Aloha Jewish Chapel

{{Short description|Jewish chapel on Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Hawaii}} {{Use mdy dates|date=January 2024}} {{Infobox religious building | name = Aloha Jewish Chapel | native_name = | native_name_lang = | image = Interior of Aloha Jewish Chapel on Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam.JPG | image_upright = 1.4 | alt = Interior of Aloha Jewish Chapel | caption = Interior of Aloha Jewish Chapel | religious_affiliation = [[Judaism]] | tradition = | sect = | district = | prefecture = | province = | region = | deity = | rite = [[Non-denominational Judaism|Unaffiliated]] | festival =  | organisational_status = [[Synagogue]] | ownership = | governing_body = | leadership = | bhattaraka = | patron = | consecration_year = | functional_status = Active | religious_features_label = | religious_features = | location = [[Joint Base Pearl Harbor–Hickam|Pearl Harbor Naval Station]] (Makalapa Gate), [[Honolulu]], [[Hawaii]] | locale = | municipality = | cercle = | state = | country = United States | map_type = Hawaii | map_size = 250 | map_alt = | map_relief = 1 | map_caption = Location in [[Hawaii]] | grid_name = | grid_position = | sector = | territory = | administration = | coordinates = {{Coord|21|21|11|N|157|56|10|W|region:US-HI_type:landmark|display=it}} | coordinates_footnotes = | heritage_designation = | architect = [[Vladimir Ossipoff]] | architecture_type = Synagogue | architecture_style = | founded_by = | creator = | funded_by = | general_contractor = | established = 1975 | groundbreaking = | year_completed = | construction_cost = | date_demolished =  | facade_direction = | capacity = | length = | width = | width_nave = | interior_area = | height_max = | dome_quantity = | dome_height_outer = | dome_height_inner = | dome_dia_outer = | dome_dia_inner = | minaret_quantity = | minaret_height = | spire_quantity = | spire_height = | site_area = | temple_quantity = | monument_quantity = | shrine_quantity = | inscriptions = | materials = | elevation_m =  | elevation_footnotes = | nrhp = | designated = | added = | refnum = | delisted1_date = | website = | footnotes = }}

'''Aloha Jewish Chapel''' is an [[Non-denominational Judaism|unaffiliated]] [[Jewish]] [[synagogue]] located on the grounds of what is now [[Joint Base Pearl Harbor–Hickam]] in [[Honolulu]], [[Hawaii]], in the United States.

== History == Completed in 1975, the building was designed by [[Vladimir Ossipoff]]<ref name="Sakamoto">{{cite book |editor1-first=Dean |editor1-last=Sakamoto |editor2-first=Karla |editor2-last=Britton |editor3-first=Diana |editor3-last=Murphy |others=et al |title=Hawaiian Modern: The Architecture of Vladimir Ossipoff |year=2007 |publisher=[[Honolulu Museum of Art|Honolulu Academy of Arts]] and [[Yale University Press]] |location=New Haven, CT, USA |isbn=978-0-300-12146-9 |oclc=488550784 |page=265}}</ref> as the first building built by the United States government exclusively for Jewish worship.<ref name="Tigay">{{cite journal|last=Tigay|first=Alan M.|date=January 2009|title=The Jewish Traveler: Honolulu|url=http://www.hadassahmagazine.org/site/c.twI6LmN7IzF/b.5766821/k.C01E/January_2009_Vol_90_No_5.htm|journal=Hadassah Magazine|publisher=[[Hadassah Magazine|Hadassah]]|volume=90|issue=5|pages=28|issn=0017-6516|oclc=610586821|access-date=2013-04-13|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110827000122/http://www.hadassahmagazine.org/site/c.twI6LmN7IzF/b.5766821/k.C01E/January_2009_Vol_90_No_5.htm|archive-date=2011-08-27|url-status=dead}}</ref> (The [[Commodore Levy Chapel]], [[Naval Station Norfolk]], is the Navy's oldest Jewish Chapel, but it is part of a larger Chapel complex.) The Aloha Jewish Chapel was dedicated on December 14, 1975 by [[Bertram Korn|Rear Admiral Bertram Wallace Korn]], who was, at the time, the highest ranking [[rabbi]] in the United States military.<ref>{{cite news |author=Tong, David |title=Rabbi calls Zionism vote "propaganda" |newspaper=Honolulu Star Bulletin |date=December 13, 1975 |page=A13 }}</ref>

The chapel has a vaulted roof with an adjacent [[mikveh]] (ritual bath). The building also contains a kitchen for [[Kashrut|kosher]] food, a library, and a small social hall.<ref>Historic American Buildings Survey No. HI-568, pp. 2-4</ref> On the exterior of the building is the "Shalom" sculpture created in 1975 by Selma Mannheim of Los Angeles, California. With its copious natural light, the building is considered a prime example of Hawaii Modern architecture.<ref>{{cite book |editor1=Sakamoto, Dean |editor2=Britton, Karla |editor3=Murphy, Diana |year=2007 |title=Hawaiian Modern: The Architecture of Vladimir Ossipoff. et al. |location=New Haven, CT, USA |publisher=Honolulu Academy of Arts and [[Yale University Press]] |page=265 |isbn=978-0-300-12146-9 |oclc=488550784 }}</ref><ref>Historic American Buildings Survey No. HI-568</ref>

The congregation raised money for, and purchased, a new [[Sefer Torah|Torah scroll]], which was dedicated on October 26, 2008. This was the first dedication of a new Torah scroll in Hawaii.

== Gallery == <gallery> US Navy 081026-N-9758L-097 Torah dedication ceremony participants write one of the last letters in a new Sefer Torah at the Aloha Jewish Chapel at Naval Station Pearl Harbor.jpg|[[Sefer Torah]] dedication in 2008 </gallery>

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== {{commons category}} * {{oweb|https://jbchapel.info/jewish}}

[[Category:1975 establishments in Hawaii]] [[Category:20th-century synagogues in the United States]] [[Category:Jewish-American military history]] [[Category:Jewish organizations established in 1975]] [[Category:Military chapels of the United States]] [[Category:Military facilities in Hawaii]] [[Category:Religious buildings and structures in Honolulu]] [[Category:Synagogues completed in 1975]] [[Category:Synagogues in Hawaii]] [[Category:Unaffiliated synagogues in the United States]]