Shaarey Zedek

Shaarey Zedek (Hebrew for Gates of Righteousness) is a Conservative synagogue in the Detroit, Michigan suburb of Southfield.
==History==
The congregation was founded in 1861, when the more traditional Jews of Detroit withdrew from Temple Beth El (Detroit, Michigan) .Olitzky, Kerry M.; Raphael, Marc Lee. The American Synagogue: A Historical Dictionary and Sourcebook, Greenwood Press, June 30, 1996, p. 178.Our Congregational Family / History, Shaarey Zedek website. Retrieved December 28, 2009. Shaarey Zedek was a founding member of the Conservative United Synagogue of America in 1913.Eli Grad, Congregation Shaarey Zedek, 5622-5742, 1861-1981, Detroit, Michigan by Wayne State University Press, 1982.Henry and Daniel Stoltzman, Synagogue Architecture in America; Path, Spirit, and Identity, images publishing, 2004, p. 188-91 
The, congregation worshipped in a building at the intersection of Congress and St. Antoine streets in Detroit from its foundation until 1877, when it was able to erect on the same site a new building, an elaborate Moorish Revival synagogue with tall, twin towers topped with Onion domes. It was the first purpose-built synagogue in the Detroit area and the first of no fewer than five synagogue buildings that the congregation would build within the space of a century. In 1903 the members having moved to a more fashionable neighborhood, the congregation erected a new building topped with an octagonal dome at the intersection of Winder and Brush streets. In 1913 Shaarey Zedek, again following its increasingly prosperous congregants, moved into a spacious, new, domed Neo-classical synagogue building at Willis and Brush street where it would remain until 1930. In 1932, the congregation, again following the movement of the congregants to a more suburban location, completed yet another new building, a Romanesque Revival sanctuary at 2900 West Chicago Boulevard at Lawton Street, designed by the noted architect Albert Kahn.Harmony & dissonance: voices of Jewish identity in Detroit, 1914-1967, Sidney M. Bolkosky, Wayne State University Press, 1991, p. 229. The building is now the home of the Clinton Street Greater Bethlehem Temple Church In 1962 the congregation moved to its present building on Bell Road in suburban Southfield.Kerry M. Olitzky and Marc Lee Raphael, The American synagogue, p. 178-9.
The congregation's present, Southfield building was designed by Percival Goodman. Henry Stoltzman writes that it "embod(ies) Goodman's work at the peak of his career." The San Francisco Examiner has named the building one of the "top 10 breathtaking places of worship" in the United States. The Examiner called the congregation's dramatic concrete building a "phenomenal example of 1960’s futuristic architecture." Jamie Sperti, "The United States' top 10 breathtaking places of worship, # 6", The Examiner, April 21, 2009.
In the early 1990s, Congregation Shaarey Zedek merged with Congregation B'nai Israel of West Bloomfield, the combined congregations worship in both locations.
==Notable members==
* William Davidson owner of the Detroit Pistons
==External links==
* Shaarey Zedek website
==References==
Category:Synagogues in Michigan
Category:1962 architecture
Category:1932 architecture
Category:Post-World War II synagogue architecture
Category:Religious organizations established in 1861
Category:Conservative synagogues in the United States