Temple Sinai (Sumter, South Carolina)

Last updated

Temple Sinai
Temple Sinai from Church St and Hampton St.JPG
Temple Sinai in 2014
Religion
Affiliation Reform Judaism
Ecclesiastical or organizational status Synagogue
Leadership Lay led
StatusActive
Location
Location11-13 Church Street, Sumter, South Carolina 29150
CountryUnited States
USA South Carolina relief location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Location in South Carolina
Geographic coordinates 33°55′17.7″N80°20′48.4″W / 33.921583°N 80.346778°W / 33.921583; -80.346778
Architecture
TypeSynagogue
Style Moorish Revival
Date established1895 (as a congregation)
Completed1912
Materials Brick
Website
templesinaisumter.org
Temple Sinai
Arealess than one acre
NRHP reference No. 98001645 [1]
Added to NRHPJanuary 21, 1999

Temple Sinai, also known as Congregation Sinai, whose official name is the Sumter Society of Israelites, is an historic Reform Jewish congregation and synagogue, located at 11-13 Church Street, on the corner of West Hampton Avenue, in Sumter, South Carolina, in the United States. [2] [3]

Contents

Built in 1912 of brick in the Moorish Revival style, Temple Sinai was added to the National Register of Historic Places on January 21, 1999. It also houses the Temple Sinai Jewish History Center that opened in June 2018. [2]

History

The first Jewish settlers in Sumter were Sephardi who came from Charleston in 1815. Congregation Sinai was formed in April 1895, by the merger of the Hebrew Cemetery Society and the Sumter Hebrew Benevolent Society. Visiting rabbis from Charleston and Augusta, Georgia, served the congregation until 1904 when Rabbi Jacob Klein settled in Sumter. The sanctuary of the present temple was built in 1912 facing Church Street to replace an earlier wooden synagogue on the site. [4]

The Barnett Memorial Addition, a two-story brick Moorish Revival auditorium/banquest hall and classroom/office building facing West Hampton Avenue, was built in 1932, behind the sanctuary, which it complements. In 1956, the one story brick Hyman Brody Building was attached to the rear of the Barnett Memorial Addition to provide a kitchen and more classrooms, offices and restrooms. Although simpler than the other two buildings, it still has some Moorish features. [2]

Temple Sinai's archives have been donated to the Jewish Heritage Collection at the College of Charleston. [5]

Stained glass windows

Temple Sinai is noted for the eleven drapery glass stained glass windows on its side and entrance walls, which depict scenes from the Tanakh. With the exception of one round window high over the entrance portico, the windows are uniformly 5 by 20 feet (1.5 by 6.1 m) and in their shape mimic the castellated domed Moorish towers that flank the entrance. [4] [6]

Current status

Temple Sinai entered into an agreement with Coastal Community Foundation, Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim Synagogue, and the Charleston Jewish Federation to maintain its cemetery and Temple and to address concerns regarding its long-term viability. Additionally, in 2015, Temple Sinai entered a partnership with the Sumter County Museum to create a permanent exhibit about Jewish history in South Carolina and in Sumter. The museum also includes a section devoted to the Holocaust and Sumter's ties to the Holocaust, [7] and opened to the public on June 2, 2018. [8]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rodef Shalom Congregation</span> Reform synagogue in Easton, Pennsylvania, United States

Rodef Shalom Congregation is an historic Reform Jewish congregation and synagogue located at 4905 Fifth Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in the United States. The landmark building was designed by architect Henry Hornbostel and completed in the Beaux-Arts style.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim</span> One of the oldest Jewish congregations in the US

Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim is a Reform Jewish congregation and synagogue located in Charleston, South Carolina, in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wilshire Boulevard Temple</span> Reform Jewish synagogue in Los Angeles, California, US

The Wilshire Boulevard Temple, known from 1862 to 1933 as Congregation B'nai B'rith, is a Reform Jewish congregation and synagogue, located at 3663 Wilshire Boulevard, in the Wilshire Center district of Los Angeles, California, in the United States. Founded in 1862, it is the oldest Jewish congregation in Los Angeles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Breed Street Shul</span> Former synagogue listed on the National Register of Historic Places, in Los Angeles, California

Breed Street Shul, also known as Congregation Talmud Torah of Los Angeles or Breed Street Synagogue, is a former Orthodox Jewish synagogue in the Boyle Heights section of Los Angeles, California, in the United States. It was the largest Orthodox synagogue west of Chicago from 1915 to 1951, and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Temple Gemiluth Chessed</span> Synagogue in Port Gibson, Mississippi

Temple Gemiluth Chessed is a former Reform Jewish congregation and synagogue, located at 706 Church Street, in Port Gibson, Mississippi, in the United States. Built in 1892, it is the oldest congregation in the state and the only building completed in the Moorish Revival style. The congregation was founded in 1870 by a community of Jewish immigrants from German states and Alsace-Lorraine. Due to declining population as people moved to larger urban areas, the congregation closed in 1986.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Congregation Rodeph Shalom (Philadelphia)</span> Historic Reform synagogue in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US

Congregation Rodeph Shalom, is an historic Reform Jewish congregation and synagogue located at 615 North Broad Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the United States. Established in 1795, it is the oldest Ashkenazic synagogue in the Western Hemisphere. It is noted historically for its leadership of the Reform movement among American Hebrew congregations, for its spiritual influence upon international Jewry, and for its unique 1927 Byzantine and Moorish Revival synagogue building, with Art Deco finishes, on North Broad Street, listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 2007.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Temple Sinai (Oakland, California)</span> Reform Jewish synagogue in California, United States of America

Temple Sinai is a Reform Jewish congregation and synagogue located at 2808 Summit Street in Oakland, California, in the United States. Founded in 1875, it is the oldest Jewish congregation in the East San Francisco Bay region.

