Anshe Chesed Congregation

Anshe Chesed Congregation, the oldest existing Jewish congregation in Cleveland, Ohio, was established in 1841 when thirty members of the Israelitic Society of Cleveland, the city's first congregation, seceded because of differences in ritual practices. Anshe Chesed, which was chartered on February 28, 1842, merged three years later with the older congregation under the incorporated name, Israelitic Anshe Chesed Society of Cleveland. The present popular name, Fairmount Temple, derives from its location on Fairmount Boulevard in Beachwood, Ohio.

On August 6, 1846, Anshe Chesed dedicated the city's first synagogue, a 35 by 50 feet brick building on Eagle Street. Four years later, the congregation hired Rabbi Isidor Kalisch, the first rabbi to serve in Cleveland. However, Kalisch left Anshe Chesed after only a few months and with twenty of the congregation's members formed a new congregation, Tifereth Israel, now known as The Temple. Anshe Chesed then hired Rabbi Bernard L. Fould who remained in the pulpit until 1858.

...