Beth Israel Synagogue is a historic former

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

synagogue A synagogue, also called a shul or a temple, is a place of worship for Jews and Samaritans. It is a place for prayer (the main sanctuary and sometimes smaller chapels) where Jews attend religious services or special ceremonies such as wed ...

building at 238 Columbia Street in

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

, Middlesex County,

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

, in the United States. Built in 1903, it was the first and principal synagogue to serve the East Cambridge area, and is a fine local example of

Romanesque Revival architecture Romanesque Revival (or Neo-Romanesque) is a style of building employed beginning in the mid-19th century inspired by the 11th- and 12th-century Romanesque architecture. Unlike the historic Romanesque style, Romanesque Revival buildings tended t ...

. Now converted into residential condominiums, it was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1982.

Description

The former Beth Israel Synagogue stands in The Port neighborhood of eastern Cambridge, on the east side of Columbia Street, between Hampshire and Market Streets. It is a two-story brick building with a gabled roof and flanking square towers. Its

Romanesque Revival Romanesque Revival (or Neo-Romanesque) is a style of building employed beginning in the mid-19th century inspired by the 11th- and 12th-century Romanesque architecture. Unlike the historic Romanesque style, Romanesque Revival buildings tended t ...

styling includes bands of narrow round-arch windows and a large Syrian arch sheltering the main entrance. Brick

corbel In architecture, a corbel is a structural piece of stone, wood or metal keyed into and projecting from a wall to carry a wikt:superincumbent, bearing weight, a type of bracket (architecture), bracket. A corbel is a solid piece of material in t ...

ling adorns the eaves of the pyramidal tower roofs, and is featured in multiple bands at the base of the front gable. The building was designed by Nathan Douglass and completed in 1903.

History

The known history of Jewish worship in East Cambridge begins in 1898, with the founding of the

Sephardic Sephardic Jews, also known as Sephardi Jews or Sephardim, and rarely as Iberian Peninsular Jews, are a Jewish diaspora population associated with the historic Jewish communities of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) and their descendant ...

Congregation Anshai Sfard. It originally met in private residences. Congregation Beth Israel was founded in 1900, and construction was begun on this building in 1901. In 1906 the congregation divided over doctrinal differences, resulting in the founding of Congregation Agudath Ashkenazim. Congregation Anshai Sfard merged with Beth Israel in 1957. In 1962 Beth Israel and Agudath Ashkenazim merged to form Temple Beth Shalom of Cambridge, and the new congregation chose to use the Temple Ashkenaz building on Tremont Street in Cambridge, now widely known as the Tremont Street Shul. By 1982, the Beth Israel building, no longer used as a synagogue, was taken over by the Cambridge Redevelopment Authority, and was added to the

. The former synagogue building currently houses

condominium A condominium (or condo for short) is an ownership regime in which a building (or group of buildings) is divided into multiple units that are either each separately owned, or owned in common with exclusive rights of occupation by individual own ...

units.

Gallery

Image:Beth Israel Synagogue detail 1.jpg, Erected 1901 Image:Beth Israel Synagogue detail 2.jpg, Congregation Beth Israel

References

External links

{{National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts 1900 establishments in Massachusetts 20th-century synagogues in the United States Buildings and structures in Cambridge, Massachusetts Former synagogues in Massachusetts National Register of Historic Places in Cambridge, Massachusetts Romanesque Revival architecture in Massachusetts Romanesque Revival synagogues Sephardi Jewish culture in the United States Synagogues completed in 1903 Synagogues on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts 1962 disestablishments in Massachusetts

Description

History

Gallery

See also

References

External links