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Congregation Beth Israel ((ヘブライ語:בית ישראל)) is a Reform synagogue located at 615 Court Street in Honesdale, Pennsylvania.〔 Founded in 1849 by German Jews,〔 its 1856 synagogue building was the smallest in the United States.〔 The congregation was originally Orthodox, but rapidly moved to "Classical Reform". In the 1930s and 1940s an influx of more traditional Eastern European Jews prompted a change from Classical Reform to Traditional Reform.〔 The congregation was always small, and went through long periods where it had no rabbi. During other periods, particularly from 1939 to 1954, rabbis' tenures were very short, often a year or less.〔 , Allan L. Smith, has served as the congregation's rabbi for over 40 years.〔 The synagogue building was the second oldest in the United States still occupied by its original congregation.〔 ==History== The congregation was founded by Jews of German background.〔 In the spring of 1849 the first Jewish family settled in Honesdale, and by the fall the congregation had been organized. By 1854 the congregation also had a Hebrew school.〔 Originally Orthodox, the congregation moved rapidly to "Classical Reform".〔 The congregation's first spiritual leader was a Rabbi Kutner.〔 Between 1880 and 1890 many Jewish families left Honesdale. The congregation was able to maintain a full-time local rabbi until 1891, but could not afford one after that.〔 Rabbis (typically student rabbis from the Reform Hebrew Union College or Jewish Institute of Religion) would officiate only at High Holiday and some festival services.〔〔 Other services were held on Friday nights, and were lay-led.〔 At the turn of the century and in the early 20th century, Honesdale had two synagogues, Beth Israel and Sherith Israel.〔〔 Nevertheless, the Jewish community remained small; by 1918 there were only 29 Jews in Honesdale, Beth Israel was the only synagogue, and it had no rabbi.〔 In the 1930s and 1940s an influx of more traditional Jews of Eastern European backgrounds prompted a slow change to more traditional practices (though still Reform).〔 By 1942, the Jewish population of Honesdale had reached around 75.〔 The bulk of the costs associated with running the synagogue were underwritten by Honesdale's Katz Underwear Company, with additional funds raised by the Temple Sisterhood.〔 From the late 1930s to the early 1950s the congregation was served by a series of short-tenured rabbis, typically serving one year or less. These included Joseph Friedman (1939), Baruch Braunstein (1940–1942), Hebrew Weiner (1943–1944), Rafield Helman (1945), Jay Robert Brinkman (1946), Morris Friedman (1947), Jerome Spivak (1948), Bernard Bamburger (1949), Samuel Volkman (1949), Abraham Granison (1949), Bernard Perlmutter (1950), Harold Spevak (1951), Bernard Zlotovitz (1952), Kenneth Rivkin (1953), Jerome Davidson (1954), and Julius Kravitz (1958). Beth Israel had no rabbi in the 1960s, and in the 1970s was served by Harvey Rosenfeld (1970–1971), Lewis Bogage (1972–1978), and Leonard Troop (1978).〔 Bogage shared the duties with Allan L. Smith. Since 1979, Smith has served as rabbi on his own. The congregation celebrated its 125th anniversary in 1974, with rabbi and historian Jacob Rader Marcus as speaker.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Congregation Beth Israel (Honesdale, Pennsylvania)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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