Temple Judea-Visit Our Sanctuary

About Us

Visit Our Sanctuary

Construction of our new synagogue began during the 350th anniversary of the settlement of Jews in America. In this spirit, Temple Judea's Sanctuary is a living tribute to the founding fathers and mothers of the American Jewish Community. Our bima has been inspired by the bima of Congregation Shearith Israel, The Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue in the City of New York. This historic congregation, was founded in 1654 as the first Jewish congregation to be established in North America. Its founders were twenty-three Jews, mostly of Spanish and Portuguese origin, who had been living in Recife, Brazil. When the Portuguese defeated the Dutch for control of Recife, and brought with them the Inquisition, the Jews of that area left. Some returned to Amsterdam, where they had originated. Others went to places in the Caribbean such as St. Thomas, Jamaica, Surinam and Curacao, where they founded sister Sephardic congregations. One group of twenty-three Jews, after a series of unexpected events, landed in New Amsterdam. They were not welcomed by Governor Peter Stuyvesant, who did not wish to permit the Jews to settle here. However, these pioneers fought for their rights and won permission to remain. In defiance Stuyvesant's efforts to prohibit them from worship, these twenty-three Jews heroically founded the Congregation Shearith Israel, the Spanish Portuguese Synagogue in the City of New York.

Many members of the Mill Street Synagogue of Shearith Israel served the cause of the American Revolution. Reverend Gershom Mendes Seixas, who was the religious leader of Shearith Israel for a period spanning fifty years (including the Revolutionary War Period), was a great patriot. He was involved in many communal activities and was among the founders of Columbia University, then Kings College. Members of Shearith Israel played an important role in civic life from the earliest times. Three of The members, Benjamin Mendes Seixas, Ephraim Hart and Alexander Zuntz, were among the founders of the New York Stock Exchange. Distinguished members of Shearith Israel have included Emma Lazarus, the famous poet; Judge Benjamin Nathan Cardozo, United States Supreme Court Justice; Professor Cecil Roth, eminent Jewish historian and Commodore Uriah Phillips Levy, first Jewish flag officer in the United States Navy.

Stained glass windows by McMow Art Glass

The stained glass windows above the bima were inspired by the stained glass windows originally crafted by the Louis Tiffany Studios for The Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue in the City of New York.

Stained glass windows by McMow Art Glass

The stained glass windows on the South Sanctuary Wall have been inspired by the Eldridge Street Synagogue of New York City. The Eldridge Street Synagogue was one of the first Eastern European Orthodox Jewish congregations in America. Its founding members were Jewish-Americans from Russia, Romania and Poland who had been worshipping in tenements, bakeries and storefronts before the synagogue was completed in 1887. The Star of David designs of our windows have been inspired by the stained glass windows which surround to this day the rose colored stained glass window above the bima of the synagogue. Our murals have been inspired by the hand stenciled walls of this historic sanctuary.

The Ner Tamid (Eternal Light) and the Torah Covers have been inspired by the first synagogue building of Congregation Shearith Israel on on Mill Street, constructed in 1730 and replaced by a larger structure on the same site in 1818.

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Home Temple Judea• 4311 Hood Road • Palm Beach Gardens • Florida • 33410 561.624.4633 • fax 561.624.4076 • info@templejudeapbc.org
Union for Reform Judaism