Congregation Shearith Israel

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Congregation Shearith Israel, often called The Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue, is the oldest Jewish congregation in the United States.^[1] Located on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, the Orthodox synagogue was founded in 1655.

Contents 1 Foundations and Synagogue Buildings 2 Clergy 2.1 Ministers 2.2 Hazanim 3 Prominent members 4 See also 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Foundations and Synagogue Buildings

The first group of Spanish and Portuguese Jews arrived in New York (New Amsterdam) in September 1654. After some legal troubles with Governor Peter Stuyvesant, Jews were given official permission to settle in the colony in 1655. This marks the founding of the Congregation Shearith Israel. Despite their permission to stay in New Amsterdam they continued to face legal troubles and were not given permission to worship in a public synagogue during for some time (throughout the Dutch period and even into the British). The Congregation did, however, make arrangements for a cemetery beginning in 1656. It was not until 1730 that the Congregation was able to build a synagogue of its own, which was built on Mill Street in lower Manhattan. Prior to 1730, as is evidenced from a map of New York from 1695, the congregation worshipped in rented quarters on Beaver Street and subsequently on Mill Street. Since 1730 the Congregation has worshipped in five synagogues:

• Mill Street, 1730
• Mill Street re-built and expanded, 1818
• Crosby Street, 1834
• 19th Street, 1860
• West 70th Street, 1897 (present building.)

[edit] Clergy

[edit] Ministers

• Gershom Mendes Seixas - The Hazzan of the Congregation and an ardent American patriot who moved the Congregation to Philadelphia during the Revolutionary War.
• Jaques Judah Lyons
• Henry Pereira Mendes
• David de Sola Pool
• Marc D. Angel
• Hayyim Angel

[edit] Hazanim

• Abraham Lopes Cardozo

[edit] Prominent members

Some prominent members of the Congregation have been:

• Mordecai Manuel Noah -
• Benjamin Cardozo - Justice of the United States Supreme Court.
• Emma Lazarus - Poet
• Commodore Uriah P. Levy
• Isaac Pinto

[edit] See also

• Jewish history in Colonial America
• Touro Synagogue (Newport, Rhode Island), the oldest synagogue building in the U.S. is owned by Congregation Shearith Israel

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Official Site