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November 28, 1825: Why Was a New Congregation Formed?

Fast Facts

  • The first Jewish people to settle in what was then New Amsterdam arrived in 1654 and founded the first synagogue in New York City, Congregation Shearith Israel. As descendents of the Spanish and Portuguese refugees who fled the inquisition, this community was Sephardic.

  • There was an influx of new Jewish immigrants to New York City from Germany and Poland during the beginning of the nineteenth century.

  • As more Ashkenazic Jews moved to New York City, they wanted a synagogue with an Ashkenazic style of davening, as opposed to Shearith Israel’s traditional Sephardic minhag.

Up until 1825, Congregation Shearith Israel (aka the Spanish and Portuguese synagogue) was the only synagogue in New York City. In the prior years, however, many of the newcomers to the city were from Germany and Poland and preferred the Ashkenazic style, or minhag, of prayer rather than the Sephardic customs of Shearith Israel. In May 1825, a group of Ashkenazic Shearith Israel congregants petitioned the synagogue’s Board of Trustees asking to hold Ashkenazi-style services at a different time and in a different space that the main Sephardic service. Unfortunately, their request was denied. Tensions mounted and after that year’s High Holy Day season, Ashkenazic members decided to move forward with starting their own separate synagogue.

On October 18, 28 men gathered in a private home and adopted a resolution for the formation of a new congregation. They reconvened on November 15 to create an official charter of incorporation which was formally recorded on November 28, 1825. The charter included the following: “And we do further certify that the said Congregation is to be known and forever hereafter called … by the name or title of ‘B’nai Yeshiorun.’”

An excerpt from the preamble of B’nai Jeshurun’s constitution and by-laws adopted on February 11, 1826 states:

WHEREAS it hath pleased the God of our forefathers to gather some His dispersed people in this city of New York who are taught and used to apply to Him for His Merciful Bounty, and to praise His Holy Name according to the rites of the German and Polish Jews

AND WHEREAS the wise and republican laws of this country are based upon universal toleration giving to every citizen and sojourner the right to worship according to the dictate of his conscience

AND WHEREAS also the mode of worship in the Established Synagogue of our Beloved Brethren Shearith Israel in this city, is not in accordance with the rites and customs of the said German and Polish Jews

THEREFORE we the undersigned bind ourselves under the name of the Congregation B’nai Jeshurun to use our best exertions to support the Synagogue in Elm Street, and to worship therein according to the rites, custom and usages of the German and Polish Jews to be the same as far as practicable without departing from the form and custom now in use by this congregation.

How did Shearith Israel members feel about this split? Some likely bemoaned the disappearance of a single Jewish institution representing the city’s Jews, but others may have been relieved or viewed it as inevitable. If the ever-increasing number of Ashkenazic immigrants to New York City were to become members of Shearith Israel, perhaps, in time, they would elect to change the minhag of the synagogue from Sephardic to Ashkenazic. They might “destroy the well known and established rules and customs of our ancestors as have been practiced in said congregation for upwards of one hundred years past.” In spite of the potential for conflict, relationships between the two synagogues were generally cordial with some remaining members of Shearith Israel even contributing to the formation of the new congregation.

Sources

  • David and Tamar De Sola Pool, An Old Faith in the New World: Portrait of Shearith Israel 1654–1954
  • Israel Goldstein, A Century of Judaism in New York: B’nai Jeshurun 1825–1925
  • Marc Angel, Remnant of Israel: A Portrait of America’s First Jewish Congregation

BJ: The First 100 Years: 1825–1925

This essay was first published in an exhibition as part of BJ’s bicentennial celebrations.

Discover moments that defined BJ’s initial century: political protests, educational innovations, impassioned membership debates, and architectural milestones.