Beth Hamedrash Hagadol - Late 1990s To Present

Late 1990s To Present

In the summer of 1997, a storm blew out the main two-story window at the front of the building, and the window's wooden frame was rotten, cracked and could not be saved. The window remained unrepaired which left the sanctuary open to the elements for a month before the congregation, down to approximately 100 members, asked for assistance. The congregants had, by then, long held services in a smaller room, using the sanctuary only on the High Holidays. The New York Landmarks Conservancy's Endangered Buildings fund gave $2,500 for a temporary metal window, and assisted in getting approval from the Landmarks Preservation Commission for the work required to repair the damage, but the congregation did not have the $10,000 required to pay for it. Beth Hamedrash Hagadol received an additional $2,000 from the New York Landmarks Conservancy's Sacred Sites program in 1998 for a conditions survey. In 1999 a second application for National Historical designation was made, this time successful; the building was deemed significant at the local level, and was added to the National Register of Historic Places on November 30.

The congregation raised $40,000 in 2000 for emergency repairs, and was awarded a $230,000 grant by the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation for restoration work, including roof repair, but had not been able to raise the matching funds required to receive the grant. On December 6, 2001, a fire and subsequent fire-fighting efforts severely damaged the roof, ceiling, mural paintings and decorative plasterwork.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation designated the building an endangered historic site in 2003, the only synagogue on the list. It still retained a number of significant architectural features, including "the ornate ark and pulpit, central bimah (reader's platform) with etched glass lamps, cantilevered balconies, Gothic vaulted ceiling, and colorful wall paintings"; the lighting included "converted gas fixtures". Features retained from the original construction included Gothic Revival style woodwork and cast-iron railing that follows the lot line, and the original wooden pews. That same year Oshry died. His successor—designated by Oshry himself—was his son-in-law, Rabbi Mendl Greenbaum.

By 2006, $1 million of an estimated required $3.5 million had been raised for repairs to the structure. In 2007, it was still mostly closed to the public (as its damaged interior was considered a hazard for visitors), and its membership had dwindled to around 15. The synagogue sat "padlocked and empty" in 2008, with holes in the roof and plaster falling from the ceiling. Until it was closed, it was "the home of the oldest Orthodox congregation continuously housed in a single location in New York".

As of 2008, the Lower East Side Conservancy was trying to raise an estimate $4.5 million for repairs, with the intent of turning the building into an educational center. It was granted $215,000 by the United States Department of Education and was promised an equal amount by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation. Several years earlier the Conservancy had also been promised a total of $980,000 from New York State, the City Council, Mayor Bloomberg, and the Manhattan Borough President's office, but had yet to receive most of the city funds. The group was also trying to raise $400,000 from private donors for the first phase of the renovation, which would secure the structure and roof. Led by Greenbaum, Beth Hamedrash Hagadol, the oldest Orthodox Russian Jewish congregation in the United States, was down to around 20 regularly attending members, and was sharing facilities with a congregation on Henry Street.