Anshe Sholom B'nai Israel | |
---|---|
Religion | |
Affiliation | Modern Orthodox Judaism |
Ecclesiastical or organizational status | Synagogue |
Leadership | Rabbi Aaron Finkelstein |
Status | Active |
Location | |
Location | 540 West Melrose Street, Lakeview, Chicago, Illinois 60657 |
Country | United States |
Location in Chicago | |
Geographic coordinates | 41°56′29″N87°38′36″W / 41.9414235°N 87.6434015°W |
Architecture | |
Date established | 1870 (as a congregation) |
Completed | 1940 |
Website | |
asbi |
Anshe Sholom B'nai Israel (Hebrew for: "People of Peace" followed by "Children of Israel") is a Modern Orthodox Jewish congregation and synagogue located at 540 West Melrose Street, in the Lakeview neighborhood on the north side of Chicago, Illinois, in the United States. [1]
The Anshe Sholom B'nai Israel Congregation was founded in 1870 as Ohave Sholom (Lovers of Peace) by a group of Lithuanian Jewish families primarily from Marijampolė, Lithuania. [2] The congregation is considered to be the oldest Orthodox congregation still existing in Chicago. [3]
In the summer of 1870, Duber (Dov Ber) Ginsburg, an immigrant from Marijampolė, appeared for services at the Bais Medrash Hagodol synagogue wearing a straw hat. The leaders of the shul considered it frivolous and threw him out. Offended, Ginsburg assembled a minyan (congregation) from his old-country friends and founded a competing shul (synagogue), Ohave Sholom Mariampol, at Polk and Dearborn Streets.
In 1871 the Great Chicago Fire drove many homeless Jewish men and women into the neighborhood, and membership grew rapidly. In 1892, the congregation merged with the Anshe Kalvarier shul (whose building had been demolished when 12th Street, now Roosevelt Road, was widened) and adopted the name, "Anshe Sholom Congregation." In 1894, they retained their first rabbi, Abraham Samuel Braude, who served until his death in 1907. It was long known unofficially as "The Mariampoler Shul" and also informally as "The Straw Hat Shul."
In 1910 Saul Silber became the rabbi and the congregation moved west into a new domed building by Chicago architect Alexander Levy at Polk and Ashland. However, the Jewish community was moving farther west into the Lawndale district, and so the congregation opened a branch on Homan Avenue and during the 1920s sold the Ashland Avenue structure to a Greek Orthodox Christian congregation. They soon built another building at Independence and Polk. It was also at this time that Silber helped to establish the Hebrew Theological College and served without salary as its first president, while continuing at Anshe Sholom until his death in 1946.
In 1940, a group of members opened a branch called "Lakeview Anshe Sholom Center" in a converted greystone residence at 540 West Melrose Street on the North Side, where Herman Davis became the rabbi in 1945.
Under Davis the congregation constructed a school building directly east of Anshe Sholom. After this a new shul was erected, and dedicated in 1959.
In 1960, the last few members of Congregation B'nai Israel in Old Town ceased operations in the 1300 block of Sedgwick Street, and the shul became "Lakeview Anshe Sholom B'nai Israel." Two years later the main Anshe Sholom Congregation on Independence Boulevard also merged, creating the present shul's name.
After Davis' death in 1975 Joseph Deitcher became the rabbi, and after Deitcher's death in 1994 Asher Lopatin succeeded him. In 2013, David Wolkenfeld succeeded Asher Lopatin and served as the rabbi for 10 years.
The history of the Jews in Pennsylvania dates back to Colonial America.
The B'nai Abraham Synagogue is an Orthodox Jewish congregation and synagogue located at 302 North Park Street in Brenham, Texas, in the United States. The congregation was organized in 1885.
Temple Beth Israel was a Jewish synagogue located at 840 Highland Road in Sharon, Pennsylvania, in the United States. Originally called House of Israel Congregation, it was founded in 1888 as an Orthodox congregation by Eastern European Jews. The congregation merged with Congregation Rodef Sholom of Youngstown, Ohio in July, 2013; and the former synagogue building was sold to a Christian church in 2014.
Asher Lopatin is the executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council/AJC, a nonprofit Jewish community organization in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. He is an American Modern Orthodox rabbi and leader of Kehillat Etz Chayim, a Modern Orthodox synagogue in Huntington Woods, MI. He is also the founder and executive director of the Detroit National Center for Civil Discourse, which has run a Fellowship in Civil Discourse at Wayne State University since September 2019. Previously, he was the President of Yeshivat Chovevei Torah (2013-2018) and the spiritual leader of Anshe Sholom B'nai Israel Congregation in Chicago before that. He is a Rhodes Scholar and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Synagogues may be considered "oldest" based on different criteria, and can be oldest in the sense of oldest surviving building, or oldest in the sense of oldest congregation. Some old synagogue buildings have been in continuous use as synagogues, while others have been converted to other purposes, and others, such as the Touro Synagogue, were shuttered for many decades. Some early established congregations have been in continuous existence, while other early congregations have ceased to exist.
Congregation Beth Jacob Ohev Sholom is an Orthodox Jewish synagogue located at 284 Rodney Street in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, in New York City, New York, in the United States. The congregation follows the Ashkenazi rite.
Beth Sholom Congregation and Talmud Torah is a Modern Orthodox synagogue on Seven Locks Road in Potomac, Maryland, in the United States. The largest Orthodox synagogue in the Washington metropolitan area, it is led by Rabbi Nissan Antine.
Anshe may refer to:
Shaarey Tphiloh is a Modern Orthodox Jewish congregation and synagogue located at 400 Deering Avenue, in Portland, Maine, in the United States. The congregation claims it is the oldest continuously operating synagogue in Portland. The name of the synagogue literally means "Gates of Prayer" in Hebrew.
Chicago Jewish Day School (CJDS) is a private, multi-denominational Jewish day school in Irving Park, Chicago, Illinois, serving over 200 students from junior kindergarten to grade eight.
Rachel Kohl Finegold is a Montreal-based Open Orthodox Rabba at Congregation Shaar Haashomayim, and the first Orthodox woman to serve as synagogue clergy in Canada.
The 2020 estimate of the Jewish population in metropolitan Chicago is around 319,600, according to Brandeis University's Chicago Report. The population of Jewish people within the City of Chicago's limits is estimated to be around 240,000, with another 80,000 residing in the suburbs surrounding the major city. At the end of the 20th century there were a total of 270,000 Jews in the Chicago area, with 30% in the city limits. In 1995, over 80% of the suburban Jewish population lived in the northern and northwestern suburbs of Chicago. At this time, West Rogers Park was the largest Jewish community within the city of Chicago. However, the Jewish population within the city had been declining and tended to be older and more well-educated than the Chicago average. The Jewish immigrants to Chicago came from many different countries, with the most common being Eastern Europe and Germany.
Historic Congregation B’nai Abraham, officially B’nai Abraham Chabad, is an Orthodox Jewish congregation and synagogue, located at 523-527 Lombard Street, in the Society Hill neighborhood of the Center City of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the United States. Established as a congregation in 1874 and the current synagogue building completed in 1910, worshipers can access daily, Shabbat, and holy day services in the Ashkenazi rite. B'nai Abraham is home to a Jewish Preschool, as well as Lubavitch of Center City.
The Vilna Congregation was a synagogue located in the Society Hill section of Center City, Philadelphia. The synagogue was home to an active congregation with Shabbat and holy day services, was affiliated with Lubavitch of Center City, and is now the location of an orthodox women's mikvah run by the Lubavitch Hasidic community. Menachem Schmidt was the rabbi of the synagogue, and continues to oversee the property and its operations.