Edmond J. Safra Synagogue
in New York, United StatesCategory: Attraction
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9 E 63rd St, New York, NY 10065, USA Print route »
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The Edmond J. Safra Synagogue (now known as Congregation Beit Edmond) is an Orthodox Sephardic synagogue located on East 63rd Street off of Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, New York.
The synagogue project was initiated by philanthropist Edmond Safra before his death in 1999, and dedicated in 2003. Safra's goal was to have a Sephardic synagogue on Manhattan's Upper East Side.During his lifetime, Mr. Safra was often in New York City and spent many a Shabbat in Manhattan. Noting the absence of a formal synagogue and communal center for the Sephardic Jews of the Upper East Side of Manhattan, Mr. Safra expressed a desire to build a central house of worship in the area. The synagogue was completed in December 2002. Dignitaries including the Chief Rabbi of Israel and Mayor Michael Bloomberg attended an official inauguration of the building.The synagogue, designed by architect Thierry W. Despont, has been called a "sumptuous work of Beaux-Arts revival." The interior and facade of the building is made of Jerusalem stone quarried in Judea. The massive bronze doors with their Tree of Life motif are by American sculptor Mark Beard.Because it is located in a historic district, the synagogue design needed to receive approval from the landmarks commission, which called it an "artful synthesis of the composition, details and material palette of the Beaux-Arts style, which plays an important role in defining the special architectural character of the Upper East Side Historic District."Rabbi Shlomo Farhi became the Rabbi of Congregation Beit Edmond in mid-August 2018 following the departure of founding Rabbi Elie Abadie in January 2017.
