Park Synagogue (Cleveland Heights, Ohio)

Park Synagogue, one of the largest Conservative Jewish synagogues in the world, was founded in 1869 in Cleveland, Ohio, as Anshe Emeth Congregation by twelve Jewish immigrant families from Poland. In 1904, the congregation engaged its first English speaking rabbi, Samuel Margolies. Anshe Emeth merged with Congregation Beth Tefilo ca. 1916, and a large synagogue was built for the combined congregation on East 105th Street in 1922. That same year, Rabbi Solomon Goldman, a well known scholar, teacher, and activist, was hired. He led the congregation into the ranks of Conservative Judaism. In 1934, the congregation engaged one of its own confirmands, Armond E. Cohen, as rabbi. The synagogue, popularly called the Cleveland Jewish Center, became a focus of Jewish life in the Glenville area, serving the social, intellectual, and recreational needs, as well as the religious, of its members; one of the first synagogues in the United States combining all of these facilities in one structure. Following the eastward movement of Cleveland's Jewish population, property on Mayfield Road in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, was purchased in 1942 from the private Park School. In 1950, Park Synagogue (as the congregation came to be known) dedicated a new building, designed by Eric Mendelsohn. In 1969, Kangesser Hall, a 2,000 seat auditorium, was dedicated. When B'rith Emeth Congregation ceased operations in 1988, their Pepper Pike, Ohio building was purchased by Park Synagogue, becoming their eastern educational facility. Some former members of B'rith Emeth affiliated with Park Synagogue.