Congregation Anshai Emeth

{{Short description|Reform synagogue in Peoria, Illinois, United States}}

{{Infobox religious building

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| image = Anshai Emeth Peoria 20231117 0001.jpg

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| religious_affiliation = Reform Judaism

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| organisational_status = Synagogue

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| leadership = Rabbi Bryna Milkow

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| functional_status = Active

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| location = {{nowrap|5614 North University Street,}} Peoria, Illinois 61614

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| architect = Gyo Obata {{small|(1967)}}

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| architecture_style = Modernist

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| established = 1859 {{small|(as a congregation)}}

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Congregation Anshai Emeth ({{langx|he|אנשי אמת}}, 'People of Truth'{{cite web |author=Gilliland Wright, Mae |url=https://www.peoriamagazine.com/archive/as_article/sacred-connections-art-and-faith/ |title=SACRED CONNECTIONS IN ART AND FAITH |work=Peoria Magazine |publisher= |date=n.d. |access-date=January 11, 2024 }}) is a Reform Jewish congregation and synagogue located at 5614 North University Street, in Peoria, Illinois, in the United States. Established in 1859, the synagogue is the second oldest Jewish congregation in Illinois, and as of 2019 has the largest membership of any Jewish congregation in Peoria.

Rabbi Bryna Milkow has served as the rabbi of the congregation since July 2017.

History

= Early days =

In about 1847, Anshai Emeth was founded when several Jewish families, immigrants from Western Europe affiliated with the Reform movement, came together to establish an organized religious community in the Peoria area. At first they gathered in either members houses or various buildings around Peoria. Later, services were held in various places such as Washington House on North Washington Street.{{Cite web |title=Anshai Emeth History |url=https://www.anshaiemeth.org/about/anshai-emeth-history/ |access-date=2023-09-18 |website=Congregation Anshai Emeth |language=en-US}}

Religious classes were organized in 1852. The congregation also purchased land for a cemetery in 1852. In 1859, Max Newman collected $3,000 toward a Jewish house of worship in Peoria.{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=2008-10-11 |title=Anshai Emeth |url=https://www.pjstar.com/story/lifestyle/2008/10/11/anshai-emeth/42324761007/ |access-date=2023-11-22 |website=Peoria Journal Star |language=en-US}}

On May 2, 1863 they purchased a former Presbyterian church as the first synagogue in Peoria on Fulton, between Adams and Jefferson.{{Cite web |title=Community – Bradley University Hillel {{!}} Your Jewish Connection at Bradley University |url=https://bradleyhillel.org/community/ |access-date=2023-09-18 |language=en-US}} The congregation had about 34 members in 1863.

= Beth Israel =

On October 2, 1874, new Jewish immigrants from Russia, Poland and Hungary affiliated with the Orthodox movement left Anshai Emeth to found their own congregation, named Beth Israel. They purchased the church on Seventh Street near Franklin, originally the Central Christian Church built in 1855. After years of tensions between the two synagogues, in 1886 the two were united again, with Beth Israel selling their building and turning over their accounts to Anshai Emeth. Members of the community who did not wish to join the Reform congregation continued to hold services on their own where they could. That community would later create Congregation Agudas Achim, at first affiliated with the Orthodox movement.David McCulloch History of Peoria County, Bell & Howell Company, 1902. pp. 337-338.File:Christian_Assembly_Church_Peoria_20231115_0005.jpg

= New temples in 1880 and 1898 =

The congregation constructed a new temple on Fulton in 1880. Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise, founder of American Reform Judaism, attended the dedication. In 1896, the temple on Fulton was destroyed by fire.{{Cite news |date=1896-01-11 |title=To Rebuild Hebrew Church at Peoria |pages=3 |work=Chicago Tribune}} A new temple was erected on the corner of Monroe and Hancock. Erected in 1898 of Lake Superior sandstone, the cornerstone was laid on March 2, 1898 and was dedicated on September 9, 1898; Rabbi Wise attended the dedication.{{Cite news |date=1898-03-11 |title=((no title)) |pages=3 |work=Lake County Independent}} This Gothic Revival style temple served the congregation until 1967.{{Cite journal |last=Gordon |first=Mark W. |date=1986 |title=Rediscovering Jewish Infrastructure: The Legacy of U.S. 19th Century Synagogues |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23883267 |journal=American Jewish History |volume=75 |issue=3 |pages=296–306 |jstor=23883267 |issn=0164-0178}} The Fulton building was sold to the Christian Assembly Church.

