Mar 10, 2009
Restored Prison Synagogue Opens to the Public for the First Time
With sneak peek at Eastern State’s Catholic Chaplain’s Office before restoration begins
(Philadelphia, March 2009):
Eastern State Penitentiary Historic Site’s award-winning, freshly-restored synagogue opens to the public for the first time, Saturday and Sunday, April 4 and 5, 2009. After opening the space to the public in its ruinous, unrestored condition for one weekend last year, a conservation team has been hard at work returning the synagogue to its sacred appearance. This weekend marks the culmination of work to preserve and celebrate Eastern State’s unique and historic synagogue and the Jewish life it engendered.
Eastern State’s Alfred W. Fleisher Memorial Synagogue was almost certainly the first built in an American prison. Completed around 1924 and used continuously until the penitentiary closed in 1970, the space had fallen into near total ruin after the penitentiary’s abandonment. The synagogue marks the first truly restored space in the penitentiary, faithfully restored to its appearance in 1960, with dark wooden benches surrounding the room, a beautiful ark, Reader’s Table, ornate plaster Star of David, and an eternal flame. In May 2009, Eastern State and the conservation team will receive a Grand Jury Award from the Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia for the synagogue restoration project.
A set of workshops next to the synagogue has been converted into an exhibit about the synagogue’s history and Jewish life inside the institution over its 142-year history. The William Portner Memorial Exhibit on Jewish Life at Eastern State Penitentiary includes objects recovered from the rubble inside the synagogue and oversized images of the synagogue in use by prisoners.
Visitors attending the Opening Weekend, April 4-5, will meet the curators and conservators who completed the work and be the first to visit the reborn sacred space and exhibit. Tours of the Alfred W. Fleisher Memorial Synagogue and the accompanying exhibit will continue daily throughout the season. The public can visit www.EasternState.org to make reservations for opening weekend and learn more about the schedule to visit the synagogue.
The weekend’s tour continues with a visit to Eastern State Penitentiary’s Catholic Chaplain’s Office, prior to its renovation and stabilization. The office, with its beautiful Catholic and prison-themed murals painted by a former inmate, has never been open to the general public. Visitors will have an opportunity to see the space this one weekend only before restoration plans begin.
“The Lost Synagogue’s” History
The synagogue was originally built around 1924. It is thought to be the first synagogue built in an American prison, and even today there are just a few. It was installed under the leadership of Philadelphia businessman and philanthropist Alfred W. Fleisher, who was the President of
the Eastern State Penitentiary Board of Trustees at the time. Mr. Fleisher attended all Jewish services at Eastern State until his unexpected death in 1928, and the Jewish inmates named the synagogue The Alfred W. Fleisher Memorial Synagogue, “as a lasting memorial of the kindness and justice Fleisher has always shown.”
When public tours of Eastern State Penitentiary began in 1994, the synagogue was deteriorated, primarily because leaks in its roof led to extensive damage to the plaster ceiling and wooden elements. Public access to the space was made impossible by invasive trees that collapsed portions of the stone walls along either side of the synagogue’s alleyway entrance.
Laura Mass, a graduate student in historic preservation from the University of Pennsylvania, finished writing her thesis on the synagogue in 2004. Her research helped uncover the history of Jewish life at Eastern State, dating to the 1830s, and identified the men from the Philadelphia Jewish community whose loyalty to the prisoners led to the construction of the synagogue in the early 1920s. (At its peak, the Jewish population within the prison was no more than 80 inmates.) Ms. Mass’ thesis revealed a compelling story of the volunteers, each dedicated to supporting the small group of inmates over many years, attending to their personal lives, and helping them maintain their faith.
One volunteer was Joseph Paull, who first visited Eastern State Penitentiary as a “strongman” to entertain the inmates. Mr. Paull attended Jewish services at the prison, donated food from his kosher butcher shop, and found jobs for more than 300 inmates upon their release. William Portner, President of the Prison Aid Committee in the 1920s and 1930s, attended all Jewish services at the prison from 1923 to 1940.
