The Union of Orthodox Rabbis of the United States and Canada (UOR) , often called by its Hebrew name, Agudath Harabonim or (in Ashkenazi Hebrew ) Agudas Harabonim ("union of rabbis"), was established in 1901 in the United States and is the oldest organization of Orthodox rabbis in the United States. It had been for many years the principal group for such rabbis, though in recent years it has lost much of its former membership and influence.
125-688: The Agudath Harabonim was formed in 1902, to espouse a strictly traditionalist agenda. Its founders were concerned with the Americanized, acculturated character of even the relatively traditional wing of local Jewry, exemplified by the Orthodox Union (OU), which had formed five years earlier, and the Jewish Theological Seminary of America . There were two distinct groups within the American Orthodox rabbinate:
250-472: A frontage along Sixth Avenue to the northwest, Broadway to the west, 34th Street to the north, and 33rd Street to the south. Its land lot covers 36,025 square feet (3,346.8 m ), with a frontage of 207 feet (63 m) on 34th Street and a depth of 200 feet (61 m) between 33rd and 34th Streets. Because Broadway runs diagonally to the Manhattan street grid , the land lot is pentagonal, with
375-577: A kosher certification service , whose circled-U hechsher symbol, U+24CA Ⓤ CIRCLED LATIN CAPITAL LETTER U , is found on the labels of many kosher commercial and consumer food products. Its synagogues and their rabbis typically identify themselves with Modern Orthodox Judaism. The Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America was founded as a lay synagogue federation in 1898 by Rabbi Henry Pereira Mendes . Its founding members were predominately modern, Western-educated Orthodox rabbis and lay leaders, of whom several were affiliated with
500-631: A $ 3.14 million lien, the Title Guarantee and Trust Company moved to foreclose on the hotel. At the time, the McAlpin had 1,444 rooms. At an auction the same month, the Title Guarantee and Trust Company paid $ 135,000 for the property. The hotel was renovated in 1937. Myers, Minott & Co. Inc. and W. & J. Sloane were hired to renovate different sections of the hotel. Myers, Minott & Co. Inc. redecorated approximately 300 rooms in two color schemes, while W. & J. Sloane redecorated
625-662: A 50-story building. Goldman began experiencing financial issues after DiLorenzo died in 1975, and Sheraton reacquired the hotel in January 1976 after Goldman defaulted on his mortgage. Developer William Zeckendorf Jr. began negotiating to buy the hotel in April 1976. Zeckendorf and his partners, Justin Colin and the Starrett Corporation , bought the hotel for $ 2.5 million that July. The new owners immediately closed
750-481: A ballroom. The baths included a Victorian-style Turkish bath , a Russian bath , an outdoor lounge, and a swimming pool made of enameled brick. Fifty additional dressing rooms were added next to the Turkish bath in the 1910s. The ballroom, designed in a Renaissance style, measured 46 by 84 feet (14 by 26 m) across and 25 feet (7.6 m) high. By 1970, the upper stories contained an off-Broadway theater,
875-435: A bathroom. Each story also had a floor clerk and a kitchen. At its peak, the McAlpin contained 1,700 guestrooms, as some of the smaller units were split up. The third floor contained sample hotel rooms. In addition, there were two gender-specific floors: one each for men and women. The Greeley Square Hotel Company designated one story as a women-only floor at the suggestion of philanthropist Anne Morgan . The sixth floor
1000-607: A casino on the site of Herald Towers. In its early years, the McAlpin hosted numerous events. Former U.S. president William Howard Taft attended a party at the McAlpin in 1913 to mark the hotel's first anniversary. At a 1914 banquet in the hotel, members of the New York Democratic Party formed an organization to fight the Tammany Hall political machine. In October 1917 and again in December 1918,
1125-491: A children's play area on the sixth floor. The company began razing the existing buildings the same month, although the structures were not completely demolished until the end of 1916. The annex was built during 1917; the same year, Boomer opened a store for employees, selling merchandise at reduced prices. When Boomer went to Europe in 1918, Benjamin B. McAlpin began managing the Hotel McAlpin's finances. In 1922,
1250-643: A headquarters at the McAlpin in 1926, and the Society of American Magicians also hosted its annual dinners at the McAlpin in the 1920s and 1930s. In a 1945 ceremony at the hotel, Mordecai Kaplan was excommunicated by the Union of Orthodox Rabbis of the United States and Canada . Jackie Robinson was living on the 11th floor in 1947 when the Brooklyn Dodgers called to tell him that he would be
1375-571: A major role in launching the baal teshuva movement, a widespread spiritual re-awakening among Jewish youth which followed the 1967 Six-Day War . OU's board of directors has had female members since the mid-1970s. By the mid- to late-20th century, most synagogues affiliated with the Orthodox Union were under the leadership of rabbis trained by Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik at Yeshiva University 's Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary . These rabbis were ideologically Modern Orthodox . By
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#17327757472461500-545: A mashgiach to the production facility to ensure that the product complies with Jewish law . The mashgiach supervises both the ingredients and the production process. The international youth movement of the OU, the National Conference of Synagogue Youth (NCSY), was founded in the early 1950s. After a few false starts, NCSY succeeded under Rabbi Pinchas Stolper by reaching out to public school-educated Jewish youth with
1625-570: A message of Orthodox Jewish religious inspiration. It has now expanded its reach to include many already religious, mostly Modern Orthodox children attending Jewish day schools . The OU Advocacy Center is the non-partisan public policy arm of the OU, leading the organization's advocacy efforts in Washington, D.C. , and state capitals. Formerly known as the Institute for Public Affairs, OU Advocacy engages leaders at all levels of government and
1750-578: A restaurant in Amsterdam called Die Port van Cleve. The Gate of Cleve was not successful, and a German restaurant, an Indian restaurant, and a Japanese restaurant all occupied the space in subsequent years. In the early 1970s, it operated as an event space. During the 1980s, the Grenadier Realty Corporation had unsuccessfully attempted to lease the space. The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission declined to preserve
1875-587: A separate organization. Only Agudath and Iggud still function today, though neither is very active. The organization has not shied away from controversy in the past. In December 1925, Reform Rabbi Stephen S. Wise delivered a sermon about Jesus the Jew, causing an uproar culminating in an edict of condemnation against him by the Agudath Harabonim. In 1945, at Hotel McAlpin in New York City,
