Congregation Shearith Israel

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 rebuilt 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.

Rabbis

The following individuals have served as rabbi of Congregation Shearith Israel:

Order	Name	Term started	Term ended	Time in office	Notes
1	Benjamin Wolf				[7]
2	Gershom Mendes Seixas				Not ordained: Hazzan of the Congregation and an ardent American patriot; he moved the Congregation to Philadelphia after the British occupied the city during the American Revolutionary War.
3	Moses L. M. Peixotto				Not ordained[8]
4	Isaac B. Seixas	1828	1839	10–11 years	[8]
5	Jacques Judah Lyons	1839	1877	37–38 years
6	Henry S. Jacobs	1874	1876	2 years
7	Henry Pereira Mendes	1877	1920	42–43 years
8	David de Sola Pool	1907	1919	45–46 years	Hired as assistant rabbi in 1907, and left in 1919. A year later, Mendes retired, and the synagogue went through a succession of candidates until he returned in 1921. Herbert Goldstein was announced as rabbi, but did not actually take the pulpit. Reverend Joseph Corcos was appointed interim rabbi.[9][4]
		1921	1955
9	Louis B. Gerstein	1956	1988	31–32 years
10	Marc D. Angel	1969	2007	37–38 years
11	Hayyim Angel	1995	2013	17–18 years
12	Meir Soloveichik	2013	incumbent	10–11 years

Parnasim

Notable parnasim include Luis Moises Gomez, Israel Baer Kursheedt, and Alvin Deutsch (1997–2001).^[10]

Hazanim

Notable hazanim include Gershom Mendes Seixas (1768–1776 and 1784–1816), Isaac Touro (1780), Jacques Judah Lyons (1839–1877), DanAbraham Lopes Cardozo (1946–1986),^[11] Daniel Halfon (1978-1980) and Albert Gabbai (1983–1986).

• 
  The synagogue's third cemetery (1829–1851) is on West 21st Street near the Avenue of the Americas
• 
  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
• 
  Landmark plaques
• 
  Signatures of Michael Michaels and Gershom Mendes Seixas on Shearith Israel's "Shechita book", at Penn Libraries^[12]

• First Shearith Israel Graveyard
• Jewish history in Colonial America
• List of New York City Designated Landmarks in Manhattan from 59th to 110th Streets
• National Register of Historic Places listings in Manhattan from 59th to 110th Streets
• Oldest synagogues in the United States
• Touro Synagogue

Citations

Sources

• Brockmann, Jorg; Harris, Bill (2002). One Thousand New York Buildings. New York: Black Dog & Leventhal. ISBN 978-1-57912-237-9. OCLC 48619292 – via Google Books.

• Media related to Congregation Shearith Israel at Wikimedia Commons
• Official website