Following the completion of her thesis, Ms. Mass led a team of interns that carefully evaluated and removed the six inches of debris covering the synagogue floor. Although consisting primarily of fallen ceiling plaster, the debris had potential to contain other artifacts relating to the synagogue’s history, and the team approached the room as an archeological site: it was sectioned, the debris was removed with trowels, and was then sifted through a screen to catch artifacts. The team found pages from a song book used for holiday celebrations, intact portions of the decorative ceiling plaster, including a point of the ceiling’s Star of David, and samples of painted plaster that helped determine the interior decorative scheme of the synagogue through time. The team also discovered the use of the service area at the rear of the space, establishing its use for holidays and other events that involved kosher food.
Modern Witnesses
Howard Fleisher and Suzanne Fleisher Roberts, children of synagogue founder Alfred W. Fleisher, remembered their father’s roles as a prison reformer and President of the Eastern State Penitentiary Board of Trustees, but they were completely unaware of their father’s involvement in the synagogue. Howard was deeply moved by his first visit to the small space and by the story of the Jews that volunteered to visit prisoners and celebrate their faith. At age 93, he is proud that he can witness the synagogue restoration in honor of his father.
Rabbi Martin Rubenstein began working as the last Jewish Chaplain at Eastern State Penitentiary in the mid-1960s. He remembers being fingerprinted and checked out by the FBI before his application was accepted. He came into Eastern State once a week to conduct services and meet with inmates individually. To this day, he says, “I am proud of the fact that my congregants were the only religious group that never had a guard present during their services.” He remembers that it was the inmates themselves who enforced the rule: “Nothing [rowdy behavior, outside conflicts] comes into the synagogue. Nothing.” Rabbi Rubenstein said he tried to also remember this saying: “Do not judge your fellow man until you’re standing in his place. Because God forbid we should be put to that test.”
Eastern State Penitentiary’s Catholic Chaplain’s Office
There is another space that has been used for religious purposes at Eastern State. The Catholic Chaplain’s office stands opposite the alley that leads to the synagogue. Originally built as the office for Warden Cassidy in the 1870s, it was later used by visiting chaplains of several faiths. The Catholic Chaplain’s Office, with its religious and prison-themed murals, is the most evocative and distinctive part of this area.
Inmate Lester Smith painted the murals in 1955 and signed them as “Paul Martin” to honor his favorite saints. Smith was a self-taught artist and recent convert to Catholicism when he met Eastern State’s Catholic Chaplain, Father Edwin Gallagher. Although Smith’s beautiful murals have suffered significant decay, they still offer insight into the history of Catholicism at Eastern State Penitentiary and the role of religion in the rehabilitation of inmates (Smith was never arrested after his release from Eastern State).
Restoring and opening the Catholic Chaplain’s Office with its fascinating history and its inmate painted murals has long been a goal. The first step in this restoration project, completed in December 2008, was an in-depth analysis of the space and what it will take in order to restore it. Eastern State raised the initial $30,000 for this assessment study through a grant from the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission as well as donors to the Catholic Chaplain’s Office Restoration Fund.
Eastern State Penitentiary Historic Site
Eastern State Penitentiary was once the most famous and expensive prison in the world, but stands today in ruin, a haunting world of crumbling cellblocks and empty guard towers. Known for its grand architecture and strict discipline, this was the world’s first true “penitentiary,” a prison designed to inspire penitence, or true regret, in the hearts of convicts. Its vaulted, sky-lit cells once held many of America’s most notorious criminals, including bank robber “Slick Willie” Sutton and Al Capone.
Tours today include the cellblocks, solitary punishment cells, Al Capone’s Cell, and Death Row. A critically-acclaimed series of artists’ installations is free with admission. Eastern State Penitentiary Historic Site is located at 22nd Street and Fairmount Avenue, just five blocks from the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Admission is $12 for adults, $10 for seniors, and $8 for students and children ages 7-12 (children under the age of seven cannot be admitted to the site). The penitentiary is open every day, year round. From April 1 to November 30, admission includes the “Voices of Eastern State” audio tour narrated by actor Steve Buscemi. Also included in admission are special guided tours on the subjects of daily life, escapes, prison uprisings, and artifacts. For more information and schedules, please call (215) 236-3300 or visit www.easternstate.org.