2000-426: A significant Jewish educational institution producing English-speaking, university-trained American rabbis for the pulpits of OU synagogues. Some Orthodox rabbis viewed the nascent OU and the rabbis of its synagogues as too "modern" in outlook. Thus, they did not participate; instead, they set up more stringent rabbinical organizations. Nevertheless, the idea for a national Orthodox congregational body took hold. The OU
2125-483: A stairway leading directly up to the baths on the 24th floor. The men's floor was designed like a private club. The United Service Club for Army and Navy Officers was on the same story. In addition, there was a men's lounge immediately above the 22nd floor, with a library, smoking room, bar, stock ticker, stenographer, and seating areas. On the floor below the ballroom were rooms for 500 servants. The servants' rooms were arranged based on their tenure, according to
2250-548: A talented group of lay leaders, including Joseph Karasick, Harold M. Jacobs, and Julius Berman, who would guide the OU's growth over the next several decades. Another significant development was the appointment, in 1959, of Rabbi Pinchas Stolper as director of the Orthodox Union's youth group, the National Conference of Synagogue Youth (NCSY). By inspiring thousands of public-school educated high school youth across North America to become more observant, NCSY played
2375-523: A telephone system with 17 stations. When the hotel was built, the Real Estate Record and Guide wrote that the design of the base "marks a distinct departure from the established New York type of hostelry", in that the dining rooms and restaurants were placed one story above ground level. This allowed the hotel's proprietors to maximize its retail space by placing shops on three sides of the ground level, while also retaining sufficient space on
2500-761: Is Mitchel Aeder. For many years, the OU, along with its related rabbinic arm, the Rabbinical Council of America , worked with the larger Jewish community in the Synagogue Council of America . In this group, Orthodox, Conservative and Reform groups worked together on many issues of joint concern. The group became defunct in 1994, mainly over the objections of the Orthodox groups to Reform Judaism's official acceptance of patrilineal descent as an option for defining Jewishness . The Orthodox Union's Kosher Division , headed by CEO Menachem Genack ,
2625-416: Is divided into three wings facing Broadway and Sixth Avenue, with light courts between each wing. The base is clad with Bedford limestone , while the main shaft of the building contains a facade of orange brick. There were originally iron and terracotta balconies in front of many of the windows. The top stories contain a facade of orange brick and terracotta. There are multi-story arched openings on
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#17327757472462750-560: Is largely clad in brick, limestone, and terracotta. The hotel building contains 13,000 short tons (12,000 long tons; 12,000 t) of structural steel as well as an extensive system of mechanical equipment. Originally, the hotel included a triple-height lobby clad in marble and stone, as well as various public rooms in the Renaissance and Louis XVI styles . In the hotel's basement was the Marine Grill, which could fit 250 people. On
2875-720: Is the Beis Din which serves the Americas. The current members of the Beth Din of the Union of Orthodox Rabbis of the USA and Canada are: Critics of Agudath Harabonim's efforts claim that the group's leadership does not deserve a media bully pulpit to denounce the practices of other American Jewish movements, because its rabbinical membership represents a statistically small portion of the total number of rabbis ordained by all movements in
3000-610: Is the world's largest kosher certification agency . As of 2023, it supervises over 1,200,000 products in 13,000 plants in 105 countries. Two hundred thousand of those products are found in the US. It employs 886 rabbinic field representatives, mashgichim in Hebrew, and about 70 rabbinic coordinators who serve as account executives for OU-certified companies; they are supplemented by a roster of ingredient specialists, flavor analysts, and other support staff. The supervision process involves sending
3125-813: The New-York Tribune , "so that the high salaried domestics would not be obliged to associate with the inferior fellow workers between the hours of duty". The 16th floor, dubbed the "sleepy 16th", was designed for night workers , so it was kept quiet during the day. In the late 1970s, the hotel was converted into about 690 apartments, including 30 model apartments designed by Macy's . These were composed of 333 studio apartments , which covered 440 square feet (41 m ) on average, and 357 one-bedroom apartments with one to two bathrooms, which ranged from 670 to 790 square feet (62 to 73 m ). The McAlpin's apartments included soundproof windows, large closets, and parquet floors, as well as concrete floors. Some of
3250-713: The Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS), which originated as an Orthodox institution to combat the hegemony of the Reform movement . Cracks between the OU and JTS first formed in 1913, when Solomon Schechter decided all alums of the institution would be allowed to apply for managerial positions in the newly created United Synagogue of America (then a non-denominational communal organization), though his close ally Rabbi Frederick de Sola Mendes advocated that only strictly pious ones should be so approved. Only then did Mendes begin to distinguish between "Conservative" and "Modern Orthodox" Judaism in his diary, though he could not articulate
3375-611: The Martinique New York and Hotel Pierrepont to the south. An entrance to the New York City Subway 's 34th Street–Herald Square station and to the PATH system's adjacent 33rd Street station is directly outside the building. When the 34th Street station opened, it had two entrances just outside the Hotel McAlpin. Herald Towers was designed by architect Frank Mills Andrews , who was also president of
3500-616: The Pentateuch and Haftarahs , edited by Rabbi Joseph H. Hertz ; in recent years this has been supplanted by The Chumash: The Stone Edition , also known as the Artscroll Chumash . Yachad: The National Jewish Council for Disabilities is a global organization dedicated to addressing the needs of Jews with disabilities and ensuring their inclusion in every aspect of Jewish life. The inclusive design aims to ensure that persons with diverse abilities have their rightful place within
3625-473: The "Store of Tomorrow", predated the construction of strip malls with outdoor arcades. Knott Hotels subsidiary Hotel McAlpin Inc. leased the hotel from Levy in January 1949. The Tisch Organization took over the hotel's operation at the beginning of 1952, with plans to spend $ 1,225,000 on renovations. Tisch hired Norman D. Waters Associates as the hotel's advertising agent, and it appointed Alexander C. Allen as
