Temple Emanu-El (Honolulu)

Last updated

Temple Emanu-El
Temple Emanu-El, Honolulu, Hawaii.JPG
Temple Emanu-El in 2016
Religion
Affiliation Reform Judaism
Ecclesiastical or organisational status Synagogue
LeadershipRabbi-Cantor Cheri Weiss
Year consecrated 1960
StatusActive
Location
Location2550 Pali Highway, Honolulu, Hawaii
CountryUnited States
USA Hawaii relief location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Location in Hawaii
Geographic coordinates 21°19′50″N157°50′40″W / 21.33056°N 157.84444°W / 21.33056; -157.84444
Architecture
Architect(s) Edward Sullam
TypeSynagogue
General contractor T. Takahashi
Date established1938 (as a congregation)
Completed1960
Website
shaloha.com

Temple Emanu-El is a Reform Jewish congregation and synagogue, located at 2550 Pali Highway, in Honolulu, Hawaii, in the United States. Founded in 1938, the congregation joined the Union for Reform Judaism in 1952, and the synagogue building was consecrated in 1960 under the spiritual leadership of Rabbi Roy A. Rosenberg. The architect was Edward Sullam, and the builder was T. Takahashi. [1] The sanctuary is decorated with 12 8-foot (2.4 m) paintings by the New Mexico-based artist Alice Flitter. [2]

Contents

Educational programs

In addition to providing religious services on Shabbat and on holidays, Temple Emanu-El offers various educational programs for children and adults. The School of Jewish Studies (SJS) provides Jewish religious and cultural education for students in preschool through about 7th grade. Students typically graduate from SJS by having their b’nai mitzvah, after which several youth group experiences become available through 12th grade. [3] Temple Emanu-El also offers a Torah Study program for adults.[ citation needed ]

The Kalakaua Torah and yad

Elias Abraham Rosenberg came to Hawaii from San Francisco in 1886. Accounts vary as to whether or not he ever used the title “Rabbi”, but he was never ordained. [4] He developed a friendship with King David Kalākaua, telling him stories from the Torah and teaching him the Hebrew language. In 1887, Rosenberg returned to San Francisco because of political unrest surrounding the Bayonet Constitution in Hawaii. He left his Torah and yad (Torah pointer) with Kalākaua for safe-keeping. [5]

The Torah and yad remained in the royal family. The House of Kawānanakoa would lend the scroll to the Honolulu Jewish community for High Holy Day services [5] until 1925 and possibly through the 1930s [6] or into the 1940s. [5] The yad eventually belonged to Kekaulike Kawānanakoa, granddaughter of Princess Abigail Kawānanakoa; Kekaulike gifted it to a friend who gave it to Temple Emanu-El in 1959. [6]

After the death of Princess Abigail Kawānanakoa in 1945, the Torah was given to Flora Kaai Hayes for safekeeping. Following her death in 1968, she left it to her son, Homer A. Hayes. The location of the Torah had remained publicly unknown for 13 years after the donation of the yad, but was discovered in 1972 when Homer told Temple Emanu-El member Samuel Landau about the scroll. The Torah eventually passed into the Temple's ownership along with the yad. [6] The Torah and yad are permanently displayed in the main sanctuary. [5]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Synagogue</span> Place of worship for Jews and Samaritans

A synagogue, also called a shul or a temple, is a place of worship for Jews and Samaritans. It has a place for prayer where Jews attend religious services or special ceremonies such as weddings, bar and bat mitzvahs, choir performances, and children's plays. They also have rooms for study, social halls, administrative and charitable offices, classrooms for religious and Hebrew studies, and many places to sit and congregate. They often display commemorative, historic, or modern artwork alongside items of Jewish historical significance or history about the synagogue itself.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Kawānanakoa</span> Prince of Hawaiʻi (1868–1908)

David Laʻamea Kahalepouli Kinoiki Kawānanakoa was a prince of the Hawaiian Kingdom and founder of the House of Kawānanakoa. Born into Hawaiian nobility, Kawānanakoa grew up the royal court of his uncle King Kalākaua and aunt Queen Kapiʻolani who adopted him and his brothers after the death of their parents. On multiple occasions, he and his brothers were considered as candidates for the line of succession to the Hawaiian throne after their cousin Princess Kaʻiulani but were never constitutionally proclaimed. He was sent to be educated abroad in the United States and the United Kingdom where he pioneered the sport of surfing. After his education abroad, he served as a political advisor to Kalākaua's successor, Queen Liliʻuokalani until the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom in 1893. After Hawaii's annexation to the United States, he co-founded the Democratic Party of Hawaii.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edward A. Kawānanakoa</span> Pretender to the Hawaiian throne

Edward Abnel Keli'iahonui Kawānanakoa was a member of the House of Kawānanakoa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">House of Kawānanakoa</span> Descendants to the throne of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi

The House of Kawānanakoa, or the Kawānanakoa Dynasty, are descendants to the throne of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Congregation Emanu-El of New York</span> Reform Jewish congregation in New York City

Congregation Emanu-El of New York is the first Reform Jewish congregation in New York City. It has served as a flagship congregation in the Reform branch of Judaism since its founding in 1845. The congregation uses Temple Emanu-El of New York, one of the largest synagogues in the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Old New Synagogue</span> Medieval synagogue in Prague, Czech Republic

The Old New Synagogue, also called the Altneuschul, is an Orthodox Jewish congregation and synagogue, located in Josefov, Prague, in the Czech Republic. The synagogue is Europe's oldest active synagogue. Completed in 1270, it is also the oldest surviving medieval synagogue of twin-nave design.

