1 I 1 'escriptton of thE \ ntw builbitigs being : ertdftJl af 65^Sfecrt j CongTcgatioit €manu-€F Tleur tbrk^ \ con<§i8;tinfi of ] Vm^k fimanurfil Brth-eiChapel CoTnraun%Hom i HtbrtH SEYMOUR DURST ' 'Fort nteuu/ ^in^erjam- Je Mfnhatans (NEW York) , 1651 IVhen you leave, please leave this hook Because it has heen said "Ever'thing comes t' him who waits £y:cept a harmed hook." 1927 Congregation €manu=€l of tibe Citp of i^Eto Work Jformeii bp tfjc Consolibation of €manu=€l Congregation anb (temple iP£tt=€l :( TRUSTEES } Louis Marshall, President Henry M. Toch, Treasurer Ben Altheimer Otto E. Dryfoos Vice-President Associate Treasurer William I. Spiegelberg, Secretary Henry J. Bernheim Benjamin Mordecai Davis Brown Samuel M. Newburger Philip J. Goodhart Adolph S. Ochs Daniel Guggenheim Edward Schafer Sydney H. Herman Roger W. Straus Irving Lehman Ludwig Vogelstein Arthur Zinn RABBIS Hyman G. Enelow Nathan Krass Samuel Schulman Joseph Silverman, Rabbi Emeritus Simon Cohen, Assistant Rahhi Simon Schlager, Cantor Charles N. Pollak, Controller Samuel Berliner, Assistant Controller Building Committee Benjamin Mordecai, Chairman Henry J. Bernheim Samuel M. Newburger Davis Brown William I. Spiegelberg Philip J Goodhart Henry M. Toch Sydney H. Herman Ludwig Vogelstein Myron S. Falk, Consulting Engineer Architects Robert D. Kohn Charles Butler Clarence S. Stein Architects Associated Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue Associates Francis L. Mayers O. H. Murray Hardie Phillip Consultants Eugene W. Stern, Structural Engineer Jaros fe? Baum, Heating and Ventilation Engineers Eadie, Freund fe? Campbell, Electrical Engineers Qhronicles of Temple £manu-8l I PULPIT IN TEMPLE N the fourth decade of the nineteenth century, there came to New York City a number of German Jews, who banded themselves together into an organization which they called "The Cultus Verein," or "Culture Society." They held frequent meetings for the purpose of intellectual and spiritual advancement. This small group, about 38 in number, decided to organize themselves into a Jewish Congregation, and on the sixth day of April, 1845, such a Congregation was duly formed, and named "Emanu-El." Arrangements were made for the holding of divine services in a room in a private dwelling house, at the corner of Grand and Clinton Streets. This room was arranged as a synagogue. The front seats were set apart for the use of men, and those in the rear for the use of women. A choir was organized under the leadership of Mr. G. N. Cohn, as cantor. Dr. Leo Merzbacher was engaged as rabbi and lecturer. Al?airs of the Congregation were managed by two bodies, one called directors and the other advisory board. No president was elected. Each director acted as chairman in turn for four months. Mr. I. Dittenhoeffer was the first chairman. On November 16, 1845, appears the first mention of another Con- gregation. It is stated that a committee from Anshe Chesed was received to talk over matters of mutual interest. Anshe Chesed later was united with Adas Jeshurun to form Temple Beth-El, which recently was amalgamated with Temple Emanu-El. On October 11, 1847, the directors of Temple Emanu-El proposed the purchase of a church building at 56 Chrystie Street, between Hester Street and what was ther called Walker Street, now known as Canal Street. At the general meeting of the Congregation, held on the seventeenth of October, 1847, the Committee on Inspection reported that the building was well adapted to the needs of the Congregation and that it could be purchased for $12,000, $600 to be paid at the signing of the contract, $5,400 by the first of January, 1848, and the balance remaining on mortgage at 6 per cent. Mr. Leopold Eidlitz was engaged as architect, to draw plans for the purpose of making such alterations as would transform the church edifice into a synagogue. An organ was purchased and installed. On the eighteenth of October, 1848, a daily elementary school was formed under the superintendence of Dr. Merzbacher. This school was given up in 1854, and in place thereof a religious school was instituted — Saturday and Sunday being set aside as days devoted to the religious instruction of the children. On the twenty-third and twenty-fourth of July, 1852, the Reverend Adolph Rubin officiated as cantor and reader, and soon thereafter was elected to succeed Mr. Cohn, who