Minneapolis’s first Jewish congregation and one of the largest in the United States.

Temple Israel was originally an Orthodox synagogue founded in 1878, known as Shaarai Tov. It is Minneapolis’s largest synagogue and with over 2,000 member families, one of the largest congregations in the United States. In 2001, Rabbi Marci Zimmerman became Senior Rabbi of Temple Israel, becoming the first woman Senior Rabbi of a congregation with more than 2,000 families.

According to Wikipedia “In 1880, the congregation built its first building; a small, wooden synagogue in the popular Moorish Revival style at 5th Street and Marquette Avenue. In 1888, the congregation moved the building to the corner of 10th Street and 5th Avenue South. When the synagogue burned down in 1902, the congregants erected a new synagogue in stone on the site of the lost building. The congregation became Reform and in 1920 renamed itself Temple Israel. ”

Its current home, an iconic neoclassical building designed by architect Jack Liebenberg, was dedicated in 1928. Jacob ” Jack Liebenberg” was one of Minnesota’s most successful and prolific architects with more than 4,000 architectural projects to his credit. He was particularly famous for the many movie theaters in the upper Midwest that he designed in the Art Deco and Art Moderne styles.