, image = 20191229ADATHISRAEL_MERION_Exterior.jpg , image_upright = 1.4 , caption = Temple Adath Israel, in 2019 , map_type = Pennsylvania , map_size = 250 , map_relief = 1 , map_caption = Location in

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

, location = 250 N Highland Ave, Merion Station,

19066 , country = United States , geo = , religious_affiliation =

Conservative Judaism Conservative Judaism, known as Masorti Judaism outside North America, is a Jewish religious movement which regards the authority of ''halakha'' (Jewish law) and traditions as coming primarily from its people and community through the generatio ...

, administration =

United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism The United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism (USCJ) is the major congregational organization of Conservative Judaism in North America, and the largest Conservative Jewish communal body in the world. USCJ closely works with the Rabbinical Assembly, ...

, rite = , region = , province = , territory = , prefecture = , sector = , district = , cercle = , municipality = , consecration_year = , status =

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 ...

, functional_status = Active , heritage_designation = , leadership = , website = , architecture = , architect = , architecture_type = Synagogue , architecture_style =

Modernist Modernism is both a philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new forms of art, philosophy, an ...

, general_contractor = Wohlsen (2014) , facade_direction = , established = 1946 , groundbreaking = , year_completed = , construction_cost = $750,000 (1958) , specifications = , capacity = 1,400 , length = , width = , width_nave = , height_max = , dome_quantity = , dome_height_outer = , dome_height_inner = , dome_dia_outer = , dome_dia_inner = , minaret_quantity = , minaret_height = , spire_quantity = , spire_height = , materials = , nrhp = , added = , refnum = , designated = Temple Adath Israel of the Main Line ( he, עדת ישראל) is a

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

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 in Merion,

, in the United States. The synagogue offers religious services, pre-school, Hebrew Sunday school, adult education, and community programming. It was founded in 1946 and moved to its current location in 1953. The congregation serves approximately 800 families. Rabbi Eric Yanoff has served as senior rabbi since 2010.

Main Line Hebrew Association

Adath Israel traces its history to March 1936 when ten local businessmen founded the Main Line Hebrew Association, the Main Line's first Jewish congregation. The group represented 30 families and together pooled $600 in cash. Its mission was to "worship Alimighty God according to the doctrines, creed and customs of the Hebraic faith."

Founding and building

Temple Adath Israel was chartered in 1946 and held its first congregational meeting on September 29, 1946 at 515 Lancaster Avenue in Haverford where it also held its first services. Rabbi Martin Berkowitz came to the synagogue in 1947 and membership exceeded 400 families by 1949. The congregation rented space in the Ardmore YMCA building, the Ardmore Women's Club building, and in rooms on the campuses of Haverford College and Bryn Mawr College. The congregation purchased a large house at 410 Montgomery Avenue in Wynnewood which it renovated for services. Adath Israel continued to grow and the congregation purchased at Old Lancaster Road and Highland Avenue in Merion in 1953 on the former site of Rose Hill, the estate owned by

Charles Elmer Hires Charles Elmer Hires (August 19, 1851 – July 31, 1937) was an American pharmacist and an early promoter of commercially prepared root beer. He founded the Charles E. Hires Co., which manufactured and distributed Hires Root Beer. Biography Early ...

. Solicitor General of the United States

Simon Sobeloff Simon Ernest Sobeloff (December 3, 1894 – July 11, 1973) was an American attorney and jurist, who served as Solicitor General of the United States, as Chief Judge of the Court of Appeals of Maryland, and as a United States circuit judge of the ...

presided over the laying of the building's cornerstone on June 13, 1954 and Rabbi Theodore Gordon of Main Line Reform Temple delivered the invocation. The congregation constructed and opened its Ralph Bodek Chapel, 900-seat Meyers Girsh Auditorium and 23-classroom educational building in time for the High Holidays that year. The congregation retained architects

Pietro Belluschi Pietro Belluschi (August 18, 1899 – February 14, 1994) was an Italian-American architect. A leading figure in modern architecture Modern architecture, or modernist architecture, was an architectural movement or architectural style based up ...

and Charles Frederick Wise who designed the new sanctuary in 1956 and 1957. The synagogue laid the cornerstone for the sanctuary on November 23, 1958. Philadelphia mayor Richard Dilworth spoke at the ceremony, and was joined by former Senator

Herbert H. Lehman Herbert Henry Lehman (March 28, 1878 – December 5, 1963) was an American Democratic Party politician from New York. He served from 1933 until 1942 as the 45th governor of New York and represented New York State in the U.S. Senate from 194 ...

