{{Short description|Synagogue in Michigan, U.S.}} {{Use American English|date=July 2025}} {{Infobox religious building | building_name = Temple Jacob | native_name = | image = Temple Jacob Hancock Michigan 2021-2.jpg | image_upright = 1.4 | caption = Temple Jacob, in 2021 | map_type = Michigan | map_size = 250 | map_relief = 1 | map_caption = Location in [[Michigan]] | location = 301 Front Street, [[Hancock, Michigan|Hancock]], [[Michigan]] 49930 | country = United States | geo = {{coord|47.126087|-88.573624|region:US-MI_type:landmark|format=dms|display=it}} | religious_affiliation = [[Reform Judaism]] | rite = | region = | province = | territory = | prefecture = | sector = | district = | cercle = | municipality = | consecration_year = | status = [[Synagogue]] | functional_status = Active {{small|(seasonal)}} | heritage_designation = | leadership = | website = | architecture = | architect = Maass Brothers | architecture_type = [[Synagogue architecture]] | architecture_style = [[Georgian Revival architecture|Georgian Revival]] | general_contractor = | facade_direction = | groundbreaking = | established = 1889 {{small|(as a congregation)}} | year_completed = 1912 | construction_cost = | specifications = | capacity = | length = | width = | width_nave = | height_max = | materials = Jacobsville sandstone | nrhp = | added = | refnum = | designated = }}
'''Temple Jacob''', officially the '''Congregation of Israel''', is an historic [[Reform Judaism|Reform]] [[Judaism|Jewish]] congregation and [[synagogue]], located at 301 Front Street, in [[Hancock, Michigan|Hancock]], in the [[Upper Peninsula of Michigan|Upper Peninsula]] region of [[Michigan]], in the United States.
The congregation originated out of the copper boom in the [[Keweenaw Peninsula]] in the late 19th and early 20th century. The first Jewish synagogue in the [[Copper Country]], it is also the oldest, continuously active Jewish house of worship in the Upper Peninsula and the only active synagogue in Michigan listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places|National Historic Register]] as a [[contributing property]] in the [[East Hancock Neighborhood Historic District]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mcgi.state.mi.us/hso/sites/5819.htm |title=East Hancock Neighborhood Historic District |work=State Historic Preservation Office |publisher=Michigan State Housing Development Authority |accessdate=June 20, 2012 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120318033952/http://www.mcgi.state.mi.us/hso/sites/5819.htm |archivedate=March 18, 2012}}</ref><ref name=SAH>{{cite web |author=Bishop Eckert, Kathryn |title=Temple Jacob", [Hancock, Michigan] |work=SAH Archipedia |editor1=Esperdy, Gabrielle |editor2=Kingsley, Karen |location=Charlottesville |publisher=[[Society of Architectural Historians]] and [[University of Virginia Press]] |year=2012 |url=http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/MI-01-HO15 |access-date=February 18, 2024 }}</ref>
The synagogue is located near the north end of the lift bridge which connects the two towns of [[Houghton, Michigan|Houghton]] and [[Hancock, Michigan|Hancock]]. It was built on land purchased from the [[Quincy Mining Company Stamp Mills Historic District|Quincy Mining Company]] and was dedicated in September 1912. The cornerstone inscribes the building in memory of Jacob, son of Israel Gartner, who was a generous contributor and fundraiser. He died shortly before the building was completed.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Temple Jacob Website: History |url=http://thetemplejacobwebsite.com/history.html}}{{self-published-inline|date=February 2024}}{{dead-link |date=February 2024}}</ref>
==Builders and structure== [[File:Temple Jacob 2.jpg|thumb|Southwest corner of the building]] Maass Brothers Architects provided the plans and specifications. J. J. Kelly built the temple foundation, which is constructed of Jacobsville sandstone. A. J. Verville completed the superstructure. A vitrified glazed brick was used for the walls.<ref name=SAH/><ref name="social">{{cite web|last=Davis|first=Morgan|title=Copper Country Architects|url=http://www.social.mtu.edu/CopperCountryArchitects/ma_build.htm|publisher=Michigan Technological University|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130326160935/http://www.social.mtu.edu/CopperCountryArchitects/ma_build.htm|archivedate=March 26, 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref>
The hip-roofed structure, which measures {{convert|40|x|40|ft|m}} is topped by a copper dome. "Windows are round-arched, with stained glass that depicts a dove with an olive branch, shofar (ram's horn), burning bush, Noah's ark, hands in blessing, Star of David, eternal light, and the tablets of the Ten Commandments. Inside, the layout of the temple follows normal Jewish customs, with the [[Torah ark|ark]] on the east wall. A balcony was once used to separate the men and the women during prayers."<ref name=SAH/><ref name="social" />
