synagogue
A synagogue, ', 'house of assembly', or ', "house of prayer"; Yiddish: ''shul'', Ladino: or ' (from synagogue); or ', "community". sometimes referred to as shul, and interchangeably used with the word temple, is a Jewish house of worshi ...
located at 30 West 68th Street in the
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
borough
A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely.
History
In the Middle Ag ...
of
Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
. The congregation was the first of multiple "free synagogue" branches in the early 20th century.
Portland, Oregon
Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...
, was under consideration as Rabbi of Temple Emanu–El in New York City, but withdrew his name after learning that his sermons would be reviewed in advance by the synagogue's board of trustees. In January 1906, ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' published a letter from Rabbi Wise that stated that the demands placed on him raised the "question whether the pulpit shall be free or whether the pulpit shall not be free, and, by reason of its loss of freedom, reft of its power for good." ''The Times'' noted that Wise planned to head to New York to "organize and lead an independent Jewish religious movement."
Within months of this letter, Rabbi Wise started work toward a "free synagogue" holding services at the Hudson Theater on West 44th Street and on the Lower East Side. At a meeting on April 15, 1907,
Henry Morgenthau Sr.
Henry Morgenthau (; April 26, 1856 – November 25, 1946) was a German-born American lawyer and businessman, best known for his role as the United States Ambassador to Turkey, ambassador to the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Morgenthau was on ...
told the more than hundred assembled at the Hotel Savoy that "The Free Synagogue is to be free and democratic in its organization; it is to be pewless and dueless."Heritage Stephen Wise Free Synagogue. Accessed October 18, 2008.
In 1910, the congregation's 500 members celebrated
Rosh Hashanah
Rosh HaShanah ( he, רֹאשׁ הַשָּׁנָה, , literally "head of the year") is the Jewish New Year. The biblical name for this holiday is Yom Teruah (, , lit. "day of shouting/blasting") It is the first of the Jewish High Holy Days (, , " ...
at
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhatta ...
, and a number of brownstones were purchased on West 68th Street in 1911 as the site of a permanent home for the synagogue. Branches of the Free Synagogue were started in
the Bronx
The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...
Flushing, Queens
Flushing is a neighborhood in the north-central portion of the New York City borough of Queens. The neighborhood is the fourth-largest central business district in New York City. Downtown Flushing is a major commercial and retail area, and the ...
,
Westchester County, New York
Westchester County is located in the U.S. state of New York. It is the seventh most populous county in the State of New York and the most populous north of New York City. According to the 2020 United States Census, the county had a population o ...
and
Newark, New Jersey
Newark ( , ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County and the second largest city within the New York metropolitan area.
Sally Priesand
Sally Jane Priesand (born June 27, 1946) is America's first female rabbi Semikha, ordained by a rabbinical seminary, and the second formally ordained female rabbi in Jewish history, after Regina Jonas. Priesand was ordained by the Hebrew Union Co ...
. A portion of his papers (1920-1981) can be found in The Rabbi Edward Klein Memorial Library at Stephen Wise Free Synagogue.
Rabbi Sally Priesand
Rabbi
Sally Priesand
Sally Jane Priesand (born June 27, 1946) is America's first female rabbi Semikha, ordained by a rabbinical seminary, and the second formally ordained female rabbi in Jewish history, after Regina Jonas. Priesand was ordained by the Hebrew Union Co ...
, America’s first ordained female rabbi, began serving in 1972, the same year she was ordained. Her attention to the congregation extended far beyond her speeches. She was very active in the Hebrew School and paid attention to how she would be shaping a new generation of youth while Assistant, and eventually Associate Rabbi. When Rabbi Klein had a stroke in 1978, she led this house through his return to the pulpit in his wheelchair on September 30, 1978. She left the following year when larger politics prevented her from leading the congregation herself. Rabbi Brickner soon arrived from Washington, DC.
Rabbi Balfour Brickner
Rabbi
Balfour Brickner
Balfour Brickner (November 18, 1926 – August 29, 2005), a leading rabbi in the Reform Judaism movement, was rabbi emeritus of the Stephen Wise Free Synagogue in Manhattan when he died.
Brickner was a longtime political activist who was invol ...
led the congregation from 1980 to 1992. During his leadership Brickner used the pulpit to speak out against US policies in Central America and with the South African Apartheid regime, and spoke out for the rights of Palestinians. He brought a more participatory service and made himself more accessible to members of the congregation.
Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch
Rabbi
Ammiel Hirsch
Ammiel Hirsch ( he, עמיאל הירש, also spelled Amiel Hirsch) (born 1959) is a Reform Jewish rabbi and is an attorney admitted to practice in New York. He is the senior rabbi of Stephen Wise Free Synagogue and former executive director of th ...
, former Executive Director of the
Association of Reform Zionists of America
The Association of Reform Zionists of America (ARZA) is the Zionist organization of the Reform movement in the United States. It was founded in 1978.
History
ARZA was founded in 1978 after a resolution at the 1977 UAHC 54th General Assembly bien ...
The synagogue created the Westchester Hills Cemetery of the Free Synagogue in
Hastings-on-Hudson, New York
Hastings-on-Hudson is a village in Westchester County located in the southwestern part of the town of Greenburgh in the state of New York, United States. It is located on the eastern bank of the Hudson River, approximately north of midtown Manha ...
in 1919 when it acquired the northern portion of the non–sectarian Mount Hope Cemetery, which had been created in the 19th century. There are some 1,500 individual grave sites, a Community Mausoleum with 138 crypts, and other mausoleums for individuals and families.Cemetery Stephen Wise Free Synagogue. Accessed October 18, 2008.
Westchester Hills is the interment site of
John Garfield
John Garfield (born Jacob Julius Garfinkle, March 4, 1913 – May 21, 1952) was an American actor who played brooding, rebellious, working-class characters. He grew up in poverty in New York City. In the early 1930s, he became a member of ...
,
George Gershwin
George Gershwin (; born Jacob Gershwine; September 26, 1898 – July 11, 1937) was an American composer and pianist whose compositions spanned popular, jazz and classical genres. Among his best-known works are the orchestral compositions ' ...
,
Ira Gershwin
Ira Gershwin (born Israel Gershovitz; December 6, 1896 – August 17, 1983) was an American lyricist who collaborated with his younger brother, composer George Gershwin, to create some of the most memorable songs in the English language of the 2 ...
,
Judy Holliday
Judy Holliday (born Judith Tuvim, June 21, 1921 – June 7, 1965) was an American actress, comedian and singer.Obituary ''Variety'', June 9, 1965, p. 71.
She began her career as part of a nightclub act before working in Broadway plays and music ...
,
Billy Rose
Billy Rose (born William Samuel Rosenberg; September 6, 1899 – February 10, 1966) was an American impresario, theatrical showman and lyricist. For years both before and after World War II, Billy Rose was a major force in entertainment, with sh ...
David Susskind
David Howard Susskind (December 19, 1920 – February 22, 1987) was an American producer of TV, movies, and stage plays and also a TV talk show host. His talk shows were innovative in the genre and addressed timely, controversial topics beyond th ...
, Rabbi Stephen S. Wise and of members of the Barricini, Guggenheim, Tisch, and Millstein families.
Reform Jewish
Reform Judaism, also known as Liberal Judaism or Progressive Judaism, is a major Jewish denomination that emphasizes the evolving nature of Judaism, the superiority of its ethical aspects to its ceremonial ones, and belief in a continuous searc ...
congregation in Queens, which was founded as a "free synagogue" branch