Temple De Hirsch Sinai is a Reform Jewish

Reform Judaism

Reform Judaism refers to various beliefs, practices and organizations associated with the Reform Jewish movement in North America, the United Kingdom and elsewhere. In general, it maintains that Judaism and Jewish traditions should be modernized and should be compatible with participation in the...

 congregation with campuses in Seattle and nearby Bellevue

Bellevue, Washington

Bellevue is a city in the Eastside region of King County, Washington, United States, across Lake Washington from Seattle. Long known as a suburb or satellite city of Seattle, it is now categorized as an edge city or a boomburb. The population was 122,363 at the 2010 census.Downtown Bellevue is...

, Washington, USA. It was formed as a 1971 merger between the earlier Temple De Hirsch (Seattle, founded 1899) and Temple Sinai (Bellevue, founded 1961) and is the largest Reform congregation in the Pacific Northwest

Pacific Northwest

The Pacific Northwest is a region in northwestern North America, bounded by the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains on the east. Definitions of the region vary and there is no commonly agreed upon boundary, even among Pacific Northwesterners. A common concept of the...

.

The old Temple De Hirsch building (or Old Sanctuary) was listed on the National Register of Historic Places

National Register of Historic Places

The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...

, but was demolished in 1993. Part of the façade remains.

Temple De Hirsch

When Seattle's "quasi-Reform" Ohaveth Sholum Congregation

Ohaveth Sholum Congregation

Ohaveth Sholum Congregation was the first synagogue in Seattle, Washington, USA. Described by the Washington State Jewish Historical Society as "a quasi-Reform temple," it was the Seattle's first Jewish congregation...

, founded 1889, disbanded because of financial hardships after the Panic of 1893

Panic of 1893

The Panic of 1893 was a serious economic depression in the United States that began in 1893. Similar to the Panic of 1873, this panic was marked by the collapse of railroad overbuilding and shaky railroad financing which set off a series of bank failures...

, Seattle's liberal Jews were left without a synagogue. Temple De Hirsch was founded as a specifically Reform synagogue in 1899, named after Jewish philanthropist Baron Maurice de Hirsch

Maurice de Hirsch

Maurice de Hirsch was a German-Jewish philanthropist who set up charitable foundations to promote Jewish education and improve the lot of oppressed European Jewry. He was the founder of the Jewish Colonization Association which sponsored large-scale Jewish immigration to Argentina...

.

Construction of a synagogue was begun at Boylston Avenue and Marion Street in Seattle. A cornerstone

Cornerstone

The cornerstone concept is derived from the first stone set in the construction of a masonry foundation, important since all other stones will be set in reference to this stone, thus determining the position of the entire structure.Over time a cornerstone became a ceremonial masonry stone, or...

 was laid in 1901, and a basement was built; the congregation held services in the vestry, but rapid growth of the congregation led to the construction of a larger building at Union Street and 15th Avenue. Temple De Hirsch was begun in 1907, completed in 1908, and dedicated on the congregation's ninth anniversary, May 29, 1908. An adjacent Temple Center opened in 1924, housing a religion school and other organizations; a wing was added in 1951.

The old temple was demolished in 1993 after an unsuccessful attempt to work out a way to repurpose it as an arts venue. That effort did, however, end up salvaging a different former religious building: Seattle's Fourth Church of Christ, Scientist, now Town Hall Seattle.

The current sanctuary at 16th Avenue and Pike Street—the opposite corner of the same block as the old temple—was completed in 1960. That current building was designed by B. Marcus Priteca

B. Marcus Priteca

Benjamin Marcus Priteca was born in Glasgow, Scotland. A theater architect, he is best-known for his work for Alexander Pantages. He graduated from the University of Edinburgh in 1907 and later attended the Royal College of Art...

 John Dettie, and John Peck. Priteca was a noted theater architect: he designed all of Alexander Pantages

Alexander Pantages

Alexander Pantages was an American vaudeville and early motion picture producer and impresario who created a large and powerful circuit of theatres across the western United States and Canada.-Early life:...

' theaters between 1910 and 1929, as well as the landmark Seattle synagogue, Chevra Bikur Cholim (1912), now the Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center

Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center

The Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center is an arts venue in Seattle, Washington, USA, operated by Seattle Parks and Recreation and named after African American writer Langston Hughes. The building has Seattle landmark status. Dating from 1915, it was originally a synagogue, designed by B...

.

A Ladies Auxiliary (now the Sisterhood) was formed within months of the congregation's founding; a Temple Men’s Club (now the Brotherhood) followed in 1920.