left the Congregation shortly before the advent of his successor. On April 10, 1853, Mr. Abraham Michelbacher was chosen president of the Congregation. At a Trustees' meeting on December 15, 1853, it was reported that an agreement had been made with Congregation Beth Israel to purchase the Chrystie Street building and to assume possession thereof on February 2, 1854. A church was then purchased in East Twelfth Street, which became the new home of Temple Emanu-El. On the twenty-first day of October, 1856, "a catastrophe occurred which deeply shocked all the members of the Congregation and plunged them into indescribable sorrow. On the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles, Dr. Merz- bacher preached, as usual. His text was 'The Priestly Benediction,' with which he concluded his sermon. On his way home from the Temple, a sudden attack of pulmonary congestion overcame him. He fell and never spoke again." Dr. Samuel Adler, of Worms, Germany, was called to succeed Dr. Merz- bacher. He preached his inaugural sermon on Sabbath Hagadol, the Saturday before Passover, 1857. After an eloquent appeal by Dr. Adlcr on the Day of Atonement, 1864, the Trustees were authorized to sell the Twelfth Street building and seek new quarters. On November 23, 1864, Mr. Abraham Michelbacher, the first president of Temple Emanu-El, resigned his office, and Mr. Lazarus Rosenfeld became acting president. In the spring of 1865, a resolution to purchase the corner of Forty-third Street and Fifth Avenue and to erect thereon a Temple building was unani- mously adopted. Messrs. Leopold Eidlitz and Henry Fernbach were chosen as the architects. The total expenditure was not to exceed a half million dollars. BETH -EL CHAPEL I COMMUNITY HOUSE TOWER On May 4, 1865, Lewis May was elected president. On October 30, 1866, the corner-stone of the Fifth Avenue edifice was laid. In February, 1867, the Twelfth Street building was sold for $35,000 to Mishkan Israel Congregation. In 1868, Reverend Doctor James K. Gutheim, of New Orleans, was chosen as associate rabbi, and in May, 1872, after having been with the Congregation four years, was urgently requested to return to New Orleans, and severed his connection with Temple Emanu-El. The new Temple in Fifth Avenue was dedicated on September 11, 1868. This highly ornate structure is a fine specimen of Saracenic architecture, built of brown and yellow sandstone. Massive columns, spanned by Saracenic arches, support the lofty clerestory, the whole being elaborately decorated with Moorish traceries. In May, 1873, the Reverend Doctor Gustav Gottheil was called from Manchester, England, to the pulpit of Temple Emanu-El as coordinate rabbi with Dr. Adler, who became rabbi emeritus on May 1, 1874. Dr. Gottheil took up his duties in the fall of 1873. In 1879, German preaching was abolished. From the founding of the Congrega- tion until the election of Dr. (iutheim sermons had been preached in German and subsequently in German and in I^nglish. On January 16, 1888, Dr. Joseph Silverman was called from Galveston, Texas, to become assistant rabbi to Dr. Gottheil, and on March 3, 1888, was inducted into office. In 18*^9, Dr. Gustav Gottheil became rabbi emeritus. Dr. Silverman occupying the pulpit alone until May 8, 1906, when a call was extended to Dr. Judah L. Mag- nus, of Temple Israel, Brooklyn. Dr. Magnus resigned from Temple Emanu-El on October 1, 1910. On June 9, 1891, Dr. Samuel Adler died at the age of 82. On May 16, 1898, Mr. James Seligman was elected president of the Congregation. On March 7, 1904, Mr. Simon Schlager was elected cantor of the Temple. On March 4, 1912, Dr. H. G. Enelow, of Louisville, Kentucky, was elected as coordinate rabbi to share the pulpit of Temple Emanu-El with Dr. Silverman. Mr. Louis Marshall was elected president of the Congregation on December 18, 1916. On July 1, 1921, Dr. Silverman was made rabbi emeritus. On April 4, 1923, Dr. Nathan Krass, of Central Synagogue, New York, was elected rabbi on an equality with Dr. Enelow. Dr. Krass was formally inducted on Rosh Hashonah morning, September 11, 1923. The Temple at Forty-third Street and Fifth Avenue was sold on December 31, 1925, for $6,500,000, the purchaser giving in part pay- ment ten lots at the northeast corner of Sixty-fifth Street and Fifth Avenue, valued at $3,500,000. Subsequently 75 feet of additional property