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Finding Aid to the Congregation Sherith Israel records, 1851-2003
BANC MSS 2010/720
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Table of contents
Collection Title: Congregation Sherith Israel records
Date (inclusive): 1851-2003
Collection Number: BANC MSS 2010/720
Creators :
Congregation Sherith Israel (San Francisco, Calif.)
Extent:
Number of containers: 96 cartons, 3 boxes, 21 oversize boxes, 72 volumes, and 1 oversize folder
(linear feet: 135)
Repository: The Bancroft Library
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, California, 94720-6000
Phone: (510) 642-6481
Fax: (510) 642-7589
Email: bancref@library.berkeley.edu
URL: http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/
Abstract: The collection consists of the records of San Francisco's Congregation Sherith Israel from circa 1851 to 2003. Included are
administrative records; correspondence; financial records; building and property records; cemetery records; membership records;
religious school records; confirmation and bar/bat mitzvah records; materials relating to the congregation's rabbis and cantors;
files relating to liturgy, services, and holidays; records of the congregation's Sisterhood and Brotherhood; subject files;
newsletters; scrapbooks; and photographs.
Languages Represented: Collection materials are in English, German, and Hebrew.
Physical Location: Many of the Bancroft Library collections are stored offsite and advance notice may be required for use. For current information
on the location of these materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.
Collection is open to researchers.
All requests to reproduce, publish, quote from or otherwise use collection materials must be submitted in writing to the Head
of Public Services, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, 94720-6000. Consent is given on behalf of The
Bancroft Library as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission from the copyright
owner. Such permission must be obtained from the copyright owner. See:
http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/reference/permissions.html.
Restrictions also apply to digital representations of the original materials. Use of digital files is restricted to research
and educational purposes.All requests to reproduce, publish, quote from or otherwise use collection materials must be submitted
in writing to the Head of Public Services, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, 94720-6000. Consent is
given on behalf of The Bancroft Library as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission
from the copyright owner. Such permission must be obtained from the copyright owner. See:
http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/reference/permissions.html.
Restrictions also apply to digital representations of the original materials. Use of digital files is restricted to research
and educational purposes.
[Identification of item], Congregation Sherith Israel records, BANC MSS 2010/720, The Bancroft Library, University of California,
Berkeley.
There are no alternate forms of this collection.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.
Congregation Sherith Israel (San Francisco, Calif.)--Archives
Giboth Olam (Cemetery : San Francisco, Calif.)
Hills of Eternity Memorial Park (Colma, Calif.)
First Hebrew Benevolent Society (San Francisco, Calif.)
Bar Mitzvah--California--San Francisco
Bat Mitzvah--California--San Francisco
Cemeteries--California--San Francisco
Jewish cemeteries--California--Colma
Confirmation (Jewish rite)--California--San Francisco
Marriage records--California--San Francisco
Jews--California--San Francisco
Jewish women--California--San Francisco--Societies, etc.
Jews--Education--California--San Francisco
Rabbis--California--San Francisco--Correspondence
Jewish youth--California--San Francisco--Services for
San Francisco Earthquake and Fire, Calif., 1906
Synagogues--California--San Francisco
San Francisco (Calif.)--Religious life and customs
By-laws--California--San Francisco
Cash books--California--San Francisco
Ledgers--California--San Francisco
Correspondence--California--San Francisco
Marriage certificates--California--San Francisco
Burial records--California--San Francisco
Minutes--California--San Francisco
Newsletters--California--San Francisco
Photographs--California--San Francisco
Prayer books--California--San Francisco
Reports--California--San Francisco
Scrapbooks--California--San Francisco
Goldstein, Morris M., 1904-1984
Nieto, Jacob, 1863-1930
Weiner, Martin
Messing, Aaron Joseph, 1843-1916
Badt, Alexander L.
Weinstein, Jacob
Congregation Sherith Israel (San Francisco, Calif.). Board of Trustees
Congregation Sherith Israel (San Francisco, Calif.). Sisterhood
Western Jewish History Center. 256.
Judah L. Magnes Museum. WJHC 1968.006.