==History== The Congregation of Israel was established in 1889, at a time when the Jewish population in the Copper Country was increasing steadily in size. By 1910, at the peak of the copper boom, there were about 100 Jewish families in the Copper Country. By the time the synagogue was completed in 1912, the demand for copper had started to decline; and, with it, the population of the area, including the Jewish population.<ref name=jews>{{cite web|last=Elstein|first=Rochelle Berger|title=The Jews of Houghton-Hancock and their Synagogue|url=http://www.michjewishhistory.org/pdfs/vol38.pdf|work=Michigan Jewish History|publisher=The Jewish Historical Society of Michigan|volume=138 |year=1998 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040410121944/http://www.michjewishhistory.org/pdfs/vol38.pdf |archive-date=2004-04-10}}</ref>
Although initially formed as an [[Orthodox Judaism|Orthodox]] congregation, Temple Jacob eventually changed to become a Reform synagogue, as did many other small synagogues throughout the U.S.<ref>{{cite book |last=Weissbach |first=Lee Shai |title=Jewish Life in Small Town America: A History |year=2005 |publisher=Yale University Press |location=New Haven, CT |isbn= |page= }}</ref> In the 1930s a local businessman and retailer, Norbert Kahn, who had come to the Upper Peninsula from Germany in the mid-1920s and married into the Gartner family, brought a number of his relatives from Germany to escape the hopeless situation of pre-World War II Germany.<ref name=jews/>
=== Vandalism === On September 21, 2019, 23-year-old Nathan Weeden of [[Houghton, Michigan|Houghton]], Michigan, spray painted swastikas and the symbol of [[The Base (hate group)|The Base]], a [[neo-Nazi]] group, on the exterior of Temple Jacob as part of a broader vandalism [[2019 synagogue vandalism|campaign the group called Operational Kristallnacht]].<ref name="WeedenArrest">{{cite news |last1=Lofton |first1=Justine |title=Alleged member of white supremacist group accused of painting swastikas on U.P. synagogue |url=https://www.mlive.com/news/2023/06/alleged-member-of-white-supremacist-group-accused-of-painting-swastikas-on-up-synagogue.html |access-date=26 January 2024 |work=[[MLive.com]] |date=2023-06-30}}</ref> In January 2024, Weeden was convicted of conspiring to injure, oppress, threaten or intimidate any person in the exercise of their rights and convicted of intentionally defacing, damaging or destroying religious property. His co-conspirators had previously pleaded guilty to federal crimes related to the incident.<ref>{{cite press release |author= |url=https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/white-supremacist-group-member-convicted-federal-hate-crime-defacing-michigan-synagogue-neo |title=White Supremacist Group Member Convicted of Federal Hate Crime for Defacing Michigan Synagogue with Neo-Nazi Symbols |publisher=Office of Public Affairs, [[United States Department of Justice]] |date=January 25, 2024 |access-date=February 18, 2024 }}</ref>
On June 4, 2024, the US Attorney's Office for Western Michigan announced Mr. Weeden "was sentenced to 26 months for conspiring with other members of a white supremacist group, The Base, to victimize Black and Jewish people, and for defacing Temple Jacob.." <ref> https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdmi/pr/2024_0604_Weeden_N_Sentenced </ref>
== Recent history ==
Although the Jewish population, like the local population in general, continued to decline through most of the 20th century, new families continued to arrive in small numbers. In recent years an active but small congregation of professionals, academics at [[Michigan Technological University]], recent arrivals of summer visitors, a small continuing local Jewish population, and a group of generous friends have helped to maintain the synagogue and keep Judaism alive in the Copper Country through High Holiday services which are conducted by a visiting rabbi, [[Passover Seder]]s, [[Torah study]], [[Sukkot]] and [[Tu BiShvat]] celebrations and [[Jewish summer camp]] scholarships.<ref name="t">{{cite web |url=https://forward.com/series/synagogue-guide/temple-jacob-hancock-mi/ |title=Temple Jacob - Hancock, MI |language=pt |work=[[The Forward]] |date=2021 |accessdate=2021-06-23 }}</ref>
Temple Jacob is one of two Jewish congregations in the Upper Peninsula, following the closure of Anshe Knesseth Israel in [[Iron Mountain, Michigan|Iron Mountain]] in 2020. The other is [[Temple Beth Sholom (Marquette, Michigan)|Temple Beth Sholom]] of [[Marquette, Michigan|Marquette]], formerly in [[Ishpeming, Michigan|Ishpeming]].<ref name="Lovy2020">{{Cite web |last=Lovy |first=Jennifer |date=2020-11-25 |title=Last Aliyah at Iron Mountain: As Tiny Jewish Community Dwindles, Historic U.P. Shul Finally Shuts its Doors |url=https://www.thejewishnews.com/community/last-aliyah-at-iron-mountain-as-tiny-jewish-community-dwindles-historic-u-p-shul-finally/article_4824458e-d3b0-58ac-8e9a-9341564c764c.html |accessdate=2023-06-29 |work=The Detroit Jewish News}}</ref><ref name="jews" />
== References == {{reflist|2}}
{{Commonscat|Temple Jacob (Hancock, Michigan)}} {{Synagogues in the United States}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jacob, Temple, Hancock, Michigan}} [[Category:1889 establishments in Michigan]] [[Category:20th-century synagogues in the United States]] [[Category:21st-century attacks on Jewish institutions in the United States]] [[Category:Jewish organizations established in 1889]] [[Category:Antisemitism in Michigan]] [[Category:National Register of Historic Places in Houghton County, Michigan]] [[Category:Reform synagogues in Michigan]] [[Category:Synagogues completed in 1912]] [[Category:Synagogues on the National Register of Historic Places in Michigan]] [[Category:Synagogues in Michigan]]