Cycle
Written by Lenny Solomon

In the beginning a few had said come on let’s build a shul.
It was 1924 in Richmond Hill.
Many people started moving into the neighborhood.
And soon the Synagogue began to fill.
Word had spread about the shul that had grown in such short time.
The Shabbos crowd flowed into the streets.
Children running round and round looking for their parents.
Who would try to keep them quiet in their seats.

I remember those times like they happened yesterday,
Said the Shammos to me with a twinkle in his eye.
And even though that was long ago, I still see it very clearly.
Let me tell you what went on during those times.

On Mondays and on Wednesdays there was Hebrew school at 4.
And every day Daf Yomi would be taught.
A Kiddush every Shabbos morning after we had prayed.
It seemed like a simcha every other day.
We watched the children grow up succeed and move away,
Getting married, having children, teaching them to follow in our path
The neighborhood began to change and with it the shul too,
People started moving out now I’m the last.

And as the sun broke through, the stained glass windows in the Shul,
He turned to me and then began to smile.
I’ve heard about a neighborhood that’s growing very fast
To take our place and continue for a while.

And so a chapter ended in this neighborhood in Queens,
And the Shammos stood, and then he turned to go,
But in another place a cycle was beginning,
To keep the flame alive and help us grow.

Lenny Solomon was the last cantor at Richmond Hill Jewish Center, that in its heyday had 600 people on Shabbat.  But time came and went and Lenny closed the Synagogue down one High Holiday Season.  The Synagogue’s contents went to Hillcrest to form the Hillcrest Torah Center.  Lenny was so moved by the history that he wrote this song which came out on the Emunah Album in 1988.