The organization Beth Shifra that was at 3044 Coney Island Avenue was beautifully designed.

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The room that we hosted music concerts would be dismantled and changed into a nursery room and dismantled again in the same week and used for boy scout classes and than karate classes. In some cases when we had a big party we would use this room as well. Next door to it was a kitchen that we used to prepare all of our food for the holidays, soup kitchen, sedars and children's meals. Their were two rooms adjacent to it that was used as classrooms to work on such as chess classes and Hebrew school lessons. Out into the hall way stretched with colorful Disney characters like dumbo and other cute children's nursery story book characters. All of these pictures were designed and painted by Anna. She was a very talented lady and had given us the opportunity to gain from her wealth of artistic flavor and gave our nursery children a love for life. Emanuel fine tuned all of the people in the organization. When food was needed he knew how much to acquire and where to store it. He ensured that things were being taken care of at the organization. He also had a talent for computers and designed the bilingual programs. At the end of this small corridor was an exit and another hallway to a nice size room. It was in this room that we served our soup kitchen meals. We also had high holiday services and other minyanim in this location and Russian and English Calenders. Outside we had a huge sukkah constructed and would be utilized in the summer as a camp. We had a swing set and one summer we tried to place a pool (5 feet deep pool) in the back yard for the big kids and small baby pools for the little ones. One may ask why would we give up a location that we worked hard to build and care for. Well, we had received a lease on the building because we were a Jewish organization. Before us their was a Bais Yaakov and than another Yeshiva. The building had always served as a place of Jewish continuity. We received the building because someone who worked with us on the release programs had suggested looking into this building. It was meant to be. We always have a reason why one minute our presence is needed in one location and than it's moved to another. Well baruch hashem everything works out for the best. We were told, that we could have the building in exchange for a dollar a year and an abundant amount of care to be extended to the building. The job was cumbersome but we knew that every morsal of strength put forth had a special meaning. The meaning stood for a devotion that would continue long on after our presence at this building site. It was a place that would always stay with Jewish organizations. Our bills were not being funded by the government: heat, electric, phone bills, special repair guys to come in from time to time to care for special needs like the waterman after the pipes busted in the basement, sending children to yeshivas and having to pay a fee that would work well with the family, repair for the school bus, maintenance fees for the building ( cleaning, paint, graffiti removal, brooms, toiletry products someone to care for the stuffed up bathrooms, teacher salaries, food, toys, backyard equipment etc.. We had to acquire desks, chairs and other school related items including chalk boards and such. Our location wasn't the safest at times our building was broken into by neighborhood juveniles. Expensive stuff was thrown around and dismantled. At the end of the lease, Rabbi Prussman, was able to extend the lease on the building. One of the Rabbi's who has given us endorsements in the past (before he died) explained to the Rabbi that a much needed Russian Yeshiva would be placed in our building. The Rabbi had endorsed a Russian Yeshiva in Israel and our belief in Rabbaim must not go unattended. We decided like everything that has happened to us that it is faith. It was time to place our efforts more stringently with specific concerns in other areas. Even if we wanted to offer assistance to this noted Gadol with his Russian Yeshiva, (that was suppose to take the premises after us), the Gadol has passed away. We miss the people that we became very strongly attached to in the Coney and Neptune vicinity. The impression they left on the organization will always be cherished. We are to busy to dwell on what could have been, should have been and must concentrate on what we can do and that is to plan our next big event PASSOVER. In the end the Coney and Neptune vicinity seems (based on passing it a few dozen times) to have been knocked down into an office building. From the billboard advertisements it looks like a medical practice building and not a yeshiva! Money has always been an issue in our community. But, the World Trade Center, known to most as the financial buildings of the world, has shown us that money comes and can go. We are given what we need to live in this world and can't take it with us to the next. It is the deeds of man that needs to be worked on and concentrated on to assist us in our daily toil. Today, many people become engrossed in their daily work and forget about G-d's work. We must keep a steady eye on both.

Thank You

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Below the Magen David stain glass windows is an exit to Coney Island Avenue.

Make a Right out of the doors and you would come to the synagogue for the yom tovim and soup kitchen area.

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