West Brighton Beach (Coney Island), Brooklyn was being bought by Fred C. (Donald's father) Trump. He bought most of the land from Ocean Parkway (East) to McDonald Avenue (West) and Neptune Avenue (North) to Sea-breeze Avenue (South). The land was bought to build a multi-building high rise apartment complex now called Trump village. There were two synagogues located on the site. Anshe Emeth of Coney Island (organized 1899) was located at 2971 West 3rd Street and Gemilath Chesed (Hebrew Mutual Benevolent Society of Coney Island) organized 1888 or 1891 or 1893 located at 321 Seabreeze Avenue. Anshe Emeth had a seating capacity of 200 and Gemilath Chesed had a seating capacity of 500 people.
Fred С. Trump decided only one synagogue was to remain on the land he purchased. The synagogue chosen to remain was Gemilath Chesed on Seabreeze Avenue (built in 1901, rebuilt in 1917). On November 20, 1961 the two synagogues merged into one congregation. The hebrew name was Gemilath Chesed/Anshe Emeth. In english it was known as the Sea Breeze Synagogue. In 1968 with the completion of a new synagogue at 311 Sea Breeze Avenue, on land donated by Trump, the english name was changed to Sea Breeze Jewish Center.
The two congregations merged their physical, as well as their spiritual assets. The Aron Hakodesh (Ark) of Anshe Emeth was newer according to Rabbi Aaron Bokow, Rabbi, 1952-1985. Therefore, the Aron Hakodesh from Anshe Emeth was moved to Gemilath Chesed.
The Aron Hakodesh was composed of two parts, the ark and the lions on top of the ark. The lions of Gemilath Chesed were donated to the Jewish Museum of New York City in 1974 by Dr. Ruth Brenda. Under the Jewish Museum's "Project" heading it is listed as "Gift for Congregation Ansche Emeth - Seabreeze Jewish Center."
The Jewish Museum has the Gemilath Chesed lions listed as follows: "Lions holding Tablets of the Law, fragment of Torah Ark, JM 57-74 (folk cat. #84), carved wood, Brooklyn, NY 1910, maker Marcus Illions," Dimensions 30 3/4" x 42 1/4" x 7".
