Gallery
Temple Israel in Tulsa
Temple Emanuel in Ponca City
Hillel on the OU campus
10 commandments on Temple Israel Tulsa
This is a list of Oklahoma synagogues .
In 1890, the Jewish population of Oklahoma Territory was estimated to be about 100 people. By statehood in 1907, that number grew to about 1,000. The peak of Oklahoma Jewish population occurred in the 1920s with a total population of about 7,500. [1] In 2003, 2,300 Jews resided in Oklahoma City and 2,600 in Tulsa. Reform, Conservative, and Chabad congregations serve both of these communities. In 1916 there were seven small-town congregations including Enid, Hartshorne, and Chickasha. This number has dwindled to three Reform congregations located in Muskogee, Ponca City, and Seminole, with congregational membership between fourteen and twenty-two people. [1]
Notable Oklahoma Jews have included Oklahoma Secretary of Health and state senator Tom Adelson; historian Daniel J. Boorstin; Oklahoma State Treasurer Robert Butkin; Oklahoma City School Board and Chamber of Commerce president Seymor C. Heyman; businessman and philanthropist George Kaiser; financier Henry Kravis; actor and filmmaker Tim Blake Nelson; actor Tony Randall; and Alexander Sondheimer, Oklahoma's first court reporter. The philanthropy of Charles and Lynn Schusterman has helped to establish Tulsa's Jewish Community Center, the Judaic Studies program at the University of Oklahoma, [2] the Center for Jewish Studies at the University of Texas, [3] and the Israel studies program at Brandeis University. [4]
| Name | Location | Movement | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Congregation B'nai Emunah | 1719 S Owasso Ave, Tulsa, 74120 | Conservative | Active | A progressive congregation committed to social activism, inclusivity, and Jewish renewal. [5] Founded in 1916, as an Orthodox congregation. [1] It originated from a minyan of Latvian immigrants in 1903. [2] |
| Beth Torah Synagogue, Chabad House | 6622 S Utica Ave, Tulsa, 74136 | Chabad Lubavitch | Active | |
| Chabad Community Center for Jewish Life and Learning | 3000 W Hefner Road, Oklahoma City, 73120 | Chabad Lubavitch | Active | |
| Emanuel Synagogue | 900 NW 47th St, Oklahoma City, 73118 | Conservative | Active | Founded in 1904 |
| Hillel Jewish Student Center at OU | 494 Elm Ave, Norman, 73069 | Pluralist | Active | |
| Temple B'nai Israel | 4901 N Pennsylvania Ave, Oklahoma City, 73112 | Reform | Active | Formed in May 1903, Temple B'nai Israel is the oldest active Jewish congregation in Oklahoma. In the beginning, the congregation was run by student rabbis from Hebrew Union College, Cincinnati. Arthur Lewinsohn was elected as rabbi in 1904. [6] Rabbi Joseph Blatt ran the congregation from 1906 to 1946, and consulted in the formation of Enid, Shawnee, Ardmore and Tulsa's congregations. [7] From 1906 to 1916 Joseph Blatt was the only full-time rabbi in Oklahoma. [8] Rabbi Joseph Levenson (1946–1976), Rabbi A. David Packman (1976–2004), and Rabbi Barry Cohen (2004–2012). Rabbi Vered Harris became the congregation's spiritual leader in July 2012. [9] |
| Temple Bethahaba | 206 S 7th St, Muskogee, 74401 | Reform | Inactive | The congregation was founded in 1905 [2] [10] until when the temple closed in 2011. [11] |
| Temple Emanuel | Highland & Poplar, Ponca City, 74601 | Reform | ||
| Seminole Hebrew Center | 402 W Seminole Ave, Seminole, 74868 | Reform | Inactive | |
| Temple Israel | 2004 E 22nd Pl, Tulsa, 74114 | Reform | Active | Founded in 1914; located since 1955 in a building designed by architect Percival Goodman |
| Temple Emeth | Ardmore | Reform | Inactive | Ardmore had the first Jewish community in Oklahoma to organize formally, in 1890. [1] Temple Emeth was organized as a Reform congregation in 1907, and closed in 2004. [2] [12] |
