Synagogue Architecture in America

Synagogue Architecture in America

Author: Henry Stolzman

Publisher: Images Publishing

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 274

ISBN-13: 9781864700749

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This full colour publication explores the rich and diverse response to the quest to sustain the Hebrew heritage that has resulted in prominent designs.


American Synagogues

American Synagogues

Author: Samuel Gruber

Publisher: Rizzoli International Publications

Published: 2003

Total Pages: 248

ISBN-13:

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American Synagogues is the first book to explore the exceptional architecture of modern American synagogues in the twentieth century, and this intriguing book relates the fascinating history of the Jewish people in America and how it is expressed in twentieth-century synagogue design. The book features all new photography of synagogues in many styles from a dozen states, many never before published in any form. The synagogues were designed by European masters, the best-known modern American architects, and by important contemporary architects including Frank Lloyd Wright, Philip Johnson, and Minoru Yamasaki.


The Synagogues of Kentucky

The Synagogues of Kentucky

Author: Lee Shai Weissbach

Publisher: University Press of Kentucky

Published: 2021-11-21

Total Pages: 320

ISBN-13: 081318732X

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Lee Shai Weissbach's innovative study sheds light on the functioning of smaller Jewish communities in a state representative of many in the Midwest and South. The synagogue buildings of Kentucky tell much about the experience of Kentucky Jewry. Synagogues, especially in smaller towns, have often served as the only setting available for a wide variety of communal activities. Weissbach outlines the history of every congregation established in Kentucky and every house of worship that has served Kentucky Jewry over the last 150 years, considering such issues as the financing of construction, the selection of architects, the way synagogue buildings reveal congregational attitudes, and the way local synagogue design reflects national trends. Eighty-two photographs show every one of Kentucky's synagogues, including buildings that are no longer standing or have been converted to other uses. This pictorial record documents the variety, distinctiveness, and significance of these buildings as a part of the Commonwealth's architectural, cultural, and religious landscape.


Tomorrow's Synagogue Today

Tomorrow's Synagogue Today

Author: Hayim Herring

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2012-02-17

Total Pages: 149

ISBN-13: 1566996805

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In the past decade many intelligent people who care deeply about synagogues have written about them. So how is this book different from all other books? Many books take the overall mission of the synagogue as a given, and the recommendations around structure are really about incremental change. Tomorrow's Synagogue Today stimulates the reader to unleash the power of synagogues to exponentially influence people's Jewish lives. Herring offers creative scenarios to stretch the imagination about how more synagogues could become vibrant centers of Jewish life and how congregational leaders can begin to chart a new course toward achieving that goal. Key to his vision are the ways synagogues can collaborate with other synagogues and other Jewish institutions in the local Jewish community and around the globe, as well as with organizations outside of the Jewish community. Herring also explores structural change that is occurring in the rabbinate, as well as future roles rabbis may play and how rabbis might begin preparing for that future now. He shares insights from twelve rabbis from across the country about new models of synagogue mission, governance, and organization. He concludes with recommendations about the kinds of investments those who care about synagogues and the Jewish future need to make so that synagogues will remain a significant force in the Jewish community.


Who Rules the Synagogue?

Who Rules the Synagogue?

Author: Zev Eleff

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2016

Total Pages: 345

ISBN-13: 0190490276

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Who Rules the Synagogue? explores how American Jewry in the nineteenth century transformed from a lay dominated community to one whose leading religious authorities were rabbis. Zev Eleff weaves together the significant episodes and debates that shaped American Judaism during this formative period, and places this story into the larger context of American religious history and modern Jewish history.


Recharging Judaism

Recharging Judaism

Author: Rabbi Judith Schindler

Publisher: CCAR Press

Published: 2017-12-04

Total Pages: 280

ISBN-13: 0881233099

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Recharging Judaism is the essential and timely guide for every synagogue and community seeking to strengthen the bonds of Jewish communal life through advocating for social justice. This volume delves into the enriching civic engagement and acts of righteousness already undertaken by Jews and Jewish communities across the country, and further explores the positive differences we can all affect upon the future of America. There are a myriad of ways in which advocating for social justice and participating in civic engagement can create lasting change. Those inspired to affect such change will find new meaning in the texts and history of our tradition. Using real examples from both small and large congregations across the country, Recharging Judaism offers a framework to guide us through our journey of civic responsibility and social duty and into a brighter future for our country.


