Beit Shalom Jewish Community

{{short description|Reform synagogue in Davenport, Iowa, US}} {{Use mdy dates|date=January 2024}} {{Infobox religious building | building_name = Beit Shalom Jewish Community | native_name = | image = Beit Shalom Jewish Community.jpg | image_upright = 1.4 | caption = Beit Shalom Jewish Community | map_type = Iowa | map_size = 250 | map_relief = 1 | map_caption = Location in [[Iowa]] | location = 2215 East Kimberly Road, [[Davenport, Iowa|Davenport]], [[Iowa]] | country = United States | geo = {{coord|41.5532513|-90.526569|region:US-IA_type:landmark|format=dms|display=inline,title}} | religious_affiliation = [[Reform Judaism]] | rite = | region = | province = | territory = | prefecture = | sector = | district = | cercle = | municipality = | consecration_year = | status = [[Synagogue]] | functional_status = Active | heritage_designation = | leadership = {{ubl|Rabbi Linda Bertenthal|Rabbi Henry Jay Karp {{small|(Emeritus)}}}} | website = {{url|qctemple.org/}} | architect = [[Percival Goodman]] {{small|(1953)}} | architecture_type = Synagogue | architecture_style = [[Modernist architecture|Modernist]] {{small|(1953)}} | general_contractor = | facade_direction = | established = {{nowrap|2019 {{small|(as a joint facility)}}}} {{bulleted list|{{nowrap|1861 {{small|(Temple Emanuel)}}}}|1936 {{small|(Beth Israel)}}}} | groundbreaking = | year_completed = 2019 {{small|(E. Kimberly Rd.)}}; Previous facilities: {{bulleted list|1953 {{small|(Mississippi Ave)}}|''year unknown'' {{small|(Tri-City Center)}}}} | construction_cost = | capacity = | length = | width = | width_nave = | height_max = | dome_quantity = | dome_height_outer = | dome_height_inner = | dome_dia_outer = | dome_dia_inner = | minaret_quantity = | minaret_height = | spire_quantity = | spire_height = | materials = Brick; concrete | nrhp = | added = | refnum = | designated = }} '''Beit Shalom Jewish Community''' is a [[Reform Judaism|Reform]] [[Jewish]] shared [[synagogue]] located at 2215 East Kimberly Road, on the east side of [[Davenport, Iowa|Davenport]], [[Iowa]], in the United States. The shared community facility was established in 2019 and is home to two congregations, '''Temple Emanuel''', established in 1861, and '''Congregation Beth Israel''', established in 1936. Temple Emanuel is the oldest Jewish congregation in Iowa and both congregation are affiliated with the [[Union for Reform Judaism]].

==History== === Temple Emanuel === [[File:Temple Emanuel, Davenport, Iowa.jpg|thumb|left|250px|The former Temple Emanuel on Mississippi Avenue]] Among the first 500 residents of Davenport in the late 1830s and early 1840s were 12 people who were Jewish.<ref name=Baker>{{cite news|url=http://qctimes.com/news/local/temple-emanuel-celebrates-years/article_3f3774ac-6648-11e0-b014-001cc4c002e0.html|title=Temple Emanuel celebrates 150 years|newspaper=[[Quad-City Times]]|location=[[Davenport, Iowa|Davenport]]|date=April 14, 2011|accessdate=2011-10-09|last=Cox Baker|first=Deirdre}}</ref> There was no attempt to organize a congregation until more substantial numbers immigrated from [[History of the Jews in Germany|Germany]] in the 1850s. Mount Nebo Cemetery, adjacent to [[Pine Hill Cemetery (Davenport, Iowa)|Pine Hill Cemetery]], was organized at that time. By 1860 there were eleven Jewish families in town.<ref name=Svendsen>{{cite book|author1=Svendsen, Maryls A.|author2=Bowers, Martha H.|title=Davenport—Where the Mississippi Runs West: A Survey of Davenport History & Architecture|year=1982|publisher=City of Davenport|location=Davenport, Iowa|page=11.5}}</ref> On October 21, 1861 they organized the B'nai Israel congregation,<ref name=Temple>{{cite web|url=http://ia006.urj.net/aboutus.html|title=About Us|publisher=Temple Emanuel|accessdate=2011-10-09}}</ref> the first Jewish congregation to organize in the state of Iowa.<ref name=Baker/> In 1862 they rented the third floor of the building where the [[Forrest Block]] now stands for use as a synagogue. The constitutions and by-laws were accepted and approved on December 6, 1862.<ref name=Temple/> The congregation floundered somewhat in its early years until it was more fully organized in 1874.<ref name=Svendsen/>

[[Rabbi]] Isaac Fall, who was [[Orthodox Judaism|Orthodox]], led the community for 15 years in the late 19th century. It was during this time that the congregation began to embrace the Reform movement. Women were accepted on an equal basis with men and men did not have to cover their heads during worship.<ref name=Svendsen/> Dissention was also caused when services were held in English rather than [[German language|German]]. The congregation officially affiliated with the Union of American Hebrew Congregations (UAHC) in 1879, just six years after it formed.<ref name=Temple/> The first synagogue was built under Rabbi Fall's leadership in 1885 on Ripley Street, across the street from the [[Scott County Courthouse (Iowa)|Scott County Courthouse]]. It was named Temple Emanuel. The Orthodox formed their own congregation, B'nai Ameth, in 1894. They did not, however, have a regular rabbi until 1907 nor a synagogue of their own until 1909. With the death of its lay leader, Harry Lipsman, the Orthodox congregation closed in 1963. By 1900 there were about 50 Jewish families in Davenport.<ref name=Baker/>

