Iconic Williamsburg: Congregation Leches Yosher

In the Works Progress Administration Survey from 1939, we find the following entry about Congregation Leches Yosher, which had as its leader a number of prominent Rabbonim:  

“Incorporated 1896 as Cong. Leches Josher. Merged with Chevra Anshei Chesed of 99 Hopkins Street, and reincorporated 1935 as Cong. Leches Josher Anshe Chesed. "Congregation Worships in a two-story frame building formerly a church, at above address [261 Wallabout Street]." Present Rabbi: Moses Kohn, 1938—[present]. Cemeteries: Beth David, Elmont; Washington, Brooklyn; Mt. Lebanon, Queens. 

"The name means "People of the Straight Course" defining how the congregation stands.” 

Founding Leches Yosher

In addition to the above-mentioned founding in 1896, we find information regarding the founding of the Shul in The Standard Union in the year 1930: “Williamsburg Jewish worker laid to rest. Henry Schwartz, one of the best-known workers in Jewish affairs in the borough, died yesterday at his home, 146 Heyward Street. He was 71, and had lived in the Williamsburg section for forty-five years. The funeral was held this morning and interment was at Mount Lebanon Cemetery (where there was a section for this congregation, as noted above). 

“Some years ago, Mr. Schwartz organized and became the first president of the Congregation Leches Yosher. Since his retirement from the cloak and suit business in Manhattan several years ago, Mr. Schwartz devoted considerable of his time to religious and charitable work in the Williamsburg section.” 

Police Protection 

“Citizens of this borough find it necessary to appeal to police commissioner McAdoo of Manhattan to protect aged Hebrews from ruffianism in Brooklyn—a recurrence of assaults upon the old and the infirm, and the police laugh,” writes the Brooklyn Citizen in 1904 regarding the people of Leches Yosher. 

“Some months ago, the writer of this column directed the attention of police to a ruffianly pastime of gangs of East New York young loafers who found great sport in pulling the beards of aged and infirm Hebrews while the latter were in public streets or trolley cars…

“So frequent are these assaults, so indifferent are the police to the commission of these outrages upon gray-haired and gray-beareded old men, that a number of deemed it necessary to appeal to Police Commissioner McAdoo in Manhattan for protection. The appeal is a stinging commentary upon the civilization of the old city of churches, it will undoubtedly stir churchmen and non-churchmen alike to indignation. 

“’To Hon. William McAdoo, Commissioner of the Police Department. We, the undersigned, officers and members of the Congregation Leches Yosher, a duly incorporated religious corporation in the state of New York, respectfully present this petition for your full consideration… that for the last few months past the members going to and from the house of worship have been frequently assaulted in the streets around the vicinity of said church by rogues and hoodlums hovering thereabout.” 

Rabbonim of Leches Yosher 

The first rov of the shul that we can find is one Rav Avrohom Shmuel Rosenberg who is interred in Mount Zion Cemetery. Not much is known about him, but his matzeivah tell us that he was the rov of the shul until his passing in 1912, and that his father was “The famed tzaddik and maggid of Wilkomir, Rav Yitzchok Aaron.” Presumably, he hailed from that city in Lithuania. His son was a ga’on by the name of Rav Yosef Naftoli Rosenberg who was one of the first talmidim in RIETS, and served as a rov in Norwich, Connecticut for forty-two years. 

Around 1935, there arrived to the shul Rav Menachem Zev Friedman who had previously been in Boro Park. It is unclear what years exactly he served the congregation, only that he did (according to one account, he served as the rov of the shul as late as 1951). He was born in Beregocz, Hungary to his father Reb Yitzchok Friedman—and was one of five brothers. His father saw the potential for this child, and sent him far away to learn in yeshiva. He came to America in 1925, and settled in Boro Park. The chillul Shabbos on the nearby 13th Avenue was too much for him to bear, so he relocated to Williamsburg, around 1935. Rabbi Menachem Zev was niftar in 1957, and was interred in Mount Hebron Cemetery.   

As noted above, the current Rabbi of the Shul in 1939, having been appointed in the previous year, was Rav Moshe Kohn. The only Rabbi in America by that name was one Rav Moshe Kohen who hailed from Lancut, Poland, where he was born in 1897. He resided on the Lower East Side, and would have made his way across the bridge to administer to the congregation on Wallabout Street. In later years, he moved to Boro Park, where he was niftar sometime in the 1970’s. 

By 1942, we read in a draft card for Rabbi Menachem Chonon Aronson—a longtime Rov of the Nathan Strauss Jewish Center in the Bronx—that he was the rov of Congregation Leches Yosher. 

Born in Lomza in the summer of 1913, Rabbi Aaronson came to this country in the year 1930 with his father Reb Michel who was a Rabbi, and the family landed in Irvington, N.Y. Like so many refugees from Europe, his father had previously come to chart their way, and spent time in Newark, returning earlier that year to bring his wife and child. 

His first position was in the shul on Wallabout Street, and he was later at another Shul on Church Avenue in Brooklyn, before coming to the Bronx in 1966. 

Upon the center’s 60th anniversary, they honored Rev. Aronson, and wrote as follows: “When our honoree, Rev, Aronson, recites this beautiful prayer in his poignant, melodic tones as he stands before the Holy Ark during our Shabbos services, every congregant in our synagogue is personally touched by his dramatic eloquence. His wonderful Torah readings are magnificent and splendid as he glorifies our L-rd.  

This is the story of Congregation Leches Yosher which served the Yidden of Williamsburg beginning in 1896, and did so for many decades to come in old Williamsburg.