| Congregation Emanuel | North Independence and East Maple, Enid | Reform | Inactive | In 5680, the congregation had 12 members of a Jewish population of 50 in Enid. [13] The congregation was formed between 1909 and 1910. [14] The Temple Emanuel Congregation of Enid was officially chartered in May 1911. Its founding trustees were Albert Hirsch, Harry B. Wolf, Robert Aronberg, Charles Lowenstein, Marinus Godschalk, and Herbert L. Kaufman. [15] It was affiliated with the Union of American Hebrew Congregations from 1910 to 1919. [16] Rabbi Joseph Blatt of Oklahoma City was their rabbi. [14] It held services in English during festivals, and had Sabbath school. Local men's furnishings salesman, Harry B. Woolf, served as president. [13] The congregation met at the Loewen Hotel, [14] once located at the corner of North Independence and East Maple. [17] The Loewen Hotel, founded by Jewish resident Al Loewen, was purchased by Milton C. Garber in 1917 and renamed the Oxford, which burned down in the 1970s. [17] Enid also had a 20 member B'nai B'rith lodge, with Sol Newman as president. [18] |
| B'nai Abraham | 407 Chickasha Avenue, Chickasha | Inactive | Formed in 1915, the congregation held services in Hebrew for a Jewish population of 125. [13] | |
| B'nai Israel | Penna Avenue, Hartshorne | Inactive | The congregation formed in 1916, held services in Hebrew. It served a Jewish population of 18. [13] | |
| Lawton/Fort Sill Jewish Community | Cache Creek chapel, Fort Sill | Pluralistic | Active | The community includes about a dozen Jewish members from Lawton and the surrounding area and a small number of Jews stationed at Fort Sill. Most services are much bigger (often 50–100) thanks to the many Basic and AIT trainees from Fort Sill who attend the Jewish chapel services (some who are Jewish, most who are not). [19] |
| Name | Location |
|---|---|
| Jewish Federation of Tulsa | Zarrow Campus, 2021 E. 71st St, Tulsa |
| Jewish Federation of Greater Oklahoma City | 710 West Wilshire, Oklahoma City 73116 |
| Charles Schusterman Jewish Community Center | Zarrow Campus, 2021 E. 71st St, Tulsa |
| Sherwin Miller Museum of Jewish Art | Zarrow Campus, 2021 E. 71st St, Tulsa |
| Oklahoma Jewish Theatre [21] | Oklahoma City |
The history of Jews in Ohio dates back to 1817, when Joseph Jonas, a pioneer, came from England and made his home in Cincinnati. He drew after him a number of English Jews, who held Orthodox-style divine service for the first time in Ohio in 1819, and, as the community grew, organized themselves in 1824 into the first Jewish congregation of the Ohio Valley, the B'ne Israel. This English immigration was followed in the next two decades by the coming of German immigrants who, in contrast, were mostly Reform Jews. A Bavarian, Simson Thorman, settled in 1837 in Cleveland, then a considerable town, which thus became the second place in the state where Jews settled. Thorman was soon followed by countrymen of his, who in 1839 organized themselves into a congregation called the Israelitish Society. The same decade saw an influx of German Jews into Cincinnati, and these in 1841 founded the Bene Yeshurun congregation. To these two communities the Jewish history of Ohio was confined for the first half of the 19th century. In 1850 Ohio had six congregations: four in Cincinnati and two in Cleveland.
Congregation Mikveh Israel, is a Sephardic Orthodox Jewish synagogue located at 44 North Fourth Street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the United States. The congregation traces its history from 1740. Mikveh Israel is a Spanish and Portuguese congregation that follows the rite of the Amsterdam esnoga. It is the oldest synagogue in Philadelphia, and the longest running in the United States.
