SHERITH JACOB ISRAEL CONGREGATION (1899-1970), one of Cleveland's principal Orthodox Jewish congregations during the 1920s and 1930s, was established as Sherith Jacob Congregation on 20 October 1899 by 18 Jewish Hungarians who lived near East 20th Street and Orange Avenue. Services were initially held at Bernstein Hall on Perry and Orange streets. The congregation's first rabbi was Julius Joel Klein, a charter member, who served until 1917. The congregation had no rabbi for 5 years, then hired Klein's grandson, Ormond Klein (1922-26). In 1928, Sherith Jacob hired Hugo H. Klein, another grandson, who served for over 30 years. He organized the congregation's first Hebrew and Sunday schools and in 1930 established the Young Men's Culture Club.
In 1904, Sherith Jacob purchased and remodeled a building at East 25th Street and Orange, known as the Irving St. Shul. As Cleveland's Jews migrated eastward, Sherith Jacob followed. A synagogue it established at East 76th Street and Cedar Road in 1914 was destroyed by fire on Kol Nidre in 1919. The next March, the congregation purchased a church at Parkwood and Olivet avenues in GLENVILLE, but operated a branch synagogue in Woodland until the late 1930s. In 1932, the congregation acquired a building at Arlington Avenue and Eddy Road for another branch. Sherith Jacob subsequently sold its Parkwood property and held services exclusively at its new synagogue at 822 Eddy Road, dedicated in March 1944. Sherith Jacob abandoned the Eddy Road site in the 1960s (subsequently used by the Kaliver Yeshiva). The congregation could not afford to purchase a new building or erect a synagogue in a new location. Services were held at several sites, including Milliken School and the Jewish Community Center in CLEVELAND HEIGHTS and YESHIVATH ADATH B'NAI ISRAEL. In the spring of 1962, Sherith Jacob merged with Sherith Israel to form Sherith Jacob Israel congregation.
Sherith Israel was organized in May 1922 by Orthodox Jews in the MOUNT PLEASANT neighborhood. Services were held in a rented building at 11417 Kinsman Road until 1932, when the congregation purchased a building at 3232 East 135th Street. Simon Z. Talisman served as rabbi from 1925 until 1938; when he left, there were only 42 members. The congregation dwindled until the congregation decided to merge with Sherith Jacob in the spring of 1962. The combined resources could not overcome the prohibitive cost of a new synagogue, however. In 1970, Sherith Jacob Israel merged with the WARRENSVILLE CENTER SYNAGOGUE.
See also RELIGION; JEWS & JUDAISM.
Finding Aid for the Sherith Jacob Congregation Records, WRHS.
Finding Aid for the Sherith Israel Congregation Records, WRHS.