 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 . 