3750-399: The 1920s. Many of them were about competing claims of laxity in meat supervision, wine supervision, or legitimacy of import and licensing of sacramental wine during Prohibition . However, not all was war, kashrus, or Prohibition. Both organizations worked on social issues of the day that affected Jews, and on the improvement of rabbinical life for their members. A third, less-active group was
3875-401: The 1970s. Corridors surrounded the lobby on both the first story and the mezzanine level. The ceilings of each corridor contained gold decorations with red and blue accents. The dining room, banquet room, women's restaurant, reception room, writing room, and library were on the mezzanine level. The dining room measured 63 by 145 feet (19 by 44 m) across and 25 feet (7.6 m) high and
Union of Orthodox Rabbis - Misplaced Pages Continue
4000-501: The 1990s and early 21st century, the OU's general philosophy and observance levels have shifted towards stricter interpretations and halachic practices. This change has not necessarily affected individual member congregations but has impacted many Orthodox Jewish communities across America. The general trend toward more rigid practices among Orthodox Union congregations reflects American Orthodoxy's trend toward Haredi Judaism . In 2009, Rabbi Steven Weil succeeded Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Weinreb as
4125-429: The Agudath Harabonim "formally assembled to excommunicate from Judaism what it deemed to be the community's most heretical voice: Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan , the man who eventually would become the founder of Reconstructionist Judaism . Kaplan, a critic of both Orthodox and Reform Judaism, believed that Jewish practice should be reconciled with modern thought, a philosophy reflected in his Sabbath Prayer Book." The prayer book
4250-493: The Agudath Harabonim's past are Rabbis Eliezer Silver and Moshe Feinstein . In recent years, the organization has been under the direction of Rabbi Tzvi Meir Ginsberg . Almost from the start, the Agudath Harabonim had critics among the Yiddish-speaking rabbis, as well. In particular, Rabbi Gavriel Wolf "Velvel" Margolis felt that the Union was too lax in some areas of Kashrus , too exclusive, and too interfering in
4375-599: The Council of Orthodox Rabbis (Degel Harabanim in Hebrew). It may have merged with Knesseth shortly after its founding. They are known to have shared conventions, especially in opposition to Agudath. A later group, also small, is the Iggud HaRabonim (Rabbinical Alliance of America), founded in 1942. The disputes among the organization seem to have died down in the late 1940s or 1950s; Knesseth and Degel faded away as
4500-551: The Eastern European and the Western European and American-born: "The Americans were English-speakers, often had a secular education, and competed with Reform (and later Conservative) movements for the heart of the modern American Jew. European transplants were often Yiddish-speaking with barely any English skills, trained exclusively in rabbinics, and would be termed Haredi today, and had a stronger affinity to
4625-529: The Friday March 7, 2003, edition of The Jewish Press it declared: One of the leading organizers of the above public protests was Rabbi David Hollander , an Orthodox rabbi and writer in New York. In 2005, French politician Simone Veil , an Auschwitz survivor, was invited to speak at the commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the camp's liberation. Yehuda Levin , on behalf of the Union, wrote to
4750-586: The Greeley Square Hotel Company for the construction of a 20-story hotel costing $ 3.04 million. The Greeley Square Hotel Company had awarded a contract for the site's demolition by the end of 1910. Andrews, who was president of the Greeley Square Hotel Company, submitted plans for the hotel to the New York City Bureau of Buildings in January 1911. However, the bureau refused to approve the plans for two months, saying that
4875-596: The Greeley Square Hotel Company, the hotel's developer. It was designed in the Italian Renaissance style. Between 1915 and 1917, the hotel was expanded east to designs by Warren and Wetmore . The hotel's original owners cited the McAlpin as being 26 stories tall, although other sources gave a height of 25 stories. The roof is 390 feet (120 m) above the curb. The hotel also had four basement levels, three of which were full stories; these extended 60 feet (18 m) below ground. The building
5000-518: The Jewish community while it helps to educate and advocate in the Jewish world for greater understanding, acceptance, outreach, and a positive attitude toward disabled persons. The OU has been accused of ignoring multiple reports of child abuse when appointing Rabbi Baruch Lanner as Director of Regions of its National Conference of Synagogue Youth movement. Lanner was ultimately convicted of multiple counts of sexual abuse and imprisoned. In response to
5125-530: The McAlpin House. As part of the city's J-51 program, the building received a 15-year tax abatement in 1980. To qualify for the abatement, the owners placed the apartments under rent regulation , which limited how much rent the owners could charge. Existing tenants could retain their rent-regulated apartments until they moved out, but anyone who moved into the building after the tax abatement expired on June 30, 1995, paid market rates . A renovation of
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5250-616: The McAlpin Roof Theater. In the hotel's basement was the Marine Grill, which could fit 250 people. The Marine Grill, also known as the ratskeller, was designed in the Spanish Renaissance style with arched niches and ceiling vaults. According to a promotional booklet for the hotel, the space was decorated with "beautifully colored, glazed terra-cotta tiles, [which have] made it really unique and one of New York's most talked about novelties." The Marine Grill
5375-531: The McAlpin became an apartment building in the 1970s, the roof was converted into a fitness center that included a sauna, swimming pool, squash courts, and game rooms. By the 2000s, Herald Towers' rooftop contained a New York Sports Club and a rooftop terrace. Prior to the Hotel McAlpin's construction, the site had contained low-rise residences, as well as the eight-story Alpine Building at Broadway and 33rd Street. The Alpine had housed "legislators, actors, and business executives". David Hunter McAlpin had owned
5500-541: The McAlpin became one of the first hotels to link ship-to-shore radios into their phone system. In February 1925, an antenna for radio station WMCA was installed atop the building, reaching 430 feet (130 m) above ground. The same year, the McAlpin replaced 50 beds on the 22nd floor with oversized beds for tall guests; it also signed a contract with the Curtiss Flying Service in 1926, allowing guests to book flights quickly. The McAlpin family sold
5625-585: The McAlpin hosted conferences for the League of Small and Subject Nationalities , a New York City-based self-determinist organization led by Frederic C. Howe . When Luisa Tetrazzini sang from her hotel room in December 1920, the United States Army Signal Corps broadcast her performance to warships. This made Tetrazzini the first woman to sing to military personnel via radio broadcast. The New York Republican State Committee opened
