Congregation Mikveh Israel Records 01 Finding Aid Prepared by Celia Caust-Ellenbogen and Sarah Leu Through the Historical Society of Pennsylvania's Hidden
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Congregation Mikveh Israel records 01 Finding aid prepared by Celia Caust-Ellenbogen and Sarah Leu through the Historical Society of Pennsylvania's Hidden Collections Initiative for Pennsylvania Small Archival Repositories. Last updated on March 22, 2016. Mikveh Israel Archives Congregation Mikveh Israel records Table of Contents Summary Information....................................................................................................................................3 Biography/History..........................................................................................................................................4 Scope and Contents....................................................................................................................................... 5 Administrative Information........................................................................................................................... 7 Related Materials........................................................................................................................................... 8 Controlled Access Headings..........................................................................................................................8 - Page 2 - Congregation Mikveh Israel records Summary Information Repository Mikveh Israel Archives Creator Congregation Mikveh Israel (Philadelphia, Pa.) Title Congregation Mikveh Israel records Call number 01 Date [inclusive] 1765-2011 Extent 120 linear feet Language English Abstract Congregation Mikveh Israel, known as the "Synagogue of the American Revolution," is the oldest formal Jewish congregation in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and the oldest continuous synagogue in the United States, tracing its origins to a communal cemetery established for the Jews in Philadelphia in 1740. Following the Sephardic tradition, Mikveh Israel has counted among its members many prominent individuals who have contributed to the development of Jewish life in Philadelphia and the United States. The Congregation Mikveh Israel records, 1765-2011, include a large quantity of membership and vital records, and extensive papers from several former religious leaders (hazanim) and synagogue presidents (parnassim). Additionally, there are administrative and financial records, property-related materials, photographs, publications and ephemera, and documentation of various congregational committees and activities. There are some materials from several people and organizations associated with Mikveh Israel, including congregation Beth El Emeth and Gratz College. - Page 3 - Congregation Mikveh Israel records Biography/History Tracing its roots to 1740, Congregation Mikveh Israel is the oldest formal Jewish congregation in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and one of the oldest continuous synagogues in the United States. Nicknamed "Synagogue of the American Revolution," Congregation Mikveh Israel is an active synagogue in the Sephardic (Spanish-Portuguese) tradition as of 2015. There is some evidence that a small number of Jews lived in the Philadelphia area even before 1682, when William Penn established the colony of Pennsylvania. A member of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), William Penn set a precedent of religious liberty and tolerance that gave Jews the freedom to live and worship freely. In 1740, Nathan Levy, an observant Jew and import/export merchant in Philadelphia, applied to William Penn's son and Royal Proprietor of Pennsylvania, Thomas Penn, for a plot of land to bury his child. Philadelphia's first Jewish communal burial ground, known as Mikveh Israel Cemetery, was established at that time on Spruce Street between 8th and 9th Streets. Congregation Mikveh Israel experienced an increase in membership during the American Revolution due to Jews escaping British-occupied areas. In 1780, Gershom Mendes Seixas came to Philadelphia from New York City and became Congregation Mikveh Israel's first religious leader. (Seixas was the congregation's hazan: a minister although not an ordained rabbi). Seixas, who previously served as minister of Congregation Shearith Israel in New York City, is considered the first native-born Jewish minister in the United States. He served as hazan of Mikveh Israel from 1780 to 1784, establishing the Sephardic (Spanish-Portuguese) rites of worship at Mikveh Israel. It was also during Seixas's tenure that the congregation's first synagogue building was constructed in 1782. The next year, the first Jewish charitable organization in Philadelphia, the Society for the Relief of Destitute Strangers (Ezrath Orechim), was established. Mikveh Israel's