Mizpah Congregation

{{Short description|Reform synagogue in Tennessee, US}} {{Other uses|Mizpah (disambiguation){{!}}Mizpah}} {{Use American English|date=September 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=August 2020}} {{Infobox religious building | name = Mizpah Congregation | native_name = | native_name_lang = | image = Mizpah Congregation.jpg | image_upright = | alt = | caption = Mizpah Congregation in 2026 | religious_affiliation = [[Reform Judaism]] | tradition = | sect = | district = | prefecture = | province = | region = | deity = | rite = | festival =  | organisational_status =  | ownership = | governing_body = | leadership = | bhattaraka = | patron = | consecration_year = | status = [[Synagogue]] | functional_status = Active | religious_features_label = | religious_features = | location = 923 McCallie Avenue, [[Chattanooga, Tennessee]] | locale = | municipality = | cercle = | state = | country = United States | map_type = Tennessee | map_size = 250 | map_alt = | map_relief = 1 | map_caption = Location in [[Tennessee]] | grid_name = | grid_position = | sector = | territory = | administration = | coordinates = {{coord|35.0427|-85.2922|region:US-TN_type:landmark|format=dms|display=it}} | coordinates_footnotes = | heritage_designation = | architect = {{ubl|[[Colonial Revival architecture|Colonial Revival]]|[[Georgian Revival architecture|Georgian Revival]]}} | architecture_type = Synagogue | architecture_style = | founded_by = | creator = | funded_by = | general_contractor = | established = {{ubl|1866 {{small|(as a congregation)}}|{{nowrap|1867 {{small|([[Charter]]ed by the State)}}}}}} | groundbreaking = | year_completed = {{ubl|1882 {{small|(Walnut Street)}}|1904 {{small|(Oak and Lindsay Sts.)}}|1928 {{small|(McCallie Avenue)}}}} | 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 = {{URL|mizpahcongregation.org}} | module =  | footnotes = }} The '''Mizpah congregation''' is a [[Reform Judaism|Reform Jewish]] [[synagogue]] located at 923 McCallie Avenue in [[Chattanooga, Tennessee|Chattanooga]], [[Tennessee]], in the United States. Founded in 1866, the congregation has erected synagogues in 1882, 1904, and its current site, in 1928 that was designated in 1979 as a Tennessee Historical Preservation Site.

==History== A Jewish settlement in Chattanooga can be traced back to before the [[US Civil War]]. However, it wasn't until after the war that the Jewish community was really established. In 1860 German immigrants Fannie Schwartzenberg Bach and Jacob Bach made their home there.<ref name=encyclopedia>{{cite web|title=Encyclopedia of Southern Jewish Communities – Chattanooga, Tennessee|url=http://www.isjl.org/tennessee-chattanooga-encyclopedia.html|website=Goldring /Worldenburg institute of Southern Jewish life|accessdate=September 30, 2014}}</ref> The Bach family started holding services in their home six years later, Jacob Bach becoming the congregation's first [[rabbi]], [[Hazzan|cantor]], and ritual slaughterer.<ref name=Olitzky>{{cite book|last1=Olitzky|first1=Kerry|title=The American Synagogue a Historical Dictionary and sourcebook|date=1996|publisher=Greenwood|pages=432}}</ref> That same year 21 young Jewish men organized a group called Chebra Gamilas Chaced, which was changed a year later to the Hebrew Benevolence Association.<ref name=encyclopedia/> The group received an official state [[charter]] in 1867.

The group then purchased land for Jewish community members on the corner of East Third and Collins Street, for a total of $225.<ref name=encyclopedia/> In 1869 the congregation got a new volunteer [[rabbi]], E.K. Fischer, who served in this capacity for two years, opening a Jewish religious day school. In 1871 he stepped down for health reasons.<ref name=encyclopedia/>

Dr. Marx Block then took control of the congregation. It was under Block and his wife, Delphine, that the Jewish community in Chattanooga grew. In 1877 the Hebrew Ladies Aid Society was founded with 33 women. The Congregation's first temple was built in 1882 on Walnut Street near fifth. The group adopted the name Mitzpah, which in [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] means "overlook", or "lookout", which refers to [[Lookout Mountain]].<ref>{{cite web|last1=DeVries|first1=LaMoine|title=Mizpah, Mizpeh|url=http://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/hbd/view.cgi?n=4365}}</ref> The t was later dropped, changing the name to Mizpaw.

Twenty-two years later, in 1904 a new synagogue was built, due to the growth of the congregation, on the corner of Lindsay and Oak Street. The new building seated 350 people, and was the congregation's synagogue for twenty-four years. The Congregation received its first ordained rabbi, [[Moses J. Gries]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://ech.case.edu/cgi/article.pl?id=GMJ|title = Gries, Moses J|date = March 7, 2019}}</ref> in 1889 and he served the congregation until 1892. Although the congregation was not associated with the [[Union for Reform Judaism|Union of American Hebrew Congregations]],<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://urj.org/about/union/history/ |title=About: History |publisher=[[Union for Reform Judaism]] |date= |access-date=July 20, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151017084259/http://urj.org/about/union/history/ |archive-date=October 17, 2015 |url-status=dead }}</ref> it started using the revised edition of the union prayer book in 1899, having previously used Isaac M. Wise Minhag America.<ref name=Olitzky/> In 1928, [[Adolph Ochs]], publisher of ''[[The New York Times]]'' and a former Chattanoogan involved in [[Reform Judaism]], built the 3rd Mizpah temple. This temple located on McCallie Avenue was designated in 1979 by the Tennessee Preservation Trust, a non-profit historic preservation organization, as a Tennessee Preservation Site.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.tennesseepreservationtrust.org/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010522001400/http://www.tennesseepreservationtrust.org/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=May 22, 2001 |title=Home |website=Tennessee Preservation Trust |date= |access-date= }}</ref>{{dead link|date=December 2023}}

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== * {{official website|https://www.mizpahcongregation.org}}

[[Category:Buildings and structures in Chattanooga, Tennessee]] [[Category:Culture of Chattanooga, Tennessee]] [[Category:German-Jewish culture in the United States]] [[Category:German-American culture in Tennessee]] [[Category:Jews and Judaism in Appalachia]] [[Category:Reform synagogues in Tennessee]] [[Category:1866 establishments in Tennessee]] [[Category:20th-century synagogues in the United States]] [[Category:Jewish organizations established in 1866]] [[Category:Synagogues completed in 1928]]