The following is a brief history of Albany's Jewish congregations. Mainly German congregations.
Western European
Sephardic Jews were attracted to Albany from its earliest days because in the
seventeenth century Albany was the leading exporter of skins and furs to
Europe. The first Jews appeared in Fort
Orange and Beverwyck in 1654. They came
to travel and trade in the colony. At
first they were denied permission by the Director General of the colony, Pieter
Stuyvesant. Only citizens of the village
were allowed to trade, and only members of the Dutch Reformed could become
citizens. The following year Jews were
allowed to trade outside of the borders of New Amsterdam. Among the first Jews to arrive in Fort Orange
was Asser Levy. By 1660 he had purchased
several homes and became a trader on a substantial scale.
Also, at this time there were twenty-three
Jews residing in Fort Orange. The Jews
were now allowed to practice their religion within their own homes, but they
were not allowed to build houses of worship.
The same provisions also applied to the Lutherans. However, it was not until the 1820s that the
Jewish population was large enough to build a synagogue.
The Jewish population in Albany came
predominantly from the Germanic state of Bayern or Bavaria, where anti-Jewish
restrictions were rigidly enforced.
These Jewish immigrants began to heavily settle in the city in the 1830s
and 1840s. The German Jews adhered to
their native tongue and even attempted to perpetuate it among their
children. They kept synagogue records in
German, communicated in German, and engaged Rabbis who delivered addresses in
German. The use of German was
respectable because it was the language of the majority in the German enclave.
As of 1886 there were approximately three
thousand Jews in the city, most of them German.
But as Russian Jews, numbering over two
thousand, migrated to the city between 1880 and 1900, anti-Semitism took hold
of Albany’s elite. Discrimination was
directed both to the newcomers and to the older, more established upper-class
German Jews.
This
occurred even though the German Jews were fully absorbed in the German
community. Many Western European Jews
were charter members of various German societies of the city, such as Doctor
Joseph Lewi, who helped establish the
Deutsche
Literatur Gesellschaft, or German Literary Society. Jewish merchant Julius Laventall hosted numerous
Jewish organizations in the upstairs rooms at his clothing shop, also known as
Laventall’s Building. Another prominent
Albany Jew was Myer Nussbaum, a lawyer who later became a New York State
Senator.
Albany’s first
Jewish congregation was the moderate orthodox sect, Beth El, meaning “The House
of God.” The flock was organized in 1822
and later incorporated on March 25, 1838.
Beth El was the city’s first German language congregation. On December 16, 1839, the congregation’s
first meeting place, 66 Bassett Street, was purchased from Abel Fretch for
$1,500. After the idea of building a new
house of worship was not fulfilled, 76 Herkimer Street was purchased for $2150
from the Hibernian Society on September 2, 1842. In 1846 the congregation opened a school, the
Jewish Academy of Albany, at 77 Ferry Street, and by 1849 the school had one
hundred students. School tuition cost $9.00
per year. The school’s pupils were
instructed in German, Hebrew, and English.
 |
| Beth El, 77 Ferry Street |
On July 14, 1865, a larger edifice situated
on the corner of South Ferry and Franklin Streets was purchased for $4,000 from
the South Ferry Street Methodist Episcopal Church and used as a synagogue. It was dedicated on January 20, 1865, with
great pomp. There was a parade through
the streets of Albany with members of the congregation carrying the Scrolls of
the Law. To bury the congregations’ dead, two acres of
land were purchased in Bethlehem near the Abbey Hotel for use as a
cemetery. On April 13, 1839, the land
was bought for $15.
Organizations associated with Beth El were the Bethel
Society, formed in 1838
as a mutual aid society, the Hebrew Benevolent Society, established on
September 20, 1855, providing assistance for families in need and distress; and
the Chevra
, organized in 1843, was another benevolent group that provided sick
and death benefits for its members.
The second Jewish
congregation in Albany was Beth El Jacob.
It came into existence after eight families broke away from Beth El due
to internal conflicts regarding orthodoxy.