5750-584: The McAlpin in August 1999 for $ 150 million and renamed it Herald Towers. The rebranding coincided with the revitalization of the neighborhood around Herald Square. The McAlpin had 290 rent-regulated apartments and 403 market-rate apartments at the time. JEMB planned to spend $ 10 million on renovating common rooms; refurbishing vacant studio apartments and one-bedroom units; and converting 70 units into furnished apartments for corporations. JEMB Realty attempted to sell Herald Towers in 2003 to Property Markets Group, but
5875-550: The McAlpin's owners had received a 40-year mortgage commitment from the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development . At the time, the conversion was the largest such project in New York City's history, with an expected cost of $ 25 million. The lower floors were converted to retail. J. J. Sopher & Co. began leasing apartments at the McAlpin in August 1979, and the building reopened in July 1980 as
6000-399: The OU and started Organized Kashruth Laboratories (OK). The wide acceptance of OU kashrut supervision rested largely upon the outstanding reputation of its rabbinic administrator, Rabbi Alexander S. Rosenberg. He and his staff established effective kashrut supervision standards for modern food production technology, which allowed the availability of OU-certified packaged kosher products across
6125-617: The OU came under criticism for hosting him and presenting him with the plaque. In 2020, Rabbi Moshe Hauer became the Executive Vice President along with Rabbi Josh Joseph as EVP/COO. Rabbi Hauer is responsible for policy and is the organization's primary spokesman. Rabbi Joseph is responsible for the organization's programs and operations aside from the Kashrut division, the CEO of which is Rabbi Menachem Genack. The president
6250-477: The OU in New York provided assistance in this area. Among the main founding rabbis of the Agudath Harabonim were Bernard Levinthal, Moshe Zevulun Margolies (known as "Ramaz"), Moshe Yisrael Shapiro; and S. A. Joffee. Margolies was from Europe, and equally at ease in Yiddish and English, had feet in both camps, with a personality well suited for the modern American congregation. Among the well-known leaders from
6375-421: The OU's Executive Vice President and was succeeded by Allen Fagin in April 2014. In 2011, Rabbi Simcha Katz became president, and was succeeded by Moishe Bane in January 2017. In 2014, the first women were elected as national officers of the OU; three female national vice presidents and two female associate vice presidents were elected. In 2017, the OU adopted as formal policy the normative Orthodox position that
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#17327757472466500-449: The OU. Company executives at Heinz were afraid of alienating non-Jewish customers. Because of this, after much negotiation, the Orthodox Union agreed to drop the word "kosher" from their initial design in favor of the less Jewish-sounding "OU" symbol. The OU's kashrut program was heavily influenced by Abraham Goldstein, a chemist who used his knowledge of food science to determine the kosher status of various products. In 1935, Goldstein left
6625-565: The President of Poland that it was inappropriate for Veil to speak at the event, since by "having brought about the legalization of abortion in France" she was "responsible for an ongoing destruction of human life far exceeding that of the Nazis". PR Jan.27, 2005 Notable current or recent members of the Union of Orthodox Rabbis of the USA and Canada include: The organization's primary function
6750-563: The UOR. The Eastern Europeans needed a fellowship to promote their ideas and raise political capital, and the Agudath Harabanim served that need. The UOR leadership was willing to tolerate the OU in urgent needs, such as kosher supervision. The Agudath Harabonim initially started raising standards in New York and elsewhere, but had some trouble getting the butchers and shochtim in line. Henry Pereira Mendes and his colleagues in
6875-418: The US since the 1950s. By the mid-1930s, the OU kashrut division had matured enough to influence and challenge the traditional local rabbinic "sole practitioner" kashrut supervision model. At the time, kashrut was a profitable business for rabbis; the OU sought to make kashrut freely available to reduce the consumer cost of keeping kosher. The OU Women's Branch was also organized during the 1920s to encourage
7000-582: The United States, and even by the Orthodox movement itself. In addition, they maintain that the group's controversial activities are not vocally supported by the American Orthodox Jewish community as whole, because its centrist and Modern Orthodox rabbinical members generally do not appear with the group during such announcements. In addition, rabbis maintaining membership in both the UOR and Rabbinical Council of America frequently tend to place greater importance in, and watch more carefully,
7125-563: The West Side Institutional Synagogue of Manhattan, became the president of the OU. Under Goldstein, the OU and its Rabbinical Council , became a founding member of the Synagogue Council of America , along with representatives of the Reform and Conservative movements and their rabbinic affiliates. The OU played an active role in advocating for public policies important to Orthodox practice, such as advocating for
7250-740: The activities of the RCA, thus making their support of UOR activities marginal at best. Orthodox Union The Orthodox Union (abbreviated OU ) is one of the largest Orthodox Jewish organizations in the United States . Founded in 1898, the OU supports a network of synagogues , youth programs , Jewish and Religious Zionist advocacy programs, programs for the disabled, localized religious study programs, and international units with locations in Israel and formerly in Ukraine . The OU maintains
7375-433: The attorney general's office began investigating allegations that some of the apartments were illegally being rented out as hotel rooms. The condominium conversion was completed in July 2007, and 124 condominiums had been sold by that November. After the daughter of U.S. diplomat Eric G. John fell to her death at Herald Towers in 2010, residents expressed concerns that the building was attracting raucous parties and that
7500-488: The broader public to promote and protect the Orthodox Jewish community's interests and values in the public policy arena. The OU requires that all member synagogues follow Orthodox Jewish interpretations of Jewish law and tradition. Men and women are seated separately and nearly always are separated by a mechitza , a physical divider between the men's and women's sections of the synagogue. Many OU synagogues support
7625-493: The building's managers were not preventing such parties. The Gap store at the building's base operated until 2018. Some tenants had fallen behind on rent payments by 2021, prompting JEMB to sue these tenants. This prompted several tenants to file lawsuits in the New York Supreme Court. Additionally, in the early 2020s, amid efforts to legalize full-scale gambling in New York , Morris Bailey considered erecting
