school fees were $0.02 (today $0) per session. Membership had grown to 140 families by 1919. The congregational school held classes daily, and had 400 students and 20 teachers. Sidney Weinberg, who rose from the job of assistant porter to head Goldman Sachs from 1930 to 1969, was married at Baith Israel Anshei Emes in 1920. The Weinberg family, which had joined the synagogue when it was still on Beorum Place, was also very active in the synagogue; Sidney's mother, Sophie, was sisterhood president from 1912 to 1913, and his father, Pincus, served as president from 1919 to 1921, and the children all attended the Sunday school and Talmud Torah. The Weinbergs subsequently moved to Flatbush, where in 1924 Pincus became the first president of the East Midwood Jewish Center. In 1924, a fire almost destroyed the upper level of the school building, but the congregation repaired the damage. Another renovation was begun in 1928, and included installing illuminated stained glass over the ark and bronze memorial tablets at the rear of the sanctuary, and repainting the sanctuary walls and columns in a trompe-l'œil manner imitating Jerusalem stone and marble. Great Depression and post-World War II decline On its 75th anniversary in 1931, the congregation received a congratulatory message from President Herbert Hoover. Additional congratulatory messages arrived from Governor (later President) Franklin D. Roosevelt, Lieutenant Governor Herbert H. Lehman, Mayor Jimmy Walker, and Felix M. Warburg. Nevertheless, the Great Depression brought difficult times; officers were no longer paid their salaries, and were informed in 1932 that they would have to "wait indefinitely" to receive their back wages. In 1933, the synagogue abolished fixed wages entirely for its employees, and instead paid them on a "month-to-month basis", depending on what the congregation could afford. In 1932 women were allowed to join the choir. In deference to traditionalists, however, the choir was moved to the organ loft, so that the women would be less visible. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, Herman Belth raised $20,000 (today $) and contributed another $20,000 for another renovation of the synagogue. The building was fortified, the interior (except the front wall) repainted, and the exterior brick walls, which had been clad in "blue-veined white stone", were refinished with "brownstone type stuccoed slabs". When the renovations were complete, the synagogue was re-dedicated in January 1953. Despite Belth's efforts, membership continued to decline, as congregants moved to