Shaarei Shamayim (Gates of Heaven) has been the name of two

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

congregations in

Madison, Wisconsin Madison is the county seat of Dane County and the capital city of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census the population was 269,840, making it the second-largest city in Wisconsin by population, after Milwaukee, and the 80th-lar ...

. The first, dating to the 19th century but no longer in existence, built what is now the eighth- oldest synagogue building still standing in the United States. The second congregation, dating to 1989, is the sole Reconstructionist congregation in Madison.

The First Shaarei Shamayim

Madison's Shaarei Shamayim congregation was founded in 1856 by Jewish immigrants from Germany. In 1863, they built a synagogue on the 200 block of West Washington Avenue that was designed by

August Kutzbock August is the eighth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars, and the fifth of seven months to have a length of 31 days. Its zodiac sign is Leo and was originally named ''Sextilis'' in Latin because it was the 6th month in ...

, a recent German immigrant, in the

Rundbogenstil (round-arch style) is a nineteenth-century historic revival style of architecture popular in the German-speaking lands and the German diaspora. It combines elements of Byzantine, Romanesque, and Renaissance architecture with particula ...

style, a nineteenth-century German form of

Romanesque revival Romanesque Revival (or Neo-Romanesque) is a style of building employed beginning in the mid-19th century inspired by the 11th- and 12th-century Romanesque architecture. Unlike the historic Romanesque style, Romanesque Revival buildings tended to ...

. Kutzbock also used this distinctive style for the Carrie Pierce and Van Slyke Houses in the adjacent Mansion Hill district. The building now ranks as the eighth-oldest surviving synagogue building in the United States. The

Panic of 1873 The Panic of 1873 was a financial crisis that triggered an economic depression in Europe and North America that lasted from 1873 to 1877 or 1879 in France and in Britain. In Britain, the Panic started two decades of stagnation known as the ...

forced the lease of the building to a Unitarian congregation, and in subsequent years it was repurposed to house the

Women's Christian Temperance Union The Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) is an international temperance organization, originating among women in the United States Prohibition movement. It was among the first organizations of women devoted to social reform with a program ...

, various churches, a funeral home, and a US government warehouse.

Modern Use of the Building

Gates of Heaven Synagogue was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1970, . and in 1971, thanks to the efforts of local citizens, the building was purchased by the city, restored, and moved to James Madison Park. Now located at the corner of Gorham and Butler Streets, the Gates of Heaven building is used for concerts, weddings, and other gatherings, as well as serving as a polling location for local and national elections. Since the early 1980s, Hannah Rosenthal has led

High Holiday The High Holidays also known as the High Holy Days, or Days of Awe in Judaism, more properly known as the Yamim Noraim ( he, יָמִים נוֹרָאִים, ''Yāmīm Nōrāʾīm''; "Days of Awe") #strictly, the holidays of Rosh HaShanah ("Jew ...

services at the site, with jazz musician

Ben Sidran Ben Hirsh Sidran (born August 14, 1943) is an American jazz and rock keyboardist, producer, label owner, and music writer. Early in his career he was a member of the Steve Miller Band and is the father of Grammy-nominated musician, composer an ...

and vocalist Lynette Margulies providing liturgical music. Sidran's album ''Life's a Lesson'' contains selections from these services. In January 2008, with an average temperature of outside, The Midwest Beat used the space to record their first full-length record, At the Gates. Later released on Dusty Medical Records, the entire session was recorded by Kyle Motor using an Otari MX-5050 half-inch tape 8 track machine. Beginning in September 2011, Madison Minyan, an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

partnership A partnership is an arrangement where parties, known as business partners, agree to cooperate to advance their mutual interests. The partners in a partnership may be individuals, businesses, interest-based organizations, schools, governments ...

minyan began using the synagogue building for monthly Friday night Jewish prayer services. Starting in April 2014, the Minyan added monthly

egalitarian Egalitarianism (), or equalitarianism, is a school of thought within political philosophy that builds from the concept of social equality, prioritizing it for all people. Egalitarian doctrines are generally characterized by the idea that all hu ...

services as well, meaning the building is now used for its original purpose at least twice a month.

The Second Shaarei Shamayim

The modern Shaarei Shamayim congregation was formed in 1989 by attendees of Rosenthal's High Holiday services. Since 2008, the modern Shaarei Shamayim congregation has shared the 1952 First Unitarian Society Meeting House designed by

Frank Lloyd Wright Frank Lloyd Wright (June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American architect, designer, writer, and educator. He designed more than 1,000 structures over a creative period of 70 years. Wright played a key role in the architectural movements o ...

References

External links

*{{Commons category-inline, Gates of Heaven Synagogue (Madison)
Gates of Heaven Synagogue1944 photograph
German-Jewish culture in the United States German-American culture in Wisconsin Synagogues in Wisconsin Religious buildings and structures in Madison, Wisconsin Rundbogenstil synagogues Reconstructionist synagogues in the United States Tourist attractions in Madison, Wisconsin National Register of Historic Places in Madison, Wisconsin Synagogues on the National Register of Historic Places in Wisconsin Synagogues completed in 1863