List of Synagogues in Oklahoma
Encyclopedia
In 1890, the Jewish population of Oklahoma Territory was estimated to be about 100 people. By statehood in 1907, that number grew to about 1,000. The peak of Oklahoma Jewish population occurred in the 1920s with a total population of about 7,500. In 2003, 2,300 Jews resided in Oklahoma City and 2,600 in Tulsa. Reform, Conservative, and Chabad congregations serve both of these communities. In 1916 there were seven small-town congregations including Enid, Hartshorne, and Chickasha. This number has dwindled to three Reform congregations located in Muskogee, Ponca City, and Seminole, with congregational membership between fourteen and twenty-two people.

Notable Oklahoma Jews have included Oklahoma Secretary of Health
Oklahoma Secretary of Health
The Oklahoma Secretary of Health is a member of the Oklahoma Governor's Cabinet. The Secretary is appointed by the Governor, with the consent of the Oklahoma Senate, to serve at the pleasure of the Governor. The Secretary serves as the chief advisor to the Governor on public health issues and...

 and state senator Tom Adelson
Tom Adelson
Tom Adelson is an American politician from Oklahoma. He is currently an Oklahoma State Senator representing the 33 Senate District, located in Tulsa County. Adelson is a Democrat who was first elected in 2004...

; historian Daniel J. Boorstin
Daniel J. Boorstin
Daniel Joseph Boorstin was an American historian, professor, attorney, and writer. He was appointed twelfth Librarian of the United States Congress from 1975 until 1987.- Biography:...

; Oklahoma State Treasurer Robert Butkin
Robert Butkin
Robert A. Butkin served as State Treasurer of Oklahoma from 1995 to 2005. He then served as dean of The University of Tulsa College of Law from 2005 until2007....

; Oklahoma City School Board and Chamber of Commerce president Seymor C. Heyman; businessman and philanthropist George Kaiser
George Kaiser
George B. Kaiser is an American businessman. He is the Chairman of BOK Financial Corporation. He is among the top 100 richest people in the world and one of the top 50 American philanthropists.-Early life and career:...

; financier Henry Kravis
Henry Kravis
Henry R. Kravis is an American businessman and private equity investor. He is the co-founder of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., a private equity firm with over $62 billion in assets as of 2011. He has an estimated net worth of $3.7 billion as of September 2011, ranked by Forbes as the 88th richest...

; actor and filmmaker Tim Blake Nelson
Tim Blake Nelson
Tim Blake Nelson is an American director, writer, singer, and actor.-Early life:Nelson was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the son of Ruth Kaiser Nelson, who is a noted social activist and philanthropist in Tulsa, and a geologist father...

; actor Tony Randall
Tony Randall
Tony Randall was a U.S. actor, comic, producer and director.-Early years:Randall was born Arthur Leonard Rosenberg to a Jewish family in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the son of Julia and Mogscha Rosenberg, an art and antiques dealer...

; and Alexander Sondheimer, Oklahoma's first court reporter. The philanthropy of Charles and Lynn Schusterman has helped to establish Tulsa's Jewish Community Center, the Judaic Studies program at the University of Oklahoma
University of Oklahoma
The University of Oklahoma is a coeducational public research university located in Norman, Oklahoma. Founded in 1890, it existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two became the state of Oklahoma. the university had 29,931 students enrolled, most located at its...

, the Center for Jewish Studies at the University of Texas, and the Israel studies program at Brandeis University
Brandeis University
Brandeis University is an American private research university with a liberal arts focus. It is located in the southwestern corner of Waltham, Massachusetts, nine miles west of Boston. The University has an enrollment of approximately 3,200 undergraduate and 2,100 graduate students. In 2011, it...



This is a list of Oklahoma
Oklahoma
Oklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...

 synagogues
Synagogue
A synagogue is a Jewish house of prayer. This use of the Greek term synagogue originates in the Septuagint where it sometimes translates the Hebrew word for assembly, kahal...

.
Name Location Movement Status Notes
B'nai Emunah Congregation 1719 S Owasso Ave, Tulsa, Oklahoma 74120 Conservative
Conservative Judaism
Conservative Judaism is a modern stream of Judaism that arose out of intellectual currents in Germany in the mid-19th century and took institutional form in the United States in the early 1900s.Conservative Judaism has its roots in the school of thought known as Positive-Historical Judaism,...