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#17327757472467750-574: The building. As a fireproofing measure, the hotel's doors and trim were all made of hollow steel, and each floor contained five standpipes. The first basement level connected to the New York City Subway at 34th Street–Herald Square and to the Hudson & Manhattan Railroad's Uptown Hudson Tubes (now PATH ) at 33rd Street . There were also a ratskeller (later the Marine Grill), kitchen, servants' rooms, service entrance, and receiving room on
7875-599: The clergy is only for men. It precludes women from holding titles such as "rabbi" or from functioning as clergy in its congregations in the United States. In June 2018, Attorney General Jeff Sessions spoke at the OU Advocacy Center's annual conference in Washington, where he was presented with an artistic rendering of the biblical command "Justice, justice shalt thou pursue." Given Sessions' policies, particularly those concerning immigrants and asylum seekers,
8000-651: The concepts of Religious Zionism , which teaches that the existence of the State of Israel is a step towards the arrival of the Messiah and the eventual return of all Jews around the world to live in the ancient national Jewish homeland. The laws of Shabbat and kashrut are stressed. They pray in Hebrew , using the same traditional text of the siddur that has been used in Ashkenazi and Sephardi Jewish communities for
8125-410: The difference. The OU, JTS, and RIETS were closely connected, with an alumnus of the latter two serving in the former's communities until the postwar era. Only around 1950 did Conservative and Modern Orthodox Judaism fully coalesce as opposing movements. During the early decades of its existence, the Orthodox Union was closely associated with and supported the development of Yeshiva University into
8250-507: The east side of the mezzanine. These rooms were designed in the Renaissance style, except the women's rooms, which were in the Louis XVI style . The second floor included a men's lounge and private dining rooms. The men's lounge measured 65 by 96 feet (20 by 29 m). During the mid-1910s expansion, a children's play area was added to the sixth floor. The hotel had a medical clinic on its 23rd story. The top floor had men's baths and
8375-471: The entire body of religious texts; they were there to maintain standards." Though there were American scholars trained in the European path, and European schools that supported secular scholarship, most rabbis belonged to one camp or the other. To the Eastern Europeans, the OU and its later affiliated Rabbinical Council of America , were dangerously accommodationist and lacking in both scholarship and piety. Their credentials were rarely recognized, if at all, by
8500-417: The existing buildings in September 1910. Nearly all existing tenants left the site, except the Mutual Bank at the base of the Alpine Building, which had two years remaining on its lease. In April 1911, the Greeley Square Hotel Company formally leased the site from the McAlpin family for 21 years, paying between $ 4 million and $ 5 million. Under the terms of the lease, the McAlpin estate was to lend $ 2 million to
8625-498: The facade started in 1989 and continued over the next two years. In addition, the Marine Grill was demolished the same year to make way for a Gap store. A Gitano store opened within the hotel's former mezzanine in 1990. Ian Schrager took over the McAlpin in early 1998. Schrager had planned to reopen the McAlpin as a 700-room hotel with "stylized American versions of European/Asian residential-style apartments". JEMB Realty, controlled by Morris Bailey and Joseph Jerome, bought
8750-413: The firm of Ely Jacques Kahn and Robert Allan Jacobs to redesign the Crawford store, combining seven stores into a single, large space. These modifications include installing a new storefront with display windows , recessed behind the hotel's facade to create an arcade along the sidewalk, as well as a main entrance with curved glass doors at the corner of 34th Street and Broadway. The store, marketed as
8875-432: The first African American player in Major League Baseball . The building's facade contains a plaque with the text "In this building on April 10, 1947, Jackie Robinson received his historic call from the Brooklyn Dodgers and changed America." The hotel continued to host major events in later years. The hotel hosted the U.S. National High School Chess Championship every year from 1969 to 1975, except for 1973. Additionally,
9000-705: The first basement level. The other basement levels included stewards' departments, mechanical equipment, and an in-house laundry. There was also a wine cellar , as well as humidors for cigars. The hotel's sub-basement contained power generators with a capacity of 2,400 horsepower (1,800 kW), as well as two icemakers that could create up to 10 tons of ice per day. The hotel had 13 elevators, which traveled at 600 feet per minute (180 m/min) and could carry up to 20 people each, as well as three sidewalk lifts. The hotel's mechanical system included 7 miles (11 km) of heating ducts, 115 miles (185 km) of electric wires, and 3.25 miles (5.23 km) of tubes. When
9125-435: The five-day workweek and defending the right to kosher slaughter . It was also involved in efforts to serve the religious needs of American Jewish soldiers and relief for European Jewry. In the 1920s, the OU started its kashrut division, establishing the concept of community-sponsored, not-for-profit kashrut supervision. In 1923, the H. J. Heinz Company 's vegetarian beans became the first product to be kosher certified by
9250-403: The formation and support of active sisterhoods in OU synagogues. Women's Branch took on particular products, typically related to women's Jewish education and support for Yeshiva University. OU operations became more efficient with the appointment in 1939 of Leo S. Hilsenrad as its first full-time professional executive director. Its services were further expanded in 1946, adding Saul Bernstein to
9375-573: The ground story for a large lobby. The ground story was largely devoted to retail. The main entrance was from 34th Street; there was a women's reception room to the left (east) of the main entrance. The main lobby, a three-story space, was clad in marble and Caen stone and was designed in the Italian Renaissance style. It measured 64 by 96 feet (20 by 29 m) wide and 50 feet (15 m) tall. The space could be accessed from Broadway, 33rd Street, and 34th Street. The reception desk
9500-641: The hotel advertised the hotel's proximity to various modes of transit, including the original Pennsylvania Station , as well as elevated , streetcar , and subway lines. Lucius M. Boomer, who also operated the adjacent Waldorf-Astoria and the Hotel Claridge , was the McAlpin's first manager. Boomer was associated with Du Pont's group, which controlled all of these hotels. The McAlpin family acquired two lots on 46 and 48 West 34th Street, measuring 50 by 100 feet (15 by 30 m), in December 1914. The Greeley Square Hotel Company planned to build an annex on