It was the city’s only orthodox sect and was incorporated on February
22, 1841. The first meeting place was
located at 8 Rose Street and was dedicated on May 25, 1841. On December 1, 1847, the corner stone for a
new synagogue was laid. The new house of
worship was located at 28 Fulton Street, between Lydius, now Madison Avenue and
Van Zandt Streets and consecrated on April 28, 1848.
In 1860 it was proposed by the congregation
that prayers be offered in German, instead of Hebrew.
By 1900 the congregation was composed mainly
of newly arrived Russian and Polish Jewish immigrants. The influx of these Eastern European
nationalities helped the congregation’s lagging German membership. On August 5, 1974, Beth El Jacob merged with
another orthodox congregation, B’nai Abraham, or the Sons of Abraham, which was
founded in June 1882 at 69 South Pearl Street.
 |
| Former Beth El Jacob |
Anshe
Emeth
,
signifying “People of Truth,” became Albany’s third Jewish congregation when
forty-six members from Beth El left to form a new moderate reformed congregation
on October 5, 1850. The society was
formally incorporated as a house of worship six days later. At the time, Anshe
Emeth
was the fourth
reformed Jewish congregation in the United States. The flock first worshipped in the German
language in an abandoned razor strap factory, on the corner of Lydius
and South
Pearl Streets. Afterwards
, the
congregation worshipped in a building on Green Street until the former Baptist
church at 155-159 South Pearl Street was purchased and was transformed into a
synagogue. It was officially dedicated
on October 3, 1851, with an elaborate ceremony. Worship services consisted of prayers in
Hebrew, the reading of the law, also in Hebrew; while music, and sermons were
conducted in either English or German.
On August 27, 1851, land was purchased in
Watervliet from George E. Hartman for use as a cemetery, and on April 3, 1862,
the cemetery opened.
Two more acres were later bought in 1878 to
increase the size of the burial grounds.
Anshe Emeth opened a school in 1852.
Its curriculum provided both religious and secular instruction,
including the study of German until the school closed in 1905.
During the mid 1880s the congregation included about 150 families.
In December 1885,
after years of discussion, 1200 worshippers from the congregations of Anshe
Emeth and Beth El merged to form a new Reformed congregation, Beth Emeth. The board decided that English should be used
during board meetings and in the keeping of records. By 1889 services in German and English
alternated each week, to the dismay of most of the congregation, who wanted to
continue services strictly in German. Land for a synagogue was purchased on the
corner of Lancaster and Swan Streets for $19,000 in 1887. The synagogue was erected at a cost of
$145,000. On May 24, 1889, the new house
of worship was consecrated.
 |
| Former Temple Beth Emeth |
As of 1897
the congregation numbered approximately 1,200 members. In 1894 a school was created where bilingual
instruction in Hebrew and German was taught, along with Bible study, catechism,
and Jewish history. By 1905 the school
existed only as a Sunday school.
Regrettably as time passed, Jewish children who understood German
refused to use it in public or among their friends; second and third generation
German Jews also abandoned the language of their ancestors. Societies within the Beth Emeth
congregation
included the Hebrew Benevolent Society, the Ladies Sewing Society, and the
Jewish Home Society. All three societies
aided the poor and the old of the Jewish community. Another group, the Young People’s Society
promoted literature. Today, the synagogue is an African-American
church, the Wilborn
Temple.
German
Jews were similar to German Gentiles.
They also created non-religious organizations. Fourteen German Jews established the
Deutsche Literatur Gesellschaft, or
German Literary Society, in 1849. The
society stressed intellectual development, community activity, and the
maintenance of the German language, as well as extending assistance to newly
arriving German immigrants.
In 1876 the society met at Laventall’s Building, located at the corner of South
Pearl Street and Hudson Avenue. The
group included a theater and music committee that held debates, gave
recitations and lectures, intellectual presentations, and dramatic productions,
including Schiller’s “
Räuber.”
Schiller
Halle,
established by Wilhelm
Schindler and located on the corner of Herkimer and Franklin Streets, was the
host for these events. The literary
society became the best outlet for social and cultural needs of Albany’s German
Jews.
