View source for Congregation Emanu-El (San Francisco)

{{Short description|Jewish  synagogue in California, United States}}
{{Infobox religious building
| building_name         = Temple Emanu-El
| image                 = Congregation Emanu-El.jpg
| image_size            = 310px
| caption               = 
| location              = 2 Lake Street, [[San Francisco]],<br/>[[California]], United States
| geo                   = {{coord|37.7872|-122.4597|display=inline,title}}
| religious_affiliation = [[Reform Judaism]]
| functional_status     = Active
| leadership            = Ryan Bauer <small>(senior rabbi)</small><br>Joel Roos and Jon Holman <small>(Presidents)</small>
| website               = http://www.emanuelsf.org
| architecture          = yes
| architect             = [[Arthur Brown Jr.]]
| architecture_type     = 
| architecture_style    = [[Byzantine Revival architecture|Byzantine Revival]]
| year_completed        = 1926
| construction_cost     = 
| specifications        = yes 
| dome_quantity         = 1
| dome_height_outer     = 150 feet
}}

'''Congregation Emanu-El''' of [[San Francisco]], [[California]] is one of the three [[Oldest synagogues in the United States|oldest Jewish congregations in California]],{{efn|[[Temple Israel (Stockton, California)]] was the first. The two next oldest congregations in California are [[Congregation Emanu-El (San Francisco)|Emanu-El]] and [[Congregation Sherith Israel (San Francisco, California)|Sherith Israel]] in San Francisco. Both were founded in 1851. The two synagogues were founded simultaneously because the city's Jews could not agree on whether to follow the prayer customs of the Polish or German Jews. Emanu-El was founded as the congregation of the German Jews and Sherith Israel as the congregation of the Polish Jews.<ref>[[Jonathan Sarna|Sarna, Jonathan]]. ''American Judaism''. [[Yale University Press]], 2004. p. 73</ref>}} and one of the largest Jewish congregations in the United States. A member of the [[Union for Reform Judaism]], Congregation Emanu-El is a significant gathering place for the Bay Area Jewish community.

==History==
During the Gold Rush in 1849, a small group of Jews held the first [[High Holy Days]] services in a tent in San Francisco; it was the first Jewish service on the [[West Coast of the United States]].<ref name="JW" /> This group of traders and merchants founded Congregation Emanu-El sometime in 1850, and its charter was issued in April, 1851. The 16 signatories were mostly [[History of the Jews in Germany|German Jews]] from [[Kingdom of Bavaria|Bavaria]].

In 1860, Reform rabbi Elkan Cohn joined the Emanu-El congregation; in 1877, he led the congregation as the first in the West to join the [[Reform movement|Reform Movement]].<ref name="JW" /> As the Reform Movement in Judaism spread in the United States during the early twentieth century, the synagogue became affiliated with this framework. 

In 1884 [[Julie Rosewald]] became America's first female [[hazzan|cantor]] when she began serving in Emanu-El, although she was not ordained.<ref name="jwa.org">{{cite web|url=http://jwa.org/blog/Julie-Rosewald|title=Julie Rosewald: America's first woman cantor|work=jwa.org}}</ref><ref name="thejewishweek.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.thejewishweek.com/news/short_takes/forgotten_woman_cantor_julie_rosewald_now_getting_her_due|title=The Forgotten Woman Cantor: Julie Rosewald Now Getting Her Due - The Jewish Week|work=The Jewish Week|access-date=2014-09-15|archive-date=2016-05-14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160514113854/http://www.thejewishweek.com/news/short_takes/forgotten_woman_cantor_julie_rosewald_now_getting_her_due|url-status=dead}}</ref> She served as a cantor there until 1893.<ref name="jwa.org"/><ref name="thejewishweek.com"/>

Among its major programs today, the synagogue includes worship, youth and adult education programs, and also a major emphasis on social justice.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.emanuelsf.org/tikkun-tikvah-working-reform-californias-criminal-justice-system/|title=Tikkun Tikvah - Working to Reform California's Criminal Justice System - Congregation Emanu-El|newspaper=Congregation Emanu-El|language=en-US|access-date=2016-10-18}}</ref> 

[[File:Jewish Synagogue, Congregation Emanu-El. Sutter Street, San Francisco, from Robert N. Dennis collection of stereoscopic views.png|thumb|Early Temple Emanu-El. Sutter Street, San Francisco, from Robert N. Dennis collection of stereoscopic views]]

==Clergy==
[[File:Stained glass window at Temple Emmanuel in San Francisco 2.jpg|thumb|Stained glass window at Temple Emanu-El in San Francisco]]
[[File:Mosaic at Temple Emmanuel in San Francisco.jpg|thumb|Mosaic at Temple Emanu-El in San Francisco]]

