1845–1926 The congregation was founded by 33 mainly
German Jews who assembled for services in April 1845 in a rented hall near
Grand and
Clinton Streets in
Manhattan's
Lower East Side. The first services they held were highly traditional. The Temple (as it became known) moved several times as the congregation grew larger and wealthier. In October 1847, the congregation moved to a former Methodist church at 56
Chrystie Street. The congregation commissioned architect
Leopold Eidlitz to draw up plans for the renovation of the church into a synagogue. Radical departures from
Orthodox religious practice were soon introduced to Temple Emanu-El, setting precedents that proclaimed the principles of "classical"
Reform Judaism in
America. In 1848, the
German vernacular spoken by the congregants replaced the traditional
liturgical language of
Hebrew in prayer books. Instrumental music, formerly banished from synagogues, was first played during services in 1849 when an organ was installed. In 1853, the tradition of calling congregants for
aliyot was abolished (but retained for
bar mitzvah ceremonies), leaving the
reading of the Torah exclusively to the presiding rabbi. By 1869 the Chrystie Street building became the home of Congregation Beth Israel Bikur Cholim. Further changes were made in 1854 when Temple Emanu-El moved to
12th Street. Most controversially, mixed seating was adopted, allowing families to sit together, instead of segregating the sexes on opposite sides of a
mechitza. After much heated debate, the congregation also resolved to observe
Rosh Hashanah for only one day rather than the customary two. In 1857, after the death of founding Rabbi
Leo Merzbacher, German speakers still formed a majority of the congregation and appointed another German Jew,
Samuel Adler, to be his successor. In 1868, Emanu-El erected
a new building for the first time, a
Moorish Revival structure by Leopold Eidlitz, assisted by
Henry Fernbach at
43rd Street and 5th Avenue after raising about $650,000. The congregation hired its first English-speaking rabbi,
Gustav Gottheil, in 1873, from
Manchester,
England. In 1888,
Joseph Silverman became the first
American-born rabbi to officiate at the Temple. He was a member of the second class to graduate from
Hebrew Union College. The 1870s and 1880s witnessed further departures from traditional ritual. Men could now pray without wearing
kippot to cover their heads. Bar mitzvah ceremonies were no longer held. The
Union Prayer Book was adopted in 1895.
Felix Adler, the founder of the
Ethical Culture movement, came to New York as a child when his father, Samuel L. Adler, took over as the rabbi of Temple Emanu-El, an appointment that placed him among the most influential figures in Reform Judaism. In 1924,
Lazare Saminsky became music director of the Temple, and made it a center of Jewish music. He also composed and commissioned music for the Temple services.
1926–present congregation (
synagogue pictured) at 76th Street merged in 1927 with Congregation Emanu-El. In January 1926, the 1868 synagogue building was sold for $6,500,000 to the developer
Benjamin Winter Sr., who sold it to
Joseph Durst in December 1926 for $7,000,000. In 1927, Durst demolished the building to make room for commercial development. Emanu-El merged with New York's Temple Beth-El on April 11, 1927; they are considered co-equal parents of the current Emanu-El. The new synagogue was built in 1928 to 1930. By the 1930s, Emanu-El began to absorb large numbers of Jews whose families had arrived in poverty from
Eastern Europe and brought with them their
Yiddish language and devoutly
Orthodox religious heritage. In contrast, Emanu-El was dominated by affluent German-speaking Jews whose liberal approaches to Judaism originated in
Western Europe, where civic emancipation had enticed Jews to discard many of their ethnoreligious customs and embrace the lifestyles of their neighbors. For the descendants of Eastern European immigrants, joining Temple Emanu-El often signified their upward mobility and progress in
assimilating into American society. However, the intake of these new congregants also helped to slow or halt, if not force, a limited retreat from, the 'rejectionist' attitude which "classical" Reform had espoused towards traditional ritual. From 1934 to 1947, Dr.
Samuel H. Goldenson (1878–1962) was the senior rabbi of Temple Emanu-El. He was president of the
Central Conference of American Rabbis from 1933 to 1935. In 1973,
David M. Posner joined the rabbinical staff. Known for his active involvement in the community, he served as the congregation's Senior Emeritus rabbi after his retirement. == Synagogues of Congregation Emanu-El ==