= 1958 bombing =

On October 14, 1958, a crude pipe bomb exploded in the stairwell of the rear annex and shafted a basement door and a dozen windows.{{Cite news |date=1958-10-15 |title=Peoria Police, FBI Without Clues in Synagogue Bombing |pages=1 |work=Streator Daily Times-Press}}{{Cite web |date=1958-10-24 |title=October 24, 1958 - Image 32 |url=https://digital.bentley.umich.edu/djnews/djn.1958.10.24.001/32 |access-date=2023-11-23 |website=The Detroit Jewish News Digital Archives |language=en}}{{Cite book |publisher=United States Congress House Committee on the Judiciary |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZfMjAQAAMAAJ&dq=anshai+emeth+peoria+bombing&pg=PA188 |title=Hearings |year=1959 |pages=188 |language=en-US |via=Google Books }} An identical, unexploded pipe bomb had been found 16 months earlier at the Agudas Achim synagogue's construction site, at the corner of War Memorial and Sheridan.{{Cite web |date=1958-10-15 |title=Bomb Explodes in Peoria Synagogue Building; Damage is Slight |url=https://www.jta.org/archive/bomb-explodes-in-peoria-synagogue-building-damage-is-slight |access-date=2023-11-23 |website=Jewish Telegraphic Agency |language=en-US}}{{Cite news |date=1958-10-14 |title=Probing Peoria Blast |pages=1 |work=The Dispatch}}{{Cite web |date=2008-01-16 |title=Our History |url=https://agudasachim.wordpress.com/about/ |access-date=2023-11-23 |website=Congregation Agudas Achim |location=Peoria, IL |language=en}}{{self-published-inline|date=January 2024}} Police chief Bernard Kennedy dismissed anti-Semitism as the motive, citing "mental derangement" instead.{{Cite news |date=1958-10-16 |title=Peoria Blast |pages=33 |work=Chicago Tribune}} Rabbi Joseph L. Ginsberg stated he believed it had some connection to a bombing of an Atlanta synagogue days earlier.{{Cite journal |last=Kellman |first=George |date=1959 |title=Anti-Jewish Agitation |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23602919 |journal=The American Jewish Year Book |volume=60 |pages=44–52 |jstor=23602919 |issn=0065-8987}} FBI special agent Robert D. Gibbons of the Springfield, Illinois office investigated. President Eisenhower commented that the bombing was "a shocking and deplorable thing." There were approximately 700 members in October 1958. As of December 1958, the crime was still unsolved.{{Cite news |date=1958-12-06 |title=Peoria Rabbi Speaker at Dedication Dinner |pages=2 |work=The Decatur Daily Review}}

= New temple in 1967 =

File:Anshai_Emeth_Peoria_20231117_0007.jpg

A new synagogue, designed by Gyo Obata in the Modernist style, was dedicated on September 8, 1967.{{Cite web |last=Ori |first=Ryan |date=2008-10-11 |title=150 years of 'truth' |url=https://www.pjstar.com/story/lifestyle/2008/10/11/150-years-truth/42324764007/ |access-date=2023-11-22 |website=Peoria Journal Star |language=en-US}}

The Peoria Hebrew Day School, a private Jewish school, was established in 1971 and is housed in the lower half the building.{{cite web |date= |title=About Us on |url=https://peoriahebrewdayschool.org/about-us/ |accessdate=2019-11-01 |publisher=peoriahebrewdayschool.org}} It is the only Jewish Day School in downstate Illinois.{{Cite web |title=About PHDS |url=https://www.peoriahebrewdayschool.org/about-phds/ |access-date=2023-09-18 |website=Peoria Hebrew |language=en-US}}

As of 1994, Congregation Agudas Achim, the Peoria traditional Jewish congregation, was invited to move into the building housing Anshai Emeth as well.{{cite web |date= |title=Our History on |url=https://agudasachim.wordpress.com/about/ |accessdate=2019-11-01 |publisher=agudasachim.wordpress.com}}{{self-published-inline|date=January 2024}} On January 1, 2005, the two congregations finalized a sharing agreement. The old library was converted into a chapel with a new Ark, and a storage closet converted to a kosher kitchen.