Bancroft Library. Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life
The Congregation Sherith Israel records were given to The Bancroft Library by the Judah L. Magnes Museum in 2010.
No additions are expected.
Arranged into 16 series: Administrative; Correspondence; Financial; Building and Property; Cemetery; Membership; Religious
School; Confirmation and Bar/Bat Mitzvah; Rabbis and Cantors; Marriage; Liturgy, Services, and Holidays; Sisterhood and Brotherhood;
Temple Subject Files; Newsletter; Scrapbooks; and Photographs.
Processed by Lara Michels in 2011.
San Francisco's Congregation Sherith Israel has its roots in the Gold Rush era immigration and migration of Jews from Prussia,
Bavaria, England, France and the East Coast of the United States. By the end of 1850, these Jewish San Franciscans had founded
two benevolent societies, established a cemetery, worshipped together on the High Holidays, and were considering creating
a formal congregation. They managed to come together briefly but soon split into two groups: the English and North Germans,
who demanded that worship in the new congregation adhere to the Minhag Polen (the Polish rite), and the primarily Bavarian
Jewish immigrants, who wished to worship according to the Minhag Ashkenaz (the traditional German rite). In 1851, the first
group formed Congregation Sherith Israel and the second formed the other of San Francisco's leading congregations, Emanu-El.
Sherith Israel built is first synagogue on Stockton Street, between Broadway and Vallejo, in 1854. In 1870, having outgrown
its first building, the congregation moved into an impressive Gothic style synagogue on Post and Taylor Streets. It was here,
in its home on Post and Taylor Streets, that Sherith Israel began to take steps away from its Orthodox roots and toward Reform.
This movement towards Reform was helped along by two of Sherith Israel's most prominent rabbis, Henry Vidaver and Jacob Nieto.
In 1902, the congregation purchased the site of its current synagogue at California and Webster Streets. Albert Pissis, a
prominent San Francisco architect, was immediately hired to design the new building. In 1905, the synagogue, with its noteworthy
stained glass windows, elaborate frescoes, and Murray Harris organ, was consecrated. The 1906 San Francisco earthquake and
fire spared Sherith Israel's new building, causing only minor damage. The synagogue was actually used as a courthouse after
the calamity and played host to Abe Ruef's notorious corruption trial. Rabbis who served Sherith Israel during the years documented
by this collection are as follows: Henry A. Henry (1857-1869), Aaron Messing (1870-1873), Henry A. Vidaver (1874-1882), Falk
Vidaver (1883-1892), Jacob Nieto (1893-1930), Jacob Weinstein (1930-1932), Morris Goldstein (1932-1972), and Martin Weiner
(1972-2003).
Scope and Content of Collection
The collection consists of the records of Congregation Sherith Israel from circa 1851 to 2003. Included are administrative
materials, such as bylaws, meeting minutes (dating to 1851), and reports; correspondence, including Board of Trustees correspondence
dating back to the middle of the 1860s; financial records, including ledgers, journals, daybooks, cashbooks, warrant lists,
and financial reports from the 1860s through the 1930s (though a few financial records date to the 1850s); a small series
of building and property records; the records of Sherith Israel's cemeteries, Giboth Olam (located in what is now Mission
Dolores Park from 1860 though 1889) and Hills of Eternity (located in Colma); membership records, including files on members
arranged by surname and seat deeds and seat registers; records of Sherith Israel's religious school; confirmation and bar/bat
mitzvah records; some materials relating to the rabbis and cantors of Sherith Israel, including some of Jacob Nieto's correspondence;
the congregation's marriage records, including marriage contract books (dating back to 1859), certificate stub books, and
marriage authorizations; records relating to Sherith Israel's liturgy, services, and holiday observances; records of the congregation's
Sisterhood and Brotherhood; two sets of Temple Subject Files that date back to 1900 but mostly document the concerns and activities
of the congregation from the 1940s through the 1970s; issues of Sherith Israel's newsletter dating to 1927; a set of scrapbooks
and scrapbook pages that document Sherith Israel's publicity as well as activities of the Sisterhood and other congregational
clubs and groups; and photographs.