Temple Beth-El, formerly known as the Broad Street Synagogue, is a historic

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 ...

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 ...

at 688 Broad Street in

Providence, Rhode Island Providence is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. One of the oldest cities in New England, it was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a Reformed Baptist theologian and religious exile from the Massachusetts Bay ...

, United States.

History

The congregation was founded in 1849 when an

Orthodox Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to: Religion * Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pa ...

group known as the "Sons of Israel" gathered for daily services in Providence. In 1877, the congregation affiliated itself with the Union of American Hebrew Congregations (later becoming the

Union for Reform Judaism The Union for Reform Judaism (URJ), known as the Union of American Hebrew Congregations (UAHC) until 2003, founded in 1873 by Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise, is the congregational arm of Reform Judaism in North America. The other two arms established ...

), the national

Reform Judaism 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 ...

denomination. While

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had a well-established

Sephardi Jewish Sephardic (or Sephardi) Jews (, ; lad, Djudíos Sefardíes), also ''Sepharadim'' , Modern Hebrew: ''Sfaradim'', Tiberian: Səp̄āraddîm, also , ''Ye'hude Sepharad'', lit. "The Jews of Spain", es, Judíos sefardíes (or ), pt, Judeus sefa ...

community since the 17th century, few Sephardi Jews lived in Providence. The Jews of Providence who founded Temple Beth-El were predominantly

Ashkenazi Jews Ashkenazi Jews ( ; he, יְהוּדֵי אַשְׁכְּנַז, translit=Yehudei Ashkenaz, ; yi, אַשכּנזישע ייִדן, Ashkenazishe Yidn), also known as Ashkenazic Jews or ''Ashkenazim'',, Ashkenazi Hebrew pronunciation: , singu ...

from German-speaking areas. The majority of the early congregants were immigrants from

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

the Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

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, and

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

. The building was built in 1910-1911 and was the home of Sons of Israel (becoming known as "Temple Beth-El") until 1954. In 1954, Temple Beth-El moved to a new building on the East Side of Providence, with the old building serving as home to the Shaare Zedek congregation. In 2006, Shaare Zedek merged with Beth Shalom, and the Broad Street building was left vacant. Due in part to the housing crash of 2008, Beth Shalom was unable to sell the building, and it became neglected and vandalized. In 2014, a developer purchased the building and the nonprofit Friends of Broad Street Synagogue was organized to turn the building into a community center.

The Building

The current building, a Classical Revival brick structure, was designed by Banning & Thornton and built in 1910–11. Architect

Ira Rakatansky Ira Rakatansky (October 3, 1919 – March 4, 2014) was a modernist architect from, and based in, Rhode Island. He studied modern architecture under Walter Gropius and Marcel Breuer at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. Life and work Ira ...

designed renovations to the building in 1955. An iron fence was added to separate the synagogue from Broad Street in 1984. The building was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1988. The old building, vacant since 2006, suffered severe vandalism and water damage. It has been named one of Providence's "Most Endangered Buildings" by the Providence Preservation Society eight times.

References

External links

History

The Building

See also

References

External links