The rabbi of a historic Chelsea synagogue wished his own congregants would “go to hell” as he turned their sanctuary into a “discotheque” and tried to freeze out elderly members, a lawsuit brought by his congregation claims.
Facing a dwindling attendance and mounting repair bills for their 100-year-old synagogue, members of Congregation Emunath Israel on W. 23rd St. cut a deal with Rabbi Yechezekel Wolff in 2012, wherein Wolff would lease the building in exchange for paying the shul’s operating expenses and raising at least $400,000 for building repairs by the end of 2018.
But he hasn’t held up his end of the deal, according to a $21 million lawsuit filed in Manhattan Supreme Court by five members of the temple’s board of trustees.
Wolff has made some repairs, but he’s done damage by ripping out historic pews, cutting the heating in the winter to allegedly “kill off the congregation” and allowing secular film crews and art exhibits to use the synagogue, the suit charges.