Ahavath Beth Israel | |
---|---|
Religion | |
Affiliation | Reform Judaism |
Rite | Nusach Ashkenaz |
Ecclesiastical or organisational status | Synagogue |
Leadership | Rabbi Daniel B. Fink |
Status | Active |
Location | |
Location | 11 North Latah Street, Boise, Idaho 83706 |
Country | United States |
Location in Idaho | |
Geographic coordinates | 43°36′19″N116°13′48″W / 43.60528°N 116.23000°W |
Architecture | |
Architect(s) | Chestney & Schroeder |
Type | Synagogue architecture |
Style | |
General contractor | Judkins & Co. |
Date established | 1986 (merged congregation)
|
Groundbreaking | 1895 |
Completed |
|
Construction cost | $3,159 |
Materials | Wood, shingles |
Website | |
cabi-boise | |
NRHP reference No. | 72000432 |
Added to NRHP | November 3, 1972 |
Ahavath Beth Israel, officially Congregation Ahavath Beth Israel (transliterated from Hebrew as "Love of the House of Israel"), is a Reform Jewish congregation and synagogue, located at 11 North Latah Street, in Boise, Idaho, in the United States. Its 1896 building is amongst the oldest synagogues in continuous use west of the Mississippi River. [1] The congregation is affiliated with the Union for Reform Judaism. [2]
Boise's first Jews were present in the mining camps in the 1860s, but it was not until 1895 that Congregation Beth Israel (Hebrew for "House of Israel") was formed. Most of the congregants were from Germany [3] and Central Europe and the synagogue followed the Reform tradition. [4] Moses Alexander, mayor of Boise and governor of Idaho, was an early leader of the congregation.
The building was erected in 1896, and given a careful restoration in 1982. [5]
Congregation Ahavath Israel (Hebrew for "Love of Israel") was founded in 1912 by Orthodox immigrants from Eastern Europe. [4] The congregation erected a building at the corner of 27th and Bannock Streets in 1947. The two congregations merged in 1986 to become Ahavath Beth Israel. [5]
A personal memoir/history of Congregation Ahavath Israel was written by one of its member leaders, the late Mr. Joel Stone; a copy of this book is obtainable through the congregation's lending library. A more comprehensive history of Ahavath Beth Israel (which focuses more on Beth Israel's history) was also privately published for limited release by a former member, and is likewise available through the congregation.[ citation needed ]
The synagogue's wood-shingled 1896 building blends two architecture styles popular with turn-of-the-century Jewish congregations. The exterior is mainly the popular Rundbogenstil style, though the tall windows flanking the large, rose window are in the form of Horseshoe arches. This Moorish Revival detail continues on the inside, where the barrel-vaulted ceiling is supported by horseshoe arches. The architect described the building as designed in a modern Moorish style. [6]
In 1972 the synagogue was added to the National Register of Historic Places. In 2003 the building was moved from its original location on State Street to its current location on Latah Street. During the move documentation was discovered showing the original construction was partially financed by Marshall Field and Levi Strauss & Co. [7]
Synagogue architecture often follows styles in vogue at the place and time of construction. There is no set blueprint for synagogues and the architectural shapes and interior designs of synagogues vary greatly. According to tradition, the Shekhinah or divine presence can be found wherever there is a minyan, a quorum, of ten. A synagogue always contains an Torah ark where the Torah scrolls are kept, called the aron qodesh by Ashkenazi Jews and the hekhal by Sephardic Jews.
Moorish Revival or Neo-Moorish is one of the exotic revival architectural styles that were adopted by architects of Europe and the Americas in the wake of Romanticist Orientalism. It reached the height of its popularity after the mid-19th century, part of a widening vocabulary of articulated decorative ornament drawn from historical sources beyond familiar classical and Gothic modes. Neo-Moorish architecture drew on elements from classic Moorish architecture and, as a result, from the wider Islamic architecture.
Congregation Ohab Zedek, sometimes abbreviated as OZ and formally known as the First Hungarian Congregation Ohab Zedek, is an Modern Orthodox Jewish congregation and synagogue located at 118 West 95th Street, Upper West Side, in Manhattan, New York City, New York, in the United States. The congregation is known for its lively, youthful congregation. Founded in 1873, it moved to its current location on in 1926. The current clergy are Rabbi Allen Schwartz, Senior Rabbi and Rabbi Jack Varon, assistant Rabbi.
