Mount Zion Temple is a

Reform Reform ( lat, reformo) means the improvement or amendment of what is wrong, corrupt, unsatisfactory, etc. The use of the word in this way emerges in the late 18th century and is believed to originate from Christopher Wyvill's Association movement ...

synagogue located in St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. Founded in 1856 as Mount Zion Hebrew Association, it was the first Jewish congregation in Minnesota. The congregation was formed before the statehood of Minnesota in 1858.

Early history

Founded in 1856 by eight German-Jewish families, Mount Zion Hebrew Association (as it was then called) was the very 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. Early on the congregation was divided by a group called Ahabath Ahim, which branched off then returned. Olitzky, Kerry M.; Raphael, Marc Lee. ''The American Synagogue: A Historical Dictionary and Sourcebook'', Greenwood Press, June 30, 1996, , pp. 189–191. 1871 was the year Rabbi Leopold Wintner began as Mount Zion's first and Minnesota's first

Rabbi A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as ''semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of ...

. In 1871, the congregation built the first Synagogue in the state. The same year they founded the Hebrew Ladies Benevolent Society, members of which organized Neighborhood House to serve immigrants in the community. The Rabbis and congregants of Mount Zion are still board members of Neighborhood House. Emanuel Hess, who had been born in Meerholz, Germany in 1845, became rabbi in 1888.Brock, Eric J. ''The Jewish Community of Shreveport'',

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, 2003. , p. 35. He had previously served as rabbi of Temple Israel of Columbus, Ohio in 1876–1877, Olitzky, Kerry M.; Raphael, Marc Lee. ''The American Synagogue: A Historical Dictionary and Sourcebook'', Greenwood Press, 1996, , p. 290. 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. In the 1940s the congregation participated in recreations such as "The Jewish Home Beautiful" which shared traditions of daily life. In 1948, began the leadership of Rabbi

Gunther Plaut Wolf Gunther Plaut, (November 1, 1912 – February 8, 2012) was an American Reform rabbi and writer who was based in Canada. Plaut was the rabbi of Holy Blossom Temple in Toronto for several decades and since 1978 was its senior scholar. L ...

, who published books on the congregation's history and on the

Jewish history Jewish history is the history of the Jews, and their nation, religion, and culture, as it developed and interacted with other peoples, religions, and cultures. Although Judaism as a religion first appears in Greek records during the Hellenisti ...

of Minnesota. FlameArkMtZionMN

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. 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 The Torah (; hbo, ''Tōrā'', "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In that sense, Torah means the ...

scrolls. In 2007, 690 families were members of the congregation. the rabbis were Adam Stock Spilker and Esther Adler, and the cantors were Rachel Stock Spilker and Jen Strauss-Klein.Mount Zion Temple
"Clergy/Staff"
, synagogue website. Retrieved December 28, 2009.

References

External links

Mount Zion Temple website
* Finding aid to th
Mount Zion Temple records
at th
Upper Midwest Jewish Archives, University of Minnesota Libraries

Early history

See also

References

External links

Further reading