{{Columns-list|colwidth=30em|
* Rabbi Julius Eckman (1854–1855)
* Rabbi Elkan Cohn (1860–1889)<ref name="JW" />
* Rabbi Jacob Voorsanger (1889–1908)
* Rabbi [[Martin A. Meyer]] (1910–1923)
* [[Rabbi Louis Israel Newman|Rabbi Louis Newman (1924–1930)]]
* Rabbi [[Irving Reichert]] (1930–1948)
* Rabbi Alvin Fine (1948–1964)
* Rabbi Meyer Heller (1950–1963)
* Cantor Joseph Portnoy (1959-1987)
* Rabbi Irving Hausman (1964–1967)
* Rabbi [[Joseph Asher]] (1967–1986)<ref>{{Cite book
  | last = Kirschner
  | first = Robert
  | editor-last1 = Rischin
  | editor-first1 = Moses
  | editor-last2 = Asher
  | editor-first2 = Raphael
  | chapter = A Singular Elegance
  | title = The Jewish legacy and the German conscience
  | page = 47
  | publisher = The Judah L. Magnes Museum
  | location = Berkeley, CA
  | year = 1991
  }}</ref>
* Rabbi Robert Kirschner (1981–1992)
* Rabbi Mark Schiftan (1987–1994)
* Cantor Roslyn Barak (1987–2015, Senior Cantor Emerita 2015-present)
* Rabbi Peretz Wolf-Prusan (1990–2010)
* Rabbi Stephen Pearce, D.D. Ph.D. (1992–2013, Senior Rabbi Emeritus, 2013–present)
* Rabbi Helen Cohn (1993–2005)
* Rabbi [[Lawrence Kushner]] (Scholar in Residence since 2002)
* Rabbi Sydney Mintz (1997–present)
* Cantor Marsha Attie (1998–present)
* Rabbi Ryan Bauer (2007–present)
* Rabbi Jonathan Jaffe (2007–2014)
* Rabbi Carla Fenves (2011–2020)
* Rabbi Beth Singer (2013–present)
* Rabbi Jonathan Singer (2013–present)
* Rabbi Jason Rodich (2015–2023)
* Cantor Arik Luck (2015-present)
* Rabbi Sarah Joselow Parris (2019–present)
* Rabbi Noah Westreich (2023–present)}}

==Notable members==
{{Columns-list|colwidth=20em|
*[[Larry Baer]]
* Jim Bennett, father of the 13th Prime Minister of Israel [[Naftali Bennett]]
*[[Joseph Brandenstein]]
*[[Stephen Breyer]]
*[[Lazarus Dinkelspiel]]
*[[Dianne Feinstein]]<ref name="JW" />
*[[Donald Fisher]]
*[[Doris F. Fisher]]
*[[Aaron Fleishhacker]]
*[[Richard Goldman]]
*[[Rhoda Haas Goldman]]
*[[Evelyn Danzig Haas]]
*[[Peter E. Haas]]
*[[Walter A. Haas Jr.]]
*[[Warren Hellman]]
*[[Florence Prag Kahn]]
*[[Simon Koshland]]
*[[Philip N. Lilienthal]]
*[[Bob Lurie]]
*[[Isaac Magnin]]
*[[Raphael Peixotto]]
*[[Julie Rosewald]]
*[[Nell Sinton]]
*[[Douglas W. Shorenstein]]
*[[Theodore Solomons]]
*[[David Stern (businessman)|David Stern]]
*[[Levi Strauss]]<ref name="JW">{{Cite web |date=1999-10-08 |title=Emanu-El's pedigree: a towering presence |url=https://jweekly.com/1999/10/08/emanu-el-s-pedigree-a-towering-presence/ |access-date=2023-02-03 |website=J. weekly |language=en-US}}</ref>
}}

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
[[File:Pews at Temple Emmanuel in San Francisco.jpg|thumb|Pews at Temple Emanu-El in San Francisco]]
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* [[Fred Rosenbaum|Rosenbaum, Fred]], ''Visions of Reform : Congregation Emanu-El and the Jews of San Francisco 1849–1999'', Judah L. Magnes Museum, 2000, {{ISBN|0-943376-69-6}} {{ISBN|978-0-943376-69-1}}
* [[Fred Rosenbaum|Rosenbaum, Fred]], ''Architects of reform: congregational and community leadership Emanu-El of San Francisco, 1849–1980'', [[Western Jewish History Center]], [[Judah L. Magnes Memorial Museum]], 1980
* Voorsanger, Jacob, ''The Chronicles of Emanu-El'', Spaulding Press, 1900.

==External links==
{{Commons category|Congregation Emanu-El (San Francisco)}}
* {{Official website|http://www.emanuelsf.org/ }}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Emanu-El (San Francisco, California)}}
[[Category:Synagogues in San Francisco]]
[[Category:Reform synagogues in California]]
[[Category:Religious organizations established in 1851]]
[[Category:1851 establishments in California]]
[[Category:German-American culture in California]]
[[Category:German-Jewish culture in the United States]]
[[Category:Synagogues completed in 1926]]
[[Category:1920s architecture in the United States]]
[[Category:1926 establishments in California]]
[[Category:Arthur Brown Jr. buildings]]
[[Category:Byzantine Revival synagogues]]
[[Category:Byzantine Revival architecture in California]]
[[Category:Mediterranean Revival architecture in California]]
[[Category:Synagogue buildings with domes]]
[[Category:Synagogues in California]]