9625-447: The hotel contained a women's tea room and restaurant, measuring 65 by 30 feet (19.8 by 9.1 m), and a women's reception room, measuring 30 by 30 feet (9.1 by 9.1 m). These two rooms were colored gray and blue. The women's restaurant, an irregularly shaped space at the southeast corner of the mezzanine, was decorated with blue tapestries and carved capitals . There was also a library measuring 30 by 45 feet (9.1 by 13.7 m) on
9750-531: The hotel in 1976 and resold it to developer William Zeckendorf Jr. , who converted the McAlpin to 700 rental apartments. The building reopened in 1980 as the McAlpin House . The McAlpin was renamed Herald Towers in 1999 and was converted to condominiums in the 2000s. Herald Towers is on the east side of Herald Square in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City . The building has
9875-742: The hotel in May 1955, Tisch refused to hand over the lease for several months. Sheraton finally gained full control of the hotel in September 1955, and the McAlpin was renamed the Sheraton-McAlpin. At the time, Sheraton president Ernest Henderson announced plans to renovate the hotel for $ 2 million. Sheraton completely renovated the hotel five years later and renamed it the Sheraton-Atlantic Hotel in October 1959. Sheraton sold
10000-446: The hotel opened, it had 1,500 guestrooms and 1,100 bathrooms. At the time of its completion, this made the McAlpin the largest hotel in New York City. The hotel rooms started at the third story and ended just below the roof. All rooms faced outward toward the street or a light court. The larger rooms faced the street, while smaller rooms faced light courts. Some of the bathrooms were placed between two guestrooms so every guestroom had
10125-542: The hotel to the investing partnership of Sol Goldman and Alexander DiLorenzo in June 1968 for $ 7.5 million; the partnership also agreed to lease the land for 94 years. Goldman and DiLorenzo took over the hotel the next month and restored the original name. In early 1970, the owners opened a 299-seat off-Broadway theater, the McAlpin Rooftop Theater, on the 24th floor. The basement restaurant contained
10250-412: The hotel was under construction in 1911, one source described its 30-by-120-foot (9.1 by 36.6 m) telephone switchboard equipment as the largest in any hotel. There were three switchboards with 100 trunk lines and 1,800 stations, which could accommodate 500,000 calls per day at the time of the McAlpin's opening. In addition, the hotel contained 16 telautograph machines. Servants communicated using
10375-403: The hotel was valued at $ 5.5 million. By January 1936, the McAlpin's operators were considering spending $ 2 million to renovate the hotel, expanding the ballroom and relocating some rooms. In addition, the operators planned to expand the cafe and restore its horseshoe-shaped bar, which had been a popular feature of the cafe before it was removed during Prohibition . In November 1936, to satisfy
10500-486: The hotel would be replaced with a skyscraper, but Duggan denied these rumors. At the end of 1931, John J. Woelfe replaced Duggan as the hotel's manager. The Greeley Square Hotel Company transferred the hotel in 1934 to the 34th Street Hotel Corporation, subject to a $ 7.4 million mortgage from the New York Life Insurance Company . This only involved a nominal change in ownership. At the time,
10625-400: The hotel's manager in 1953. Sheraton Hotels and Resorts offered to buy the hotel in September 1954 for $ 3 million. Following several weeks of negotiations, Jamlee sold the hotel to Sheraton for $ 9 million that October. Under the terms of Tisch's lease, which ran through 1958, Sheraton had to give nine months' notice before breaking the lease. Although Sheraton was scheduled to take over
10750-597: The hotel's only kitchen, so Goldman and DiLorenzo decided to convert the mezzanine-level lounge into a dining room called the McAlpin Grill. Subsequently, the basement restaurant became the Alpine Cellar, used by large groups and special events. The owners hosted shows in the Alpine Cellar, and the hotel was charging $ 14 to $ 26 per night by 1970. Goldman and DiLorenzo had planned to replace the McAlpin, and numerous adjacent structures that they also owned, with
10875-451: The hotel. Levy, who operated a small store at the hotel's base on 33rd Street, planned to expand his store after the end of World War II. Levy's company Jamlee Hotels took title to the hotel in June 1945; the company paid $ 5.25 million, including $ 1.2 million in cash and $ 4.05 million toward the mortgage. The hotel remained an upscale hostelry during this time. Jamlee reportedly invested an additional $ 1,760,000 in renovations. Levy hired
11000-464: The hotel; they planned to spend $ 9 million converting the building to rental apartments over the following 18 months. Zeckendorf said at the time: "This is the proper time for a new era of hotel construction here." Zeckendorf and his partners formed McAlpin Apartments Inc. to oversee the apartment conversion. This was one of several residential projects in which Zeckendorf was involved during
11125-564: The kashrus work he had been hired to do by his congregation. He founded a competing organization, the Knesseth Harabonim (Assembly of Hebrew Orthodox Rabbis). Evidence of the Knesseth exists starting around 1920, but a Knesseth convention claims that it had existed for some years previously; in any event, it had not been a successful organization prior to 1920. Several public relations wars broke out between Knesseth and Agudath in
11250-523: The last few centuries. Until the 1980s , the most popular English translation of the prayer book used in OU synagogues had been Ha-Siddur Ha-Shalem edited by Philip Birnbaum . In recent years, the most popular translated siddurim have been the Rabbinical Council of America edition of the Artscroll siddur and the Koren Siddur . Similarly, the most common Hebrew-English Chumash used had been
11375-427: The late 1970s, and it was the first of more than 20 residential developments that Zeckendorf oversaw during the next decade. The owners started a 120-day sale of furnishings and decorations that November, including televisions, linens, office equipment, and chandeliers. At that point, approximately 30 tenants remained, many of them elderly residents of rent-controlled apartments. The remaining tenants alleged that
11500-565: The lobby at mezzanine level, which was 17 feet (5.2 m) above ground. The mezzanine level contained a "tapestry gallery" decorated with tapestries by Albert Herter . The tapestries, which were colored blue and ocher, varied in size from 7 by 6 feet (2.1 by 1.8 m) to 33 by 7 feet (10.1 by 2.1 m). They were disassembled in the 1930s and reinstalled at the Armenian Sisters Academy in Radnor, Pennsylvania , during
11625-404: The lot line, so girders are used to distribute the weight of the columns across multiple footers. The columns at the building's corners are placed atop cantilevered girders. At the end of each wing is an enclosed emergency stair that runs the full height of the building. Stairways were also placed next to the service elevators along 33rd Street, as well as next to the public elevators at the core of
