Memory Lane: Tifereth Israel Anshei Sfard

We chanced upon this shul quite by accident as we perused the government archives that hold photos of old New York City properties. It is a small Shul in a storefront on what was in those days—and even today—the outskirts of Boro Park. Not much is known to us about the shul and its people, and any information that we have is gleaned from obscure sources. 

The only source that we have for the founding of the Shul comes from the New York City property records where we find that in 1925, one L. Schuchman sold the property at 5621 Fort Hamilton Parkway to Cong. T.I.A.S. (Tifereth Israel Anshei Sfard). Thus, we can conclude that the shul was founded around 1925.  

As its name suggests, this was a nusach Sfard Shul—something that was certainly rare in Brooklyn of that time when the majority of shuls davened nusach Ashkenaz. 

We will catch some more glimpses into the history of the shul as we learn about its rabbonim, for now we move forward to the year 1945, a year that saw the conclusion of a devastating Holocaust—a time when the Yidden of Boro Park would have known what had come over their brethren in Europe. Across the pond, Yidden in Europe were in camps in and in desperate need of religious articles, including sifrei Torah. 

In what likely suggests to us the impending demise of the shul, we read the following in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle in May of 1945: 

“Jewish Group to Get 4 Scrolls of Torah. Congregation Tiferes Israel will present the religious Relief and Rehabilitation Office of the Union of Orthodox Rabbis with four sacred scrolls of Torah to be sent to liberated countries in Europe, at special ceremonies tomorrow night at the synagogue, 5621 Fort Hamilton Parkway. Brooklyn is the first community to participate in laying the cornerstone for Jewish rehabilitation in Europe.” That a shul this size would be giving away four sifrei Torah could not have been a good sign for the future of the shul… 

Indeed, a short time later, we read about the shul being foreclosed: “Supreme Court Kings County. Roosevelt Savings Bank of the City of New York, plaintiff against Tiferes Israel Anshei Sfard of Boro Park, et al., defendants. Pursuant to judgment dated August 21, 1945, I will sell at public auction… the premises in Brooklyn, N.Y., beginning on the southeasterly side of… known as 5621 Fort Hamilton Parkway.” 

The entire existence of this congregation lasted twenty years.

Rav Yehoshua Heschel Babad

In 1942, many American men had to submit a draft card, and this is where we read that Rabbi Yehoshua Heschel Babad had as his place of employment Tifereth Israel Anshei Sfard on Fort Hamilton Parkway. 

Rabbi Babad was born on June 17, 1899 in Lemberg, Galicia/Austria-Hungary. He was the son of Rav Yosef Babad, the A.B.D. of Lvov, Kalush and Vienna. 

Rabbi Babad then had to flee Vienna, and was initially able to emigrate to the Netherlands, where he managed to obtain his visa for the USA on December 28, 1939. He was therefore able to leave Rotterdam on January 24, 1940, on the SS Veendam to the USA, where he arrived in New York City, NY, on February 5, 1940. He listed his job title as “Rabbi” and wanted to travel from New York to Chicago, IL. But he stayed in New York and was mustered into the US Army in February 1942. At the time he was working at the Tifereth Israel Anshei Sfard Congregation in Brooklyn, New York City, NY.

He married Rose Ringelheim on April 23, 1944 in Brooklyn, and he lived in Brownsville in later years. 

Rabbi Babad was a brilliant man, and was deeply involved in research of Hebrew artifacts. He had a photographic mind, and was fascinated by many things in life. “He was very kind,” recalls a great-niece. “He was as humble as he was brilliant. He never made anything of himself,” she recalled.  

Rabbi Babad was niftar in the winter of 1984.