Temple House of Israel

Temple House of Israel was founded in 1876 in Staunton, Virginia, United States by Major Alexander Hart,[4] who had fought for the Confederate States of America in the American Civil War.[7] Hart served as the congregation's president and minister until at least 1893.[7][8]

Services were held in members' homes for more than eight years. In 1884 the congregation acquired the Hoover School building at 200 Kalorama Street,[2] at the corner of Market Street,[9] and in February 1885 began holding services there.[2] The building still stands, diagonally opposite the Stonewall Jackson Hotel. That same year the synagogue joined the Union of American Hebrew Congregations (now the Union for Reform Judaism).[2]

The congregation purchased land north of Staunton for a cemetery in 1886, and held its first burial there in 1887. The cemetery, on North Augusta Street between Woodland Drive and Lee Street, is still used for burials today.[2][10]

At the turn of the 20th century, House of Israel had no rabbi, but held services twice a week, Friday nights from 8:00 to 9:00pm, and Saturday from 10:30 to 11:30am. The congregation also ran a religious school.[11] By 1907 Staunton's Jewish population was an estimated 40 people. House of Israel had fifteen member families, and still held services twice a week. However, the congregation still had no rabbi, and the religious school no longer functioned.[12]

Fannie Barth Strauss, instructor and later Assistant Professor of Latin and German at Mary Baldwin College from 1918 to 1954, re-established the Hebrew school at House of Israel in 1916.[13] In 1919, though the synagogue still had no rabbi, the school held classes once a week, and had two teachers and twelve students.[14] Strauss would serve as the school's principal from its re-establishment until at least 1964, and also served as the synagogue's Treasurer from 1946 until at least 1964.[13]

By 1924 the congregation had outgrown its Kalorama Street building, and it purchased a lot at 115 North Market Street from Mary Baldwin College for $7,150 (today $107,000).[2][3] Sam Collins of T.J. Collins and son designed a new Moorish Revival building there,[1][2] constructed at a cost of $17,000 (today $248,000).[2]

The one-story stucco building had a twin gable roof with 3 bays. Decorated with "Early Assyrian motifs", the facade presented "[f]lanking twin towers with suppressed buttresses", and a "[l]arge arched opening in [the] central bay, supported by unusual columns",[5] and included Mercer tiles.[1] All the windows, and a glass screen, were created by Charles Jay Connick of Boston,[1] who also created famous windows for a number of religious buildings, including the rose windows of St. Patrick's Cathedral and the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in New York City.[5] The windows (sixteen in total) and screen cost $700 (today $10,000), and featured fruits or plants grown in the Land of Israel, including "olives, grapes, citron, pomegranate, and others".[2]

In 1947, a kitchen and small social hall were constructed at the back of the building, and a south bay was added to the sanctuary; Sam Collins was again the architect.[2] To provide more room for the religious school, the social hall was expanded in 1965.[2] The building was a contributing property to the successful 1984 National Register of Historic Places nomination of Gospel Hill as a historic district.[5]

During the early 1970s, Frank M. Waldorf was the congregation's rabbi. He went on to serve for 30 years as rabbi at Temple Sinai in Brookline, Massachusetts.[15] After Waldorf, Temple House of Israel entered into a "joint rabbi" arrangement with Congregation Beth El of Harrisonburg, Virginia, where rabbis would serve for two-thirds of their time at Beth El, and the rest at House of Israel.[16] The first rabbi hired under this arrangement was Robert Kraus (also in the early 1970s).[16]

The congregation remained small; in 1983, membership was only 28 families.[17] That year Douglas D. Weber was hired as rabbi of both Temple House of Israel and Beth El, and the "joint rabbi" arrangement became "permanent".[18][16] From 1984 to 1988 Lynne Landsberg filled that role.[19][20] The 30th female rabbinic graduate of the Union for Reform Judaism,[19][20] she had previously served as student rabbi at Temple House of Israel from 1979 to 1981, then as associate rabbi of Manhattan's Central Synagogue until 1984.[21] She subsequently took on a number of roles at the Union for Reform Judaism, and, after a serious and disabling accident in 1999, became the senior adviser on disability issues at the Religious Action Center for Reform Judaism.[19][20][21]

Rabbis Daniel Fink and Laura Rappaport jointly led Temple House of Israel and Beth El from 1988 to 1992.[16] During the 1990s the two congregations were served by Jonathan Biatch, then Jacqueline Romm Satlow,[16][22] followed, from 1997 to 2003, by Ariel J. Friedlander as rabbi.[16]

Rita Dove and Eduardo Montes-Bradley in the Temple House of Israel sanctuary for the filming of Rita Dove: An American Poet

In 2003, Joe Blair became the rabbi of Temple House of Israel and Beth El;[23] the two congregations combined had 120 member families.[24][25] Blair received B.A. and Master of Computer Science degrees from the University of Virginia, and a Juris Doctor from The College of William & Mary Law School.[26] After working in the computer field for 15 years, and briefly as a general practice attorney, he returned to school, attending the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, from which he graduated with a Masters in Hebrew Letters in 1996.[27] In 2004 he was appointed an adjunct professor of religion at Mary Baldwin College.[26] A member of Toastmasters International, to which he attributed his speaking abilities,[28] he also moderated a conversion forum on Jewish.com.[29] In 2008 Blair was one of 18 rabbis chosen nationally to participate in the Synagogues: Transformation and Renewal elite training program.[24][30] Blair left Temple House of Israel in 2018, to become the rabbi of Temple Israel of Charleston, West Virginia.[31]

Peter Grumbacher joined as part-time interim rabbi in 2018.[32] After receiving his ordination from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in 1972, he served as full-time rabbi of Congregation Beth Emeth in Wilmington, Delaware until his retirement in 2009, and subsequently as interim rabbi of Beth El Congregation in Winchester, Virginia.[33] Rabbi Randi Nagel was elected as Rabbi of the congregation in 2019.[34]

Temple House of Israel served as a location for the documentary film Rita Dove: An American Poet produced by Heritage Film Project. Filming took place in December 2013.[35]

• Temple House of Israel website
• "Hanukkah", The News Virginian, December 20, 2008.