United Hebrew Congregation (Chesterfield, Missouri)
United Hebrew Congregation | |
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Religion | |
Modernist | |
Date established | 1841 (as a congregation) |
Completed |
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Website | |
unitedhebrew |
The United Hebrew Congregation (also Congregation Achdut Yisroel) is a
History
19th century
The United Hebrew Congregation formed on
Abraham Weigel, who was to become United Hebrew Congregation's first president, and Nathan Abeles, the first secretary, rented a room over a grocery and held the first minyan in St. Louis.[5] Louis Bomeisler, a German from Philadelphia, probably conducted the first service in St. Louis for Rosh Hashanah on September 29. He proceeded to order a Torah, prayer books, and Taleisim for the new group.[6]
Twelve men met four years later at the Oracle Coffee House at 2nd and Locust to write the
United Hebrew established its first home in 1848 in the former North Baptist Church on Fifth Street near Green Street (now Broadway) between Washington and Lucas.
United Hebrew Congregation nearly merged with B'nai El in 1852, but the merger was called off when B'nai El received an unanticipated gift from the estate of Judah Touro, a Jewish philanthropist from New Orleans.[7] The bequest totaled $3,000 (equivalent to $110,000 in 2023).[7] In 1855, B'nai El used the funds to build a synagogue at Sixth and Cerre, which may have been the first synagogue building constructed west of the Mississippi River.[7]
In 1854, United Hebrew Congregation hired the first documented rabbi to serve in St. Louis, Rabbi Bernard Illowy. His term of service lasted about one year, and in 1856, he left for Syracuse.[8]
On June 11, 1853, United Hebrew Congregation formed plans for the construction of a new building.
In 1880, United Hebrew Congregation's moved the dead bodies buried at its original burial ground at Jefferson Avenue and Gratiot Street to a new cemetery at Mount Olive near Clayton.[10] The old burial ground had been established in 1837 and was a small lot of approximately 100 by 200 feet (30 by 61 m), with relatively shallow graves that often contained multiple dead bodies.[10]
20th century
United Hebrew moved steadily westward, next to Twenty-first and Olive Streets in 1879, and then in 1903 into a remodeled Mount Cabanne Church at the southwest corner of Kingshighway and Von Versen (after 1917, Enright).[11]
In 1927, the United Hebrew Congregation dedicated a new home at 225 S. Skinker. Designed by the architectural firm of Maritz and Young with consulting architect Gabriel Ferrand, the notable,
As its membership continued to move to the suburbs, United Hebrew Congregation purchased land at Conway and Woods Mill Roads in the West St. Louis County suburbs of Town and Country and Chesterfield, Missouri. The Religious and Hebrew schools began operating there in 1977. The administration and sanctuary moved to the Conway site after the construction (1986–1989) of a notable Pietro Belluschi building.[13]
21st century
The United Hebrew Congregation is a member of the
The
Torah
In 2006, United Hebrew Congregation commissioned a
Rabbinic leaders
United Hebrew Congregation's rabbinic leaders have been as follows.[16]
Name | Years |
---|---|
Rabbi Bernard Illowy | 1854–1856 |
Rabbi Isaac Ritterman | 1860; 1864–1865; 1869–1870 |
Rabbi Henry Kuttner | 1857; 1870–1875 |
Rabbi Moritz Treichenberg[17] | 1875–1878? |
Rabbi Henry J. Messing | 1878–1911 |
Dr. Goodman Lipkind | 1912–1914 |
Rabbi Samuel Thurman | 1914–1958 |
Rabbi Jerome W. Grollman | 1958–1990 |
Rabbi Howard G. Kaplansky | 1990–2011 |
Rabbi Brigitte Rosenberg | 2011–present |
Notes
References
- ISBN 9780300109764.
- ^ a b "History". United Hebrew Congregation. Retrieved March 9, 2020.[self-published source?]
- ^ Makovsky, Donald I. (1958). Origin and Early History of the United Hebrew Congregation of St. Louis, 1841–1859. First Jewish Congregation in St. Louis.
- ^ Ehrlich, Walter. Zion in the Valley. Vol. 1. pp. 49–50.
- ^ "Title required". Jewish Encyclopedia. Retrieved September 26, 2008.
- ^ "History". Missouri.org. Retrieved September 26, 2008.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Makovsky, Donald (May 23, 1973). "First United Hebrew Synagogue Site to Be Razed". St. Louis Jewish Light. p. 18.
- ISBN 978-0313243165
- ^ "A Grand Wedding". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. January 26, 1875. p. 4.
- ^ a b "A Dead Exodus: Removing the Bones from the Old Hebrew Graveyard". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. February 5, 1880. p. 2.
- ^ "St. Louis Republic Newspaper". December 21, 1903. Retrieved May 17, 2011.
- ^ "Skinker Building History". Retrieved September 26, 2008.
- ISBN 978-0262032209
- ^ "Synaplex Synagogue Listing". Retrieved September 26, 2008.
- ^ Kassander, Jill (November 2006). "Torah Alive! is celebrated at United Hebrew". St. Louis Jewish Light. Archived from the original on September 27, 2007. Retrieved July 24, 2007.
Those associated with the project said they are not aware of any other Torah completely written by one woman.
- ^ "Congregations - Past & Present in St. Louis". Retrieved November 17, 2010.
- ^ "The Jewish New Year". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. September 30, 1875. p. 4.
Further reading
- Priwer, Jane (1963). The United Hebrew Congregation St. Louis, MO, 1837–1963. United Hebrew Congregation.