Eastern State Penitentiary Historic Site’s award-winning, freshly-restored synagogue opens to the public for the first time, Saturday and Sunday, April 4 and 5, 2009. After opening the space to the public in its ruinous, unrestored condition for one weekend last year, a conservation team has been hard at work returning the synagogue to its sacred appearance. This weekend marks the culmination of work to preserve and celebrate Eastern State’s unique and historic synagogue and the Jewish life it engendered.
Eastern State’s Alfred W. Fleisher Memorial Synagogue was almost certainly the first built in an American prison. Completed around 1924 and used continuously until the penitentiary closed in 1970, the space had fallen into near total ruin after the penitentiary’s abandonment. The synagogue marks the first truly restored space in the penitentiary, faithfully restored to its appearance in 1960, with dark wooden benches surrounding the room, a beautiful ark, Reader’s Table, ornate plaster Star of David, and an eternal flame. In May 2009, Eastern State and the conservation team will receive a Grand Jury Award from the Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia for the synagogue restoration project.
A set of workshops next to the synagogue has been converted into an exhibit about the synagogue’s history and Jewish life inside the institution over its 142-year history. The William Portner Memorial Exhibit on Jewish Life at Eastern State Penitentiary includes objects recovered from the rubble inside the synagogue and oversized images of the synagogue in use by prisoners.
Visitors attending the Opening Weekend, April 4-5, will meet the curators and conservators who completed the work and be the first to visit the reborn sacred space and exhibit. Tours of the Alfred W. Fleisher Memorial Synagogue and the accompanying exhibit will continue daily throughout the season. The public can visit www.EasternState.org to make reservations for opening weekend and learn more about the schedule to visit the synagogue.
The weekend’s tour continues with a visit to Eastern State Penitentiary’s Catholic Chaplain’s Office, prior to its renovation and stabilization. The office, with its beautiful Catholic and prison-themed murals painted by a former inmate, has never been open to the general public. Visitors will have an opportunity to see the space this one weekend only before restoration plans begin.
“The Lost Synagogue’s” History
The synagogue was originally built around 1924. It is thought to be the first synagogue built in an American prison, and even today there are just a few. It was installed under the leadership of Philadelphia businessman and philanthropist Alfred W. Fleisher, who was the President of
the Eastern State Penitentiary Board of Trustees at the time. Mr. Fleisher attended all Jewish services at Eastern State until his unexpected death in 1928, and the Jewish inmates named the synagogue The Alfred W. Fleisher Memorial Synagogue, “as a lasting memorial of the kindness and justice Fleisher has always shown.”
When public tours of Eastern State Penitentiary began in 1994, the synagogue was deteriorated, primarily because leaks in its roof led to extensive damage to the plaster ceiling and wooden elements. Public access to the space was made impossible by invasive trees that collapsed portions of the stone walls along either side of the synagogue’s alleyway entrance.
Laura Mass, a graduate student in historic preservation from the University of Pennsylvania, finished writing her thesis on the synagogue in 2004. Her research helped uncover the history of Jewish life at Eastern State, dating to the 1830s, and identified the men from the Philadelphia Jewish community whose loyalty to the prisoners led to the construction of the synagogue in the early 1920s. (At its peak, the Jewish population within the prison was no more than 80 inmates.) Ms. Mass’ thesis revealed a compelling story of the volunteers, each dedicated to supporting the small group of inmates over many years, attending to their personal lives, and helping them maintain their faith.
One volunteer was Joseph Paull, who first visited Eastern State Penitentiary as a “strongman” to entertain the inmates. Mr. Paull attended Jewish services at the prison, donated food from his kosher butcher shop, and found jobs for more than 300 inmates upon their release. William Portner, President of the Prison Aid Committee in the 1920s and 1930s, attended all Jewish services at the prison from 1923 to 1940.
