Mount Zion Temple

Coordinates: 44°56′27″N 93°9′19″W / 44.94083°N 93.15528°W / 44.94083; -93.15528
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Mount Zion Temple
St. Paul, Minnesota
Geographic coordinates44°56′27″N 93°9′19″W / 44.94083°N 93.15528°W / 44.94083; -93.15528
Architecture
Architect(s)Erich Mendelsohn
TypeSynagogue
Date established1856 (as a congregation)
Completed
  • 1871 (10th and Minnesota Sts.)
  • 1900 (Holly and Avon Sts.)
  • 1956 (Summit Ave.)
Website
mzion.org

Mount Zion Temple is a

first Jewish congregation
in Minnesota. The congregation was formed before the statehood of Minnesota in 1858.

History

Founded in 1856 by eight

German-Jewish families, Mount Zion Hebrew Association (as it was then called) was the first Jewish congregation in Minnesota. Through the 1860s the congregation met in rented rooms around St. Paul before their first building was completed in 1871, located at East Tenth Street and Minnesota Street in the Lowertown district.[1] Early on the congregation was divided by a group called Ahabath Ahim,[a] which branched off then returned.[2] Rabbi Leopold Wintner began as Mount Zion's first and Minnesota's first rabbi in 1871; the same year that the congregation built the first synagogue in the state;[3] and founded the Hebrew Ladies Benevolent Society, members of which organized Neighborhood House to serve immigrants in the community.[4] The rabbis and congregants of Mount Zion are still board members of Neighborhood House.[5]
In 1878, Mount Zion congregation joined the Reform Movement.

Emanuel Hess, who had been born in Meerholz, Germany in 1845, became rabbi in 1888.[6] He had previously served as rabbi of Temple Israel of Columbus, Ohio in 1876–1877,[7] and then Congregation B'nai Zion in Shreveport, Louisiana, where he served until 1888. Hess was rabbi of Mount Zion until his death in 1906.[6]

In the 1940s the congregation participated in recreations such as "The Jewish Home Beautiful" which shared traditions of daily life.[8] In 1948, began the leadership of Rabbi Gunther Plaut, who published books on the congregation's history[9] and on the Jewish history of Minnesota.

In the 1950s, the congregation chose the prominent avant-garde architect Erich Mendelsohn to design a building for them. After projects in Europe, the Soviet Union, Israel and America – this was his final building, and it was completed after his death in 1953.[10] The congregation moved into the current building in 1956, 100 years after it was first founded. It is located on Summit Avenue.

In 2002, the Mount Zion Temple was part of a radio program that detailed their restoration of Torah scrolls.[11] In 2007, 690 families were members of the congregation.[12] As of 2012 the rabbis were Adam Stock Spilker and Esther Adler, and the cantors were Rachel Stock Spilker and Jen Strauss-Klein.[13]

Gallery

  • The first Mount Zion Temple, in 1875
    The first Mount Zion Temple, in 1875
  • The building and grounds, in 2017
    The building and grounds, in 2017
  • The Torah ark
    The Torah ark

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Hebrew: אהבת אחים, lit. 'Brotherly Love'

References

  1. ^ "Mount Zion Temple records". Upper Midwest Jewish Archives. Retrieved February 10, 2016.
  2. ISBN 978-0-313-28856-2
    , pp. 189–191.
  3. ISBN 0-7385-1862-X
    , p. 79.
  4. ISBN 0-87351-418-1
  5. ISBN 0-7385-1986-3
    , pp. 59–60.
  6. ^
    ISBN 978-0-7385-1488-8
    , p. 35.
  7. ISBN 978-0-313-28856-2
    , p. 290.
  8. ISBN 0-300-10976-8
    , pp. 269–270.
  9. ^ Plaut, W. Gunther. Mount Zion, 1856–1956: The First Hundred Years, North Central Pub. Co., 1956.
  10. ISBN 1-56898-025-6
    , p. 409.
  11. National Public Radio
    , 18 May 2002.
  12. ISBN 0-87351-594-3
    , p. 128.
  13. ^ "Clergy/Staff". Mount Zion Temple. Archived from the original on October 6, 2010. Retrieved December 28, 2009.[self-published source?]

External links

Further reading

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