Rethinking Synagogues

Rethinking Synagogues

Author: Rabbi Lawrence A. Hoffman, PhD

Publisher: Turner Publishing Company

Published: 2012-05-24

Total Pages: 262

ISBN-13: 1580236405

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A critical and challenging look at reinventing the synagogue, as the centerpiece of a refashioned Jewish community. “America is undergoing a spiritual revolution: only the fourth religious awakening in its history. I plead, therefore, for an equally spiritual synagogue, knowing that any North American Jewish community that hopes to be around in a hundred years must have religion at its center, with the synagogue, the religious institution that best fits North American culture, at its very core.” —from Chapter 1 Synagogues are under attack, and for good reasons. But they remain the religious backbone of Jewish continuity, especially in America, the sole Western industrial or post-industrial nation where religion and spirituality continue to grow in importance. To fulfill their mandate for the American future, synagogues need to replace old and tired conversation with a new way of talking about their goals, their challenges and their vision for the future. In this provocative clarion call for synagogue transformation, Rabbi Lawrence A. Hoffman summarizes a decade of research with Synagogue 2000—a pioneering experiment that reconceptualized synagogue life—providing fresh ways for synagogues to think as they undertake the exciting task of global change.


Finding a Spiritual Home

Finding a Spiritual Home

Author: Rabbi Sidney Schwarz, PhD

Publisher: Turner Publishing Company

Published: 2012-07-12

Total Pages: 432

ISBN-13: 158023657X

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The Jewish community has lost some of the most sensitive spiritual souls of this generation. They are Jews who were looking for God and found spiritual homes outside of Judaism. Their journeys traversed the Jewish community, but nothing there beckoned them. The creation of synagogue-communities in which the voices of seekers can be heard and their questions can be asked will challenge many loyalist Jews. It will upset and enrage them. But it would also enrich them. —from Chapter 18 In this fresh look at the spiritual possibilities of American Jewish life, Rabbi Sidney Schwarz presents the framework for a new synagogue model—the synagogue community—and its promise to transform our understanding of the synagogue and its potential for modern Judaism. Schwarz profiles four innovative synagogues—one from each of the major movements of Judaism—that have had extraordinary success with their approach to congregational life and presents practical ways to replicate their success. Includes a discussion guide for study groups and book clubs as well as a new afterword by the author describing developments in synagogue change projects since the book was first published.


American Judaism

American Judaism

Author: Jonathan D. Sarna

Publisher: Yale University Press

Published: 2019-06-25

Total Pages: 558

ISBN-13: 0300190395

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Jonathan D. Sarna's award-winning American Judaism is now available in an updated and revised edition that summarizes recent scholarship and takes into account important historical, cultural, and political developments in American Judaism over the past fifteen years. Praise for the first edition: "Sarna . . . has written the first systematic, comprehensive, and coherent history of Judaism in America; one so well executed, it is likely to set the standard for the next fifty years."--Jacob Neusner, Jerusalem Post "A masterful overview."--Jeffrey S. Gurock, American Historical Review "This book is destined to be the new classic of American Jewish history."--Norman H. Finkelstein, Jewish Book World Winner of the 2004 National Jewish Book Award/Jewish Book of the Year


Louis I. Kahn's Jewish Architecture

Louis I. Kahn's Jewish Architecture

Author: Susan G. Solomon

Publisher: Brandeis University Press

Published: 2015-05-01

Total Pages: 230

ISBN-13: 161168868X

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In 1961, famed architect Louis I. Kahn (1901-1974) received a commission to design a new synagogue. His client was one of the oldest Sephardic Orthodox congregations in the United States: Philadelphia's Mikveh Israel. Due to the loss of financial backing, Kahn's plans were never realized. Nevertheless, the haunting and imaginative schemes for Mikveh Israel remain among Kahn's most revered designs. Susan G. Solomon uses Kahn's designs for Mikveh Israel as a lens through which to examine the transformation of the American synagogue from 1955 to 1970. She shows how Kahn wrestled with issues that challenged postwar Jewish institutions and evaluates his creative attempts to bridge modernism and Judaism. She argues that Kahn provided a fresh paradigm for synagogues, one that offered innovations in planning, decoration, and the incorporation of light and nature into building design.