11750-401: The original decorations were preserved when the McAlpin was renovated. The building was converted to 692 condominiums in 2007, including 330 studio apartments and 280 one-bedroom apartments. The studios ranged from 450 to 525 square feet (41.8 to 48.8 m ); the one-bedroom units averaged 650 square feet (60 m ); and the two-bedroom units averaged 1,000 square feet (93 m ). When
11875-579: The owners were trying to evict them by discontinuing room service and shutting off the heat and hot water. The project was stalled until mid-1977, when Zeckendorf announced that he and his partners would convert the building to rental apartments later the same year. The owners requested permission from the New York City Board of Standards and Appeals to convert the stories above the third floor to apartments. The owners unsuccessfully attempted to find private financing for nine months. By 1978,
12000-461: The plans failed to comply with various building codes. The city's commissioner of buildings said that, under the building code, only about 51 percent of the lot area may be covered above the first story. By mid-1911, the Greeley Square Hotel Company was planning to build a 28-story hotel for $ 5.05 million, and it was permitted to borrow up to $ 4 million. It took five months to excavate 175,000 short tons (156,000 long tons; 159,000 t) of rock from
12125-549: The plant or the abusive conditions workers faced on-site. Hotel McAlpin Herald Towers , formerly the Hotel McAlpin , is a residential condominium building on Herald Square , along Broadway between 33rd and 34th Streets , in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City . Constructed from 1910 to 1912 by the Greeley Square Hotel Company, it operated as a short-term hotel until 1976. The building
12250-481: The professional staff. Bernstein became the founding editor, in 1951, of Jewish Life , the OU's popular publication for Orthodox laymen. Bernstein also succeeded Hilsenrad as the OU's administrator. During the postwar years, there was considerable overlap in the lay leadership of the Orthodox Union and Yeshiva University. The Orthodox Union expanded its operations following the election in 1954 of Moses I. Feuerstein as its president. Its leadership ranks were augmented by
12375-530: The remaining rooms in four color schemes. As part of the project, the 19th floor was converted into a women-only floor, with a dedicated lounge and library. The New York Life Insurance Company hired the Knott hotel chain to manage it in May 1938. New York Life was in the process of selling the hotel by May 1945; the McAlpin was valued at $ 7.8 million at the time. Shortly afterward, the media reported that Joseph Levy, president of Crawford Clothes, had agreed to buy
12500-644: The restaurant as a landmark, and the restaurant was demolished in 1989 to make way for a Gap clothing store. Susan Tunick, president of the non-profit group Friends of Terra Cotta, saw dumpsters outside the hotel filled with fragments from the murals. In 2001, six of the murals were reassembled under the oversight of the MTA Arts for Transit program at the William Street entrance of the New York City Subway's Fulton Street station . When
12625-399: The scandal, the OU implemented several new initiatives to better protect children under their care. In 2005, an undercover video purportedly showed cruel treatment of animals in an OU-certified slaughterhouse. The story was featured many times in national newspapers and Jewish media. The OU defended its limited supervision scope while studying changes to its policy. In 2006, the OU's response
12750-448: The site to the Greeley Square Hotel Company in September 1926 for $ 7.2 million. Frank A. Duggan took over as the hotel's manager in 1928. A major refurbishment costing $ 2.1 million was announced that May. The owners refreshed the rooms, installed modern bathrooms, and updated the elevators; in addition, numerous groups of three rooms were combined into two rooms. The project was completed that December. By 1930, there were rumors that
12875-480: The site, and the trustees of his estate took over the site following his death in 1901. The Greeley Square Hotel Company was incorporated in June 1910 to lease the site from the McAlpin family. The directors included Frank Mills Andrews , Charles P. Taft , T. Coleman du Pont , Lucius M. Boomer, and William W. McAlpin (D. H. McAlpin's son). The company planned to develop a hotel on the east side of Broadway between 33rd and 34th Streets. Workers started demolishing
13000-485: The site, but the company was forced to postpone these plans during World War I. By early 1915, the hotel company decided to build the annex, as the hotel's business had increased sufficiently. In February 1915, the Greeley Square Hotel Company filed plans with the New York City Bureau of Buildings for a 23-story annex on the site, to be designed by Warren and Wetmore . The new addition was expected to provide an additional 200 rooms, four elevators, an enlarged ballroom, and
13125-430: The site; the excavation was completed in August 1911. The Thompson–Starrett Company was then hired as the hotel's general contractor. During the hotel's construction, a worker dropped a piece of terracotta onto a passing streetcar, killing a passenger. Andrews went to Europe in August 1912 to acquire furniture for the new hotel. The hotel officially opened on December 29, 1912, at a total cost of $ 13.5 million. It
13250-538: The storefronts at the building's base. Property Markets Group had sold 125 condos by early 2006, when more than 70 buyers reneged from their contracts following a revision to the offering plan. Amid continuing disputes over the Herald Towers condominium conversion, the New York Supreme Court reviewed the case in June 2006. The lawsuit was ultimately settled out of court. Around the same time,
13375-425: The top several stories, above which are a terracotta cornice and attic. Fiske and Company Inc. manufactured most of the brick, while Michael Cohen and Co. made the limestone. The building uses 13,000 short tons (12,000 long tons; 12,000 t) of structural steel. The foundations consist of concrete footings, built atop a layer of solid rock. Some of the columns in the superstructure are placed extremely close to
13500-509: The two companies became involved in a legal dispute. As part of a settlement, Property Markets Group agreed to convert the apartments to condominiums, and JEMB agreed to sell the building after the Attorney General of New York approved a condominium offering plan. Georgia Malone & Company negotiated to sell Herald Towers for $ 270 million in 2005. Property Markets Group took over the upper stories, while JEMB retained control of
13625-567: The underlying land to United States Steel and the Carnegie Pension Fund in 1961, but it retained ownership of the hotel building. In anticipation of the opening of the nearby Madison Square Garden arena, Sheraton made further upgrades to the Sheraton-Atlantic during the mid-1960s. For example, the chain hired a special-events director, added double beds to many guestrooms, and replaced the elevators. Sheraton sold
