Adass Jeshurun, Adass Jisroel
Adass Jeshurun, Adas Jisroal was originally the breakaway minority
of Orthodox congregations in Germany in the mid-19th century.
These congregations dissociated themselves on religious
grounds from the unitary congregations established
by state law in which the majority tended toward Reform
Judaism.
The main aim of this branch was to safeguard strict
adherence to Jewish law. The Hebrew terms Adass (or Adat,
Adath) Jeshurun and Adass Jisroel,
meaning "congregation of Jeshurun" and "congregation
of Israel," were chosen by these congregations
to express their conviction that, even if in the
minority, they were the "true Israel." The
names were cherished for their socioreligious connotations
by Orthodox groups in the West where Reform Judaism
was widespread.
The Israelitische Religion-sgesellschaft
of Frankfurt
on the Main, with
Samson
Raphael Hirsch
as rabbi, called
itself Adass Jeshurun from 1851, as did a similar
community in Cologne from 1867. The congregation
founded in Berlin in 1869, the first rabbi of which
was
Azriel Hildesheimer
,
and one in Koenigsberg in 1913, chose the name Adass
Jisroel. The Berlin Adass Jisroel established its
own educational network. Between 1890 and 1903 there
was an Adass Jeshurun congregation in Belfast, composed
of immigrants from Russia. In England, the strictly
Orthodox congregation which grew out of the north
London bet ha-midrash (1909) was called Adath
Yisroel.
After 1933, immigrants from Germany, loyal
to the concept of Adass Jisroel, formed a congregation
in northwest London; Manchester has both an Adass
Jeshurun and an Adass Jisroel synagogue. Such communities
have also been formed in various places in the United
States, the best-known in Washington Heights, New
York City. Others exist in Canada, Australia, South
Africa, and Israel. The names have also been used
by other groups, e.g., by the Reform Adass Jeshurun
in Amsterdam in 1796. The synagogue of an Adas Israel
congregation in Louisville, Ky., was consecrated
in 1849.
Sources: Encyclopaedia
Judaica. © 2008 The Gale Group.
All Rights Reserved.
H. Schwab, History of Orthodox Jewry in Germany (1950); A. Carlebach, Adath Yeshurun of Cologne (1964); M. Sinasohn, Adass Yisroel Berlin (1966). |