Congregation Emanu-El of

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

is one of the three oldest Jewish congregations in California, and one of the largest Jewish congregations in the United States. A member of the

Union for Reform Judaism The Union for Reform Judaism (URJ), formerly 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 establ ...

, Congregation Emanu-El is a significant gathering place for the Bay Area Jewish community.

History

During the Gold Rush in 1849, a small group of Jews held the first

High Holy Days In Judaism, the High Holy Days, also known as High Holidays or Days of Awe (Yamim Noraim; , ''Yāmīm Nōrāʾīm'') consist of: #strictly, the holidays of Rosh Hashanah ("Jewish New Year") and Yom Kippur ("Day of Atonement"); #by extension, th ...

services in a tent in San Francisco; it was the first Jewish service on the

West Coast of the United States The West Coast of the United States, also known as the Pacific Coast and the Western Seaboard, is the coastline along which the Western United States meets the North Pacific Ocean. The term typically refers to the Contiguous United States, contig ...

. This group of traders and merchants founded Congregation Emanu-El sometime in 1850, and its charter was issued in April, 1851. The 16 signatories were mostly

German Jews The history of the Jews in Germany goes back at least to the year 321 CE, and continued through the Early Middle Ages (5th to 10th centuries CE) and High Middle Ages (c. 1000–1299 CE) when Jewish immigrants founded the Ashkenazi Jewish commu ...

from

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

. In 1860, Reform rabbi Elkan Cohn joined the Emanu-El congregation; in 1877, he led the congregation as the first in the West to join the

Reform Movement Reformism is a type of social movement that aims to bring a social system, social or also a political system closer to the community's ideal. A reform movement is distinguished from more Radicalism (politics), radical social movements such as re ...

. As the Reform Movement in Judaism spread in the United States during the early twentieth century, the synagogue became affiliated with this framework. In 1884

Julie Rosewald Julie Eichberg Rosewald (March 7, 1847 – July 16, 1906) was an American opera singer. She is considered the first female cantor in the United States, serving San Francisco's Temple Emanu-El from 1884 until 1893. Early life and education Julie ...

became America's first female

cantor A cantor or chanter is a person who leads people in singing or sometimes in prayer. Cantor as a profession generally refers to those leading a Jewish congregation, although it also applies to the lead singer or choir director in Christian contexts. ...

when she began serving in Emanu-El, although she was not ordained. She served as a cantor there until 1893. Among its major programs today, the synagogue includes worship, youth and adult education programs, and also a major emphasis on social justice.

Clergy

Notable members

Notes

References

Pews at Temple Emmanuel in San Francisco

External links