Park Synagogue

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Park Synagogue, or Anshe Emeth Beth Tefilo, is a Conservative synagogue located in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland. It is one of the oldest congregations in Ohio. The current rabbi is Joshua Hoffer Skoff.

1 History
2 Park Synagogue today
3 References
4 External links

[edit] History

The synagogue was originally Orthodox when it was founded in 1869. The original name was Anshe Emeth Synagogue, and it was located in downtown Cleveland. By 1888, however, arguments between congregants over the direction of the temple had grown too divisive, and so some members left to form a Reform congregation.

The remaining members built a new temple in 1903 and hired their first true rabbi. In 1917, two congregations, Anshe Emeth and Beth Tefilo, merged to form a larger congregation, since many Jews were moving east by this time. This combined congregation bought land on East 105th Street. This property would eventually be the Cleveland Jewish Center, and construction began in 1920.

Construction was completed by 1922, and the CJC became the major focal point of Jewish life in Cleveland. In addition to a synagogue, the Center had a ballroom, a recreation center, and an indoor swimming pool. It was also at this time that the congregation became a Conservative one under the direction of Rabbi Solomon Goldman.

With this new direction came changes that were highly controversial for the formerly-Orthodox attendees. Women and men were allowed to sit together, and the selling of Aliyot was forbidden. These changes resulted in violence against the Rabbi, and eventually an "Anti-Goldman" faction attempted to file legal action, which was appealed all the way to the Ohio Supreme Court, who refused to hear the case. Rabbi Goldman left for Palestine in 1929.

Anshe Emeth Beth Tefilo went through a number of rabbis until the arrival of Armond Cohen, a 26-year-old rabbi. For such a young rabbi, he was faced with many problems concerning the synagogue. Burdened with heavy debt, Cohen personally raised funds to relieve the congregation. A second problem was that, since 1917, the majority of Jews in the area had moved to the east side of Cleveland, specifically Cleveland Heights. To provide for the Jewish population there, Cohen and the congregation purchased the defunct Park School and its property. This became the eastern Cleveland Jewish Center.

The following summer, in 1943, a day care and nursery school was added to the Center, and an adjacent lot of 21 acres was purchased from John D. Rockefeller. In 1945, a fire broke out, destroying most of the old Park School buildings, as well as the synagogue's library and Torah scrolls. Once again, the congregation turned to Rabbi Cohen, who hired Erich Mendelsohn to design the new synagogue. Completed in 1950, Park Synagogue was considered a major work of 20th century architecture.

In 1986, to meet the needs of the expanding congregation, Park Synagogue East was opened in Pepper Pike, a suburb of Cleveland. A new facility for the East Campus was completed in 2005.^[1]

[edit] Park Synagogue today

Membership has grown to roughly 1,800 families, and Park East's sanctuary can be adjusted for small-scale and large scale religious service. The sanctuary can seat as few as 190 people and as many as 700. Park has won six Solomon Schecter Synagogue of Excellence Awards for Library Computerization, Strategic Planning, Access and Concern for the Disabled, Programs and Celebrations, and two in Fundraising.

Park Synagogue has continued its long devotion to education with preschool and youth associations such as Kadima and United Synagogue Youth. In recent years, Park has developed a strong adult education program, with Bible, Talmud, and Torah Studies. Adult B'ne Mitzvahs have increased greatly. In addition, multiple outreach programs and associations such as Brotherhood and Sisterhood allow for participation in the Jewish community.