Another
Jewish literary group was the Concordia Literary Association. The association was in existence only a short
time, approximately from 1877 to 1880.
Yet another Jewish literary group, the Adelphi Literary
Association, was founded on January 26, 1873, and incorporated on February 11,
1881, as the Adelphi Club. The original
purpose of the association was for mutual enlightenment and instruction in
science and literature, by the aid of social intercourse, debates, readings,
orations, and the maintenance of a library.
The first meeting place was located on South Pearl Street, between Division
Street and Hudson Avenue. In 1876 the
club moved to 83
Green Street,
formerly
Turn Halle. The new site soon became known as Adelphia
Hall. In 1893 Adelphia Hall moved and
was located at 82 South Pearl Street. By
1914 Adelphi Club ceased its intellectual pursuits and purchased land in
suburban Voorheesville, New York and transformed itself into the Colonie
Country Club. Albany also had non-Jewish
literature groups. For instance, in 1857
and 1858, there was the
Deutscher
Leseverein, or German reading society, where readers discussed German
writings.
Yet another German literary group, the Beck Literary Society, was founded on
January 7, 1860. Furthermore, the Harmonia
German Literary Association appeared in city directories between 1870 and
1879. The group met at
Turn Halle, between 1870 and 1873, and
in 1874 they met at
Engel’s Halle,
located at 31 Green Street.
Other Jewish
organizations included the Society for Brotherly Love, which was established on
March 19, 1843. The society provided
assistance and burial facilities for deceased members. Meanwhile, Jews were not admitted into
Freemasonry. They, therefore, founded
the International Order of B’nai B’rith, meaning “Brotherhood of the Covenant,”
hereafter IOBB. Jews from New York City
formed the IOBB in 1843 as a fraternal, charitable, and benevolent Jewish
association. In Albany the Shiloh Lodge,
Number 17, IOBB was organized on December 11, 1853, and met in Laventall’s
Building, located on the corner of South Pearl Street and Hudson Avenue. The Shiloh Lodge was involved in the social,
cultural, and philanthropic activities of the Jewish community. As Jewish scholar Hyman B. Grinstein put it,
“Affiliation with a B’nai Brith lodge was a great social distinction among the
German Jews in the 1840s and 1850s.”
Therefore, IOBB lodges were mainly composed
of older German-speaking Jews. The
Shiloh lodge, with sixty-seven members, was an insurance society that issued
payouts of $500, $750, and $1,000 to its members depending on the amount of
contributions made to the lodge by its members and also depending upon the age
of the member at entrance into the lodge.
The lodge ceased to exist after 1900 because
of the numerical decline of German speakers in the Jewish community. But two organizations that catered to the
younger Jewish population who identified with both American ideals and Jewish
affairs included the Young Men’s Association, henceforth YMA and the Progress
Club. Both groups came into existence
during the 1860s and were concerned with cultural and social activities, such
as debates, readings, recitations, and concerts. The YMA was located in the Martin Opera House
on South Pearl Street in 1876, and its library consisted of over seven thousand
volumes. Meanwhile, the city of Buffalo,
New York, also had a strictly German YMA, which was incorporated, earlier than
Albany’s, on May 12, 1846. Its library
compiled 1,800 volumes as of 1855.
Another Jewish
society was the Brith Academy. It opened
in November 1866 at 67 Division Street, but closed on May 1, 1869, due to a
lack of financial support. The academy
had 150 students and four teachers who taught English, German, Hebrew and
secular studies.
An additional Jewish organization was the
Gideon Lodge, No. 140 of the IOBB. This
organization was founded on March 19, 1870, for the purpose of furthering
Jewish social and cultural activities.
They also met at Laventall’s Building.
An unofficial female auxiliary group of B’nai Brith was the
Unabhängiger Orden Treur Schwestern,
or the Independent Order of True Sisters.
The Abigail Lodge formed under the Order of True Sisters on August 4,
1857. Later, the Arnon Lodge, Number 64,
of the men’s Independent Order of the Free Sons of Israel was founded on April
5, 1874.