Temple Israel is a Reform Jewish congregation and synagogue located at 330 Joe Clifton Drive, in Paducah, Kentucky, in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">B'er Chayim Temple</span> Historical synagogue in Cumberland, Maryland, United States

B'er Chayim Temple is a Reform Jewish congregation and synagogue, located in Cumberland, Maryland, in the United States. As of 2008, B'er Chayim counted approximately 72 families as members.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Temple House of Israel</span> Jewish congregation in Staunton, Virginia, U. S.

Temple House of Israel is a Reform Jewish congregation and synagogue located at 15 North Market Street, in Staunton, Virginia, in the United States. Founded in 1876 by Major Alexander Hart, it originally held services in members' homes, then moved to a building on Kalorama street in 1885, the year it joined the Union for Reform Judaism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Congregation Beth Israel (Houston)</span> Historic site in Harris County, Texas

Congregation Beth Israel is a Reform Jewish congregation and synagogue located at 5600 North Braeswood Boulevard, in Houston, Texas, in the United States. The congregation, founded in 1854, is the oldest Jewish congregation in Texas; and it operates the Shlenker School.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oheb Shalom Congregation</span> Conservative Jewish synagogue in New Jersey, United States

Oheb Shalom Congregation is an egalitarian, Conservative Jewish congregation and synagogue located in South Orange, Essex County, New Jersey, in the United States. The synagogue is affiliated with the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism.

Temple Emanuel is a Reform Jewish synagogue located at 1120 Broadway in Beaumont, Texas, in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">House of Peace Synagogue</span> United States historic place

The House of Peace Synagogue is a former synagogue of the Beth Shalom Congregation in Columbia, South Carolina. It was originally located at 1318 Park Street. After the congregation moved in the 1935, the building was used for the Big Apple Club, which was an African-American night club. It was named to the National Register of Historic Places on August 28, 1979. In the early 1980s, the building was moved to its present location at the southeast corner of Hampton and Park Streets. In 1993, it was purchased by the Historic Columbia Foundation and is called the Big Apple.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Temple De Hirsch Sinai</span> Jewish congregation with synagogues in Seattle and Bellevue, Washington, US

Temple De Hirsch Sinai is a Reform Jewish congregation with synagogues at campuses in Seattle and nearby Bellevue, Washington, in the United States. The congregation was formed as a 1971 merger between the earlier Temple De Hirsch and Temple Sinai and is the largest Reform congregation in the Pacific Northwest.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Congregation Beth Israel (Meridian, Mississippi)</span> Reform Jewish congregation in Mississippi, US

Congregation Beth Israel is a Reform Jewish congregation and synagogue, located in Meridian, Mississippi, in the United States. Founded in 1868 and a member of the Union for Reform Judaism, the congregation's first permanent house of worship was a Middle Eastern-style building constructed in 1879. The congregation moved to another building built in the Greek Revival style in 1906, and in 1964 moved to a more modern building, out of which they still operate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Temple Israel of the City of New York</span> Reform synagogue in Manhattan, New York

Temple Israel of the City of New York is a Reform Jewish congregation and synagogue located at 112 East 75th Street, on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City, New York, United States. The congregation was incorporated by German Jews in 1873.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ahavas Shalom Reform Temple</span> Historic former Reform synagogue in Ligonier, Indiana, United States

Ahavas Shalom Reform Temple ) is an historic former Reform Jewish synagogue building located at 503 Main Street, in Ligonier, Noble County, Indiana, in the United States.

References

  1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
  2. 1 2 3 Richardson, Katherine H. (June 3, 2003). "Temple Sinai" (PDF). National Register of Historic Places - Nomination and Inventory. Retrieved September 8, 2012.
  3. "Temple Sinai, Sumter County (11 Church St., Sumter)". National Register Properties in South Carolina. South Carolina Department of Archives and History. Retrieved September 8, 2012.
  4. 1 2 "History of Temple Sinai". Jewish Historical Society of South Carolina. Retrieved February 20, 2018.
  5. "Jewish Heritage Collection". College of Charleston Addlestone library. Retrieved February 20, 2018.
  6. "Jewish Heritage Days, Sumter, SC". Jewish Historical Society of South Carolina. March 2006. Archived from the original on July 9, 2008.
  7. "Temple Sinai Jewish History Center". Sumter County Museum. n.d.
  8. Levere, Jane L. (December 1, 2010). "Jewish Congregations Turn to Living Wills". The New York Times . ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved February 20, 2018.