page_title: Congregation Sha'arai Shomayim (Mobile, Alabama)
section_title: Early synagogues
hierarchical_section_title: Congregation Sha'arai Shomayim (Mobile, Alabama) / Early synagogues
caption_attribution_description: English: The Jackson Street Temple in Mobile, Alabama, Congregation Sha'arai Shomayim, ca. 1900. Built in 1846, this structure originally housed a congregation of Universalists. It was located on Jackson Street between St. Michael and St. Louis streets. Not popular in Mobile, membership in the Universalists declined and in 1853 the group finally sold the building to the Jewish congregation of Sha'arai Shomayim, and it became known as the Jackson Street Temple. The Jewish group worshiped there until 1907, when they moved to Government Street. This building was demolished soon afterward. The congreagation is now located on Springhill Avenue in the Springhill Avenue Temple.
context_page_description: Congregation Sha'arai Shomayim is the oldest Jewish congregation in the state of Alabama and one of the oldest Reform Jewish congregations in the United States. Located in Mobile, the congregation was formally organized in 1844. The current synagogue for the congregation is the Springhill Avenue Temple.
context_section_description: During 1844 and 1845, Congregation Sha'arai Shomayim held services on Friday evenings and Shabbat morning in private homes.  On March 13, 1846, the congregation appointed its first rabbi, Benjamin da Silva.  On December 27, 1846, they dedicated their first temple, the Emanuel Street Synagogue, located between Government and Church Streets.  The first marriage ceremony was performed there on July 25, 1847.  In late 1848, Benjamin da Silva moved to New Orleans and Baruch M. Emanuel was appointed to lead the congregation. By 1850, the need for a new house of worship was apparent and the congregation purchased the old Musical Association Hall, a building that could accommodate 300 worshipers.
  The congregation had outgrown the Musical Association Hall almost as soon as they moved into it. On March 11, 1853 they dedicated their Jackson Street Synagogue.  The building had been built as a Unitarian church in 1846.  Baruch Emanuel gave up leading the congregation in early 1853, before services had been held in the new building.  Julius Eckman was appointed as the new rabbi but quickly fell into disfavor.  He was succeeded by Dr. Isaac Schatz.  The congregation suffered a catastrophe on December 11, 1856 when the new synagogue burned down. A stove in the basement caught the wooden building on fire.  The congregation turned to selling subscriptions in order to rebuild on the same site.  Several non-Jews contributed to the rebuilding, among them Dr. Josiah C. Nott and N. St. John.  A month after the disaster the congregation published a thank you notice in the Mobile Daily Register to "our fellow citizens of Mobile" for their assistance after the fire.  By the end of March 1857 the members had collected $3,555 in donations and on June 2, 1857 the congregation broke ground for a new synagogue.  The new building would be stuccoed brick in the Greek Revival style with Ionic columns.
caption: The second Jackson Street Synagogue, in 1900. Home of Sha'arai Shomayim from 1857 to 1907.
exif: {"Image Tag 0x5012": "1", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "68", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "2651"}