As of 2019[update], Rabbi Randi Nagel served Temple House of Israel as rabbi.[6]
Early history
Temple House of Israel was founded in 1876 in Staunton, Virginia by Major Alexander Hart,[4] who had fought for the Confederate States of America in the American Civil War.[7] Hart served as the congregation's president and minister until at least 1893.[7][8]
Services were held in members' homes for more than eight years. In 1884 the congregation acquired the Hoover School building at 200 Kalorama Street,[2] at the corner of Market Street,[9] and in February 1885 began holding services there.[2] The building still stands, diagonally opposite the Hotel 24 South. That same year the synagogue joined the Union of American Hebrew Congregations (now the Union for Reform Judaism).[2]
The congregation purchased land north of Staunton for a cemetery in 1886, and held its first burial there in 1887. The cemetery, on North Augusta Street between Woodland Drive and Lee Street, is still used for burials today.[2][10]
At the turn of the 20th century, House of Israel had no rabbi, but held services twice a week, Friday nights from 8:00 to 9:00 pm, and Saturday from 10:30 to 11:30 am. The congregation also ran a religious school.[11] By 1907 Staunton's Jewish population was an estimated 40 people. House of Israel had fifteen member families, and still held services twice a week. However, the congregation still had no rabbi, and the religious school no longer functioned.[12]
Fannie Barth Strauss, instructor and later assistant professor of Latin and German at Mary Baldwin College from 1918 to 1954, re-established the Hebrew school at House of Israel in 1916.[13] In 1919, though the synagogue still had no rabbi, the school held classes once a week, and had two teachers and twelve students.[14] Strauss would serve as the school's principal from its re-establishment until at least 1964, and also served as the synagogue's treasurer from 1946 until at least 1964.[13]
Move to Market Street
By 1924 the congregation had outgrown its Kalorama Street building, and it purchased a lot at 115 North Market Street from Mary Baldwin College for $7,150 (today $127,000).[2][3] Sam Collins of T.J. Collins and son designed a new Moorish Revival building there,[1][2] constructed at a cost of $17,000 (today $295,000).[2]
The one-story stucco building had a twin gable roof with 3 bays. Decorated with "Early Assyrian motifs", the facade presented "[f]lanking twin towers with suppressed buttresses", and a "[l]arge arched opening in [the] central bay, supported by unusual columns",[5] and included Mercer tiles.[1] All the windows, and a glass screen, were created by Charles Jay Connick of Boston,[1] who also created famous windows for a number of religious buildings, including the rose windows of St. Patrick's Cathedral and the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in New York City.[5] The windows (sixteen in total) and screen cost $700 (today $12,000), and featured fruits or plants grown in the Land of Israel, including "olives, grapes, citron, pomegranate, and others".[2]
In 1947, a kitchen and small social hall were constructed at the back of the building, and a south bay was added to the sanctuary; Sam Collins was again the architect.[2] To provide more room for the religious school, the social hall was expanded in 1965.[2] The building was a contributing property to the successful 1984 National Register of Historic Places nomination of Gospel Hill as a historic district.[5]
During the early 1970s, Frank M. Waldorf was the congregation's rabbi. He went on to serve for 30 years as rabbi at Temple Sinai in Brookline, Massachusetts.[15] After Waldorf, Temple House of Israel entered into a "joint rabbi" arrangement with Congregation Beth El of Harrisonburg, Virginia, where rabbis would serve for two-thirds of their time at Beth El, and the rest at House of Israel.[16] The first rabbi hired under this arrangement was Robert Kraus (also in the early 1970s).[16]
1980s to present
The congregation remained small; in 1983, membership was only 28 families.[17] That year Douglas D. Weber was hired as rabbi of both Temple House of Israel and Beth El, and the "joint rabbi" arrangement became "permanent".[18][16] From 1984 to 1988 Lynne Landsberg filled that role.[19][20] The 30th female rabbinic graduate of the Union for Reform Judaism,[19][20] she had previously served as student rabbi at Temple House of Israel from 1979 to 1981, then as associate rabbi of Manhattan's Central Synagogue until 1984.[21] She subsequently took on a number of roles at the Union for Reform Judaism, and, after a serious and disabling accident in 1999, became the senior adviser on disability issues at the Religious Action Center for Reform Judaism.[19][20][21]
Rabbis Daniel Fink and Laura Rappaport jointly led Temple House of Israel and Beth El from 1988 to 1992.[16] During the 1990s the two congregations were served by Jonathan Biatch, then Jacqueline Romm Satlow,[16][22] followed, from 1997 to 2003, by Ariel J. Friedlander as rabbi.[16]
Peter Grumbacher joined as part-time interim rabbi in 2018.[32] After receiving his ordination from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in 1972, he served as full-time rabbi of Congregation Beth Emeth in Wilmington, Delaware until his retirement in 2009, and subsequently as interim rabbi of Beth El Congregation in Winchester, Virginia.[33] Rabbi Randi Nagel was elected as Rabbi of the congregation in 2019.[6]
On film
Temple House of Israel served as a location for the documentary film Rita Dove: An American Poet produced by Heritage Film Project. Filming took place in December 2013.[34]
Harrisonburg, Virginia, Goldring / Woldenberg Institute of Southern Jewish Life, History Department, Encyclopedia, Tennessee, Memphis, 2017. Accessed March 28, 2019.
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