“The contract for the erection of the synagogue has been let to Judkins & Co. for $2500. The plumbing goes to Coffin & Northrop for $259, while the stained glass will cost $400 more.”

Idaho Daily Statesman,

Aug. 14, 1895

This milestone — erecting a building that manifested the Jewish faith in Idaho — occurred some 30 years after Idaho´s first Jews arrived from Germany in the 1860s.

Several settled in Boise, where they became successful merchants. Among them were David and Nathan Falk, Louis Weil, E. Shainwold, Charles H. Stoltz, D. Speigel and Moses Alexander, who later became Boise´s mayor and the nation´s first Jewish governor.

With 17 other businessmen, they formed Beth Israel, a congregation of Reform Jews, in 1895. Soon thereafter, synagogue construction began at 11th and State streets, at the religious hub of downtown — Episcopal, Methodist and Presbyterian houses of worship being nearby. The building was dedicated on Aug. 30, 1896.

Seating 150, the Moorish Revival synagogue was designed by St. Louis architects Chestney & Schroeder, who also designed Falk´s Mercantile and several Boise residences. It featured a Romanesque interior, keyhole-shaped arches, pastel stained glass windows and electric lights — a novelty for the time. Hundreds of wooden shingles protected the exterior, laid in patterns to imitate stonework.

Although a second congregation formed in 1912, it did not survive the Depression.

But World War II brought Jews to Idaho military bases in 1940, resulting in a new Orthodox synagogue: Congregation Ahavath Israel, at 27th and Bannock streets.

Under lay leadership, the two congregations existed independently for several decades. After the 1984 bombing of Congregation Ahavath Israel´s synagogue, the two merged to create Congregation Ahavath Beth Israel (“beloved house of Israel”) in 1986. The united congregation then flew in a student rabbi from Los Angeles twice a month to conduct services.

Through the years, the building at 11th and State remained in constant use, making it the oldest continually occupied synagogue west of the Mississippi.

In 1972, when the Jewish population in all of Idaho numbered fewer than 25 families, it was named to the National Register of Historic Places. That allowed the congregation to apply for a federal grant of $17,250 to begin restoring the building, a task completed in 1981 for $97,000.

By 1994, the Boise congregation had swelled to about 120 families. It was finally substantial enough to hire Idaho´s first full-time rabbi, Daniel Fink.

The downside was outgrowing the historic building. Without room to expand on its site, the congregation voted in 1998 to move the original synagogue building to land near Morris Hill Cemetery.

The move will happen the night of Saturday, Oct. 25. It will cost about $2 million to move the synagogue, make improvements and build a new administrative center—a few miles and a far cry from its beginning.

Edition Date: 10-07-2003