on Sixty-fifth Street, cast of this plot, were purchased for $475,000. On April 25, 1927, a special meeting of the Congregation was called, at which meeting the resolution to amalgamate with Temple Beth-El was adopted. On May 11, 1927, a similar special meeting was held at Temple Beth-El, at which meeting the resolution that Temple Emanu- El and Temple Beth-El be amalgamated was adopted. On May 27, Supreme Court Justice Gavegan issued an order granting the consoli- dation. The united congregation is to be known as "Congregation Emanu-EI of the City of New York." In addition to the Temple building in Sixty-fifth Street, there will be a chapel contiguous to it on Fifth Avenue, to be known as "Beth-El Chapel," and a community house contiguous to the Temple on Sixty- fifth Street to house the religious school and other Temple activities. Chronicles of Temple 'Beth- SI TEMPLE BETH-EL was organized on March 27, 1874. Its first rabbi was Dr. David Einhorn. Temple Beth-El was an amalga- mation of two Congregations, Anshe Chesed and Adas Jeshurun. The first of these was formed in 1828, in a small room in White Street. In 1835, Anshe Chesed moved to Cireen Street. In 1840, they built a synagogue in Henry Street. In 1850, they erected a beau- tiful synagogue in Norfolk Street, which became known as the "Norfolk Street Shule." In 1871, they moved to Sixty-third Street and Lexington Avenue. Originally strictly Orthodox, it developed into a Reform congregation. GALLERY FRONT AND SUPPORTING COLUMNS IN TEMPLE COMMUNITY HOUSE STAGE IN THE ASSEMBLY l».OOM OF COMMUNITY HOUSE Adas Jeshurun was formed in 1866 and was a Reform congregation from its inception. It worshipped first in Everett Hall; then in its own building, w^hich was dedicated on August 31, 1866, in West Thirty-ninth Street. Dr. David Einhorn was its rabbi. Under his leadership, his Congregation and Anshe Chesed merged and formed Congregation Beth-El. Dr. Einhorn continued as rabbi until 1879. He was succeeded by his son-in-law, Dr. Kaufman Kohler, who was called to the Beth-El pulpit from Sinai Congregation, Chicago. On September 18, 1891, Congregation Beth-El moved to its new edifice on Fifth Avenue and Seventy-sixth Street. Dr. Rudolph Grossman was appointed as assistant rabbi to Dr. Kohler and ministered at Beth-El from 1889 to 1897. On November 13, 1898, Dr. Samuel Schulman, of Kansas City, Missouri, was elected associate rabbi and was inducted into office on January 6, 1899. In 1903, he was elected rabbi of the Congregation. From 1920 to 1923, Rabbi Marius Ranson and Rabbi Milton Ellis officiated as assistant rabbis. Rabbi Simon Cohen was elected assistant rabbi on April 19, 1925, and on September 12, 1925, preached his inaugural sermon. On May 11, 1927, a special meeting was held at Temple Beth-El, at which meeting the resolution that Temple Emanu-El and Temple Beth-El be amalgamated was adopted. Mr. Benjamin Altheimer was president of the Congregation at the time of the amalgamation. The <^rchitects* Description THE new Temple Emanu-El, upon its completion, will be the third largest religious structure in New York City, and will have been constructed at a cost of about $3,000,000. The old residences on the new site were torn down and excavation for the new Temple was started the last week in January. The land is an L-shaped plot, fronting 150 feet on Fifth Avenue and 253 feet on Sixty-fifth Street. The Congregation also owns the house immediately to the east of this site, 22 feet wide, thus protecting its light on that side and providing for a possible future extension of the Community House. The general scheme, as displayed by the illustrations, places the Temple, a long, rectangular-shaped building, at the corner, with the Chapel flanking it on the Fifth Avenue side, to the north, and the Community House at the easterly end of the L, on Sixty-fifth Street. The general manner of treatment of the group is an adaptation of very early Romanesque as it was used in Syria and the East, and found occasionally in Sicily, influenced by the Eastern and Arab invasions. The forms of the Chapel show distinctly Byzantine influences. But in the design of both Temple and Chapel, almost as frankly as in the Community House, it is recognized that any historic style, if used as an inspiration today, can furnish, as it were, only the characters of an alphabet. American religious