Congregation Sha'arai Shomayim (

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from

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

as "Gates of Heaven"), is a

Reform Reform refers to the improvement or amendment of what is wrong, corrupt, unsatisfactory, etc. The modern usage of the word emerged in the late 18th century and is believed to have originated from Christopher Wyvill's Association movement, which ...

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 ...

congregation and

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 ...

, located at 1769 Springhill Avenue, in Mobile,

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, in the United States. Organized in 1844, it is the oldest Jewish congregation in Alabama, and one of the oldest in the United States. The current synagogue for the congregation is the Springhill Avenue Temple. The congregation is a founding member of the Reform Union of American Hebrew Congregations, established in 1873.

History

The first permanent Jewish presence in Mobile can be documented from 1763. Most of these early Jews were merchants and traders, having moved to Mobile after the

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lost their

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possessions to

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in the Treaty of Paris. Jews were not allowed to officially reside in colonial French Louisiana due to the infamous

Code Noir The (, ''Black code'') was a decree passed by King Louis XIV, Louis XIV of France in 1685 defining the conditions of Slavery in France, slavery in the French colonial empire and served as the code for slavery conduct in the French colonies ...

, a decree passed by France's King

Louis XIV LouisXIV (Louis-Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was King of France from 1643 until his death in 1715. His verified reign of 72 years and 110 days is the List of longest-reign ...

in 1685. It is known that the code was rarely enforced in the colony, but there is no documentation of Jews residing in Mobile at that time. The first prominent Jewish citizens of Mobile were George Davis, an

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from

Tuscaloosa, Alabama Tuscaloosa ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Tuscaloosa County, Alabama, Tuscaloosa County in west-central Alabama, United States, on the Black Warrior River where the Gulf Coastal Plain, Gulf Coastal and Piedmont (United States), Piedm ...

; Dr. Solomon Mordecai from

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; and Philip Phillips, an attorney from

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. Phillips was later elected to the

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and then to the

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. By the time of Phillips election to Congress in 1853, over fifty Jewish families were living in Mobile. Although no records survive that document the spiritual activities of Mobile's earliest Jewish citizens, on June 22, 1841 Congregation Sha'arai Shomayim purchased plots in the city's Magnolia Cemetery. Despite the earlier purchase of burial plots, the congregation did not become officially organized until January 25, 1844 when a constitution and bylaws were registered with the Mobile County Probate Court. The constitution was signed by Israel Jones, president; David Solomon, vice-president; L.H. Goldsmith, treasurer; and D. Unger, B.L. Tim, and Roshon as trustees. The congregation's full name in the document is listed as Sha’arai Shomayim U - Maskil El Dol or Gates of Heaven and Society of Friends of the Needy. At the time of organization, the congregation had over fifty contributing members. They then began planning the erection of a place of worship.

Early synagogues

During 1844 and 1845, Congregation Sha'arai Shomayim held services on Friday evenings and ''

Shabbat Shabbat (, , or ; , , ) or the Sabbath (), also called Shabbos (, ) by Ashkenazi Hebrew, Ashkenazim, is Judaism's day of rest on the seventh day of the seven-day week, week—i.e., Friday prayer, Friday–Saturday. On this day, religious Jews ...

'' morning in private homes. On March 13, 1846, the congregation appointed its first

rabbi A rabbi (; ) is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi—known as ''semikha''—following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of t ...

, Benjamin da Silva. On December 27, 1846, they dedicated their first temple, the Emanuel Street synagogue, located between Government and Church Streets. The first marriage ceremony was performed there on July 25, 1847. In late 1848, Benjamin da Silva moved to

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and Baruch M. Emanuel was appointed to lead the congregation. By 1850, the need for a new house of worship was apparent and the congregation purchased the old Musical Association Hall, a building that could accommodate 300 worshipers. The congregation had outgrown the Musical Association Hall almost as soon as they moved into it. On March 11, 1853 they dedicated their Jackson Street synagogue; built as a Unitarian church in 1846. Baruch Emanuel gave up leading the congregation in early 1853, before services had been held in the new building. Julius Eckman was appointed as the new rabbi but quickly fell into disfavor. He was succeeded by Dr. Isaac Schatz. The congregation suffered a catastrophe on December 11, 1856 when the new synagogue burned down. A stove in the basement caught the wooden building on fire. The congregation turned to selling

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in order to rebuild on the same site. Several non-Jews contributed to the rebuilding, among them Dr. Josiah C. Nott and N. St. John. A month after the disaster the congregation published a thank you notice in the '' Mobile Daily Register'' to "our fellow citizens of Mobile" for their assistance after the fire. By the end of March 1857 the members had collected $3,555 in donations and on June 2, 1857 the congregation broke ground for a new synagogue. The new building was

stucco Stucco or render is a construction material made of aggregates, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as a decorative coating for walls and ceilings, exterior walls, and as a sculptural and ...

ed brick in the

Greek Revival Greek Revival architecture is a architectural style, style that began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe, the United States, and Canada, ...

style with Ionic columns.

