Vermont’s oldest synagogue has been sold — and its new owner plans to turn it into a food hall and apartments. 

The nearly 140-year-old brick synagogue in Burlington’s Old North End served as an important center for the city’s Jewish community for decades. Now deteriorating physically, with its congregation mostly dwindled away, it has been sold to an entrepreneur who plans to redevelop the building.

Host Sam Gale Rosen toured the historic building with the new owner and visited the nearby, newer synagogue that has now acquired many of the historic artifacts from the older location.

On this episode of The Deeper Dig, we talk about the history at play, what’s planned for the building and what happens when a space for spirituality becomes something else.