Temple Israel (Columbus, Ohio)

Temple Israel has roots in Columbus Jewish life that predate the Civil War.[1][2] An archived 2005 newsletter stated its mission as “creating community, nurturing souls, and repairing the world,” and Rabbi Misha Zinkow repeated the same mission in a 2009 congregational newsletter.[3][4] The congregation currently describes itself as a diverse, welcoming spiritual community committed to Tikkun Olam, or healing the world, through Jewish living and learning. It explicitly welcomes interfaith families, Jews of Color, Jews by Choice, and LGBTQ+ community members.[5]

Temple Israel’s own history traces its origins to 1846, when eleven families formed Bene Jeshurun, described as the first Jewish congregation in Central Ohio.[2] An Encyclopaedia Judaica account instead dates the organization of B’nai Jeshurun to 1851.[1] The congregation’s account says services led by Simon Lazarus were held in rooms above shops on High Street and later in homes and rented halls.[2]

In 1868, religious tensions divided Columbus’s small Jewish community, and nineteen families organized the Reform congregation B’nai Israel.[1] Its supporters included all of B’nai Jeshurun’s surviving founders, who were described as prosperous, well-established Columbus merchants.[1] Within two years, B’nai Israel hired Columbus’s first full-time ordained rabbi and dedicated the city’s first synagogue building. B’nai Jeshurun subsequently folded, and its members joined B’nai Israel.[1]

Construction began at Friend and Third Streets, and the building’s cornerstone was laid in May 1870 at a ceremony where Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise delivered the keynote address.[2] The congregation decided to conduct services in English rather than Hebrew.[2] By the turn of the twentieth century, membership had grown to more than 100 families.[1][2]

A cornerstone for a new synagogue on Bryden Road was laid in 1903, and the completed building opened in 1904 in Columbus’s Olde Towne East neighborhood.[1][2] In 1937, Temple Israel hosted a meeting of the Central Conference of American Rabbis in Columbus at which the historic Columbus Platform was adopted by the Reform Movement.[2]

Rabbi Jerome D. Folkman arrived in 1947 and became the congregation’s longest-serving rabbi.[2] By 1950, membership exceeded 750 families, and the first girl at the congregation to celebrate becoming a Bat Mitzvah did so that year.[2] Temple Israel recognized the need for a larger space in 1954 and broke ground at 5419 East Broad Street in 1958.[2]

The 1959 move was carried out in stages. A September 25 letter from temple president Charles Y. Lazarus reported that the building would be ready for use by October 15 except for the Sanctuary and Social Hall. Because the Social Hall’s curtain wall was delayed, the dedication was postponed to December 18–20. The Religious School, offices, and youth activities moved first, while Friday evening services and other activities remained at Bryden Road until the dedication.[6]

Folkman retired in 1973.[2] A five-year renovation campaign launched in 1996 led to the building’s rededication in September 2000, with a new Learning Center, an expanded social hall, and remodeled worship spaces.[2] Following the Shuvu campaign, the congregation moved in 2021 to its current building at 3100 East Broad Street.[2][7]

An early twentieth-century Jewish Encyclopedia entry listed Columbus’s Reform congregation as “Benai Israel,” named David Kline as its rabbi, and estimated the city’s Jewish population at between 1,500 and 1,800 without specifying a date for the local estimate.[8] Temple Israel’s 1959 move to the Far East Side occurred amid a broader post–World War II movement of Columbus Jews toward Bexley, Berwick, and Eastmoor.[1]

A summary of the 1989–90 Greater Columbus Jewish population study reported that about one-third of all local synagogue members belonged to either Beth Shalom or Temple Israel. This was a combined figure and did not state Temple Israel’s individual membership share.[9] The 2001 Columbus Jewish Population Survey also included Temple Israel in its synagogue-affiliation data, although the extracted chart did not preserve a distinct figure for the congregation.[10]

The Temple Israel Foundation was established in 1969 by congregants seeking to support religious life and sustain the congregation’s customs and services. The nonprofit corporation manages endowment funds for Temple Israel, including religious-school, general-education, cemetery-memorial, and general funds.[11]

The congregation established social-justice programs during the 1970s and hired its first cantor in 1980, expanding its music program.[2] Its Religious School also appears on the Center for Israel Education’s list of schools and organizations that participated in educational workshops between 2000 and 2023.[12]

B’nai Israel’s first synagogue stood at Friend and Third Streets and was dedicated within two years of the congregation’s organization in 1868.[1][2] The congregation’s Bryden Road synagogue, completed in 1904 in Olde Towne East, later became associated with a group of stained-glass windows tentatively attributed to Charles and William Foster. A congregational newsletter described the Moses at the Burning Bush image as representing Jewish sacred history.[4]

The windows were moved to the chapel at 5419 East Broad Street when that building was dedicated in 1959, then installed for a third time during the renovation completed in 2000.[4] Temple Israel left the 5419 East Broad Street property in 2021 and now occupies a building at 3100 East Broad Street, Columbus, Ohio 43209.[2][7]

Temple Israel describes its worship style as mainstream contemporary Reform Judaism with elements of the classical Reform tradition from which it emerged.[13] Kippot and tallitot are optional and available at the door. Friday Shabbat services are currently listed for 6:00 p.m., and the congregation offers monthly family-oriented Celebration Shabbat and Tot Shabbat programs.[13][7]

A 2005 newsletter described a different historical schedule: Friday evening services ran from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m., with story time and birthday and anniversary blessings on the first Friday of each month and a sermon on other Fridays. Shabbat morning services met at 10:00 a.m. in the Rabbi Jerome and Bessie Folkman Chapel, followed by a Kiddush or Oneg.[3] Rabbi Misha Zinkow later described Shabbat as the congregation’s “collective heartbeat.”[4]

Repair of the world—Tikkun Olam—is a central stated value of Temple Israel.[5] During Mitzvah Day on May 22, 2005, congregants prepared food for people experiencing homelessness, made sandwiches for Rebecca’s Place Women’s Shelter, decorated tray liners for Children’s Hospital, and sorted donations for the Mid-Ohio Food Bank and Choices for Domestic Violence. The congregation’s newsletter reported that $1,845 was distributed to local Jewish and non-Jewish organizations that directly affected Temple Israel families.[3]

Rabbi Jerome D. Folkman served Temple Israel from 1947 until his retirement in 1973, making him the congregation’s longest-serving rabbi.[14][2] He was known for pastoral work that included visiting sick and dying people in Columbus hospitals and nursing homes.[14] In 1963, he became an adjunct professor in Ohio State University’s Sociology Department, combining congregational leadership with academic teaching. He died in 1993.[14] The chapel at the former 5419 East Broad Street building was called the Rabbi Jerome and Bessie Folkman Chapel.[3]

Rabbi Misha Zinkow completed his fifth year at Temple Israel in 2009, when the congregation held its 162nd annual meeting. His address described the meeting as an occasion to install trustees, honor their work, and report on congregational finances.[4]