Percival Goodman was an American urban theorist and architect who designed more than 50 synagogues between 1948 and 1983. He has been called the "leading theorist" of modern synagogue design, and "the most prolific architect in Jewish history."
Congregation Beth Israel is an egalitarian Conservative synagogue located at 989 West 28th Avenue in Vancouver, British Columbia. It was founded in 1925, but did not formally incorporate until 1932. Its first rabbi was Ben Zion Bokser, hired that year. He was succeeded the following year by Samuel Cass (1933–1941). Other rabbis included David Kogen (1946–1955), Bert Woythaler (1956–1963), and Wilfred Solomon, who served for decades starting in 1964.
Congregation Beth Israel is a Jewish congregation and synagogue located at 411 South Eighth Street, in Lebanon, Pennsylvania, in the United States. Founded in 1907 to provide services for the High Holidays, it was then, and remains today, the only synagogue in the Lebanon area.
Temple Israel is a Reform Jewish congregation and synagogue located at 1376 East Massey Road, in Memphis, Tennessee, in the United States. It is the only Reform synagogue in Memphis, the oldest and largest Jewish congregation in Tennessee, and one of the largest Reform congregations in the U.S. It was founded in 1853 by mostly German Jews as Congregation B'nai Israel. Led initially by cantors, in 1858 it hired its first rabbi, Jacob Peres, and leased its first building, which it renovated and eventually purchased.
Temple Israel is a Reform Jewish congregation and synagogue located at 2004 East 22nd Place in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in the United States. Founded in 1914, the congregation affiliated with the Union for Reform Judaism in 1915, and constructed its first building on the corner of 14th and Cheyenne Streets in 1919. Early rabbis included Jacob Menkes, Charles Latz, Samuel Kaplan, Jacob Krohngold, and Benjamin Kelsen.
Temple Israel of the City of New York is a Reform Jewish congregation and synagogue located at 112 East 75th Street, on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City, New York, United States. The congregation was incorporated by German Jews in 1873.
Lynn Schusterman is an American billionaire philanthropist. She is the co-founder and chair emerita of the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Philanthropies, and founder of several other philanthropic initiatives.
Anshei Sphard Beth El Emeth Congregation, abbreviated as ASBEE, was a Modern Orthodox synagogue located at 120 North East Yates Road, in East Memphis, Tennessee, in the United States. Established in 1966, with a history dating from 1861, the congregation operated for over 160 years prior to its 2023 merger with the Baron Hirsch Congregation.
Charles Schusterman was a Tulsa American businessman and philanthropist. He was the founder of the Samson Investment Company, a privately owned oil and gas company with oil field investments in the United States, Canada, Venezuela and Russia. He was a large donor to Jewish causes in the United States and Israel. He and his wife, Lynn Schusterman, founded the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation.
Temple B'nai Israel is a Reform Jewish congregation and synagogue located at 4901 North Pennsylvania, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, in the United States. The congregation is the oldest active Jewish congregation in Oklahoma.
Congregation Anshai Emeth is a Reform Jewish congregation and synagogue located at 5614 North University Street, in Peoria, Illinois, in the United States. Established in 1859, the synagogue is the second oldest Jewish congregation in Illinois, and as of 2019 has the largest membership of any Jewish congregation in Peoria.
Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Philanthropies is a philanthropic organization founded in 1987 in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Congregation B'nai Emunah, a progressive synagogue located at 17th and Peoria in Tulsa, Oklahoma, was founded in 1916 as an Orthodox congregation. It originally resided at 919 S Cheyenne Ave.
The history of Jews in Milwaukee began in the early 1840s with the arrival of Jewish immigrants from German-speaking states and the Austro-Hungarian empire. Throughout the 19th century, Milwaukee was the hub of Wisconsin's Jewish population with 80% of the state's Jews living there. As of 2011, it is home to 25,800 Jewish people, or 78% of Jews in Wisconsin, and is the 42nd largest Jewish community in the United States.