

The architects and designers of this space transformed fragments of ornament to dress a building hailed in its time as the new “Jewish” architecture. So impressive was the Byzantine-influenced structure that it in turn shaped the design of other synagogues from Manhattan’s Park Avenue synagogue to Congregation Beth El’s sanctuary in Borough Park, Brooklyn.

Throughout the nineteenth century, the styles Western architects employed for religious structures relied on those of the past. In the mid-nineteenth century, Moorish synagogue design had become fashionable (see the August 6, 1884, essay for more on BJ’s Madison Avenue building) and was incorporated into many synagogues, most notably New York City’s Central Synagogue. B’nai Jeshurun’s architects wanted something different for the new 88th Street building.

For the first time in B’nai Jeshurun’s history, the architects chosen were also members of the congregation: Walter Schneider and Henry Herts. Herts was an established architect whose theater designs were already recognized for their cantilevered balconies that eliminated the need for interior columns and provided uninterrupted sight-lines. Used in the new sanctuary, this design element also allowed the balcony facades as well the bimah to become the central decorative focus and the backdrop for elaborate interior decoration which contrasted with, at the time, the plain walls and simple geometric design of the windows.

Following the dedication of the synagogue on May 12, 1918, architect Walter Schneider wrote about the decoration:

“Upon entering the competition for the building, the purpose was to seek among the archeological fragments of the period and time those most closely related to Jewish unity as a nation in Palestine.” Scheider went on to say that “Extensive Research in the various collections in the Metropolitan Museum of Art furnished inspiration for a design that reflects a blending of several styles and periods more or less related.”

Interior designer Emil Phillipson further explained that their “general architectural conception is Byzantine embellished with suitable details derived from the Copts during the early Christian Era.”

BJ’s designers looked for fresh inspiration from the very latest archeological excavations—many conveniently located in the collections at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

In honor of the bicentennial, BJ Archives member and adjunct art professor Mimi Weinberg searched through today’s collections at the Met to look for the artworks most likely to have been studied by Schneider, Herts, and Phillipson and used in the interior design. As it turned out, several are still on display in the Met’s galleries.

Today, the BJ Sanctuary decoration has changed substantially from the architect’s original vision. Most of the interior decoration of the sanctuary was completed just in time for the 1925 centennial. Painted and gilded ornamentation was added to what had been plain light-colored walls and ceilings. The congregation also began to replace the simple yellow and blue stained glass windows with multi-colored windows that incorporated Jewish symbols and narratives.

Text by Ilene Richman & Mimi Weinberg.

Sources

• Walter Schneider, Architect, “The Temple B’nai Jeshurun,” Architecture, January 1920
• Emil Phillipson, Designer, from Israel Goldstein, A Century of Judaism in New York: B’nai Jeshurun 1825–1925
• Mimi Weinberg, unpublished article, 2024