life must express itself anew to meet the changed forms of its service, just as our secular life, though using the old characters, has found architectural forms that tend towards a new and distinctly American expression. INTERIOR OF CHAPEL As a matter of fact, from a construction point of view, the forms adopted in this design also have a functional purpose, aside from their esthetic value. The walls are actually self-supporting, the buttresses of the exterior and the trusses of the interior are, respectively, the stone and concrete coverings of structural steel members necessary to bridge so wide a span. The exterior walls of the Temple, Chapel and Community House will be in a warm-toned, variegated stone. The most noticeable feature of this group of buildings will be the great recessed arch on Fifth Avenue, with its rose window set within the pedimented portico. This, with its flanking staircase towers, backs up against the main east wall, the front wall of the great rectangular hall which forms the main body of the Temple. This large arch of the front expresses on the outside what is the main feature of the interior of the Temple. It is duplicated over the west gallery by a similar arch, and an arch of approximately the same dimensions repeats the architectural note at the east end over the Ark. There is thus established in the main Temple a unity of expression, whereby the interior and exterior of the structure indicate clearly both the general form of the main mass and the distinctive feature which marks each part of it. We may see in this unity a distinctive and appropriate piece of religious symbolism, quite aside from its artistic advantage. The main dimensions of the Temple proper are 77 feet wide between the inside of the piers and 147 feet 6 inches from the east side of the vestibule to the front of the Ark platform, with a height of 103 feet from the LIBRARY IN COMMUNITY HOUSE floor to the under side of the ceiling at its highest point. The main floor of the Temple will seat 2,044 people, the west balcony 214 and the narrow side balconies 230, or a total of about 2,500. From all the pews within this long, rectangular hall there will be a view of the Pulpits and Ark entirely unobstructed by piers or columns, the deep recesses of the two sides being merely wide enough to contain side aisles leading to the exits. The color treatment of the walls, windows and ceiling trusses will be rich and varied, the predominating scheme being of deep russet browns, light below and dark above. This scheme will be accentuated by the light- ing from concealed sources. On the Ark recess itself, however, will be focused the main decorative treatment of the interior. Here the columns and dome of the Ark will be of vari-colored marbles and mosaic inlays. Above and back of the Ark and on the side walls will be visible the richly decorated grill work of the choir loft and organ. Only those pierced panels, arches and vaults will indicate the important features of organ and choir. The major part of the organ will be located at this east end above the choir loft, which is located back (cast) of the rear wall of the Temple and twenty-six feet above the level of the platform. The echo organ, only, will be at the west c.id of the build- mg above the west balcony. The Chapel, located on Fifth Avenue, immediately north of the main Temple, purposely has been kept low, rising, about 200 feet east of the avenue, to a tower which separates the Temple from the Community House. Also, it has been set back from the street, so as to afford a spot of green garden to set of? its surroundings. The Chapel is 50 feet wide, 84 feet deep and 45 feet high, and will seat about 350 people. The scheme of its interior arrangement is that of two pendentive domes supported on columns, somewhat after the manner of certain early Byzantine structures. Arrangements have been made to transfer to the Chapel the May memorial windows and the lamps and Ark doors donated by Mr. Jacob H. Schiff and now in rhe present Temple. The Community House on Sixty-fifth Street will be approximately 48 feet wide by 100 feet deep. The steel for this has been designed so as to carry any future extension to the east and two stories additional in height, when needed. An assembly room on the main floor of the Community House will seat 750 people. Above that are suit- able offices, choir