Alliance Synagogue

Visit our dedicated website for schedule and updates.

https://AllianceSynagogue.org

Origin & Inception:

Founded in 1884, Tifereth Israel (Splendor of Israel) was constructed under the leadership of Jacob Greenblatt and William Cohn and completed in the Spring of 1889. The first officers elected were Simha Luborsky, president, Isaac Krassenstein, Secretary, and Lazar Perskie, Treasurer. The Baal Korei (Torah reader) was Gershon Agronsky who later moved to Palestine to begin the newspaper, The Jerusalem Post.

The synagogue construction was overseen by Mr. Zager. Isaac Krassenstein donated prayer books to the new shul. Moses Bayuk, who originally surveyed the land in Southern New Jersey for the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, resided across the road from the new shul and became very involved with synagogue’s operations.

By the 1920s, the bima, once in the center of the shul was repositioned to the front, likewise the chazzan now faced the congregation instead of the Holy Ark, changing the Shabbat service experience. Tifereth Israel gathered about thirty men together every Shabbat with more joining after the close of the nearby Eben Ha' Ezer Synagogue.

Many German Jews arrived in Southern Jersey in the 1930s and 1940s fleeing rising anti-Semitism and Naziism in Europe. Many Germans settled in the Alliance Colony, joining Tifereth Israel, often giving up or adapting their rituals to become part of the congregation. This was in sharp contrast to the wave of more religious Polish and Eastern European immigrants that influenced Jewish life in the surrounding area after World War II, continuing into the 1950s and 1960s.

The synagogue’s membership dues were not set and now adapted to the individual and what their family could afford. Aliyahs were also auctioned to offset the cost of operations. Voice pledges were paid throughout the year to afford the salary of a Chazzan and a Shabbos Goy to keep the stove burning during services.

By the 1970s many in the congregation were elderly or had passed away with few new members brought in to replace their numbers. With few young families, synagogue rituals changed. Now only men danced with the Torah during the Simchat Torah holiday. The older women of the congregation were unable to climb the steps to the balcony and prayed on the main level, sitting off to the side to represent older traditions.