Courtesy of JTA. Photo credit: Charly Triballeau, AFP via Getty Images
Kathy Hochul says she has “intervened” to prevent the destruction of a nearly century-old synagogue in Brooklyn
(JTA) — New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said Dec. 26 she has intervened to prevent the destruction of a nearly century-old synagogue in Brooklyn.
Officially known as Congregation Chaim Albert but known colloquially as the Kingsbrook Synagogue, the synagogue was part of a Jewish hospital founded in 1928 in response to antisemitism in nearby hospitals and to meet the needs of local Jewish patients. For nearly 100 years, the synagogue has served Jewish hospital patrons and residents in the surrounding neighborhood of East Flatbush and Crown Heights.
But in 2023, plans for a state-funded development project called for the demolition of the synagogue’s building. The synagogue filed a lawsuit against its hospital owners, One Brooklyn Health, in June 2025.
“Kingsbrook Synagogue has been around since the early 1900s and is a testament to the strength and resilience of the Jewish community,” Hochul said in a statement. “I’m proud to have led the effort to save the historic Kingsbrook shul from its demolition and encourage leadership from the hospital and synagogue to find a path forward where both sites can prosper and serve the community.”
According to the governor’s office, the original design of the project contemplated the demolition of the synagogue on the One Brooklyn Health System campus, but following intervention from Hochul, the synagogue’s demolition has been removed from the plans for affordable housing.
Hochul’s office did not specify in what manner she intervened to prevent the synagogue’s demolition.
Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center, the hospital that housed Congregation Chaim Albert, merged with two other hospitals to form One Brooklyn Health in 2018, and under guidance from state officials, sold the property to real estate developers. A 2019 Q&A from state officials involved with the project proposal said that the synagogue “is not part of the redevelopment of Sites on the Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center, and the Synagogue building will be preserved.”
Though the hospital owned the synagogue, a longstanding agreement between the two permitted the congregation to use the synagogue for religious purposes, and its members funded its upkeep.
But when the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, members were denied access to the site, which continued even after statewide religious gathering restrictions were lifted. Congregation Chaim Albert alleges in the lawsuit that while their community has been restricted from entering the synagogue building, the medical center has not maintained the synagogue, allowing it to fall into disrepair. The medical center also informed the congregation that due to this deterioration, it is not safe to enter.
According to the synagogue’s estimates provided in court records, between 60 and 70 people who consider themselves members have been praying at other locations.
Rabbi Yaacov Behrman, a liaison for Chabad Headquarters, president of the civic engagement group Jewish Future Alliance and an advocate on behalf of the synagogue, said that the “congregation is willing to move in immediately, and stands ready to fix anything that needs to be fixed.”
Before 2020, the synagogue held services every Shabbat and on holidays, where about 40 congregants gathered for services.
Construction began in 1926 and was completed in 1928, and the hospital had a kosher kitchen and a prayer space. The current synagogue building was constructed in the 1950s after part of it was demolished to create additional space for X-ray rooms. It has marble floors and stained glass windows.