Temple Emanu-El is a Reform Jewish synagogue located at 8500 Hillcrest Road, in Dallas, Texas, in the United States. Chartered as the Jewish Congregation Emanu-El in 1875, it was the first Reform congregation in North Texas, and is the largest synagogue in the South.

Dallas is the second-largest city in Texas and has one of the largest Jewish communities in the state.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kamokuiki</span>

Kamokuiki was a grandmother of the last two ruling monarchs of the Kingdom of Hawaii.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abigail Kinoiki Kekaulike Kawānanakoa</span> Hawaiian princess and rancher (1926–2022)

Abigail Kinoiki Kekaulike Kawānanakoa, also known as Princess Abigail Kawānanakoa and sometimes called Kekau, was a Native Hawaiian-American heiress, equestrian, philanthropist and supporter of Native Hawaiian heritage, culture and arts, who was born during the Territorial Period of Hawaii as a descendent of the Hawaiian royal family from the House of Kawānanakoa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Temple Emanu-El-Beth Sholom</span> Reform synagogue in Westmount, Quebec

Temple Emanu-El-Beth Sholom, Westmount is a Reform synagogue in Westmount, Quebec. The syngagoue is the oldest Liberal or Reform synagogue in Canada, incorporated on March 30, 1883, and is the only Reform congregation in Quebec.

Elias Abraham Rosenberg was a Jewish immigrant to the United States who, despite a questionable past, became a trusted friend and adviser of King Kalākaua of Hawaii. Regarded as eccentric, he lived in San Francisco in the 1880s and worked as a peddler selling illegal lottery tickets. In 1886, he traveled to Hawaii and performed as a fortune-teller. He came to Kalākaua's attention, and endeared himself to the king with favorable predictions about the future of Hawaii. Rosenberg received royal appointments to several positions: kahuna-kilokilo, customs appraiser, and guard. He was given lavish gifts by the king, but was mistrusted by other royal advisers and satirized in the Hawaiian press.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Temple Emanu-El (Birmingham, Alabama)</span> Reform synagogue in Birmingham, Alabama, US

Temple Emanu-El, is a Reform Jewish congregation and synagogue, located at 2100 Highland Avenue South, in Birmingham, Alabama, in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Inauguration of a Torah scroll</span> Jewish ceremony involving Torah scrolls

Inauguration of a Torah scroll is a ceremony in which one or more Torah scrolls are installed in a synagogue, or in the sanctuary or study hall of a yeshiva, rabbinical college, university campus, nursing home, military base, or other institution, for use during prayer services. The inauguration ceremony is held for new and restored scrolls alike, as well as for the transfer of Torah scrolls from one sanctuary to another.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Temple Beth-El (New York City)</span> Former Reform synagogue in Manhattan, New York

Temple Beth-El was a Reform Jewish congregation and synagogue at 945 Fifth Avenue and 76th Street in the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City, New York, United States. The synagogue operated between 1891 until c. 1929, and was demolished in 1947. The Temple Beth-El congregation merged with Congregation Emanu-El of New York in 1927.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flora Kaai Hayes</span> Politician in Hawaii Territorial Legislature

Flora Kekulalani Kaai Hayes was a Hawaiian-American politician and actor. She served in the Hawaii Territorial House of Representatives for seven terms between 1938 and 1959, representing Oahu as a member of the Hawaii Republican Party. From the 1920s through the early 1930s, Hayes became involved in various Hawaiian organizations. In 1936, she was elected president of the Territory of Hawaii's parent–teacher association (PTA), serving two terms. At the request of John Ford, she stopped in Hollywood while traveling back from a PTA conference in Virginia to play a minor role in the 1937 film The Hurricane.

References

  1. Plaque near main entrance of temple
  2. Beigel, Greta, "Special paintings by artist Alice Flitter honor the 60th anniversary of Temple Emanu-El's sanctuary", Honolulu Star Advertiser, March 15, 2020, pp. D1 & D6.
  3. "SJS - Temple Emanu-El". Shaloha.com. Retrieved June 24, 2020.
  4. Adler, Jacob, "Elias Abraham Rosenberg, King Kalakaua's Soothsayer", Journal of Hawaiian History, 1970, Vol. 4, p 56
  5. 1 2 3 4 Tigay, Alan M., “The Jewish Traveler: Honolulu”, Hadassah Magazine, Vol. 90, No. 5, January 2009, 28.
  6. 1 2 3 "Jewish scroll is traced to former owner, King Kalakaua". The Honolulu Advertiser . July 13, 1973. p. 26. Retrieved June 2, 2021.

Bibliography