Founded in 1916, as an Orthodox congregation. It originated from a minyan of Latvian immigrants in 1903.
Beth Torah Synagogue, Chabad House 6622 S Utica Ave, Tulsa, Oklahoma 74136 Chabad Lubavitch
Chabad Jewish Center 3815 N Santa Fe Ave, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73118 Chabad Lubavitch
Emanuel Synagogue 900 NW 47th St, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73118 Conservative Founded in 1904.
Hillel Jewish Student Center at OU 494 Elm Ave, Norman, Oklahoma 73069 Pluralist
Temple B'nai Israel 4901 N Pennsylvania Ave, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73112 Reform
Reform Judaism (North America)
Reform Judaism is the largest denomination of American Jews today. With an estimated 1.5 million members, it also accounts for the largest number of Jews affiliated with Progressive Judaism worldwide.- Reform Jewish theology :Rabbi W...

Formed in May 1903. The congregation was run by student rabbis from Hebrew Union College, Cincinnati. Arthur Lewinsohn was elected as rabbi in 1904. Rabbi Joseph Blatt ran the congregation from 1906 to 1946, and consulted in the formation of Enid, Shawnee, Ardmore and Tulsa's congregations. From 1906 to 1916 Joseph Blatt was the only full time rabbi in Oklahoma. Rabbi Joseph Levenson (1946–1976), Rabbi A. David Packman (1976–2004), and Rabbi Barry Cohen since July 1, 2004.
Temple Bethahaba 206 S 7th St, Muskogee, Oklahoma 74401 Reform The congregation was founded in 1905.
Temple Emanuel Highland & Poplar, Ponca City Oklahoma 74601 Reform
Seminole Hebrew Center 402 W Seminole Ave Seminole, OK 74868 Reform
Temple Israel
Temple Israel (Tulsa, Oklahoma)
Temple Israel is a Reform Jewish congregation located at 2004 East 22nd Place in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Founded in 1914, the synagogue affiliated with the Union for Reform Judaism in 1915, and constructed its first building on South Cheyenne Street in 1919...

2004 E 22nd Pl, Tulsa Oklahoma 74114 Reform Founded in 1914; located since 1955 in a building designed by architect Percival Goodman
Percival Goodman
Percival Goodman was an American urban theorist and architect who designed more than 50 synagogues between 1948 and 1983. He has been called the "leading theorist" of modern synagogue design, and "the most prolific architect in Jewish history."-Biography:Percival Goodman was born in New York City...

.
Temple Emeth Ardmore, Oklahoma Reform Inactive Temple Emeth was the oldest congregation in Oklahoma. It was organized in 1907, and closed in 2004
Congregation Emanuel North Independence and East Maple, Enid, Oklahoma Reform Inactive In 5680, the congregation had 12 members of a Jewish population of 50 in Enid. The congregation was formed between 1909 and 1910. It was affiliated with the Union of American Hebrew Congregations from 1910-1919. Rabbi Joseph Blatt of Oklahoma City was their rabbi. It held services in English during festivals, and had Sabbath school. Local mens furnishings salesman, Harry B. Woolf, served as president. The congregation met at the Loewen Hotel, once located at the corner of North Independence and East Maple. The Loewen Hotel, originally founded by Jewish resident Al Loewen, was purchased by Milton C. Garber
Milton C. Garber
Milton Cline Garber was a U.S. Representative from Oklahoma. In 1942, he was inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame.-Personal life:...

 in 1917 and renamed the Oxford, which burned down in the 1970s. Enid also had a 20 member B'nai Brith lodge, with Sol Newman as president.
B'nai Abraham 407 Chickasha Avenue, Chickasha, Oklahoma Inactive Formed in 1915, the congregation held services in Hebrew for a Jewish population of 125.
B'nai Israel Penna Avenue, Hartshorne, Oklahoma Inactive The congregation formed in 1916, held services in Hebrew. It served a Jewish population of 18.


Other Jewish Organizations in Oklahoma
Name Location
Jewish Federation of Tulsa Zarrow Campus, 2021 E. 71st St, Tulsa, Oklahoma
Jewish Federation of Greater Oklahoma City 710 West Wilshire, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73116
Charles Schusterman Jewish Community Center Zarrow Campus, 2021 E. 71st St, Tulsa, Oklahoma
Sherwin Miller Museum of Jewish Art Zarrow Campus, 2021 E. 71st St, Tulsa, Oklahoma

See also

  • Oldest Synagogues in the United States, Temple Emeth
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