A second Temple Emanuel was built at Brady and Eleventh Streets in 1906. Newspaper publisher E.P. Adler helped the congregation through the [[Great Depression]] years. In 1944 the city block at Twelfth Street and Mississippi Avenue was purchased by the congregation. The third synagogue was built from 1952-1953 for $375,000.<ref name=Baker/> (${{Formatprice|{{Inflation|US|375000|1953}}}} in present-day terms{{Inflation-fn|US}}). [[New York City]] architect [[Percival Goodman]], a leading theorist of modern synagogue design, designed the building in the [[Modernist architecture|Modernist]] style.<ref name=Goodman>{{cite web|url=https://findingaids.library.columbia.edu/ead/nnc-a/ldpd_3464755/dsc/2#subseries_4|title=Percival Goodman architectural records and papers, 1929-1989 - Series II: Projects and Office Job Files, 1925-1989|publisher=[[Columbia University]]|accessdate=2019-08-11}}</ref><ref name=Nobel>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/02/arts/art-architecture-what-design-for-a-synagogue-spells-jewish.html?pagewanted=all|title=What Design For a Synagogue Spells Jewish?|newspaper=[[New York Times]]|location=[[New York City|New York]]|date=December 2, 2001|accessdate=2011-10-09|last=Nobel|first=Philip}}</ref> In 2011 when they celebrated their 150th anniversary, Temple Emanuel counted 150 families in its congregation.<ref name=Baker/>

=== Congregation Beth Israel === Beth Israel was founded as a [[Conservative Judaism|Conservative]] congregation in [[Rock Island, Illinois]] in 1936 and incorporated two Orthodox congregations into theirs in 1950 and 1968.

== 2019 shared facilities == For more than 20 years, members from Temple Emanuel and Beth Israel discussed uniting as their numbers decreased.<ref name=Draisey>{{cite news|url=https://qctimes.com/news/local/there-is-this-kind-of-joyful-anticipation-quad-cities-jewish-congregations-join-under-one-roof/article_fe6a749a-9f66-579e-b700-ba94e2701cf2.html|title='There is this kind of joyful anticipation:' Quad-Cities Jewish congregations join under one roof|newspaper=Quad-City Times|location=Davenport|date=September 3, 2021|accessdate=2021-09-03|last=Draisey|first=Brooklyn}}</ref> Over the years the two congregations shared schooling and holiday celebrations. In 2019, Beth Israel decided to sell their synagogue, the Tri-City Jewish Center, and approached Temple Emanuel with a proposal that the two congregations share space. That same year, property was acquired on East Kimberly Road in Davenport, thatwas built in 1992 to house a restaurant, and then was used by a local realtor for offices.

Following acquisition, the building was renovated for religious purposes and named Beit Shalom Jewish Community. Elements from the older synagogues are incorporated into the new space, including two Tree's of Life from both congregations, three [[Sanctuary lamp|''ner tamids'']], oversized doors and [[Ten Commandments]] from Tri-City Jewish Center, and [[stained glass window]]s and the [[Torah ark]] from Temple Emanuel. In early 2021, the two congregations "reached a sharing agreement in which they each will maintain their own identity, board of trustees and prayer books and services, but will share space and a rabbi."<ref name=Gaul>{{cite news|url=https://qctimes.com/news/local/i-feel-great-optimism-and-joy-quad-cities-jewish-congregations-will-move-to-one-building/article_7f040ed0-7e91-5037-b75a-142d159a493b.html|title='I feel great optimism and joy': Quad-Cities Jewish congregations will move to one building|newspaper=Quad-City Times|location=Davenport|date=June 15, 2021|accessdate=2021-09-03|last=Gaul|first=Alma}}</ref> Members from both Temple Emanuel and Beth Israel walked from their former synagogues with their respective [[Torah scroll (Yemenite)|Torah scrolls]] to Beit Shalom on September 2, 2021. Together, the two congregations number 180 families.<ref name=Gaul/>

The former Tri-City Jewish Center was sold to Two Rivers [[YMCA]] of [[Moline, Illinois]]. The {{convert|30000|sqft|m²|sing=on}} facility will be renovated into a combination Rock Island YMCA and a branch of the [[Rock Island Public Library]].<ref name=Gaul/> The former Temple Emanuel building was acquired by the [[YWCA]] of the Quad Cities in 2023 for their new Iowa Empowerment Center.<ref name=Turner>{{cite web|url=https://www.ourquadcities.com/news/local-news/qc-ywca-to-take-over-former-davenport-temple/|title=QC YWCA to take over former Davenport temple|publisher=[[WHBF-TV|Our Quad Cities]]|location=[[Rock Island, Illinois]]|date=November 10, 2023|accessdate=2023-11-12|last=Turner|first=Jonathon}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== * {{oweb|http://qctemple.org/}}

[[Category:1861 establishments in Iowa]] [[Category:2019 establishments in Iowa]] [[Category:21st-century synagogues in the United States]] [[Category:German-American culture in Iowa]] [[Category:German-Jewish culture in the United States]] [[Category:Jewish organizations established in 1861]] [[Category:Jewish organizations established in 2019]] [[Category:Modernist architecture in Iowa]] [[Category:Modernist synagogues]] [[Category:Percival Goodman synagogues]] [[Category:Reform synagogues in Iowa]] [[Category:Religious buildings and structures in Davenport, Iowa]] [[Category:Synagogues completed in 1953]] [[Category:Synagogues completed in 2019]] [[Category:Synagogues in Iowa]]