Congregation Shearith Israel

The Congregation Shearith Israel - often called The Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue - is the oldest Jewish congregation in the United States. It was established in 1654 and until 1825 was the only Jewish congregation in New York City.The Orthodox synagogue, which follow the liturgy known as Sephardi, is located on Central Park West at 70th Street on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The congregation's current Neoclassical building was occupied in 1897.Founding and synagogue buildingsThe first group of Spanish and Portuguese Jews arrived in New Amsterdam in September 1654. After being initially rebuffed by anti-Semitic Governor Peter Stuyvesant, Jews were given official permission to settle in the colony in 1655. This marks the founding of the Congregation Shearith Israel. Despite their permission to stay in New Amsterdam they continued to face discrimination and were not given permission to worship in a public synagogue for some time (throughout the Dutch period and even into the British). The Congregation did, however, make arrangements for a cemetery beginning in 1656.It was not until 1730 that the Congregation was able to build a synagogue of its own; it was built on Mill, now William, Street in lower Manhattan. The Mill Street synagogue was said to have had access to a nearby spring which it used as a mikveh. Before 1730, as is evidenced from a map of New York from 1695, the congregation worshipped in rented quarters on Beaver Street and subsequently on Mill Street. Since 1730 the Congregation has worshipped in five synagogues: Mill Street, 1730 Mill Street re-built and expanded, 1818 60 Crosby Street, 1834 19th Street, 1860 West 70th Street, 1897 (present building.)