The Central Synagogue is a Reform Jewish congregation and synagogue at 652 Lexington Avenue, at the corner of East 55th Street in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Built from 1870 to 1872 and designed by Henry Fernbach in the Moorish Revival style, the synagogue was influenced by Budapest's Dohány Street Synagogue. It has been continuously used by a congregation for longer than any other in New York state, except Congregation Berith Sholom in Troy, and is among the oldest existing synagogue buildings in the United States.
Congregation Beth Israel is a Reform Jewish congregation and synagogue, located at 1931 NW Flanders Street, Portland, Oregon, in the United States.
The Temple of Israel is a Reform Jewish synagogue located on the corner of Fourth and Market Streets in Wilmington, North Carolina, in the United States. Built in 1876, the Temple of Israel is the oldest synagogue in North Carolina and one of the earliest Reform synagogues in the American South. Temple of Israel is led by Rabbi Emily Losben-Ostrov.
Beth Israel Synagogue is a historic former Jewish synagogue building at 238 Columbia Street in Cambridge, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, in the United States. Built in 1901, it was the first and principal synagogue to serve the East Cambridge area, and is a fine local example of Romanesque Revival architecture. Now converted into residential condominiums, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.
Temple Gemiluth Chessed is a former Reform Jewish congregation and synagogue, located at 706 Church Street, in Port Gibson, Mississippi, in the United States. Built in 1892, it is the oldest congregation in the state and the only building completed in the Moorish Revival style. The congregation was founded in 1870 by a community of Jewish immigrants from German states and Alsace-Lorraine. Due to declining population as people moved to larger urban areas, the congregation closed in 1986.
Congregation Rodeph Shalom, is an historic Reform Jewish congregation and synagogue located at 615 North Broad Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the United States. Established in 1795, it is the oldest Ashkenazic synagogue in the Western Hemisphere. It is noted historically for its leadership of the Reform movement among American Hebrew congregations, for its spiritual influence upon international Jewry, and for its unique 1927 Byzantine and Moorish Revival synagogue building, with Art Deco finishes, on North Broad Street, listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 2007.
Congregation Ahavath Chesed, also called The Temple Jacksonville, or simply, The Temple, is a Reform Jewish congregation and synagogue located at 8727 San Jose Boulevard, in Jacksonville, Florida, in the United States. It is one of the oldest Jewish congregation in Florida and one of the first formally incorporated.
Temple Israel is a Reform Jewish congregation and synagogue located at 330 Joe Clifton Drive, in Paducah, Kentucky, in the United States.
Temple B'nai Shalom is a former synagogue in Brookhaven, Lincoln County, Mississippi, in the United States. The building has been used as a history museum since 2009, operated as Lincoln County Historical and Genealogical Society Museum.
Beth Israel Synagogue was an Orthodox synagogue and, since 1972, a Baptist church building located at 31 Concord Street in the South Norwalk section of Norwalk, Connecticut, in the United States.
The Bournemouth Community Hebrew Congregation is an Orthodox synagogue in Lansdowne, Bournemouth, England. Its Rabbi is Adrian Jesner.
The Old Ohavi Zedek Synagogue is an historic synagogue building at Archibald and Hyde Streets in Burlington, Vermont, in the United States. It was built in 1885 for Ohavi Zedek, Vermont's oldest Jewish congregation, and is currently occupied by Congregation Ahavath Gerim. The building, a distinctive vernacular interpretation of the Gothic Revival style, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.
Temple Beth Israel, sometimes called Charter Oak Temple, is an historic former Reform Jewish synagogue and later church building, now cultural center, located at 21 Charter Oak Avenue, in Hartford, Connecticut, in the United States.
Temple Beth Israel is a Reform synagogue located at 3004 Union Avenue, Altoona, Pennsylvania, in the United States.
Congregation Shearith Israel is a historic Orthodox Jewish congregation and synagogue, located at 5835 Park Heights Avenue, in Park Heights, northwest Baltimore, Maryland, in the United States.
Media related to Ahavath Beth Israel (Boise, Idaho) at Wikimedia Commons