The other week I stumbled across these red-brick and white brick churches and a synagogue in the Greenpoint section of Brooklyn. They are well preserved historical structures that are still-functioning religious institutions. The buildings reflect national and religious origins that are Polish, Irish, German, and Jewish. On a clear late summer September afternoon, they are brightly lit by the afternoon sun.
The Yiddish writer Yosef Opatoshu has a wonderful short story, Got”s Boyz, in which he depicts the transition of one of these very houses of worship over the years as neighborhoods go through transitions. The final narration is the building’s transition from a shul to a gospel church. It a a very moving and loving conversation between an rabbi and a black pastor.
Got”s Hoyz