Affiliation Jewish Opened 1796 | Status Active Phone +1 215-922-1776 | |
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Location 412-418 Lombard StreetPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania Year consecrated First Independent Church of Christ, 1796Kesher Israel, 1897 Leadership Seth Frisch (Rabbi)Adam Gilbert (Cantor) Address 412 Lombard St, Philadelphia, PA 19147, USA Similar Historic Congregation B'nai Abr, Society Hill Synagogue, Congregation Mikveh Israel, Kesher Israel, Congregation Rodeph Shalom Profiles | ||
Congregation Kesher Israel is a synagogue located in the Society Hill section of Center City Philadelphia. The synagogue is home to an active congregation with Shabbat and holy day services, a Hebrew school, adult education, and community programming. It is affiliated with the Conservative movement.
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History
The current building was constructed in 1796 for the first Independent Church of Christ. The original building extended 80 feet along Lombard Street and was 50 feet deep. There were originally five arched openings along Lombard Street. A passageway led from Lombard Street to a graveyard at the rear.
The building was purchased and converted to a synagogue in 1889. As a condition of the sale, the graves were moved from the cemetery and reinterred at Fernwood Cemetery. In the fall of 1897, one of the first large Zionist meetings in the United States was held at Kesher Israel after Theodor Herzl convened the First Zionist Congress in Basle Switzerland. Kesher Israel became a central meeting hall for early Zionists in Philadelphia.
First Independent Church of Christ
Joseph Priestley is credited with inspiring the creation in 1796 of the first Unitarian Society of Philadelphia. He would come occasionally to preach at the Church.
Joseph Smith, during a visit to Philadelphia, preached at the Universalist Church in December 1839.
The church had vacated the building at 412 Lombard Street by 1887.
Kesher Israel history
Bnai Jacob, founded in 1883, and Rodephe Tzedek, founded in 1887, merged in 1894 to form congregation Kesher Israel. Henry Morias updated his history of the Jews of Philadelphia to include the creation of Kesher Israel that year:
"Bene Ya'acob" Congregation and Chebrah Rodephe Tsedek, Anshe Szager ... united during August, 1894-5654, and substituted, for their respective names, "Kesher 'Israel" (The Bond of Israel). A Congregational charter has been obtained, and the worship will continue at the Synagogue of the former Congregation, on the south side of Lombard Street, west of Fourth Street. The building will be enlarged and altered...
On January 24, 1897, the congregation dedicated its new synagogue building. Capacity was listed as 1,400.
In 1998, congregant Michael Yaron donated $2.0 million to the synagogue which enabled Kesher Israel to renovate its sanctuary and building. The congregation began the renovations in January 1998, and in September 1998 celebrated the completion of the project.
Harry Boonin chronicled the history of the synagogue and published the book The Life and Times of Congregation Kesher Israel in 2007.