Renovations done to Historic Beth Joseph Synagogue over the summer

by Rich Rosentreter

The Historic Beth Joseph Synagogue underwent a facelift over the summer with the highlights of the work being a fresh paint job and new stained glass, access to the internet to allow for Zoom recordings of services and areas of rotting wood were also replaced along the structure.

The Free Press recently connected with vice president of the board of directors of the synagogue, David Mandelbaum, who has been a member of the board for nearly a decade. He has been attending services on Friday nights at Beth Joseph Synagogue since 2007 and his wife and her family have been spending summers at their home on Mount Arab Lake since 1964.

According to Mr. Mandelbaum, because of the pandemic the board decided in the spring of 2020 that on-site services at the synagogue would not be held.

“We decided to take advantage of the hiatus to have the exterior, which was badly in need of it, repainted,” he said. He added that local businesses were kept in mind when planning the renovations. “We also felt it important to support the Tupper Lake economy as much as we could by retaining Tupper Lake businesses for the work on the synagogue.”

“Mike Delair of MJD Painting Plus did a fantastic job. He and his associates did a meticulous job of removing the old paint, repainting, caulking, etcetera. A wonderful improvement was replacing the old, cloudy plexiglass over the stained glass window which is now much more clearly visible,” Mr. Mandelbaum said. “Scott Snyder of Adirondack Carpentry replaced areas of rotted wood on the back of the synagogue and installed a timer for a flood light inside the synagogue that shines on the stained glass window. The beautiful stained glass window will light up from 4:30 to 8:30 p.m. every night through the winter. It’s a beautiful sight.”

“Mr. Delair also scraped and painted the fence around the Synagogue Cemetery, which is located at the corner where your turn to go to the Wild Center. It looks great,” he added.

“We installed internet service in the synagogue which allowed us to hold Zoom services every Friday night through the summer as well as on the Jewish New Year on Friday Night, September 18 and Saturday September 19. The Zoom services were a tremendous success, with people joining from all over, including local people as well as California and Israel!,” Mr. Mandelbaum said. “The Zoom services allowed for many friends of Congregation Beth Joseph to participate in services and see the synagogue via Zoom. We hope, along with everyone, that next year we will be having services on site, but we plan to continue having Zoom services in parallel with the on site service so people at a distance can continue to share the Congregation Beth Joseph experience.”

There are also plans for future improvements, Mr. Mandelbaum said.

“The kitchen in the synagogue is very bare bones and we are exploring renovation possibilities with Scott Snyder to improve the kitchen a bit which, we hope, will make the synagogue more suitable for holding functions for those in the region,” he said.

The work and reaction

When the improvements to Beth Joseph were under way over the summer, the equipment made the public aware that something was being done at the synagogue.

“The painting work, which included the use of a crane to reach the upper parts, generated a lot of exposure for the synagogue,” Mr. Mandelbaum said. “Mike told me that many people stopped to ask him questions about the synagogue, being unaware that it was there.”

He said that during a typical summer there are tours of the synagogue and after this work, the goal is that the improved appearance will generate more interest and involvement.

According to Mr. Mandelbaum, the renovations are important to both the community and those associated with the historic building.

“First and foremost is the protection and preservation of the structure which was built in 1905. The renovations also make the synagogue an inviting place for worship,” he said. “The synagogue is also a venue for concerts during the summer, and the new paint job makes it a more attractive setting for the concerts. We had a Zoom concert this Sunday.”

“The Tupper Lake community is rightly very proud to have this historic building in its midst. We are looking into organizing archival material and converting the lobby of the synagogue into something of a museum recounting the history of Tupper Lake and its Jewish Community at the turn of the 20th century,” Mr. Mandelbaum said. “Beth Joseph Synagogue is a treasure. It is a warm, inviting spiritual place and the Tupper Lake community has taken excellent care of it.”