Background

The Reform Movement in America

The emergence of a Reform Temple in Seattle in the last decade of the nineteenth century reflects a broader trend in American jewish religious life in this period. In 1875, a new American seminary was established to train Rabbis. Initially, Hebrew Union College was intended to train American rabbis whose religious practices would reflect the social, economic, and intellectual realities of the lives of immigrant Jews in the United States. However, by the time the first class of rabbis graduated in 1883, a set of fundamental differences emerged between Jews with various comfort levels with changing aspects of Jewish law, prayer, and theology. Rabbis and Jewish leaders who felt that the ore of Judaism was ethical monotheism and a commitment to progress found Jewish law antiquated and even antithetical to their vision of Judaism as a religion of reason. Other rabbis felt that the historical practices of Judaism, and especially Jewish law, remained binding even if the legal tradition evolved throughout history. This group split off from the Reform leadership and created the conservative movement.

By the late nineteenth century, the Reform denomination had spread significantly. On the west coast, San Francisco became a center for the emerging Reform movement. The close connection between San Francisco and Seattle likely had an influence on the idea of creating a Reform minded community in Seattle in 1893.

Reform Temple in San Francisco

Seattle’s Jewish Community

Jews began arriving in the Pacific Northwest as early a the 1840s and 50s. Emulating a pattern for Jewish immigrants across the United States, the earliest Jewish families established small businesses across Washington Territory. For example, the Schwabacher brothers established a warehouse business in Walla Walla in 1860 and Seattle in 1869. (source: Molly Cone, Family of Strangers) The first manager of the store, Bailey Gatzert, eventually became Seattle’s first Jewish mayor.

Esther Levy, cofounder of the Ladies Hebrew Benevolent Society, 1892

The 1880s brought significant growth in Seattle’s Jewish communal infrastructure. In 1884, High Holiday Services were held at the Masonic Hall (source) and a Jewish aid society (the Ladies Relief Society) was founded. Over the next two decades, the Jewish community grew with new synagogues, welfare organizations, and social clubs (known as lodges). The first Sephardic Jews arrived in Seattle in 1906–given Seattle a unique diversity of Ashekenazi and Sephardic Jews. A rich heritage that continues to this day.

Map of Jewish historic sites in Seattle:

View Digital American Jewish History in a larger map

In 1971, Temple De Hirsch merged with Temple Sinai to form Temple De Hirsch
Sinai. This video reveals how the rich history of Temple De Hirsch has greatly
shaped the current community of Temple De Hirsch Sinai.