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Brooklyn Jewish
Historical Initiative

GREENPOINT

Jewish life is re-emerging in this Greenpoint, home to Jews since the 1800s. Known as “Little Poland” for the waves of emigrés from Poland who started settling there early in the 20th century, Greenpoint is in the northern-most part of Brooklyn, “1.2 square miles of grit and quaintness,” according to a recent New York Times story.

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Greenpoint has two synagogues now: one of them, the Greenpoint Shul (Ahavas Israel) goes back to 1886 and is the product of three merged congregations.  Greenpoint Shul | Historic synagogue with vibrant community  There is also a the Chabad of Greenpoint at 48 India Street http://www.chabadgreenpoint.com   which also partners with Chabad of North Brooklyn.

Greenpoint’s Jewish community was not large, and has often been seen as an extension of nearby Williamsburg. However, more young Jews have been moving into Greenpoint and have bolstered the attendance at these two synagogues, 

The Greenpoint Shul at 108 Noble Street has a beautiful, old-fashioned sanctuary that is quite similar to the “tenement style” synagogue buildings familiar on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. From the outside it appears to be two separate synagogue buildings, but don’t be fooled, it’s one congregation.