and Governor

Theodore McKeldin Theodore Roosevelt McKeldin (November 20, 1900August 10, 1974) was an American politician. He was a member of the Republican Party, served as mayor of Baltimore twice, from 1943 to 1947 and again from 1963 to 1967. McKeldin was the 53rd Govern ...

of Maryland. The new George Friedland sanctuary sat 1400 and was dedicated on September 11, 1959, along with the Charles Tabas Auditorium and six additional classrooms. The sanctuary features a rooftop cupola and a 12-sided structure as the centerpiece and symbolizes the 12 tribes of Israel that rises 36-feet above the sanctuary. Main Line Reform Temple Beit Elohim was founded in 1952 by young couples as the area's first Reform congregation. The congregation held Sunday School and Sabbath services at the Haverford Friends School on Buck Lane. When Adath Israel moved from 410 Montgomery Avenue to Merion in 1954, Main Line Reform purchased the property from Adath Israel and used the building for its own services. Main Line Reform constructed its current sanctuary and classroom buildings at the Montgomery Avenue site in 1960. During construction, Adath Israel welcomed Main Line Reform which shared Adath Israel's building for its own services, community events, and Hebrew school.

History

Adath Israel had grown to 900 families with a real estate value of $2,000,000 in 1965. On November 9, 1981, a fire ravaged

Dropsie College for Hebrew and Cognate Learning Dropsie College for Hebrew and Cognate Learning or Dropsie University, at 2321–2335 N Broad St., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was America's first degree-granting institution for post-doctoral Jewish studies. Funded by the will of Moses Aaron D ...

's building at Broad and York Streets in Philadelphia. In December 1983, Adath Israel welcomed the school which moved into its education building rent-free. In the early 1990s,

Akiba Hebrew Academy Jack M. Barrack Hebrew Academy is a coeducational college-preparatory and religiously pluralistic Jewish day school for grades 6 through 12, located in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. Founded in Center City, Philadelphia in 1946 as Akiba Hebrew Acad ...

relocated its Middle School across N Highland Avenue to the Adath Israel school building for two years. The synagogue has long welcomed prominent leaders to address its congregation. Former prime minister of Israel

Shimon Peres Shimon Peres (; he, שמעון פרס ; born Szymon Perski; 2 August 1923 – 28 September 2016) was an Israeli politician who served as the eighth prime minister of Israel from 1984 to 1986 and from 1995 to 1996 and as the ninth president of ...

spoke at the synagogue on May 3, 1997. Congregation Beth T'fillah of

Overbrook Park Overbrook Park is a neighborhood in the West Philadelphia section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It was founded in the 1940s on the site of a former farm known as Supio's farm, offering new housing for returning GIs and their famil ...

merged with Adath Israel in 2006. Suburban Jewish Community Center-Bnai Aaron in

Havertown Havertown is a residential suburban unincorporated community in Haverford Township, Delaware County, Pennsylvania. It is located approximately 9 miles west of the center of Philadelphia. Havertown's ZIP Code is 19083 and "Havertown" is a posta ...

closed in 2010 and merged with Adath Israel. Adath Israel undertook a renovation of its building in 2014. AOS Architects redesigned the sanctuary with a new ark, moveable bimah, and incorporated new lighting and audio.

Leadership

Martin Berkowitz served as senior rabbi at the synagogue from 1947 through 1981. He was succeeded by Rabbi Fred Kazan. Rabbi Steven Wernick followed and held the position from 2002 until 2009 when he was appointed Executive Vice President/CEO of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism's

Rabbinical Assembly The Rabbinical Assembly (RA) is the international association of Conservative rabbis. The RA was founded in 1901 to shape the ideology, programs, and practices of the Conservative movement. It publishes prayerbooks and books of Jewish interest, an ...

. Eric Yanoff has served as senior rabbi at Adath Israel since 2010. Bernard Lowe served as cantor from 1992 until his retirement in 2017. Ariella Rosen served as one of the congregation's rabbis from 2015 until 2018. Rabbi Andrew Markowitz came to Adath Israel in 2018 and currently serves as one of the congregation's rabbis. Elizabeth Shammash has served as Cantor since 2020.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Adath Israel of the Main Line 20th-century synagogues in the United States Conservative synagogues in Pennsylvania Jewish organizations established in 1946 Lower Merion Township, Pennsylvania Modernist architecture in Pennsylvania Religious buildings and structures in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania 1946 establishments in Pennsylvania Modernist synagogues Synagogues completed in 1959 Synagogues completed in 1954