The Temple of Israel 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 ...

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

ish

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 on the corner of Fourth and Market Streets in Wilmington,

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

, in the United States. Built in 1876, the Temple of Israel is the oldest synagogue in North Carolina and one of the earliest Reform synagogues in the

American South The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, Dixieland, or simply the South) is census regions United States Census Bureau. It is between the Atlantic Ocean and the ...

. Temple of Israel is led by

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 ...

Emily Losben-Ostrov.

History

Sephardic Jews 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 ...

first arrived in North Carolina during the early 18th century. By 1852, a Jewish Burial Society was formed in Wilmington with a Hebrew cemetery opening in 1855. An

Orthodox Jewish Orthodox Judaism is a collective term for the traditionalist branches of contemporary Judaism. Theologically, it is chiefly defined by regarding the Torah, both Written and Oral, as literally revealed by God on Mount Sinai and faithfully tra ...

congregation was formed in 1867, but did not succeed. In 1872, a Reform congregation was started by

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 ...

and their synagogue, the Temple of Israel, was dedicated on May 12, 1876.

Architecture

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, ...

and

Moorish Revival Moorish Revival or Neo-Moorish is one of the exotic revival architectural styles that were adopted by architects of Europe and the Americas in the wake of Romanticism, Romanticist Orientalism. It reached the height of its popularity after the mi ...

styles. The Moorish architecture is unique in the city of Wilmington, but was common during late 19th century for many American synagogues. The synagogue features

horseshoe arch The horseshoe arch (; ), also called the Moorish arch and the keyhole arch, is a type of arch in which the circular curve is continued below the horizontal line of its diameter, so that the opening at the bottom of the arch is narrower than the ar ...

es and twin towers topped with golden

onion domes An onion dome is a dome whose shape resembles an onion. Such domes are often larger in diameter than the tholobate (drum) upon which they sit, and their height usually exceeds their width. They taper smoothly upwards to a point. It is a typical ...

. The building's exterior was restored in 1982, 2000 and 2013. It is a contributing building in the

Wilmington Historic District The Wilmington Historic District is a national Historic district (United States), historic district located at Wilmington, North Carolina, Wilmington, New Hanover County, North Carolina. The district encompasses 875 contributing buildings 38 c ...

Notable members

Arthur Bluethenthal Arthur Bluethenthal, nicknamed "Bluey" (November 1, 1891 – June 5, 1918), was an All-American football player for Princeton University, who died in combat fighting for France in World War I. Early life The son of Leopold and Johanna Bluethenth ...

(1891–1918),

Princeton Princeton University is a private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the Unit ...

All American football player and World War I pilot

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Israel (Wilmington, North Carolina) 1872 establishments in North Carolina Buildings and structures in Wilmington, North Carolina German-American culture in North Carolina German-Jewish culture in the United States Gothic Revival architecture in North Carolina Gothic Revival synagogues Greek Revival architecture in North Carolina Greek Revival synagogues Reform synagogues in North Carolina Synagogues completed in 1876 Jewish organizations established in 1872 Moorish Revival architecture in North Carolina Moorish Revival synagogues 19th-century synagogues in the United States Samuel Sloan buildings