HONESDALE, PA — Congregation Beth Israel is celebrating its 175th anniversary this year. An open house and tours will be offered on Saturday, July 20 from 12 noon to 3 p.m. at 615 Court St.

In September 1849, as thousands made their way west in pursuit of gold, 11 men met in a small home on Main Street. By kerosene light, they pledged to form a Jewish congregation and to hold services for members of the Jewish faith. 

Eight years later, in September 1856, the first services were held in the congregation’s new building on Court Street. 

And now, Congregation Beth Israel is the oldest continually operating synagogue in America still in its original building, and descendants of three of the original 11 families remain involved with the congregation. Today, the sounds of young people talking and learning fill the pews, as do the songs and prayers of the small Jewish community that has endured on the site for nearly two centuries. 

“We are endlessly proud of the endurance of Jewish life in Northeast PA and the continued vitality of our precious congregation, said Rabbi Elliott Kleinman, spiritual leader of the congregation. 

“For generations, our family and hundreds of others have come together to pray, mourn and celebrate in our historic sanctuary,” said Liza Roos Lucy, the congregation’s president. Roos Lucy is a descendant of one of founders. 

In 1850, a Torah scroll, a shofar, a M’gillah (Scroll of Esther), and a burial ground were purchased, but it was not until April 6, 1852, that the leaders instituted a constitution, began to keep written records, and elected Samuel Frankel as president and William Weiss as treasurer.

By 1854, the growing congregation held regular meetings, as well as Shabbat services, and Hebrew school in regular succession, although all activities were held in members’ homes or rented halls. By the next year, discussions concerning a permanent building grew lively. 

In March 1856, thanks to the intervention of Mr. R.F. Lord, chief engineer of the Delaware & Hudson Canal Company, the company donated a building lot, measuring 39 feet by 150 feet, on Court Street for the construction of a synagogue.

During the construction, money ran short, and again Mr. Lord came to the rescue with a personal donation—and a proviso. He asked that a steeple be added to the building. This practice was not traditional for synagogues, but, as he remarked: “What is a church without a steeple?” 

Locally, indeed, the synagogue still often is referred to as “the Jewish Church.”

For decades, through triumph and tragedy, the synagogue on Court Street continued to serve as refuge and anchor for the area’s Jewish community. Then came the night of May 23, 1942, when a devastating flood descended on Honesdale, seriously damaging the congregation’s building and setting the building slightly askew on its foundation. There was a large hole in its side, the historic glass windows were washed out, and the inside was completely destroyed.

The building was repaired. Recently the congregation replaced the historic stained-glass windows with beautiful, handcrafted stained-glass windows. 

In its early years, Congregation Beth Israel was served by a variety of itinerant rabbis. For most of the 20th century, until the 1970s, lay leaders in the congregation led services and provided religious instruction. Rabbi Lewis Bogage served the congregation for several years in the 1970s. 

From 1975 through 2015, Rabbi Allan Smith, z”l served as the part-time rabbi of the congregation. Rabbi Elliott Kleinman and his wife, Rabbi Eve Rudin, succeeded Rabbi Smith in 2014 and continue to serve the congregation today.

Today, the congregation continues to flourish. For 175 years, it has been members’ deep devotion to their Jewish community and the beloved building on Court Street that has been the staying power behind Congregation Beth Israel. 

As Ralph Waldo Emerson once observed, “An institution is the lengthened shadow of one man.” Indeed, today’s Congregation Beth Israel is the exceptionally long shadow of the 11 families who gathered 175 years ago to express their enduring commitment to America and the Jewish future. 

To learn more about Congregation Beth Israel, visit www.congregationbethisraelhonesdale.org.