Keneseth Israel (Louisville, Kentucky)

Keneseth Israel is a Conservative synagogue in Louisville, Kentucky. The congregation had a synagogue constructed in Louisville in 1928. It was designed by Joseph & Joseph and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.[1][2][3]

For the temple in Philadelphia see History of the Jews in Philadelphia (section Temple Keneseth Israel)
Keneseth Israel Synagogue

History

The congregation was founded in 1882 as an Orthodox congregation, B'nai Jacob, and merged with another orthodox congregation, Beth HaMedrash HaGadol in 1927 to create congregation Keneseth Israel.[4] In 1928 the congregation had a synagogue built at 232-236 East Jacob Street in Louisville. The congregation moved to its current home in 1964.[5]

The earliest building was a former church. In 1901, the congregation, then B'nai Israel, dedicated a new building on the site of the former church building at 432 E. Jefferson Street. The building has twin towers with pyramid-form roofs and was strongly stripped in red-and-white in the Moorish Revival style then fashionable for synagogues.[6]

For most of its history, Keneseth Israel was an Orthodox synagogue affiliated with the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America. In 1994, its members voted to affiliate with the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism,[7] leaving Anshe Sfard as the only remaining Orthodox-affiliate congregation in Louisville.[8]

Clergy

The congregation is led by Rabbi Michael Wolk and Cantor Sharon Hordes.

See also

References
  1. John E. Kleber The Encyclopedia of Louisville, page 458, 2001, ISBN 0813121000
  2. National Register of HIstoric Places nomination form
  3. "UofL Libraries Digital Collections". digital.library.louisville.edu. Retrieved 29 June 2016.
  4. John E. Kleber, The Encyclopedia of Louisville, University of Kentucky Press, 2001, p. 458.
  5. Lee Shai Weisbach, Synagogues of Kentucky: History and Architecture, University Press of Kentucky, 1995, p. 157.
  6. Lee Weisbach, Synagogues of Kentucky; History and Architecture, University of Kentucky Press, 1995, p. 72.
  7. Lee Weisbach, Synagogues of Kentucky; History and Architecture, University of Kentucky Press, 1995, p. 18.
  8. "Louisville, Kentucky", Encyclopedia of Southern Jewish Communities, Goldring / Woldenberg Institute of Southern Jewish Life (accessed 2014-07-11).

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