The Civil War years

With the coming of the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

, Congregation Sha'arai Shomayim saw many of its members serving in the

Confederate States Army The Confederate States Army (CSA), also called the Confederate army or the Southern army, was the Military forces of the Confederate States, military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) duri ...

. Men known to have served include Moses Holberg, S. Pickard,

Adolph Proskauer Adolph Proskauer (1838 – 1900) was a Jewish officer in the army of the Confederate States of America during the United States Civil War. He rose to the rank of major. Major Adolph Proskauer of Mobile, Alabama was wounded several times. A s ...

, Joseph Proskauer, S. Rosewald, M.H. Rochotsch, L. Siegel, J. Sonnentheil, S. Stein, Nathan Strauss, and Leopold Strauss. Congregation members known to have died in the conflict include Joel Jones and Conrad Weill. The congregation created a Hebrew Military Relief Association with a mission of aiding Confederate soldiers and their families. Its initial assets were $1,416.

Cemetery

The congregation's old cemetery in a section of Magnolia Cemetery was full by the 1870s, making a new cemetery a necessity. The congregation purchased land for the new cemetery, now known as Sha'arai Shomayim Cemetery, from William and Caroline Leinkauf on March 17, 1876. They adopted a number of resolutions for governing the new cemetery and placed the lot prices at $50 per lot. The new site, near Magnolia Cemetery, was consecrated on December 3, 1876. The cemetery was laid out by Samuel Brown, the congregation's vice president. He had live oaks planted around the perimeter of the grounds, and in 1890 the ornamental cast-iron gate and fence was installed. The first burial was that of Israel Jones, on December 28, 1876. One of the most notable interments to ever take place in the cemetery was that of Esau Frohlichstein on May 14, 1914. He was one of fourteen American soldiers killed in the U.S. siege of

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during the

Mexican Revolution The Mexican Revolution () was an extended sequence of armed regional conflicts in Mexico from 20 November 1910 to 1 December 1920. It has been called "the defining event of modern Mexican history". It saw the destruction of the Federal Army, its ...

. Thousands of Mobilians took part in his burial service and his marker is inscribed with a letter that he wrote to his parents the night before the attack. In part it reads, "Don't be afraid if I get killed. For the old saying 'Rather die a hero than live a coward' will land at Vera Cruz in about four hours."

Later synagogues

Adolph S. Moses served as rabbi from 1872 to 1881. Plans for a new and larger synagogue began to take shape in the first decade of the 20th century, with the cornerstone for the new temple laid on June 6, 1906 at the corner of Government and Warren Streets. Alabama Lieutenant Governor

Russell McWhortor Cunningham Russell McWhortor Cunningham (August 25, 1855 – June 6, 1921) was an American Democratic politician who was the acting Governor of Alabama from April 25, 1904, to March 5, 1905. He was lieutenant governor when Governor William D. Jelks fell ...

was the featured speaker for the event. A building fund of $25,400 had been accumulated, but the congregation president, Jacob Pollock, estimated that $5000 more was needed to complete a structure that would "honor the Jewish population of Mobile." Construction continued and the new Government Street Temple was dedicated on June 21, 1907. The bold design was built like a fortress, with two large corner towers that framed an entrance, recessed into a deep and wide low arch. The dedication had been delayed by a week due to the organ not being completed. Eight rabbis took part in the dedication processional:

Maximilian Heller Maximilian Heller (January 31, 1860 – March 30, 1929) was a Czech-born American rabbi. Life Heller was born on January 31, 1860, in Prague, Bohemia, Austrian Empire, the son of well-to-do wool merchant Simon Heller and Mathilde Kassowitz. He ...

of New Orleans; Henry Ettleson of

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; Bernard Ehrenreich of

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; Jacob Schwarz of

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; David Marx of

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; Max Raisin of

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; Morris Newfield of

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, and Alfred Geiger Moses. The Government Street Temple served the congregation for many years, but after

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the population of Mobile was shifting westward out of downtown and the congregation found the Government Street Temple difficult to keep in good repair. After discovering that repairs would amount to more than $20,000, the building committee decided to sell the old building for not less than $100,000 and build a new structure. On July 18, 1952, the committee announced that it was buying a lot on Springhill Avenue for $40,000 and hiring architect T. Cooper Van Antwerp to design a new synagogue in the

Modernist Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...

style, with a budget of $250,000. A groundbreaking ceremony was held on February 21, 1954 for the new temple. Then, on September 2, 1955, a dedication ceremony for Springhill Avenue Temple was held with Dr. Julius Mark, Senior Rabbi of Temple Emanu-El in

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, delivering the dedication sermon. Today the congregation has continued to grow to its present size of about 250 families.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sha'arai Shomayim 1844 establishments in Alabama 20th-century synagogues in the United States Buildings and structures in Mobile, Alabama Founding members of the Union for Reform Judaism Jewish organizations established in 1844 Jews and Judaism in Mobile, Alabama Modernist architecture in Alabama Modernist synagogues Reform synagogues in Alabama Synagogues completed in 1846 Synagogues completed in 1850 Synagogues completed in 1853 Synagogues completed in 1907 Synagogues completed in 1955