Kosher and Jewish Life in Loch Sheldrake

Loch Sheldrake Synagogue is a historic synagogue on NY 52, north of the junction of NY 52 and Loch Sheldrake Road in Loch Sheldrake, Sullivan County, New York. It was built between 1922 and 1930 of buff-colored brick on a concrete foundation, three bays wide and five bays deep. It is surmounted by a steep gable roof and features a projecting, stepped-gabled entrance pavilion with a limestone parapet. The synagogue is open for daily prayer services in the Summer. The spiritual leader of the synagogue during the summer is Rabbi Rashi Shapiro. In its heyday as a Catskills Borscht Belt resort it was home to numerous hotels, bungalow colonies, and boarding houses. Some of the best known of these were the Brown's Hotel, where comedian Jerry Lewis worked; the Evans Hotel; and the Karmel Hotel, now Stagedoor Manor, a renowned performing arts summer camp. In 2012, a year-round Hasidic community was founded in Loch Sheldrake, in Town and Country Estates, with a synagogue, mikvah, a boys cheder, and a girls nursery school.