Congregation Shearith Israel

The Mill Street synagogue, detail from the section "Religious Buildings of New York" in A Plan of the City and Environs of New York by David Grim

Temple Shearith Israel, 5 West 19th Street, 1893

The first group of Spanish and Portuguese Jews were twenty-three refugees from Dutch Brazil, who arrived in New Amsterdam in September 1654. After being initially rebuffed by anti-Semitic Director of New Netherland Peter Stuyvesant, Jews were given official permission to settle in the colony in 1655. This year marks the founding of the Congregation Shearith Israel. Although they were allowed to stay in New Amsterdam, they faced discrimination and were not given permission to worship in a public synagogue for some time (throughout the Dutch period and into the British). The Congregation did, however, make arrangements for a cemetery beginning in 1656.

It was not until 1730 that the Congregation was able to build a synagogue of its own; it was built on Mill Street (now William Street) in lower Manhattan. The Mill Street synagogue was said to have had access to a nearby spring which it used as a mikveh for ritual baths.[3] Before 1730, as noted on a 1695 map of New York, the congregation worshipped in rented quarters on Beaver Street and subsequently on Mill Street. Since 1730 the Congregation has worshipped in five synagogue buildings:

1. Mill Street, 1730
2. Mill Street re-built and expanded, 1818
3. 60 Crosby Street, 1834
4. 19th Street, 1860
5. West 70th Street, 1897 (present building)

The current building was extensively refurbished in 1921.[4]

As the American Reform Judaism made headway in the late 19th century, many rabbis critical of the Reform movement looked for ways to strengthen traditional synagogues. Shearith Israel, and its rabbi, Henry Pereira Mendes, were at the fore of these efforts. Rabbi Mendes cofounded the American Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) in 1886, in order to train traditional rabbis. The school held its first classes at Shearith Israel. In JTS' earliest days, it taught and researched rabbinics similarly as was done in traditional yeshivas, in contrast to the Reform Hebrew Union College.

Twelve years later, in 1896, Mendes was acting president of JTS. He promoted the formation[5] of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America (commonly known as the OU, the Orthodox Union). This synagogue umbrella group provided an alternative to the Reform movement's Union of American Hebrew Congregations.

As JTS grew, it needed better financing and a full-time head. The seminary moved to its own building, and Mendes was replaced by Solomon Schechter. However, Schechter developed a less traditional approach, which became the basis for Conservative Judaism (called Masorti outside North America). Initially there was considerable cooperation between the Orthodox and Conservative groups but, over time, the divide became clearer.

Schechter formed the United Synagogue of America (now the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, or USCJ)to promote synagogue affiliation with his conservative ideology.[6]

Shearith Israel remained aligned with the Orthodox tradition. It eventually repudiated its association with JTS. In a sense, Shearith Israel helped create three of the largest and most significant Jewish religious organizations in the United States: JTS, the OU, and USCJ. Shearith Israel remains a member only of the Orthodox Union.

Landmark plaques

• First Shearith Israel Graveyard
• Jewish history in Colonial America
• Touro Synagogue (Newport, Rhode Island), the oldest synagogue building in the U.S., was long thought to be owned by Congregation Shearith Israel. The claim was rejected by a federal district court in a 2016 legal suit.[14] The First Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston, in a decision written by retired Supreme Court Justice David Souter, overturned this ruling in 2017.[15] Jehudat Israel petitioned for certiorari in the U.S. Supreme Court. On March 2, 2019, the Supreme court denied certiorari, effectively allowing the decision in favor of Congregation Shearith Israel to stand.[16]
• Oldest synagogues in the United States

Notes

Bibliography

• Brockmann, Jorg and Bill Harris. (2002). One Thousand New York Buildings. New York: Black Dog & Leventhal. ISBN 9781579122379; OCLC 48619292

Media related to Congregation Shearith Israel at Wikimedia Commons

• Official Site