YS GOLD
The Liska Shul, an outpost of Torah and chassidus in Boro Park for eighty years, is in the process of being demolished to make room for a beautiful new edifice. In the course of this work, beautiful murals hearkening back to the founding of the shul were discovered.
Ezra Friedlander, the son of the current Liska Rebbe recalls that while these murals predate his time--he was a young boy when they were covered over with "modern" paneling--he had heard about them throughout the years from older members of the shul. .
"When my grandfather, Rav Yoizef of Liska, zt"l, moved into Boro Park in 1947, he employed the services of a wall artist to paint these murals on the walls throughout the shul," he related.
The Rebbe served as a spiritual leader and figure in the Boro Park community for twenty-five years, until his passing in 1971, leaving behind a legacy of Torah and chassidus and mesirus nefesh.
The Shabbos prior to the Rebbe's passing, the shul made an appeal to update the building with "modern" paneling, and it was installed weeks later, obscuring this piece of the shul's history for decades - until this week, when they were once again revealed.
While these historic murals will likely not be preserved, and the new shul will likely be far more modern, the discovery this week brought back the memory of a far different time in Boro Park - the days when the foundation for this outpost of Torah and chassidus were implanted into the very fabric of the community to stand for decades to come.
As reported, the kehillah relocated to a temporary location, at 1430-50th Street, where tefillos and learning continue uninterrupted until construction is complete.
