City of Promises: A History of the Jews of New York, 3-volume box set

9 Division, Display, Devotion, and Defense: The Synagogue in Antebellum New York

181 On the eve of Shavuot 1850, Anshe Chesed consecrated its new synagogue on Norfolk Street between Houston and Stanton Streets, a Gothic sanctuary seating twelve hundred. In the presence of the mayor and members of the Common Council, the elders paraded the congregation’s Torahs around the new sanctuary and through the aisles. The procession passed by twelve young men and women, the latter clad in white dresses with blue sashes. New York’s prominent spiritual leaders delivered sermons in German and English. A year later, in a modest ceremony, Bene Israel, a congregation of Dutch Jews, consecrated a small sanctuary on Pearl Street, with only Reverend Raphall in attendance. The rapid growth of the Jewish population created a remarkably diverse religious community.1 ■ Synagogue Growth and Division While a great deal of Jewish communal and personal life took place beyond the synagogues in the antebellum era, these venerable institutions remained viable and ever more visible, even if their significance and their role in Jewish life were far more limited than in the colonial and early republican eras. Jewish newcomers from Germany, Poland, and other European nations stimulated the rise of new synagogues. From 1730 to 1824, a single congregation served the Jewish community; Ashkenazim and Sephardim coexisted without great difficulty. The founding of B’nai Jeshurun in 1824, however, signaled the growing importance of nationality and immigrant standing. Four years later, German, Dutch, and Polish Jews split from B’nai Jeshurun to form Anshe Chesed. In 1837, Polish Jews, defecting from B’nai Jeshurun and Anshe C H A P T E R 9 Division, Display, Devotion, and Defense: The Synagogue in Antebellum New York 182 ■ h av e n o f l i b e r t y Chesed, founded Shaaray Zedek. In 1839 and again in 1842, factions of German Jews left Anshe Chesed to form Shaaray Hashamayim and Rodeph Shalom. The Polish synagogue Shaaray Zedek fell victim to division in 1845, leading to the establishment of Beth Israel. In 1844, a number of the original founders of B’nai Jeshurun, dissatisfied with their congregation, founded Shaaray Tefilah, a congregation composed largely of English- and American-born members. In 1845, members of a German “cultus society,” an informal religious/literary discussion society, established Temple Emanu-El, the city’s first Reform synagogue . Polish, Russian, French, and Dutch Jews formed their own synagogues. In thirty-five years, the number of congregations grew from one to twentyseven , or nearly one per year.2 Divisions occurred for a number of reasons. An admission fee and the refusal of B’nai Jeshurun to admit a wife who had converted to Judaism initiated the exodus of the founders of Shaaray Zedek in 1837. The B’nai Jeshurun schism of 1844, which ended in civil court, resulted from a contested Board of Trustees election. Prior to the court case, internal disputes divided the synagogue. Its hazan, Samuel Isaacs, demanded greater religious observance, even to the point of denying nonobservers membership. He gave sermons in English to a predominantly German audience. The congregation experienced additional problems with its shochet, with intermarriage, and with disruptive members. Finally, increasing resentment arose against new immigrant members who had the potential to make a faction a majority.3 The disputed Board of Trustees election in B’nai Jeshurun was so controversial that the congregation hired four policemen to oversee the proceedings. When the winners prevailed by two votes, supporters of the losing candidates claimed that legitimate members were denied the right to vote. The testimony of Morland Micholl, former president of the Board of Trustees, spelled out the central contention. The synagogue, he testified, had to protect its assets, worth over $25,000. Recent years had brought New Yorkers to the congregation who were “utterly unknown to the people among whom they came.” The elders tried numerous remedies to “exclude those who were calculated . . . to disturb . . . the peace and welfare of [the] congregation,” including rules differentiating seat holders from electors, increasing the residency requirement for membership from six months to three years, imposing an admission fee up to $250, and requiring applicants to win the assent of two-thirds of the members. Why? To protect “places of public worship” from “ignorant immigrants” who Division, Display, Devotion, and Defense ■ 183 could become the “tools of ambition” of members who did not hold the good of the synagogue foremost in mind. Resolution of the conflict came with...