saw the inside finally

To-day, i was inside [click for outside] Anshe Emeth Beth Tefilo's Cleveland Jewish Center, now Cory United Methodist, for the first time. I wanted more time to view the glass. There was a programme for Cleveland History Days. The building was in use in 1922, before completion. The glass is beautiful, and the craftsmanship excellent. I asked about the studio, and it is unknown now. I was surprised how dim the lighting; fotos i had seen must have been on long exposures. The sunlight hit this torch to make it seem to be alive with fire (my foto does not do justice).

A goodly number of the glass had fire. Moses' burning bush on Mt. Sinai is a tall tree. There was another roundel with an altar of holocaust, a complete burnt offering of a sacrificial animal; a roundel with a lit menorah, and three windows above the bema had two torches each. The glass subjects are nearly the same at the original Temple B'nai Jeshurun which was built in 1906, and since c.1923 has been Shiloh Baptist.

The very tall windows are interrupted by a large balcony. I heard to-day, the architect Albert Janowitz, did not want the balcony; it detracted from the windows. He was right. At the time, men were on the ground floor, and women sat in the balcony. Full capacity was said to be 3 thousand, to my eyes, it looked less. I  have read it was 24 hundred, that i could agree with.

The electrical light fixtures are menorahs with a star of David. In the center of the stars there are glass jewels. This one is missing.

Dome represents the Twelve Tribes of Israel. Previously, the chandelier was a much more impressive one, it had a star of David. It crashed, about the time a Cleveland Orchestra concert was to be held for MLK Jr. Day (i heard to-day).

I think the glaziers, and the stained glass designer were not Jewish. This looks like symbols for the Trinity.

The scrolls when made were unwritten upon, probably. Now, most have a commemoration from what appears to be fund raising from 1992.

The ark of the Torah would have been behind this curtain of the tabernacle. But, since 1946-7 the shul became a church, and the ner tamid (eternal light) was replaced by this lighted cross. Very little, with the exception of the addition of felt banners, has been changed visually. Ok, there is a drum set on the bema. 

There is far more building than merely the worship space. There is a ballroom, and many classrooms,and other things. Recently money has come in to do structural improvements. Part of a wall was removed, and this radiator is visible for a stairway.

Cory United Methodist has recently received the first historical marker for the Cleveland African American Civil Rights Trail. For some time in the 1950s, and 60s, Cory was the largest Black congregation in Cleveland. Many prominent men came to speak there: WEB Dubois, Thurgood Marshall, ML King Jr., Malcolm X spoke his "Ballot or the Bullet" speech for the first time.