Synagogue Forsyth Street Atlanta Illustrated 1881

The Temple (formally, the Hebrew Benevolent Congregation) 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 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 wor ...

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the capital city, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georgia, Fulton County, the mos ...

. The oldest Jewish congregation in Atlanta, it was established in 1860 to serve the needs of German-Jewish immigrants. The Temple, designed by Philip Trammell Shutze in a Neoclassical style, was completed in 1931. Previous temples of the congregation were located at: *1875–1902: Garnett and Forsyth Streets, downtown *1902–1929: South Pryor and Richardson Streets, Washington-Rawson neighborhood southeast of downtown During the 1950s and 1960s, The Temple became a center for civil rights advocacy. In response, white supremacists bombed The Temple on October 12, 1958, with no injuries. While arrests were made, there were no convictions. ''

Atlanta Journal-Constitution ''The Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' is the only major daily newspaper in the metropolitan area of Atlanta, Georgia. It is the flagship publication of Cox Enterprises. The ''Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' is the result of the merger between ...

'' editor Ralph McGill's outraged front-page column on the Temple bombing won a

Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing The Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing is one of the fourteen American Pulitzer Prizes that are annually awarded for Journalism. It has been awarded since 1917 for distinguished editorial writing, the test of excellence being clearness of styl ...

. The Temple and the bombing event was used as a central theme in the film ''

Driving Miss Daisy '' Driving Miss Daisy'' is a 1989 American comedy-drama film directed by Bruce Beresford and written by Alfred Uhry, based on his 1987 play of the same name. The film stars Jessica Tandy, Morgan Freeman, and Dan Aykroyd. Freeman reprised his r ...

'' (1989).

Organ

The Shutze temple opened in 1931 with a new Pilcher organ. In 1955, temple organist Emilie Spivey contracted Aeolian-Skinner to update and renovate the organ. The renovated organ, one of twelve in the country bearing G. Donald Harrison's signature plate, was dedicated October 14, 1955 with a performance of Ernest Bloch's ''Sacred Service''. On Oct 30, 1955 Spivey played the opening recital of Mozart, Bloch, and Poulenc's organ concerto. The organ underwent a major renovation in 2011-2012.

References

External links

Synagogue websiteThe Temple
at Atlanta Urban Design Commission

National Park Service Atlanta Jews and Judaism in Atlanta Synagogues in Georgia (U.S. state) Reform synagogues in Georgia (U.S. state) Buildings and structures in Atlanta Religion in Atlanta German-American culture in Georgia (U.S. state) German-Jewish culture in the United States National Register of Historic Places in Atlanta Synagogues on the National Register of Historic Places in Georgia (U.S. state) Synagogues completed in 1931 1931 establishments in Georgia (U.S. state) Neoclassical architecture in Georgia (U.S. state) Neoclassical synagogues 20th-century attacks on synagogues and Jewish communal organizations in the United States {{US-synagogue-stub