People

The Buffalo region has been home to a wide range of individuals associated with local Jewish communities and Jewish networks from the 1820s through to the contemporary period as immigrants, citizens, residents and locals.

Institutions

Buffalo Jews have a rich history of forming both formal and informal institutions for religious, educational, political and social needs. From synagogues to organizations, and from coordinating agencies to groups and clubs, Jewish Buffalonians have seen a changing range of institutions supported by group endeavors and community philanthropy.

Neighborhoods

In living memory, the East Side and North Buffalo stand out as physically connected and interwoven religious and commercial centers of Jewish living. In contrast to these specific areas are the mini hubs identified with Jewish living and connected to a more dispersed idea of neighborhood. Separately, suburbia with its significant geographic spread, has redefined how a series of Jewish spaces come together with a mix of hubs, focal points and networks.

Themes

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Exhibitions

Special exhibitions, through a focus on particular individuals and subjects, delves into the personal stories that have animated Jewish lives. Each digital exploration reflects on the interplay between place, identities and changing times and the way in which American, Jewish and Buffalo historical experiences are deeply interwoven.

Resources

Materials that document Jewish Buffalo in all its diversity are found in books, articles, archives and museums, many of which are available locally or online. This section highlights some of these sources and will be updated regularly.

Temple Emanu-el, 1933, Temple Building

Temple Emanu-el, Temple Building, Proof Copy, Photographer unknown, 1933. Courtesy of Temple Beth Tzedek.

Synagogues  /  Temple Emanu-el

Temple Emanu-el was founded in 1924, and had a number of temporary homes along Hertel Avenue and Parkside until it purchased the former North Park Baptist Church, at Colvin and Tacoma in the 1930s.

Overview

Temple Emanu-el was founded in North Buffalo in 1924, and had a number of temporary homes, including 1313 Hertel Avenue, 283 Parkside Avenue,1472 Hertel Avenue,1444 Hertel Avenue, and finally 385 Colvin Ave in 1933. The building at Tacoma was purchased from the former North Park Baptist Church and remodeled by local architect, Louis Greenstein, who also added a bimah. Although it was the first synagogue to be founded in the North Buffalo area that allied with Conservative Judaism, it’s early constitution drafts stated it was organized as “Modern Orthodox (Conservative).”

In 1930, Temple Emanu-el hired its first permanent rabbi: Rabbi Joseph Gitin. Son of east side rabbi of the Pine Street Shul and Anshe Emes, Rabbi Samuel Gitin, the younger Rabbi Gitin led the congregation into a new temple home on Colvin and Tacoma. A series of rabbis served the congregation during the 1930s and early 1950s including Rabbi Nathan Kollin, Rabbi Morris Adler and Rabbi Eli A. Bohnen. Temple Emanu-El had a number of hazzanim, including Cantor Charles S. Gudovitz and Cantor Gildar. In 1953, Rabbi Isaac Klein was appointed Rabbi to Temple Emanu-el and rapidly became the leading force in Conservative Jewry in the Buffalo community. He and his wife Henriette, were driving forces in the founding and running of Kadimah, a Jewish Day school founded in Buffalo in 1959. From 1962, Kadimah divided it’s grade school levels between two sites: Temple Emanu-El on Colvin Avenue and Ahavas Achim on Tacoma Avenue. In addition to his pulpit work, Rabbi Klein was heavily involved in the national leadership of Conservative Judaism, especially the Rabbinic Assembly where he served as President. He was an influential member of the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards, and separately the author of many teshuvot (rabbinic responses to Jewish religious questions asked by laity and clergy). His magnum opus, A Guide to Jewish Religious Practice, has been used by successive generations of Conservative Jewish rabbis and their laity.

In 1968, Temple Emanu-El and Temple Beth David-Ner Israel merged to form a new entity: Temple Shaarey Zedek and relocated to the suburbs.

Locations

Documents

Associated Families

Many families were associated with Temple Emanuel over the decades including:

  • Pfefferman
  • Durchslag
  • Gelman
  • Klein
  • Most
  • Joseph
  • Dolgonos
  • Mazer
  • Berson
  • Pydaloff
  • Greenspan
  • Shaffer
  • Morrison
  • Wagner
  • Stone
  • Maiman
  • Schaffran
  • Rosenberg
  • Brownstein
  • Schulman
  • Cohen
  • Davis
  • Mandelkern
  • Dopkins
  • Nitzberg
  • Woldman
  • Rossen
  • Karp
  • Checkman
  • Rabin
  • Shaffer
  • Resman
  • Goldstein
  • Nissenson
  • Krassin
  • Giller

Gallery

Edith and Morris Carrel’s 50th Wedding Anniversary, c. 1940s

Edith and Morris Carrel’s 50th Wedding Anniversary, Temple Emanu-el. Top row, left to right: Ruthie Carrel (Birnberg); Harold Carrel, Harry Carrel; Abe Carrel; Avram Finger; Louis Finger; Hy Carrel; Dickie Carrel Bobby Carrel; Alan Carrel (Baby). Jacob (Jack) Carrel. Bottom row, left to right: Jennie Carrel; Gert Carrel; Fannie Carrel; Edith (Berkwitt) Carrel; Morris Carrel; (standing) Ruthie Finger; Manya Carrel Finger; Lillian Carrel; Arlene Carrel (Goldstein); On floor left to tight: Donald Carrel; Jerome (Jerry) Carrel. Courtesy of Ellen and Amy Goldstein.

Edith and Morris Carrel’s 50th Wedding Anniversary, c. 1940s

Rabbi Isaac Klein

Rabbi Isaac Klein, undated, Rabbi Isaac Klein Papers, 1925-1979, University Archives, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York.

Rabbi Isaac Klein

Temple Emanu-el, 1947

Temple Emanu-El, Confirmation Class, Created by Frederick Marschall Photography, 1947. Courtesy of Temple Beth Tzedek.

Temple Emanu-el, 1947

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Contribute to this page

We continue to seek internal and external photographs, documents, film, mementos and written recollections relating to Temple Emanu-El and its members and history for digitization. If you have materials you’d like to make available for this purpose, please contact us.

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Thank you

Our thanks to Temple Beth Tzedek for making their archives available, and to Ferne Mittleman for making her research papers available through the Cofeld Judaic Museum.