The first rabbi of Temple De Hirsch was Theodore Joseph from Lancaster, Pennsylvania

Lancaster, Pennsylvania

Lancaster is a city in the south-central part of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is the county seat of Lancaster County and one of the older inland cities in the United States, . With a population of 59,322, it ranks eighth in population among Pennsylvania's cities...

. His successor, Samuel Koch, was senior rabbi from 1906 to 1942. During Koch's time, Temple De Hirsch solidified its position as an important and steadily expanding congregation, with a religion school attended not only by children of the congregation but by some whose parents were not Reform Jews. In 1909, Koch established a newsletter, Temple Tidings, initially a weekly and later a monthly publication.
Upon Koch's retirement, he was succeeded by Raphael Levine, who served as senior rabbi from 1942 to 1970. Levine was a devoted ecumenicist, co-hosting a television program called Challenge with a Catholic priest and a Protestant

Protestantism

Protestantism is one of the three major groupings within Christianity. It is a movement that began in Germany in the early 16th century as a reaction against medieval Roman Catholic doctrines and practices, especially in regards to salvation, justification, and ecclesiology.The doctrines of the...

 minister. Challenge for 14 years, first on KOMO-TV

KOMO-TV

KOMO-TV, virtual channel 4, is a television station in Seattle, Washington. It is an affiliate of ABC and broadcasts on digital channel 38. KOMO-TV is the flagship station of Fisher Communications, and its studios and offices are co-located with sister radio stations KOMO , KVI , and KPLZ-FM ...

 and later on KING-TV

KING-TV

KING-TV, virtual channel 5, is a television station in Seattle, Washington, affiliated with the NBC network. Owned by Belo Corporation, it broadcasts on UHF digital channel 48. Its offices and broadcasting center are located just east of Seattle Center...

, both in Seattle. He also founded the Pacific Association of Reform Rabbis, the ecumenical Camp Brotherhood, a religious, educational, and cultural center for Christians and Jews, and co-founded Camp Swig, an educational and recreational camp for Jewish youth, and played a significant role in founding Children's Hospital, now Seattle Children's.

Levine's successor, Earl Stanton Starr, was senior rabbi from 1970. He saw through the merger of congregations and remained senior rabbi of Temple De Hirsch Sinai until 2001. Like all of his predecessors at Temple De Hirsch, he carried on a long tradition of community service and outreach.

Temple De Hirsch has at least two claims to fame in the history of music. Samuel Goldfarb, co-composer of the Hanukkah song

Hanukkah music

Hanukkah music contains several songs associated with the festival of Chanukah.- Chanukah blessings:There are three Chanukah blessings that are sung for lighting the candles of the menorah. The third blessing is only sung on the first night...

 "I Have a Little Dreidel

I Have a Little Dreidel

"I Have a Little Dreidel" is a Chanukah song in the English speaking world, and also has an Yiddish version. This children's tune is about making a dreidel and playing with it...

" was music director of Temple De Hirsch from 1930 to 1968. Using a farm system that allowed youth to "graduate" from one level of choir

Choir

A choir, chorale or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform.A body of singers who perform together as a group is called a choir or chorus...

 to another, he created one of the country's finest temple choirs. Perhaps more unusually, Jimi Hendrix

Jimi Hendrix

James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist and singer-songwriter...

 played his first professional gig as a musician in the Temple De Hirsch basement; he was fired mid-performance for his wild playing.

Temple De Hirsch Sinai

Temple De Hirsch Sinai retained both the Temple De Hirsch facility (its "Seattle Campus") and the Temple Sinai facility (its "Bellevue campus"). The original Bellevue facility was sold in 2001, when a new facility was constructed in the Eastgate area of Bellevue. Earl Starr of Temple De Hirsch Sinai remained senior rabbi until his retirement in July 2001, when he was succeeded by Daniel A. Weiner. The Seattle building shares facilities with a local private school, the Seattle Academy of Arts and Sciences

Seattle Academy of Arts and Sciences

Seattle Academy of Arts and Sciences, Seattle Academy, or SAAS is a coed independent middle and high school located on Seattle, Washington's urban Capitol Hill. The school was founded in 1983....

, and the Bellevue facility shares facilities with the Emerald Heights Academy.

Temple De Hirsch Sinai Library

The Temple De Hirsch Sinai Library was founded in 1908. As of 2011 it contained 8000 books and subscribed to 20 periodicals. It specializes in materials on Judaism and the Holocaust.

External links

• Temple De Hirsch Sinai, official site