The Synagogue in America: A Short History

A leading American Jewish historian as well as an ordained rabbi, Raphael, chair in Judaic studies at the College of William and Mary, has written or edited many books and articles. His latest contribution is this brief overview of synagogues in America, beginning with the six that existed in 1789, when George Washington became president, and continuing to the present, when some estimate the number to be between 3,500 and 4,000. In a two-page appendix, "Counting Synagogues," Raphael argues cogently that these numbers are fallacious, saying that the definition of "religious body" used in enumeration is too vague. He arranges his presentation chronologically and denominationally, touching lightly on synagogue history among Reform, Conservative, Orthodox, and Reconstructionist Jews. A Reform rabbi himself, he pays somewhat more attention to that branch of Judaism. He discusses synagogue architecture, but the few pictures he offers hardly do justice to this subject, which has been treated extensively in other books. Similarly, the entire topic of American synagogues is dealt with far more thoroughly by such writers as Kerry M. Olitzky, Samuel C. Heilman, and Jack Wertheimer. Despite his far-ranging research, Raphael makes only a minimally useful contribution to the existing literature on the American synagogue. (Apr.)