Congregation Emanu-El (San Francisco)
Encyclopedia
Congregation Emanu-El of San Francisco, California
, is one of the two oldest Jewish congregations in California
.
During the Gold Rush in 1849, a small group of Jews held the first High Holy Days
services on the west coast of the United States in San Francisco. This group of traders and merchants founded Congregation Emanu-El sometime in 1850, and its charter was issued in April, 1851. The 16 signatories were mostly Jews from Bavaria.
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, is one of the two oldest Jewish congregations in California
Oldest synagogues in the United States
The designation of the oldest synagogue in the United States requires careful use of definitions, and must be divided into two parts, the oldest in the sense of oldest surviving building, and the oldest in the sense of oldest congregation...
.
During the Gold Rush in 1849, a small group of Jews held the first High Holy Days
High Holy Days
The High Holidays or High Holy Days, in Judaism, more properly known as the Yamim Noraim , may mean:#strictly, the holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur ;...
services on the west coast of the United States in San Francisco. This group of traders and merchants founded Congregation Emanu-El sometime in 1850, and its charter was issued in April, 1851. The 16 signatories were mostly Jews from Bavaria.
Clergy
- Rabbi Julius Eckman (1854-1855)
- Rabbi Elkan Cohn (1860-1889)
- Rabbi Jacob Voorsanger (1889-1908)
- Rabbi Martin Meyer (1910-1923)
- Rabbi Louis Newman (1924-1930)
- Rabbi Irving Reichert (1930-1948)
- Rabbi Alvin Fine (1948-1964)
- Rabbi Joseph AsherJoseph AsherJoseph Asher was an American rabbi born in Germany, known for his advocacy of reconciliation between the Jews and the Germans in the post-Holocaust era, and for his support for the Civil rights movement in the United States...
(1967-1986) - Rabbi Stephen Pearce (1992-present)
- Rabbi Lawrence KushnerLawrence KushnerLawrence Kushner is a Reform rabbi and currently the scholar-in-residence at Congregation Emanu-El in San Francisco, California.-Biography:Born in Detroit, Kushner graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Cincinnati, after which he went on to receive his rabbinical ordination from Hebrew...
(Scholar in Residence since 2002)
Further Reading
- Rosenbaum, Fred, Visions of Reform : Congregation Emanu-El and the Jews of San Francisco 1849-1999, Judah L. Magnes Museum, 2000, ISBN-10: 0943376696 ISBN-13: 978-0943376691
- Rosenbaum, Fred, Architects of reform: congregational and community leadership Emanu-El of San Francisco, 1849-1980, Western Jewish History Center, Judah L. Magnes Memorial Museum, 1980
- Voorsanger, Jacob, The Chronicles of Emanu-El, Spaulding Press, 1900.