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THE TEMPLE - TIFERETH ISRAEL | |
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THE TEMPLE - TIFERETH ISRAEL | |
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Tifereth Israel (The
Temple) For more on the congregation's history,
see Dancyger.
In 1873 Tifereth Israel became one of the original members of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations (now the Union for Reform Judaism). The prayer book Minhag Amerika (the American rite) by Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise was adopted. In 1874 Rabbi Aaron Hahn came to the congregation and led them in the direction of Reform Judaism. In 1886 the congregation included 145 families and had begun Sunday morning lectures. Hahn resigned in 1892. Then in 1892 Rabbi Moses Gries, their first American born rabbi and a graduate of the Hebrew Union College began 25 years of service. In 1894, as the Jewish community moved steadily eastward (a trend which is still ongoing), Tifereth Israel moved three miles east to Willson Avenue (now East 55th Street) and was called "The Willson Avenue Temple" and then simply "The Temple."
From a picture postcard titled "Wilson
(sic) Avenue Jewish Temple" Dancyger (13) writes of a dispute during the design of the new building. Would the sanctuary have an Ark for the Torah scrolls? The compromise reached was to build the Ark, but to read from an English Bible and leave the Torah scrolls in the Ark. Rabbi Gries initiated more changes that would take the Temple to the forefront (some would say to the periphery) of Classic Reform Judaism. The congregation adopted the Union Prayer Book, Hebrew was dropped from the Sunday school curriculum and from much of the religious service, and the main weekly service was moved to Sunday. In 1900, on its 50th anniversary, the Temple had a membership of 476 families. In 1916 Rabbi Gries, in poor health, announced that he would be leaving the Temple the following year. The congregation of more than 700 families began to search for his successor. For more on the Gries years and the search for his successor, click here. |
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Rabbi Abba Hillel Silver
Comes to Cleveland In 1917 the Temple called Rabbi Abba Hillel Silver, only 24 years old (the same age as Moses Gries when he came to the Temple) to its pulpit from a small congregation in Wheeling West Virginia. Two of our Wheeling pages tell about Silver's two years in Wheeling. Three pages describe how he came from Wheeling to the Temple. He was to serve the Temple for 46 years, until his death in 1963. His sermons eloquently displayed his extraordinary scholarship, concern for social justice and commitment to a homeland for the Jewish people. They attracted many non-Jewish visitors and would often be reported in Cleveland's newspapers. He continued the custom of Sunday morning services, but restored the teaching of Hebrew in the Temple's school. Three years after Abba Hillel Silver became its rabbi, the Temple began to build a new home, two miles east, in University Circle. It moved to this location in 1924 and took its place in a square-mile area that was to became the home of more than 50 educational, cultural and religious institutions. For more on this building, click here. Many in Cleveland would call the Temple "Silver's Temple." (The other large Reform congregation, Anshe Chesed, (then Euclid Avenue Temple" and now "Fairmount Temple"), whose rabbi was Barnett Bricker, would be known as "Brickner's Temple.)
Though many (perhaps most) of its membership were not Zionists, The Temple gave Abba Hillel Silver freedom to pursue Zionist activities. Members came to accept his absences and to take pride in his accomplishments. In 1947 it made an important contribution to the Zionist cause, granting Abba Hillel Silver an indefinite leave of absence. He could now devote all his energies to the decisions at the UN. In 1948 about 100 member households, many from the Temple's old German Jewish families, unhappy with the support of Israel and the teaching of Hebrew, left to start a suburban congregation. But the Temple kept growing and by the late 1950's its membership stood at more than 2,000 households. (Dancyger, 38) |
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The Silver Sanctuary at The Temple's University Circle Building
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The Temple - Tifereth Israel Today The Temple was the last congregation to leave the city of Cleveland and move to the suburbs. In 1964, as many younger Jewish families moved farther east beyond the inner-ring suburbs, it built what it called a 'branch' in Beachwood, six miles east of the University Circle location. Now, more than 40 years later, this building, much expanded, is the home for nearly all congregational activities.
But the congregation never completely left the city. It still owns the old building at University Circle, now listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Silver Sanctuary is used on the High Holy Days and for life cycle events and meetings. The building also houses the Temple Museum of Religious Art. The congregation is now "The Temple - Tifereth Israel", combining the two names it has been known by over the years.
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