אֵיךְ נָפְלוּ גִבֹּרִים

How The Mighty Have Fallen
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First Roumanian-American Congregation (89 Rivington, between Orchard and Ludlow Streets). Built as a church in 1857 and home to successive religious groups (both Jewish and missionary Christian), the building was acquired in 1902 by Shaarey Shamoyim, the First-Roumanian American congregation. Yossele Rosenblatt, Moishe Oysher and Jacob Pincus Perelmuth (Jan Peerce) were among those who sang at this synagogue, once recognized as a cantorial center. The "Rumanische shul" conducted daily, Shabos and holiday services.The roof of the 150-year-old synagogue once renowned as the Cantors' Carnegie Hall, where the choir had included Red Buttons and Eddie Cantor, collapsed yesterday, forcing evacuations.
The collapse began before 4 p.m. in a cascade of timbers, tar paper and debris, after beams supporting the roof came loose, the authorities said late yesterday. There were no injuries. Water damage was detected on the roof several weeks earlier, and congregants were told to stay away until planned repairs were performed.
By early last night, with more than 100 firefighters and other emergency workers on the scene, it was unclear whether the building could be salvaged and whether the congregation had sufficient insurance to cover the damage.
One of a handful of historic churches and synagogues that have survived decades of decline and redevelopment in Lower Manhattan, it has not been designated as a city landmark and could be demolished if repairs prove impractical. Rabbi Shmuel Spiegel, who leads the congregation of about 100, said that one of his first fears was for its Torahs and holy books, which he had been unable to examine because emergency workers barred entrance. But he said the Torahs and books had been stored beneath a section of the roof that appeared to be intact.
The cause of the collapse remained unknown last night, and there was no record of recent structural building violations at the synagogue. Rabbi Spiegel said that water damage became apparent in the building's roof about seven weeks ago, and that he retained an engineer to assess the risk after the congregation's insurance company had refused to honor a claim for repairs.
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The engineer concluded that "it would be safest to keep it closed for a while," Rabbi Spiegel said yesterday. The synagogue had flourished as a center of religious and cultural life during the waves of Jewish immigration to Lower Manhattan in the late 19th century, often serving more than 400 congregants at a time. Through the first half of the 20th century, it became a magnet for aspiring singers and cantors, who dreamed of singing before one of the Lower East Side's most prominent congregations. Like other Jewish congregations in the area the congregation has suffered dwindling membership and financial support in recent decades. The structural damage was clearly severe, the roof of the building, a single-story structure that rises to the roofline of neighboring six-story tenement buildings, had fallen to the floor. At least six heavy timber triangular trusses that had supported the roof dangled in the wreckage.
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