The OHAB ZEDEK CONGREGATION OF NEWBURGH, an Orthodox synagogue, was established in 1884. The congregation acquired a section of the Lansing Rd. Cemetery, Lansing Ave. and E. 57th St., 24 April 1895. From 1894-1906, Ohab Zedek rented quarters at 7700 Broadway and for the next 3 years at the Opera Block Hall, corner of Broadway and Harvard avenues. In Aug. 1909 the congregation purchased the Homestead Ave. Baptist Church, 7820 Homestead Ave. Rabbi Nathan Ganger, born in Hungary in 1862, served the Ohab Zedek from 1894 until his retirement in 1906. Membership in 1906 was 30; services were held Saturdays and holidays and the school consisted of one teacher and 12 pupils, who attended 5 times a week. In the years after 1906, Ohab Zedek was without a rabbi. Individuals, however, were engaged to serve as teacher and shokhet (ritual slaughterer).
The Depression in the 1930s fatally impacted this small congregation, sustained as it was by local Jewish residents—mostly proprietors of small stores and saloons serving local blue collar workers and their families. In 1933 much of the U.S. STEEL CORP. American Steel and Wire Newburgh Works, the area's principal employer, was permanently closed. In July the congregation sold its building. Ohab Zedek's history ended in 1976, when an elderly, surviving member, Dr. Samuel Volk, petitioned the HEIGHTS JEWISH CENTER to take over ownership and maintenance of Ohab Zedek's cemetery. The center accepted and a quit-claim deed was executed 8 April 1976.
Ohab Zedek Congregation of Newburgh Records, WRHS.