congregants, particularly Rebecca Gratz (1791-1869), were instrumental in the establishment of many important Philadelphia charities, Jewish-affiliated and secular. Gratz was instrumental in establishing the Philadelphia Orphan Asylum, the Female Association for the Relief of Women and Children in Reduced Circumstances, the Female Hebrew Benevolent Society, and many more organizations. She is widely believed to have been the model for the heroine of Sir Walter Scott's Ivanhoe. In the 19th century, as the congregation grew, Mikveh Israel moved twice to larger quarters. In 1825, the congregation commissioned a new synagogue building from famous architect William Strickland. In 1860, the congregation moved to a new location and synagogue commissioned from architect John McArthur, Jr. (who later would design Philadelphia City Hall). Around the same time, Mikveh Israel was under the leadership of several reverends who were extremely influential in the development of Jewish faith and practice in Philadelphia and throughout the United States. Isaac Leeser (1806-1868, hazan 1829-1850) trailblazed publication of Jewish books in America by publishing a masoretic Hebrew edition of the entire Hebrew Bible (the first of its kind to be printed in America) and founding the first Jewish publication society in America (the predecessor of today's Jewish Publication Society of America); he was also one of the first to institutionalize sermons in English as part of American Jewish religious services. After Leeser retired from Mikveh Israel in 1850, he became reverend at an off-shoot congregation, Beth El Emeth, founded in 1857. When Leeser died, Beth El Emeth dissolved and its - Page 4 - Congregation Mikveh Israel records records and property, including a cemetery in West Philadelphia, were transferred to Mikveh Israel. Leeser was succeeded at Mikveh Israel by Sabato Morais (1823-1897, hazan 1851-1897), who is known for resisting the Reform movement and for establishing the first Conservative rabbinical school, the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York City. Nearly all of the "Philadelphia Group" of intellectuals who shaped the Jewish American cultural institutions in the late 19th and early 20th centuries were Mikveh Israel members, including Moses Aaron Dropsie (1821-1905), Judge Mayer Sulzberger (1843-1923), Dr. Solomon Solis Cohen (1857-1948), and Cyrus Adler (1863-1940). In 1897, the first Hebrew teacher's college in America, Gratz College, was established through a trust vested in Mikveh Israel. In the 20th and 21st centuries, Mikveh Israel developed along with changing patterns of Jewish life in Philadelphia and in recognition of its own historical significance. In 1909, the congregation moved to a new synagogue building on Broad Street and York streets, located on the same campus as Gratz and Dropsie Colleges, two Jewish institutions established by its congregants. In 1956, the 1740 Mikveh Israel Cemetery was recognized as a national shrine and became part of Independence National Historical Park. Two decades later, on the Nation's Bicentennial, Congregation Mikveh Israel moved back to a location near its original site, settling into a new synagogue building near Independence Mall. In 1976, the congregation also opened a Museum of American Jewish History, which rapidly grew over the coming decades, both in collections size and in prominence. In 2010, the museum separated from the congregation and the National Museum of American Jewish History opened in a large new building on 5th and Market Streets. Bibliography: Congregation Mikveh Israel. "Our History." 2011. Accessed February 2, 2015. http:// www.mikvehisrael.org/e2_cms_display.php?p=past_our_history Congregation Mikveh Israel. "Our Notable People." 2011. Accessed February 2, 2015. http:// www.mikvehisrael.org/e2_cms_display.php?p=past_our_people Scope and Contents This collection contains records of the Jewish congregation Mikveh Israel, dating from 1765 to 2011. There are a large quantity of membership and vital records, and extensive papers from several former rabbis and synagogue presidents (parnassim). Additionally, there are administrative and financial records, property-related materials, photographs, publications and ephemera, and documentation of various congregational committees and activities. There are some materials from several people and organizations associated with Mikveh Israel, including congregation Beth El Emeth and Gratz College. Many prominent Jews, of renown in the local Philadelphia or national or international Jewish communities, were affiliated with Mikveh Israel and are documented to varying degrees in this collection: Rebecca Gratz (1791-1869) and other members of the Gratz family, Rev. Isaac Leeser (1806-1868), Moses Aaron Dropsie (1821-1905), Rev. Sabato Morais (1823-1897), Judge Mayer Sulzberger (1843-1923), Dr. - Page 5 - Congregation Mikveh Israel records Solomon