= Sesquicentennial =

The congregation celebrated 150 years in 2008 with events like a live auction, performance by Debbie Friedman, appearances by Rabbi Eric Yoffie and Rabbi Dan Rabishaw, and a large banquet. In 2010, Anshai Emeth was the only synagogue at the sesquicentennial house of worship event hosted by the state historical society in Wheaton, Illinois.{{Cite web |last=Adams |first=Pam |date=2010-07-05 |title=Heartland: Area churches honored for 150 years or more of existence |url=https://www.pjstar.com/story/lifestyle/2010/07/05/heartland-area-churches-honored-for/42372113007/ |access-date=2023-11-22 |website=Peoria Journal Star |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |title=Sesquicentennial Houses of Worship Award |url=https://www.historyillinois.org/Awards/SesquicentennialHousesofWorshipAward.aspx |access-date=2023-11-24 |website=www.historyillinois.org}}

In May 2020, a dozen windows were smashed at the temple with bricks or rocks, causing an estimated $11,000 in damage to the Peoria Hebrew School section of the building.{{Cite news |date=2020-05-25 |title=Several windows smashed at Reform synagogue in Peoria, Illinois |work=The Times of Israel |url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/several-windows-smashed-at-reform-synagogue-in-peoria-illinois/}}{{Cite web |last=Sheehan |first=Matt |date=2020-05-21 |title=Jewish Synagogue vandalized, dozen of windows broken |url=https://www.centralillinoisproud.com/news/local-news/jewish-synagogue-vandalized-dozen-of-windows-broken/ |access-date=2023-11-23 |website=CIProud.com |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |last=Holt |first=Faygie Levy |date=2020-05-23 |title=Synagogue Windows Shattered in Peoria, Illinois |url=https://www.jewishpress.com/news/us-news/synagogue-windows-shattered-in-peoria-illinois/2020/05/23/ |access-date=2023-11-23 |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |last=Vlahos |first=Nick |date=2020-05-21 |title=Alleged vandals damage building that houses Peoria Jewish congregations |url=https://www.pjstar.com/story/news/2020/05/21/alleged-vandals-damage-building-that/1169443007/ |access-date=2023-11-23 |website=Peoria Journal Star |language=en-US}} Anshai Emeth president Steven Marx said it was just vandalism and not likely an anti-Semitic act. {{As of|2023|10}}, the temple had increased security measures such as surveillance cameras and bulletproof windows.{{Cite web |last=Porter |first=Madison |date=2023-10-13 |title='Your Jewish friends are not okay': Local synagogues are increasing security |url=https://www.25newsnow.com/2023/10/13/your-jewish-friends-are-not-okay-local-synagogues-are-increasing-security/ |access-date=2023-11-23 |website=25 News Now |language=en-US}}

Notable members

Betty Friedan{{cite book |author=Horowitz, Daniel |title=Betty Friedan And the Making of 'The Feminine Mystique' The American Left, the Cold War, and Modern Feminism |publisher=University of Massachusetts Press |year=2000 |page=19 |isbn= }}
Susan G. Komen,{{cite book |title=Anshai Emeth Directory: 1976-1977 |location=Peoria, IL |publisher=Congregation Anshai Emeth |year= }}{{self-published-inline|date=January 2024}} and her parents, Marvin and Eleanor Goodman,{{cite web |url=https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/peoria-il/eleanor-goodman-6501344 |title=Obituary for Eleanor Newman Goodman on |publisher=dignitymemeorial.com}} and her husband, Stanley Komen