Edit Forest Hills Jewish Center

Address 106-16 Queens Boulevard, Queens, NY, United States of America, 11374 Starting Address:	Telephone 718-263-7000	Website www.fhjc.org

Set in a niche off the main thoroughfare of Queens Boulevard, the Forest Hills Jewish Center is an egalitarian Conservative congregation. The main feature of the center is an Ark designed by illustrator Arthur Szyk, a Polish born artist who is famous for the Szyk Haggadah, a series of illustrations depicting the Passover scenes with parallels drawn between the Egyptian Pharaoahs and the Nazis. The Ark in the Jewish Center stands thirty feet high and is detailed with scenes of Jewish culture and history, including the tablets of the Torah, the Crown of the Torah and the twelve tribes of Israel. Simon and Garfunkel High school friends Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel started writing songs together when students at Forest Hills High School. That partnership grew into one of the greatest songwriting duos of all time and produced some of the most memorable songs of the 1960s. Paul Simon was born in New Jersey to Jewish Hungarian parents while Art Garfunkel, born in Forest Hills, traces his Jewish roots back to Romania. The two collaborated on several of the more famous anthems of the 1960s, especially “Sounds of Silence”, “I am a Rock” and “Scarborough Fair.” Their music features in the movie “The Graduate” the breakout role for Jewish actor Dustin Hoffman. After their breakup in 1970, Paul Simon released a ground-breaking solo album in 1984 that featured South African musicians and served to bring the state of Apartheid in South Africa to the world’s attention.