13750-436: The upper stories, two floors were set aside for men and women. The top floor had men's baths and a ballroom. In the late 1970s, the hotel was converted into about 690 apartments. The Greeley Square Hotel Company operated the hotel for two decades and refurbished it in 1928. The hotel was sold in 1936 and refurbished the following year; the New York Life Insurance Company then resold the McAlpin to Joseph Levy in 1945. The hotel
13875-554: The western facade on Broadway running at an irregular angle. The site initially measured 125 feet (38 m) long on 33rd Street and 150 feet (46 m) long on 34th Street. The building shares the city block with the Empire State Building to the east. Other nearby structures include the Marbridge Building to the north, Macy's Herald Square to the northwest, Manhattan Mall to the southwest, and
14000-771: Was allegedly burned. The group has regularly placed advertisements in Jewish newspapers shortly before the High Holy Days , prohibiting worship at non-Orthodox synagogues. Similarly, the Friday April 4, 1997 edition of The Jewish Press , quoted from "A Historic Declaration", issued by the Union of Orthodox Rabbis on March 31, 1997: The organization also condemned the National Jewish Outreach Program 's Shabbat Across America/Canada program because it coordinated and helped Reform and Conservative organizations. In an advertisement placed in
14125-410: Was designated as a women-only floor and contained a library, lounge, and reception room. It was staffed entirely by women and had its own elevator and checkout area, as well as a library of fiction books. Men could not access the women's-only floor unless they were accompanying a woman. The 19th floor was converted to a women's floor in 1938. The 22nd floor was designated as the men's floor and had
14250-428: Was designed by Frank Mills Andrews in the Italian Renaissance style and was the largest hotel in the world at the time of its completion, with 1,500 guestrooms. The hotel was expanded in 1917, when Warren and Wetmore designed an annex with 200 rooms. The building is 390 feet (120 m) high and has 25 above-ground stories and four basement levels. It is divided into three wings facing Broadway and Sixth Avenue and
14375-506: Was designed in the French Renaissance style. The dining room included gilded decorations, mirrored panels, and damask tapestries on its walls; cream-and-gold decorations on the ceiling; and crystal chandeliers. On Broadway was a banquet hall with a vaulted ceiling , measuring 80 by 32 feet (24.4 by 9.8 m) across. The banquet hall was decorated in green and gold, and it contained murals on its ceiling. The south side of
14500-440: Was illuminated by recessed lighting on the ceiling and lamps on the tables. The space had numerous terracotta murals designed by Frederick Dana Marsh . Each mural measured 8 feet 2 inches (2.49 m) tall by 11 feet 7 inches (3.53 m) wide and was shaped like a lunette . Of the 16 original murals, 12 depicted two sets of six related scenes, while the other four depicted separate motifs. The Marine Grill
14625-446: Was made of marble, and near the reception desk was a maids' signal board, which showed whether a certain room was being cleaned. The western side of the lobby contained a bronze railing, behind which were the cashier, room clerk, key clerk, information desk, and other departments. The lobby also had leather seats, marble pedestals, vases, and other decorations. The lobby's ceiling contained three red-and-gold chandeliers. The lobby
14750-615: Was managed by the Knott hotel chain from 1938 to 1952, when the Tisch Organization took over operation. Levy sold the hotel to Sheraton Hotels in 1954 and it was renamed the Sheraton-McAlpin . Following a renovation in 1959, the hotel became the Sheraton-Atlantic Hotel in 1959. Sol Goldman and Alexander DiLorenzo bought the hotel in 1968, restoring the hotel's original name. Sheraton reacquired
14875-572: Was relatively obscure due to its location in the basement. According to The New York Times , the space "was generally unknown to architectural aficionados and not listed in encyclopedic works like the WPA Guide to New York City or the AIA Guide to New York City ". The original Marine Grill had been closed by 1951. The restaurant was renovated in 1957 and was rebranded the Gate of Cleve, after
15000-495: Was soon acknowledged within the American Jewish establishment as the main, but not exclusive, mouthpiece for the American Orthodox community. Representatives of 150 Orthodox congregations, with an estimated membership of 50,000, participated in the OU's 1919 national convention. The OU became more active in broader American Jewish policy issues after 1924, when Rabbi Herbert S. Goldstein , the innovative spiritual leader of
15125-407: Was sparsely decorated. The walls were wainscoted with square and rhombus-shaped wooden panels. The cornice contained a gilded frieze made of carved wood; the frieze contained the coats of arms of various 15th-century Italian families. The columns in the men's restaurant contained niches with carved wooden figures, which represented 15th- and 16th-century Italian decorations. A gallery surrounded
15250-419: Was surrounded by sixteen marble columns, twelve of which were light-golden veined Famosa and four of which were light Bongard. The columns formed an arcade of arches, the tops of which contained lunettes with eight murals by T. Gilbert White. West of the central lobby, facing Broadway, was a men's restaurant designed in a 15th-century Italian Gothic style. The men's restaurant had a low vaulted ceiling and
15375-452: Was the largest hotel in the world at the time; The New York Times commented that the 25-story McAlpin "seems isolated from other buildings". On opening day, 600 guests ate dinner from custom-made silver plates. The hotel could accommodate 2,500 guests and employed either 1,500 or 2,000 servants. It was built at a cost of $ 13.5 million ($ 426 million today ). Room rates ranged from $ 1.50 to $ 5.00 per night. A promotional booklet for
15500-521: Was the largest single raid of a workplace in U.S. history. It resulted in nearly 400 arrests of immigrant workers with false identity papers, many of whom were charged with identity theft , document fraud , use of stolen social security numbers , and related offenses. Some 300 workers were convicted on document fraud charges within four days. The majority served a five-month prison sentence before being deported. The OU had numerous rabbis working on-premises, yet none reported child workers working illegally at
15625-455: Was the subject of a video narrated by Jonathan Safran Foer , Irving Greenberg , and David Wolpe . In May 2008, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement , together with other Federal agencies, raided a kosher slaughterhouse and meat packing plant in Postville, Iowa , owned by Agriprocessors , Inc. At the time, the OU provided kosher certification services to the plant. The raid
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