Following the completion of her thesis, Ms. Mass led a team of interns that carefully evaluated and removed the six inches of debris covering the synagogue floor. Although consisting primarily of fallen ceiling plaster, the debris had potential to contain other artifacts relating to the synagogue’s history, and the team approached the room as an archeological site: it was sectioned, the debris was removed with trowels, and was then sifted through a screen to catch artifacts. The team found pages from a song book used for holiday celebrations, intact portions of the decorative ceiling plaster, including a point of the ceiling’s Star of David, and samples of painted plaster that helped determine the interior decorative scheme of the synagogue through time. The team also discovered the use of the service area at the rear of the space, establishing its use for holidays and other events that involved kosher food.
Modern Witnesses
Howard Fleisher and Suzanne Fleisher Roberts, children of synagogue founder Alfred W. Fleisher, remembered their father’s roles as a prison reformer and President of the Eastern State Penitentiary Board of Trustees, but they were completely unaware of their father’s involvement in the synagogue. Howard was deeply moved by his first visit to the small space and by the story of the Jews that volunteered to visit prisoners and celebrate their faith. At age 93, he is proud that he can witness the synagogue restoration in honor of his father.
Rabbi Martin Rubenstein began working as the last Jewish Chaplain at Eastern State Penitentiary in the mid-1960s. He remembers being fingerprinted and checked out by the FBI before his application was accepted. He came into Eastern State once a week to conduct services and meet with inmates individually. To this day, he says, “I am proud of the fact that my congregants were the only religious group that never had a guard present during their services.” He remembers that it was the inmates themselves who enforced the rule: “Nothing [rowdy behavior, outside conflicts] comes into the synagogue. Nothing.” Rabbi Rubenstein said he tried to also remember this saying: “Do not judge your fellow man until you’re standing in his place. Because God forbid we should be put to that test.”
Eastern State Penitentiary’s Catholic Chaplain’s Office
There is another space that has been used for religious purposes at Eastern State. The Catholic Chaplain’s office stands opposite the alley that leads to the synagogue. Originally built as the office for Warden Cassidy in the 1870s, it was later used by visiting chaplains of several faiths. The Catholic Chaplain’s Office, with its religious and prison-themed murals, is the most evocative and distinctive part of this area.
Inmate Lester Smith painted the murals in 1955 and signed them as “Paul Martin” to honor his favorite saints. Smith was a self-taught artist and recent convert to Catholicism when he met Eastern State’s Catholic Chaplain, Father Edwin Gallagher. Although Smith’s beautiful murals have suffered significant decay, they still offer insight into the history of Catholicism at Eastern State Penitentiary and the role of religion in the rehabilitation of inmates (Smith was never arrested after his release from Eastern State).
Restoring and opening the Catholic Chaplain’s Office with its fascinating history and its inmate painted murals has long been a goal. The first step in this restoration project, completed in December 2008, was an in-depth analysis of the space and what it will take in order to restore it. Eastern State raised the initial $30,000 for this assessment study through a grant from the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission as well as donors to the Catholic Chaplain’s Office Restoration Fund.
Eastern State Penitentiary Historic Site
Eastern State Penitentiary was once the most famous and expensive prison in the world, but stands today in ruin, a haunting world of crumbling cellblocks and empty guard towers. Known for its grand architecture and strict discipline, this was the world’s first true “penitentiary,” a prison designed to inspire penitence, or true regret, in the hearts of convicts. Its vaulted, sky-lit cells once held many of America’s most notorious criminals, including bank robber “Slick Willie” Sutton and Al Capone.
Tours today include the cellblocks, solitary punishment cells, Al Capone’s Cell, and Death Row. A critically-acclaimed series of artists’ installations is free with admission. Eastern State Penitentiary Historic Site is located at 22nd Street and Fairmount Avenue, just five blocks from the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Admission is $12 for adults, $10 for seniors, and $8 for students and children ages 7-12 (children under the age of seven cannot be admitted to the site). The penitentiary is open every day, year round. From April 1 to November 30, admission includes the “Voices of Eastern State” audio tour narrated by actor Steve Buscemi. Also included in admission are special guided tours on the subjects of daily life, escapes, prison uprisings, and artifacts. For more information and schedules, please call (215) 236-3300 or visit www.easternstate.org.