rooms, a music library, a general library for 25,000 volumes, a study and secretary's room for each of the Rabbis, a room for the Trustees, offices and a library for the Hebrew Union College, and twenty-eight classrooms for the use of the Sunday school, besides minor assembly rooms for 100 and 175 pupils, respectively. Just over the principal entrance to the Community House, offices, school and assembly rooms is the Tower, which is 180 feet high. This contains vestibules, elevators and stairs giving access to the various floors of the Community House. Below the main Temple itself, there is a banquet room with all necessary service rooms, kitchen, etc. It will accommodate 650 people at small tables, or between 750 and 1,000 at other functions. It is also provided with a platform, dressing rooms and other conveniences for entertainments. In view of the arrangement of "loud speakers" to be provided, services during the holy days will be audible to nearly 4,500 people in the main halls of this new Temple ; 2,500 in the Temple proper, 350 in the Chapel, 750 in the Assembly Room and almost 1,000 in the Banquet Hall. TEMPLE EMANU EL FORMERLY AT CORNER OF FIFTH AVENUE AND FORTY-THIRD STREET TEMPLE BETH'EL SITUATED AT CORNER OF SEVENTY- SIXTH STREET AND FIFTH AVENUE NOW OCCUPIED BY CONGREGATION EMANU-EL BRONZE ENTRANCE DOOR TO TEMPLE i^emorials and Qifts The purpose of this bock is to afiord . every one an early opportunity to appreciate the magnitude and beauty of the hew Temple, Chapel and Community House, for it seems eminently desirable that you should have set before you, as a hope and a promise, a prospectus of the increased and improved facilities which will be available when these structures are completed. Elements or individual features of these structures, which some may wish to have erected or provided as a testimonial to their zeal, or as an enduring memorial to some dear one, will serve as proud monuments whose beauty or utility generations may enjoy. No more fitting tribute to the cause we all love can be imagined than to embody in worked stone, carved wood, stained glass, or other material form (as an integral part of these magnificent new buildings) one's desire to have a part in this great work, nor can one conceive a more enduring or beautiful memorial to the memory of some dear one, than the gift to the Temple of some part of these great edifices. The Trustees of the Temple, therefore, offer for the consideration of those who may be thinking of making a gift to the Temple, the list below of such parts of the Temple, Chapel or Community House for which contri- butions may be made for the above purposes: Temple Emanu-El Fifth Avenue rose window complete, including exterior stone and stained glass $75,000 Fifth Avenue rose window, glass only 25,000 Four stained glass windows under rose window 5,000 Fifth Avenue high arcade windows over rose window (7), each 3,000 Fifth Avenue bronze entrance doors (3) . . . - . . . . 30,000 Ten complete nave bays, each including gallery fronts and sup- porting columns, one large stained glass window, four small clerestory windows above and two small aisle windows, each 60,000 Ten gallery fronts and supporting columns, each 8,000 Ten large stained glass windows in nave bays, each .... 5,000 Forty small stained glass clerestory windows in bays, each 1,000 Entire sanctuary, including choir and organ screens, marble wainscot, marble floor, ark, bronze doors to ark 200,000 Choir and organ screen included in above 50,000 Marble wainscot in sanctuary 20,000 Marble floor of sanctuary 20,000 Ark, including bronze doors 50,000 Two pulpits and canopies, each 15,000 Recess and arch over west gallery 50,000 Marble floor in vestibule 15,000 West gallery front 15,000 Seven branched candlesticks, each 10,000 Organ 75,000 Beth-El Chapel Entrance bronze doors 10,000 Mosaic domes (2), each 25,000 Six granite columns, each 5,000 Ten marble columns, each 2,500 Choir and organ screen 5,000 Four side walls, with small stained glass windows, each . . 3,500 Ark, exclusive of bronze doors 5,000 Marble floor 20,000 Community House Tower 100,000 Library, including furnishings 25,000 Trustees' room, including furnishings 20,000 Three Rabbis' rooms, including furnishings, each 10,000 MANTEL IN TRUSTEES' ROOM OF COMMUNITY HOUSE FIFTH. AVENUE Prepared by Sherman £r Lebair. Inc. New York •CLASSICS t