Ohaveth Sholum Congregation (alternate spellings: Ohaveth Shalem, Ohaveth ShalomLee Micklin
Ohaveth Sholum Congregation, Seattle's first Jewish congregation, is established on July 25, 1889
HistoryLink, October 30, 1998. Accessed online 17 November 2008.) was the first synagogue in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in bo ...

, Washington, USA. Described by the Washington State Jewish Historical Society (WSJHS) as "a quasi-Reform temple,"WSJHS (2006), pp.10–11. it was the Seattle's first Jewish congregation. It fell four days short of having the first synagogue in Washington.WSJHS (2006), pp.14–15.

History

The congregation, whose name means "lovers of peace," was established either on July 25, 1889 or August 25, 1889. In either case, that would make it the first Jewish congregation in Seattle. Most of the congregation had immigrated from either

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, , is a country in Central Europe. Poland is divided into Voivodeships of Poland, sixteen voivodeships and is the fifth most populous member state of the European Union (EU), with over 38 mill ...

and had already spent several decades in the

American West The Western United States (also called the American West, the Far West, and the West) is the region comprising the westernmost states of the United States. As American settlement in the U.S. expanded westward, the meaning of the term ''the Wes ...

. By now rather assimilated to American ways, they adopted the Reform prayerbook ''

Minhag America ''Minhag America'' is a siddur created in 1857 by Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise that was intended to address conflict between sides supporting and opposing traditionalism in early Reform Judaism in the United States. The prayer book was accepted by the ...

'', used both

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and

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

in their services, seated both sexes together, and followed

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

Congregation Emanu-El Emanu-El (also spelled Emanuel) ( he, עִמָּנוּאֵל ''imanuél'', " God swith us", from עִמָּנוּ ''imánu'', "with us" + אֵל ''el'', "God"), or Temple Emanuel, may refer to the following Jewish synagogues: Australia * Emanuel ...

in using an

organ Organ may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a part of an organism Musical instruments * Organ (music), a family of keyboard musical instruments characterized by sustained tone ** Electronic organ, an electronic keyboard instrument ** Hammond ...

during services. They observed each holiday for a single day, rather than the two days observed by the Orthodox. Prior to constructing a synagogue, the congregation met at Wickstrom Hall at 8th Avenue and Columbia Street on First Hill. Sigismund Aronson, secretary-treasurer of the prominent Seattle wholesaler

Schwabacher Brothers The Schwabacher Brothers—Louis Schwabacher (1837 – June 3, 1900), Abraham (Abe) Schwabacher (c. 1838 – September 7, 1909), and Sigmund (Sig) Schwabacher (May 14, 1841 – March 20, 1917)Jean RothPart 2: The Schwabacher Family Tree Accessed on ...

, was congregation president. Other prominent members of the congregation, were Bailey Gatzert, Seattle's first (and, as of 2008, still only) Jewish mayor, also associated with Schwabacher Brothers, and

Jacob Furth Jacob Furth (November 15, 1840 – June 2, 1914) was an Austrian Empire-born American entrepreneur and prominent Seattle banker. He played a key role in consolidating Seattle's electric power and public transportation infrastructure, and was a me ...

, a banker and a key figure in the creation of Seattle's infrastructure for water and electricity.Lee Micklin
Furth, Jacob (1840-1914)
HistoryLink, October 30, 1998. Accessed online 17 November 2008. Their synagogue at 8th Avenue and Seneca Street on First Hill was designed by Herman Steinman. It opened on September 18, 1892, four days after Reform Temple Emanu-El in

Spokane Spokane ( ) is the largest city and county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It is in eastern Washington, along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south of the Canada ...

, making the latter the first synagogue in Washington. The Spokane congregation later merged into Beth Shalom, Spokane. Ohaveth Sholum Congregation also had a cemetery (established 1889) on

Queen Anne Hill Queen Anne is a neighborhood and geographic feature in Seattle, Washington, United States, located northwest of downtown. The affluent neighborhood sits on the eponymous hill, whose maximum elevation is , making it Seattle's highest named hill. ...

. The congregation disbanded 1895 or 1896, and the building was foreclosed upon. The cemetery passed first into the hands of the Seattle Hebrew Benevolent Society and later (in 1910) Temple De Hirsch, later merged into Temple De Hirsch-Sinai.

Notes

References

* {{citation , last=WSJHS , year=2006 , title=The Jewish Experience in Washington State: A Chronology 1845–2005 , publisher=Washington State Jewish Historical Society (WSJHS) .

External links

Photograph of the synagogue
University of Washington Libraries Digital Collections. German-American culture in Washington (state) German-Jewish culture in the United States Jews and Judaism in Seattle Polish-American culture in Washington (state) Polish-Jewish culture in the United States Religious organizations established in 1889 1890s disestablishments in Washington (state) Reform synagogues in Washington (state) Religious buildings and structures in Seattle 1889 establishments in Washington (state) Synagogues completed in 1892