Congregation Shaarey Tphiloh - Newbury Street

145 Newbury Street

www.mainesynagogue.org

This large neo-Classical building was the first home of Shaaray Tphiloh (Gates of Prayer) Synagogue — the spelling subsequently changed to Shaarey Tphiloh. Its doors opened in 1904, just in time for the September High Holy Days. For many years, this building was the primary (and largest) synagogue in Portland. It is now occupied by offices and apartments, but the façade is very well preserved and its original inscriptions remind us of what it used to be. The congregation moved several times but is still operating (see Stop W04), making it Portland’s oldest continuously active congregation. The building is one of the six oldest Jewish synagogue buildings in New England.

Shaarey Tphiloh was formed in a merger of the two larger existing Orthodox congregations - Shaarith Israel, formed in 1883, and Beth Hamidrash Hagadol, formed in 1890. The founder of Beth Hamidrash Hagadol, sometimes called “The Abrams Shul,” was Isaac Abrams, father of Hiram (Stop D02).

According to Portland’s Jewish historian Ben Band, Shaarey Tphiloh represented the enthusiastic combination of most of the Jews of Portland: “Men and boys carried bricks by hand or by cart. Individuals contributed their skills. The entire community mobilized to raise money or assist in the actual building of the house of worship,” wrote Band in his 1955 book, Portland Jewry: Its Growth and Development.

Over time, the next generation of Portland Jews became more Americanized. They wanted sermons delivered in English rather than Yiddish, which was the protocol here. In 1921, this group founded Etz Chaim Synagogue (Stop E02) at the top of India Street.

In its early years, as the major synagogue for Portland’s Jews, Shaaray Tphiloh was led (1904-1916) by the highly respected Rabbi Chaim Shochet, and it took the lead in a range of community services: the provision of certified kosher meat, burial rituals and arrangements, and children’s education.

For education, the synagogue established the Portland Hebrew school across the road as a central community school to teach Hebrew, Jewish history and its doctrines, and “promote education, charity and religion.” It operated at this address from 1908 – 1919. A women’s auxiliary was created and raised money to pay off the mortgage. Attendance grew, and it relocated to 116 Pearl Street. At its height in 1928, the Hebrew school served 265 children, with a principal and a faculty of five teachers. In 1952, an Orthodox Jewish Day School was established at Shaarey Tphiloh. Co-founded by Abraham and Fannie Levey, this day school was the precursor to the Levey Hebrew Day School (Stop W03).

By the 1950s, many of Portland’s Jews had moved from the Munjoy Hill area off the peninsula, to the Woodfords and Deering area. In 1956, the congregation built a new Orthodox synagogue on Noyes Street, where it thrived for 50 years (see Stop W04), before moving to its present home on the campus of Temple Beth El on Deering Avenue (see Stop W02).