180-year-old US synagogue to become dorms for Syracuse University students

Ninth-oldest congregation in America to move into temporary space following financial hardships, decline in number of members

By Ben Sales

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30 July 2019, 9:45 am

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Ben Sales is a news editor at The Times of Israel

Temple Concord in Syracuse, New York, seen in 2009. (Wikimedia Commons via JTA)

JTA — Central New York state’s oldest synagogue is being redeveloped as student housing for Syracuse University.

Temple Concord, also known as the Temple Society of Concord, lays claim to being the ninth-oldest congregation in the United States. It has sold its building for $9 million to Landmark Properties, a developer of luxury student apartments, according to Syracuse.com.

The synagogue’s board approved the sale on Sunday. The Reform congregation, which was founded in 1839, will move into a temporary space. It has 350 member families, a decline from 800 in the 1970s and 1980s, according to Syracuse.com. The congregation moved to its current site in 1911, and the building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2009.

The board decided to accept the developer’s offers in the face of shrinking financial reserves.

“People feel a real attachment to that building and its history, and it’s never an easy decision,” Rabbi Daniel Fellman told Syracuse.com. “I don’t think it’s an easy decision for anybody.”